This essay comparatively examines explanations of American foreign policy after 9/11. After introductory reviewing chronology of events, concurring evaluations of American foreign policy & justifications given by the public officials of the Bush administration, author describes six different approaches in explaining american foreign policy & position of USA in the world. Explanations search for causes of current American foreign policy in: myths of American culture, crusading mentality of Americans paired with legitimacy problem of American federal government, ideology of American neoconservatives, war for oil & attempt to geopolitically control the Middle East, logic of capitalist imperialism, & the decline of the capitalist world system. 27 References. Adapted from the source document.
The author claims that we are living in a time of formal democracy & multipartyism. He advocates a thesis that the Croatian government tolerates the opposition but at the same time deligitimizes it & renders it untrustworthy. The government does not rule by the book & has no systematic ideology. Thus three types of opposition are immanent to it: the one that leads into totalitarianism, the one that strives towards democracy, & finally the one that is given to internal reforms. The key condition for the success of the move towards democracy in Croatia is in countering nationalism & in coexistence within a heterogeneous society with a functional elite & interdependence as a principle. Adapted from the source document.
The central features of the political "profile" of European women at the beginning of this decade were a diminished interest in politics, infrequent inclusion of political topics in private conversations, & decreased willingness to adopt a political option. Compared to other European countries, Croatia projects an entirely different image: a pronounced interest of women in politics, very similar to that of men! This partly proves the "law" that a rise in level of education, working outside home, & middle age are the catalysts for women's desire to enter the world of politics. The transition, the war, & the "legacy" of socialist ideology account for this massive public interest in politics & the much lessened gender differences. 14 Tables, 5 References. Adapted from the source document.
The central features of the political "profile" of European women at the beginning of this decade were a diminished interest in politics, infrequent inclusion of political topics in private conversations, & decreased willingness to adopt a political option. Compared to other European countries, Croatia projects an entirely different image: a pronounced interest of women in politics, very similar to that of men! This partly proves the "law" that a rise in level of education, working outside home, & middle age are the catalysts for women's desire to enter the world of politics. The transition, the war, & the "legacy" of socialist ideology account for this massive public interest in politics & the much lessened gender differences. 14 Tables, 5 References. Adapted from the source document.
In his analysis of the role of animals in political theory, ideology, & practice, the author claims that they are mostly used as metaphors, while in the world of real politics, people are not just considered & spoken of as animals, but are treated as such as well. The text includes several motifs from this substantial, historically well-documented, extensive topic. Political thinking in antiquity distinguishes a man from an animal, while the Renaissance & the modern political theory recognize the animality in politics. In contemporary theories & collective psychology, there are the motifs of rulers, shepherds & people, & erds. In fables as a literary genre, animals serve to teach the nature of politics as well as proper & improper political behavior. Adapted from the source document.
Ideologija liberalizma obilježena je protuslovljima. U ime slobode nametano je ropstvo jednih drugima. Odnos liberalizma prema državi obilježen je protuslovljem između negativne i pozitivne slobode. Državu blagostanja razvijenu na Zapadu u drugoj polovini 20. stoljeća, zasnovanu na konceptu pozitivne slobode, zamijenio je neoliberalizam zasnovan na konceptu negativne slobode. Rezultat je povećanje ekonomskih razlika između bogatih i siromašnih. Na međunarodnom planu liberalizam je obećavao svijet bez rata uređen na načelima razuma. Nakon prestanka Hladnoga rata, kad su stvorene pretpostavke za ostvarivanje liberalnih obećanja, bogate zemlje Zapada odlučile su ostatku svijeta nametnuti neoliberalne modele funkcioniranja ekonomije i društva. Umjesto win-win situacije svijet je suočen sa sukobima i krizama. Liberalizam može opstati kao kredibilna ideologija ako se na unutrašnjem i na međunarodnom planu budu primjenjivale sve njegove sastavnice. ; The ideology of liberalism is marked by contradictions. Slavery has been imposed to some in the name of liberty for others. The relationship of liberalism toward the state is determined by the contradiction between negative and positive liberty. Welfare state was developed in the West in the latter half of the 20th century and based on the concept of positive liberty, but it has since been replaced by neoliberalism based on the concept of negative liberty. The result was the exacerbation of the economic gap between the wealthy and the poor. On the international level, liberalism promised a world with no wars and arranged according to reason. Following the end of the Cold War and the realization of the preconditions for the fulfillment of liberal promises, the rich countries of the West decided to impose the neoliberal model of society and economy on the rest of the world. Instead of a win-win situation, the world is faced with conflicts and crises. Liberalism can survive as a credible ideology only if all of its components are implemented both on the domestic and international levels.
