The author deals with the possibility of the application of the formalized mod in the study of the public administration issue in the federally structured American administration. The theory of American federalism has taught us that the expenses of the implementation of political decisions are inversely proportionate to the administrative level of their application: the expenses are bigger if the implementation is done at lower administrative levels, i.e. state or local instead federal authorities. On the other hand, that theory claims that the decision-making expenses are proportionate to the level of decision-making: the lower the decision-making level, the smaller the expenses. The American experience in the arena of the policy of oil and gas exploitation confirms the model's rationale, and is applicable to other fields: the optimal effect and the minimal expenses have been achieved in the situation in which political regulations are decided upon at the state level, while their implementation lies within the domain of federal government. (SOI : PM: S. 162)
In this text the author deals with the analysis of the fundamental legal text regulating local self-government and administration in the Republic of Croatia and to what extent they are 'the fall guys' to be blamed for the state the systems of local self-government and administration are in. He concludes that these laws are a major generator (though not the only one) of the crisis of local self-government and administration in the Republic of Croatia. (SOI : PM: S. 108)
By "collective" human rights we understand the ones that belong to a collective. We should distinguish the individual rights which can be exercised only collectively (suffrage). The demands for "collective" human rights lead to misconceptions and explanatory problems since the universal, egalitarian, and categorical postulate of human rights cannot be equally valid for collectives and individuals. Thus, the protection of minorities' interests can be solely procured by adopting a restricted definition of individual human rights which necessitates more and better respected social human rights. In some cases, collective rights were designed to protect endangered minorities but were justified by means of equalizing fairness. However, such collective rights are not possible at the level of human rights: they are regulated by special by-laws at the state level. Thus, they are restricted by the requirement that they do not violate individual human rights. (SOI : SOEU: S. 48)
In this study the author looks at the life of Istria's small Jewish community during the first half of the twentieth century. He sheds light on the process of socialization and acculturation that took place in urban environments during the period of industrialization. He examines the complex relations between the Jewish and Christian communities. He studies the role played by the Jewish community in the socioeconomic and cultural life of Istria. In particular, he examines the issue of Jewish self-identity before and during the period of fascist rule. He especially studies the effects of racial laws. He also writes about the differences between Italian fascist and nazi anti-semitic policies, especially apparent after the capitulation of Italy, when German forces undertook a policy of extermination of Jewish communities on the Italian territories they occupied. Parallel to this, the author tries t show the conditions in which Jews lived at that time, when they were reduced to the status of non-citizens. (SOI : CSP: S. 95)
The central question in teaching the subject of confidential information is to define the borderline between the citizens' interest in learning certain information ("the right to know") and the general interest of keeping certain information confidential - in a word, between the justifiable and unjustifiable secrets. This is an area which includes parts of administrative and public media law and the theory of public law. This paper is limited to the analysis of the issue of the classified information in state possession (state, military and official secret) on three levels: theoretical, comparative and on the level of Croatian legislation. The essential elements of the theoretical concept of confidentiality are: the possession of the information kept secret from others; deliberate concealment; social context. A secret can have different forms: strategic, private, pressing, sequential, collective, petty, deep, simple, exploited and as conspiratorial as a plot. The theoretical analysis of confidentiality deals with the questions of contemporary forms of the manipulation of information (defining agendas and priorities, "quantitative overload", lobbying) and with the generic issue of the process of decision-making, lies and halftruths. In the end, the author offers certain elements for the legislation regarding classified information. (SOI : PM: S. 197)
The situation in Kosovo up to 1999, and all attempts which failed in order to find a just and lasting solution for that problem, have fully justified the above criteria for a lawful humanitarian intervention which was undertaken by the NATO forces against the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It seems, however, that the responsible persons in the NATO were not aware of the competence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to investigate to prosecute persons responsible for use of prohibited arms and for destruction of some objects. Some of these unlawful acts constitute grave breaches of the 1959 Geneva Conventions and violations of laws and customs of war. In these circumstances it is the legal duty of the Prosecutor to undertake an investigation. In case that he fails in his duty, there are no statutory limits in respect of the crimes provided in the Statute of the Tribunal. (SOI : SOEU: S. 98f.) + Most legal writers in their writings confuse notions of humanitarian intervention, intervention of a State in order to protect its citizens abroad and humanitarian relief. The use of force for protection of citizens abroad, when they are in immediate danger of losing their lives or suffering serious injury, can exceptionally be justified by a state of necessity as regulated in article 33 of Drafts Article on State Responsibility by the International Law Commission. Further conditions for such an intervention are provided in the wording of the US State Secretar, Daniel Webster in the