European Union, Nation-State and Future of Democracy
In: Politicka misao, Band 43, Heft 5, S. 158-161
In: Politicka misao, Band 43, Heft 5, S. 158-161
In: Biblioteka Globus
In: Sociološka biblioteka
The world of sports is a reflection of the world of politics. It is becoming increasingly multipolar with the emerging states hosting mega sporting events. Firstly, the article problematizes the concept of multipolarity and, secondly, globalisation by questioning whether the Olympic Games reinforce national identities and promote national interests by using Olympic diplomacy as a soft power tool. In doing so, the article explores the correlation between the changes in international affairs and the hosting of and participation at the Olympic Games by emerging states such as Brazil, China and Russia. The analysis distinguishes globalisation from the role of the nation-state, by highlighting the evident differences between emerging states in terms of hosting the Games, but also takes into consideration geopolitical and geo-economic parameters. ; The world of sports is a reflection of the world of politics. It is becoming increasingly multipolar with the emerging states hosting mega sporting events. Firstly, the article problematizes the concept of multipolarity and, secondly, globalisation by questioning whether the Olympic Games reinforce national identities and promote national interests by using Olympic diplomacy as a soft power tool. In doing so, the article explores the correlation between the changes in international affairs and the hosting of and participation at the Olympic Games by emerging states such as Brazil, China and Russia. The analysis distinguishes globalisation from the role of the nation-state, by highlighting the evident differences between emerging states in terms of hosting the Games, but also takes into consideration geopolitical and geo-economic parameters.
BASE
In: Politicka misao, Band 36, Heft 4, S. 3-17
The revival of the nation has shocked German intellectuals who think that the nation-state is historically obsolete & that new models should be upheld: the united Europe, a world community of responsible states, globalization of markets, a universe of human rights. The contrary tendencies in today's world are marked by giving up on huge political entities, which have been replaced by smaller nationality-based states. It seems that political freedom leads to the formation of nation-states based on democratic constitution. This process requires looking into the relation between the nation-state & democracy. The key for the explanation of their relationship can be found in the notion of nation. Citizenship mediates between the people (in its real manifestation as a social group), & democracy as a constitutional principle. It gives to the state as a personal entity legal structure on which to build a democratic form of the state & guarantees legally applicable taxonomies & limitations. Adapted from the source document.
In: Politicka misao, Band 46, Heft 2, S. 81-95
This article critically examines the answers to the following questions: "Why are there nation-states?," ie., "Why isn't there only one nation-state?," asked by Jacques Bidet in his work General Theory of Modernity. In the first part of the article, Bidet's analogy between the emergence of nation-states & more complex states such as the EU is discussed, with particular emphasis on the possibilities of creating a worldwide democratic state, which Bidet innovatively conceives as a guarantee of equality between nations. Still, in view of the normative character of Bidet's theory, the author raises doubts about the possibility of clarifying Bidet's assertion that "the time has not yet come for a universal state-order." In the second part of the article, the author attempts to find an answer to Bidet's questions with the help of Marx's class analysis. On the one hand, such an analysis makes it possible to explain why (worldwide) capitalism benefits from "freezing" the extant order of nation-states. On the other hand, not even Marx's analysis makes it possible to elucidate the conditions for building a worldwide state, particularly the one condition which Bidet cares about most of all: a relation between nations characterized by equality & lack of rivalry. Adapted from the source document.
In: Politicka misao, Band 31, Heft 2, S. 156-168
Contrary to the prevalent criticism of the modern nation-state, the author thinks that it is an institution ethically valid in itself. A nation-state is a political entity in which the boundaries of state & nation coincide. National identity is a source of communitarian solidarity & trust, essential for the formation of a state. The author thinks that the state, as a means of national self-determination can relinquish many of its functions & delegate them to supranational bodies, under the condition that it can regain them. Certain areas, such as social & cultural policy & certain aspects of economic policy, due to their importance for the preservation of the national identity should remain in the hands of the nation-state. In their foreign policy, states ought to respect several basic norms: renouncing the use of force or other forms of pressure, honoring agreements, solidarity in adversity, & reducing the unfair distribution of resources. The author deals with the problem of multinational states & concludes that the separate national groups in principle have a right to secession & the creation of their own state. Adapted from the source document.