The author analyses the major changes to the political ideology & policy platform of the stateless nation's movement in Western European postindustrial states, taking the Scottish National Party as an special example. The analysis starts with the evolution of the Anglo-Scottish relations beginning from the creation of Union of English & Scottish kingdoms by the Act of Union in 1707. Author then presents the contemporary relationship between these two provinces of the United Kingdom. He stresses that since 1990s, the Scottish national movement have been pursuing the 'silent constitutional revolution' of this multinational community, which means using the most of globalization, the European integration process, & the so called devolution, to maximize the autonomy of Scotland within the United Kingdom. References. Adapted from the source document.
Različiti aspekti američke popularne kulture (SAD), od fast fooda do tada aktualne umjetničke scene, čine dio motivskog repertoara poezije Borisa Marune, koji je uz Viktora Vidu najbolji hrvatski emigrantski pjesnik. Odnoseći se spram karakterističnih simbola zemlje u kojoj se našao slijedom svoje zanimljive emigrantske i nomadske sudbine na humoran, ironičan i satiričan način, Maruna u stihovima dimenzionira svoj kritički i osporavateljski odnos spram Amerike kao obećane zemlje. S druge strane, Amerika je prostor konkretne uređene političke i društvene zbilje u kojoj se ipak mogao pronaći dostojan prostor slobode za avanturiste duha, napose u smislu seksualnog liberalizma i nesputanog tjelesnog ponašanja kao dijela popularne kulture, o čemu Maruna često govori u svojoj poeziji. Ono što nikada nije dolazilo u pitanje bila je ljubav spram hrvatske domovine, ali bez tonova patetičnog domotužja i plačne nostalgije, s kritičkim i ironijskim odmakom spram navika i običaja Hrvata, što je Marunu bitno udaljavalo od tipične matrice hrvatskih emigrantskih pjesnika i pisaca uopće. ; Different aspects of American popular culture, from fast food to then-current art scene, are only some of the motives in the poetry of Boris Maruna who is, along with Viktor Vida, the best Croatian emigrant poet. Using humor, irony and satire while referring to the characteristic symbols of the country in which he ended up due to his interesting and nomadic destiny, Maruna in his poems dimensions his critical and disputing attitude towards America as the Promised Land. On the other hand, America is the country of concrete and organized political and social reality in which the adventurers of the mind could still find some respectable space of freedom, especially in terms of sexual liberalism and uninhibited physical behavior as a part of the popular culture, one of the frequent topics in Maruna's poetry. His love for the homeland Croatia was never questionable. It was however expressed without any pathetic patriotic tones or weeping nostalgia, but with a critical and ironic detachment from the customs and habits of the Croats, thus significantly alienating Maruna from the typical matrix of both the Croatian emigrant poets and the writers in general.
The first part of the paper describes the internal incoherencies of the International Monetary Fund and its consistent ignoring of empirical evidence. The second part offers possible explanations for this nonchalance. A Kuhnian perspective can explain it in terms of anomaly accumulation necessary for a paradigm shift. Richard Peets' explanation forwards a joining of Foucaults' concept of dominant discourse with a Gramscian hegemony. Alternatively, ignoring of evidence by the IMF may well be interpreted as part of a neo-imperialist ploy directed at exploitation of developing countries. Finally, a concept of anti-utilitarian nature of absolutely implemented ideology derived from the writings of Hannah Arendt can explain the functioning of IMF beyond the bounds of purpose. Taking into account these explanations, the possibilities of change of harmful behavior for an institution such as IMF are suggested. Adapted from the source document.
The author looks into the concept of the "small nation" & whether it is high time for its scientific or linguistic revision. If "small nations" are a qualitative category, why define them quantitatively as "small"? Small nations gained independence in two waves: between the German-French war (1870-1871) & the end of WWI, & after the end of the Cold War in 1990. However, not all small nations gained independence (eg, Basques, Catalonians, Bretons). They pose a major challenge for Western Europe. The example of Croatia & its relationship with Serbs serves to illustrate the vacillations in the European ideology & attitudes toward small nations. The pressures exerted on the Croatian state regarding the political attitudes of the Croatian people toward small nations did not stem from the logic of globalist economism or neoliberal political doctrine but were the consequence of the war waged by the mother country of the Croatian Serbs (Serbia) with the aim of annexing the territories in which they were a majority population. 9 References. Adapted from the source document.