Caroline case of 1837, relating to the self-defence. Actions of humanitarian relief have nothing unlawful in their character, but a question can arise of the obligation of parties to a conflict to receive and allow its distribution to a who are in need. The 1949 Geneva Conventions and the First Protocol of 1977, provide in this respect a legal obligation of all parties to internation armed conflicts. Such relief actions can be imposed as obligation to parties to internal armed conflicts as well, by UN Security Council resolutions based on Chap. VII of the UN Charter. + In the view of this author there is no rule of positive international law granting a right to foreign States to intervene by force, either in protection of their citizens, or when a humanitarian intervention is required. The matter can only be of exceptional circumstances precluding wrongfulness of the use of force, which otherwise remains prohibited. When the matter is of humanitarian intervention, circumstances precluding the wrongfulness would, according to this author, be the following: (1) There should be a situation of systematic, repeated and widespread commission of international crimes by a State authority against its own citizens. Special problems are created to the international community by widespread practices of ethnic cleansing. (2) Such a situation constitutes itself a "threat to the peace" calling for an enforcement action by the Security Council according to the Chap. VII of the UN Charter. (3) In case that the Security Council fails in its primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security and when there are no other means, a group of States or an organization can undertake a humanitarian intervention by use of force in order to stop the commission of crimes. In these circumstances it acts as de facto organ of the entire international community of States. (4) In these extreme and exceptional circumstances, States taking part in such an action cannot obtain any advantages in their profit. (5) Collective intervention by a single State acting in the name of several other States or an organization. However, even such an intervention should have priority over humanitarian intervention undertaken by a State acting in its o name. (6) It is self-evident that in performing a humanitarian intervention there should not be committed international crimes especially against protected persons, including civilian population
Finer investigated the phenomenon of politics within its spatial and temporal framework, trying to look into as many forms of government as possible and to fmd uniformity in their variety. He paid particular attention to a study of institutions of government which he considered the core of politics. His investigations focused on the state. By condensing the consequences of the emergence of the state on the forms of government, Finer came up with two variables: the extent in which rulers establish a standardized central administration and the extent in which homogeneous culture, religion and laws have been achieved. The second topic which held an important place in Finer's research is military organization. He wanted to demonstrate how the survival of a state, international order, social distribution of power, governing, the degree of bureaucratization, and a regime's nature, are intertwined with the structure of the state's military institutions. His opinion was that the military organization is necessary for the establishment and preservation of political communities, regimes and governments. According to Finer, the state's key function are preparing for wars, waging wars and reconstructing the country after them, and expecting the next one. Finer's third topic is the relationship between political and religious systems of belief. He stressed their dualistic nature, with two more or less independent hierarchies which have been a source of serious tensions. Furthermore, Finer links the existing system of beliefs, social stratification, and political institutions. Where these factors are balanced, the political community achieves permanent stability. (SOI : PM: S. 182)
Contrary to the presuppositions of historiography in former Yugoslavia, the author argues that one of the greatest problems in the relationship between Church and State in the NDH was the issue of conversions. The Catholic Church stood firmly on the principle that no one can be admitted into the Church unless he or she demands admittance free of all pressures and interferences. Likewise, the Church disagreed with the government that it can meddle in the area of conversions, the terrain the Church considered exclusively its own. Bishop Jerome Mileta of Sibenik Diocese is one of the most illustrative examples of that attitude of the Church. The author brings forth for the first time documents which shed new light on the issue of "conversions" in that diocese. (SOI : CSP: S. 248) + The question of religious conversions has always been a thorny issue in the Balkan territory, because it is often confused with the issue of nationality. The problem of religious conversions in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) (1941-1945) was no exception. Soon after its foundation, the newly established government issued laws, which abolished existing ones pertaining to religious conversions and allowed conversions to one of the "legally recognized religions". Even though it is not explicitely mentioned, the aim of the law was to allow "conversions" of the Orthodox to Protestantism, Islam or Catholicism, since the government believed that the traditionally strong opposition to the Croatian state of that segment of the population greatly depended on the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church on it