U ovom se radu istražuje odnos između nacije, nacionalizma, građanstva i strategija europskih integracija. Propituje se problem odnosa između 'nacionalnog' i 'građanskog' aspekta u postojećoj nacionalnoj državi i problem odvajanja nacionalnog od građanskog u nekim opravdanjima transnacionalnih političkih integracija. Propituje se i teza nekih autora da su i nacija i država zapreka afirmaciji građanstva kao univerzalnog statusa u slobodi i jednakosti svih. Zapravo, analizira se krucijalno pitanje je li neka transnacionalna politička organizacija moguća kao "zajednica građana" prema konceptu 'konstitucionalnog patriotizma' ili kao internacionalna zajednica "društva narodā" s "pravom narodā" na pretpostavkama političkog liberalizma ili pristojno uređene državne vlasti. Autor analizira i pojam 'nacionalizma' te neopravdanost njegova proskribiranja per se. Na kraju komentira i analizira uočene nacionalne (nacionalističke) strategije integracije u Europsku uniju. ; This paper explores the relationship between the nation, nationalism, citizenship and European integration strategies. It addresses the problem of the relationship between the 'national' and 'civil' aspects of the existing nation state and the problem of separating the national from the civil in some justifications of transnational political integrations. It also examines the thesis of some authors who claim that both the nation and the state are obstacles to asserting citizenship as a universal status in the freedom and equality of all. In fact, it analyses the crucial issue whether a transnational political organisation is possible as a 'community of citizens' in line with the concept of 'constitutional patriotism', or as an international community in the sense of a 'Society of Peoples' with the 'right of nations' under the assumptions of political liberalism or of a properly ordered state government. The author also analyses the concept of 'nationalism' and the unjustifiableness of its proscription per se. In the final section, he comments on and ...
BASE
In: Politicka misao, Band 51, Heft 2, S. 221-222
In: Međunarodne studije: časopis za međunarodne odnose, vanjsku politiku i diplomaciju, Band 12, Heft 2, S. 112-117
ISSN: 1332-4756
Rad se bavi propitivanjem implikacija izbjegličke krize koja je zahvatila Europsku uniju na demokraciju u Europi i funkcioniranje Europske unije na osnovi usporedbe s teorijom Hannah Arendt o izbjeglicama i ljudskim pravima. Rad se kritički odnosi prema djelovanju Europske unije, posebice Europske komisije, naspram njezinih članica po pitanju rješavanja izbjegličke krize čime se dovodi u pitanje održanje same Europske unije i demokracije na razini Europe. Teorija Hannah Arendt pomaže u sagledavanju sadašnje situacije u povijesnom kontekstu i pruža mogući odgovor kako sačuvati nacionalne države i demokraciju u njima propitivanjem načela ljudskih prava koja je iznjedrila Francuska revolucija, a koja su dovedena u pitanje pojavom izbjegličkog vala s Bliskog istoka u Europu. ; The paper explains the implications of the European refugee crisis for the functioning of the EU and democracy within Europe, with reference to Hannah Arendt's theory on refugees and human rights. The paper examines critically the handling of the refugee crisis by the European Commission and its attitude towards EU Member States, which compromises the actual functioning of theEU and democracy in Europe. Arendt's theory helps us understand better the present situation, taking into account the historical context. Her theory on human rights, born of the French Revolution provides a possible answer regarding how to preserve European nation states and democracy in Europe, notions that have been challenged seriously by the waves of refugees from the Middle East, and ultimately by the European Union itself.