Online proračunska transparentnost lokalnih jedinica (OLBT) prepoznata je kao važna značajka dobrog upravljanja. U skladu s tim, OLBT se u ovom radu mjeri u svih 128 gradova i na uzorku od 100 općina u Hrvatskoj koristeći nekoliko ključnih lokalnih proračunskih dokumenata objavljenih na web stranicama lokalnih jedinica. Koristeći Poissonov panel model s fiksnim učinkom u razdoblju 2013. – 2017., pokazalo se da osim dohotka stanovnika i fiskalnog kapaciteta lokalnih jedinica, razinu OLBT-a određuju politička ideologija i politička konkurencija. Ovaj rad pridonosi rastućoj literaturi o proračunskoj transparentnosti utvrđivanjem važnosti političkih faktora kao odrednica OLBT-a u bivšoj socijalističkoj, fiskalno centraliziranoj, članici EU-a i otkriva zanimljivu tvrdoglavost građana koji dosljedno glasaju za netransparentne političare. Glavni nalaz je da su politički faktori (politička ideologija i politička konkurencija) važni kao odrednice OLBT-a, što u lokalnim jedinicama rezultira suboptimalnom ravnotežom s niskim razinama OLBT-a. Lokalni političar na vlasti zaključuje da OLBT nije od posebne važnost da bi mu izborna jedinica zamjerila netransparentnost. U takvom je okruženju navedeni zaključak valjan, jer ovaj rad dokazuje da birači, koji su tvrdoglavi u svojim glasačkim obrascima, odbijaju promijeniti lokalnog političara na vlasti iako je netransparentan. ; Online local budget transparency (OLBT) has been recognized as an important feature of good governance. Accordingly, in this paper, OLBT is measured in all 128 cities and a sample of 100 municipalities in Croatia using several key local budget documents published on local government websites. Using a fixed effect Poisson panel model covering the 2013-2017 period, it is shown that along with residents' income and fiscal capacity of local governments, political ideology and political competition determine the level of OLBT. This paper contributes to the growing body of budget transparency literature by establishing the importance of political factors as determinants of OLBT in this former socialist, fiscally centralized EU member state and reveals the curious stubbornness of the citizens who consistently vote for non-transparent politicians. The main finding is that political factors (political ideology and political competition) matters in determining OLBT, resulting in suboptimal equilibrium of local governments with low levels of OLBT. The local incumbent concludes that OLBT is not a high priority and that his/her constituency will not hold it against him/her. In this environment such a conclusion stands owing to the fact that voters who are stubborn in their voting patterns refuse to change the incumbent who created nontransparency.
U ovom radu prikazuje se razvoj političkih stranaka i opis političke atmosfere u Grubišnom Polju između dva svjetska rata. Raspadom Austro-Ugarske i stvaranjem jugoslavenske države 1918. godine neke stare političke stranke nastavile su svoje djelovanje u novim prilikama, ali su nastajale i nove političke stranke. U Grubišnom Polju kao izrazito multietničkom gradiću u kojem su većinu stanovništva činili Hrvati i Srbi te u manjem broju Mađari i Česi, artikuliranje njihovih političkih interesa i opredjeljenja bilo je vrlo slojevito. Kod hrvatskog stanovništva vrlo brzo uzima primat Hrvatska (pučka) seljačka stranka braće Radića, sa svojom seljačkom i republikanskom političkom sastavnicom i ideologijom, koju je zadržala do sloma Kraljevine Jugoslavije, dok je srpsko stanovništvo bilo podijeljeno u svom političkom odabiru. U početku je njihovo opredjeljenje bilo na strani Pribićevićeve Demokratske stranke (kasnije Samostalne demokratske stranke) da bi se usložnjavanjem političke situacije u državi (posebno zbog nerješavanja hrvatskog pitanja, ali i nagomilanih socijalnih i društvenih problema) njihove političke preferencije okrenule prema režimskim strankama s unitarističkim programom – Jugoslavenska nacionalna stranka (JNS) te Stojadinovićeva Jugoslavenska radikalna zajednica (JRZ). Svaka od ovih političkih organizacija stvarala je svoje društvene, socijalne i sportske organizacije u kojima je njihova ideologija bila važnija od rada tih organizacija. Dvije nacionalne zajednice – hrvatska i srpska – bile su dobro integrirane u tamošnju društvenu zajednicu i bez većih antagonizama i sukoba se odvijalo politički život. Ipak na marginama političkog života možemo pratiti začetke ekstremnih ideologija poput ustaškog pokreta, ustrojavanje četničkog udruženja i polako uzdizanje komunističkog pokreta i njegove ideologije. Ove do tada marginalne skupine u političkom smislu preuzet će političku pozornicu izbijanjem Drugog svjetskog rata u Kraljevini Jugoslaviji. U istraživanju se koristila izvorna arhivska građa iz Hrvatskog državnog arhiva u Zagrebu i Državnog