In Croatia, the issue of the legal status of the sources of journalists' formation as well as the status of journalists who publish sensitive information is increasingly gaining prominence. This is a subject which includes elements of constitutional, media, labour, civil, and penal law. The essay is limited to people as information sources. The sources can be divided into internal and external. The rationale for the sources' confidentiality privilege lies in the fact that journalists serve public goals and their sources can find themselves imperilled. According to the author's classification, the risks of this privilege are faced either by the sources (direct or indirect manipulation, smear campaigns, misapprehensions) or by the journalists ("protecting" a fictional source, subsequent blackmail of the source, misapprehensions). In Croatia, the protection of the information sources is defined in Article 12 of the Law on Public Information. The author outlines the major comparative systems of regulation of this field, the examples of antinomies among different Croatian regulations (the principles for their resolution are also offered) and analyses the position of certain types of sources in relation to the Croatian law. And finally, the author compares the regulations of the Croatian law with the comparative systems, analyses the representation of certain forms of responsibility of certain types of subjects and lists the principles he deems most important regarding journalists' work (the necessity of protecting the sources, the responsibility of journalists towards their sources, the different legal statu of journalists and their sources, the protection of privacy, the verification confidentiality, the more dominant interest, the importance of administrative ethics, the familiarity with the regulations, the adequate legal definition of a secret). (SOI : PM: S. 228)
The "May Declaration" of the Yugoslav Club (Vienna, 1917), regardless of its original intent, enabled various political parties and groups in the South Slav areas of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy to promote the "Yugoslav idea" and work toward the creation of a unified Yugoslav state. In Croatia, as well as in Bosnia and Hercegovina, the most vociferous advocates of the "May Declaration" were members of the Croatian Catholic Seniorate, the leading organization within the Croatian Catholic movement. In Bosnia and Hercegovina, the Franciscans were the leading proponents of the "May Declaration" alongside the Seniorate. The greatest opposition to the "May Declaration" was voiced by the "Frankist-Rightist" circle centered around Archbishop Josip Stadler. Especially prominent among this group was Ivo Pilar, author of the "Memorandum" (July 1917), wherein he called for the creation of a "united administrative territory," or, the political unification of Croatian lands elevated to the status of a "condominium" relative to both component halves of the Monarchy. In his "Declaration" (November, 1917), Archbishop Stadler and his supporters came out in favour of the unification of "Croatian historical lands" within the boundaries of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, but on the basis of a subdualistic formula. Considering the existence of the dualistic system in the Monarchy a historic reality, they believed that this was the best possible resolution of the problem of political/constitutional fragmentation of the Croatian lands. The dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs , Croats and Slovenes rendered irrelevant the demands voiced in Stadler's "Declaration". Symbolically, the death of the Archbishop occurred at precisely the same time as these ominous events befell the Croat people. (SOI : CSP: S. 71f.)
The author is of the opinion that with the fall of the Berlin wall not all obs the free circulation of goods and people were eliminated - neither in Europe n other regions of the world, since there are numerous other walls standing in the way of establishing a global world or European order. In that context, the agreement among the members of the European Union on the comprehensive control of "its borders" towards the non-member European countries, is conside by the author as a specific form of a new "curtain", not "iron" any longer, but electronic. Its function, the author claims, is to divide Europe into the Union and the Non-Union, which is harmful for the promotion of the European idea in the spiritual and the material sense in many ways. (SOI : PM: S. 30)
If the functioning of the fiscal system implies the functioning of democracy, then the interest in its smooth operation is understandable. Particularly important is its segment concerning the financing of local government and selfgovernment Wellregulated relations between the state and local conununities is the basic prerequisite of economic, social and any other development. The decentralization of the fiscal system in the Republic of Croatia is one of the barriers standing in the way of achieving these goals. The crucial question is onlv which is the acceptable degree of the decentralization, economically and politically. The experiences of other European countries may serve as a basis for regulating the fiscal relations among the higher and the lower levels of goverrilnent. The central government should retain only those responsibilities that cannot be carried out by the units of local government and selfgovernment. (SOI : PM: S. 206)
Due to the increasing globalization and the danger of reducing all beings to things, it is central to point out again and again that a human being is not a thing among other things, and that the appreciation and realization of their life requires nurturing and cultivating the variety of human knowledge pertinent to different spheres of the historical world of life. Thus, the relevance and the role of practical philosophy is gaining significance regarding the - to the historical Being - proper understanding and fulfilIment of human potentials in today's world. (SOI : PM: S. 25) + The author first defines the various facets of globalization in today's world and emphasizes the key changes that are stepping up and intensifying communication among peoples, nations, and cultures all over the world. However, parallel to this there are other pressing problems: from the ecological crisis, to the realization of human rights, to the anomie of life and work. All this proves that globalization is not only an economic and technical but, ultimately, practically an ethic/political issue. Along the lines of Hegel's philosophy of world history and Aristotle's practical philosophy, the author has come to view the contemporary globalization as a step forward of world civilization, i.e. as a possibility of the realization of freedom and good life. Globalization, of course, scares people with its unpredictability and the erratic development of "global society" which (in line with Beck's distinction between the First and the Second Modernism) today is represented as a society of nation-states on the one hand, and as a "global society of transnational actors" on the other