BASE
In: Politicka misao, Band 42, Heft 2, S. 9-32
Looking at the European Constitution & the legal attainments of the European Union from the perspective of the modern nation-state leads to aporia & Euroskepticism since the European Union has never been, nor will it ever be, a political community modelled after the nation-state. The nation-state as a constitutional institution is not tantamount to political processes; it is one of the historical options of the political. The state & politics cannot be equated: the nation-state is a political institution while politics is a process with various alternatives of institutionalization. These two sides, the constitutional state & the political processes, are in the relationship of soft incommensurability & it is not quite possible to equate them in some higher association. Equating the constitutional state & the political activity in present-day debates on the European Constitution results in Euroskepticism. Conservative theoreticians of the state & politics cannot study the constitutional state separately from political processes. For them Europe is possible solely as a constitutional state with democratic legitimation; otherwise it will never come into being. These theoreticians view the relationship between the constitution & politics as the means-ends or cause-effect category, & not as an open-ended process between two one unequatable media that are semantically mutually irritating. The goal of the European politics is not a European state, nor is the goal of the European constitution to curb the spontaneity of European political processes. The European Union is an open-ended semantic relationship between its legal attainments & its political processes. Consequently, the concept of democracy as a political form will have to be redefined. The European Union as a political community sui generis should be explained from the perspective of contemporary theories evolved along the lines of the linguistic & deconstructivist reversal of the modern substantionalist rationalism, universalism & cosmopolitism. The major contribution of these post-modern theories is that they do not consider political reality as an objective given, but as a construct for which we know how it was produced so that we can change it. This means that the object of study is not the constitutional-legal reality but the knowledge of the constitutional-legal reality that is continuously expanded by means of the new designations of the semantically nonexistent political environment. The European Constitution & the European politics are in the relationship of mutual semantic irritation, but are not identical & will never become identical. References. Adapted from the source document.
Raspravljajući o porijeklu hrvatske nacije, autor u prvom dijelu odbacuje tvrdnju da se ona razvijala kao tzv. "jezična nacija". Također osporava gledište da je u tome bitnu ulogu imalo jugoslavenstvo. Zatim pokazuje da je hrvatska nacija nastala u procesu međusobnih interakcija socijalnih i povijesnih vrijednosti, koje su napokon odredile njezinu individualnost spram svake druge zajednice na cjelokupnom prostoru Srednje i Jugoistočne Europe. Sve je to autor dokazao u drugom dijelu rasprave, gdje analizira hrvatski nacionalno-politički program, koji je nastao za revolucije 1848/49. godine. U njemu su hrvatski liberali i demokrati jasno odredili individualnost hrvatske nacije i hrvatske države (ujedinjene Trojedne Kraljevine Hrvatske), i to kao jedinstvene, samostalne i autonomne moderne države u sklopu konfederalnog političkoga i društvenog sustava Srednje Europe (austrijske konfederacije). ; In the present paper the author deals with the origin and development of Croatian nation, and creation of the modern Croatian state (Tripartite Kingdom of Croatia) in the first half of the 19th century, especially during the 1848/49 revolution, at several levels: idea about nation, ideology, political and social programmes, political actions, institutions, and political community. If considered from the point of view of new socio-political processes, when transformation of a people into a modern national-political community takes place, we can see that Slavic peoples in the middle and south-eastern Europe formed multinational states, but followed some quite clear courses: formation of individual ethnic and national communities within a plural social system. Being aware of these historical processes, at the time of formation of their own national communities, these Slavic peoples (according to the level of their social and political organizations), especially in 1848, asked for a change of traditional societies and reorganization of the existing empires, not only by the language national principle, but also by the principle of sovereignty, policy of federalism and confederalism and the principles of international law and international agreement. All this should have made possible formation of essentially new political communities: individual national states within equal and democratic multinational communities, but within a new middle-class society. However, considered from the point of view of formation of the identity and individuality of Croatian nation, which is the subject of this paper, it is indisputable that Croatian national political programme and programme of confederalism as well as legal principles compatible with them (like natural and national laws, Croatian historical and constitutional laws, international law and international agreements), which were the values Croatian