arhiva u Bjelovaru, sekundarna literatura te nacionalni i regionalni tisak. ; This paper presents the development of political parties and describes the political atmosphere in Grubišno Polje between the two world wars. By the downfall of Austro-Hungary and the formation of the new Yugoslav state in 1918, some of the existing political parties continued to operate in the newly established circumstances. However, new political parties were formed too. In Grubišno Polje, a pronouncedly multi-ethnic town, in which the majority were the Croats and the Serbs, and the minority the Hungarians and the Czechs, articulating one's political interests and orientations was extremely complex. Among Croatian population, Croatian People's Peasant Party established by the Radić brothers very soon became the principal party thanks to its peasant-oriented and republican political component and ideology, which it held on until the downfall of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Serbian population was however not as united in its political choice. At first, the Serbs were on the side of Pribićević's Democratic Party (later Independent Democratic Party). However, as the political situation in the country grew more complex (in particular due to not solving Croatian issue, but also due to growing material and social problems), their political preferences were directed towards regime parties with unitarianist programme – Yugoslav National Party and Stojadinović's Yugoslav Radical Union. Each of these political organizations formed its social and sports organizations, in which the ideology played an important role, being an immanent part thereof. The two national communities – Croatian and Serbian – were well integrated in the social community, and political life proceeded with no major antagonism or conflicts. Nevertheless, the beginnings of extremist ideologies may be followed on the margins of political life – for instance the Ustasha movement, the establishment of the Chetnik association, as well as gradual rising of the communist movement and its ideology. These groups, until that time marginal, had taken over the political scene when World War Two burst out in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In this research, original archival materials from Croatian State Archives in Zagreb and State Archives in Bjelovar, secondary literature, as well as national and regional press were used.
The paper is about the analysis of the general structure & the coherence of the historical consciousness of young people in five groups of European countries, using the results of the international study Youth and History of 1995. The analysis suggests there are two main patterns of historical thinking & the construction of historicopolitical identity that the author calls the driving force of historical progressivism and the smelting-plant of patriotism. These modernist schemes of thought, grounded in the competing perceptions of the nation, democracy & Europe, make the historical consciousness ambivalent. Regarding the coherence of historical consciousness, it is somewhat lower in the countries of Eastern Europe, which can be explained by the impact of the "neuralgic spot" of the collapse of socialism & the discontinuity in social, political & cultural aspects as expressed in the ideological cleavages of that time. In the postsocialist Central-European countries on the other hand, this coherence is the highest, the fact that the author attributes to the radical shift from the ideology of socialism & the domination of the cleavage traditionalism-Occidentalism. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.
Describes the attitude of T. G. Masaryk to the crisis of Europe, defined as the dysfunction & the collapse of democratic regimes in Europe. The author wants to answer the question why Masaryk in his ideology never made a mention of the totalitarian danger presented by the German Nazism & its nefarious politics of conquest to democracy & to the other nations in Europe. It seems that Masaryk's disregard for the challenges to the democratic order in Europe & his stance regarding the crisis in Europe stemmed from his attitude toward the ethnic community of the Sudetenland Germans, stemming in turn from his understanding of democracy. Masaryk's notion of democracy completely ignored the idea of collective rights & consequently overlooked the need for an improved communication with the German ethnic community in Czechoslovakia. Because of the processes of the European integration, the following question is in order: is it necessary for the democratic idea to include the idea of collective rights or is it, as most contemporary theories say, in fact fatal for the development of liberal democracy? 13 References. Adapted from the source document.
