Suchergebnisse

In this paper the author deals with the concept of social trust. Since the concept has so far been neglected in the political science research in Croatia, the author intends to map it out for the scientific and expert political science public and lay the foundations for its future use. By means of the secondary data analysis, the author describes the state of social trust in Croatia. First he contextualizes the concept of social trust from the perspective of the dominant approaches in political science research; then he identifies the distinguishing features of social trust in relation to the other types of the trust; and finally, he provides an overview of major works on the importance and functions of social trust. The last portion of the paper is devoted to the analysis of the levels of social trust which shows that Croatia is a society with low levels of social trust which, according to the author, may represent an obstacle for political and economic development. Adapted from the source document.

Gradually evolving from the embryonic détente initiatives of the 1970s, and having braved the Charybdian rocks of the still lingering Cold War of the 1980s, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) finally emerged as a full-fledged international organization with the renaming in 1995 of what had previously been known as The Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). On its website, the OSCE now boasts of being "the world's largest regional security organization whose 55 participating States span the geographical area from Vancouver to Vladivostok." 1 The objectives of the OSCE are, broadly speaking, concerned with early warning, conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation. Its listing of activities also includes such tasks as anti-trafficking, arms control, border management, combating terrorism, conflict and democratization. The OSCE's main tools in carrying out these tasks are its field operations. Acting under the directions from the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna, and under the general auspices of the organization's Chairman-in-Council, the field operations comprise a number of rather diverse groups-each one with a specific mandate according to the problem(s) to be addressed in their respective operational areas.