politicians based their national policy on since 1848, had the essential influence on the explicit quality of Croatian national-political individuality, and thus, looking historically, on the integration of Croatian nation and creation of Croatian political and state community (the united State of Croatia). The subject and vey complex structure of that political programme had an impact onto clear definition of Croatian national-political community (the united Tripartite Kingdom of Croatia) in relation to other political communities in such a multinational state as it was the Habsburg Monarchy. And that state, in their eyes should have been formed (within the new middle-class society, and a democratic and parliamentary system) on confederal basis, by means of international agreements between quite equal ethnic/national states: within the middle European Austrian confederation. In any case, Croatian nation (if we consider its national integrative processes in terms of events, in terms of idea and ideology and/or in terms of ethnic identity) was not formed nor developed as solely the so-called "language nation", as historiography would like it. For, neither is ethnos (not even ethnic community, or people, or nation, or ethnic identity) only a language-cultural category, nor the Croatian politicians and reformers took only language and culture to determine Croatian people and nation. On the contrary, Croatian nation was formed in the process of interactions of social and historical values which defined its individuality in relation to any other community on the whole area of middle and south-eastern Europe. Also, Croatian nation was not formed only as a natural community (determined by natural conditions of work and society and genealogic structure, i. e. determined by undefined Slavic union and/or undefined Slavic ethnic identity), but, in the course of processes of modernization, it was formed first of all as a historical community, based on group institutions of its own historical community. In other words, Croatian nation was formed on its own cultural, political, state and public-law traditions. It is quite clear that in this process neither Slavism, nor Illyrism, nor Yugoslavism had any role more important that the secondary one, not even for the definition of any particular ethnic identity. Illyrism and Yugoslavism had declarative ideological meaning, expressed through the idea of still non-existing community. On the contrary, Croatianism (as a national principle, as a community and as a legal, state and political system) was an expression of existence of Croatian community as reality. Thus, if we want to discuss the integration of Croatian nation and formation of Croatian political community, i. e. the united State of Croatia, we should realize that these processes were influenced by numerous values and structures, especially spiritual-cultural, political, economic, legal and social. However, the importance of political system and all its substructures – political action, political organization of the community, political programme and formation of a modern national state — should also be noted. Formation of Croatian political and state community, which was clearly stated in the Croatian national and political programme of 1848/49, assumed: 1) associating the segments of Croatian people into one political people, within one integral Croatian political community; 2) uniting of all Croatian provinces into one united Croatian state (Tripartite Kingdom of Croatia, Dreieiniges Koenigreich Kroatien). And these were the most important determinants which led to the political homogeneity and formation of Croatian nation and Croatian modern state.
BASE
In: Politicka misao, Band 45, Heft 1, S. 71-92
The article opens with an introduction to the key aspects of the globalization debates and their controversies, while it later deals with the crisis of the national model of citizenship. Since the 1990's the debate is between the advocates of two conflicting theses. According to the first camp of authors, citizenship has proven resistant to the globalization changes in the economic, political and cultural sphere, and even capable of revival. On the other side, it has been argued that the identity of a person, as a member of a national community, was gradually separated from its human and civil rights. That led to the establishment of a 'postnational model of membership' -- individual and group rights independent of citizenship. According to the second camp, the nation state was fundamentally transformed and it has become an instrument for implementation of the international conventions and norms of human rights understood as personal instead of citizenship rights. There are also attempts to reconcile the two standpoints. These authors recognize the challenges to the conventional national mode of citizenship, but argue that the processes of citizenship transformation are primarily an internal issue for the liberal democracies. Some authors try to step out of the narrow and exclusive conceptual frameworks of the nation state and postnational membership, attempting to explain the conflicting transformation processes of citizenship rights. There are also proposals for new concepts of citizenship -- a multicultural and a supranational, for example -- as a response to the challenges of globalization and international migration. Finally, postmodern writers talk about postmodern or a cosmopolitan citizenship that is not immediately tied to the nation-state. Adapted from the source document.