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Based on the experience of former rightist & communist dictatorships in Europe regarding different forms of opposition -- both open & hidden within these regimes' structures -- the author analyzes the role of the opposition in the process of the sweeping democratic change that has taken the "new democracies" of Central & Eastern Europe in the direction of the state of law & civil society. His conclusion is that in today's Central European countries, political multiparty pluralism, which includes viable parliamentary opposition, was given a smooth start & has since taken root. However, in the countries with only superficial democracy & an obvious "democratic deficit" -- eg, Croatia (& Slovakia) -- parliamentary opposition plays second fiddle. The prime movers of the change -- & of the democratization as well -- are still the ruling parties (not unlike during the communist single-party regimes). Changes occur only when the ruling party or its majority opt for them, considering them the lesser of two evils, either because they are no longer satisfied with the distribution of power & goods in the status quo, or because they are aware that it cannot be maintained in its present form. This happened in the Soviet Union, first under Nikita Khruschev & then again under Mihail Gorbachev. Changes, however, when imposed from above, get out of hand & backfire against those who have set them off (as in the case of Gorbachev); what emerges is usually a compromise between the old & the emerging regime. Adapted from the source document.

The essay deals with the evolution of the theory of transformation in German political science of the 1990s. This research was given fresh blood by the collapse of the communist systems in Eastern Europe. Realizing that the existing theories of transformation cannot be applied to Eastern European countries due to a plethora of important distinguishing features, German political scientists used two general starting points in their research. The first starting point is the theory of universal waves of democratization, which focused its research on the application of comparative methods & comparative politics. The second starting point is the assumption that Eastern Europe is undergoing the social system change & not the political regime change, which enormously broadened the research scope. These general starting points gave rise to a series of studies, which are among the best works from the field of the theory of transformation in contemporary political science. This also resulted in the first political science handbook on the theory of transformation. 31 References. Adapted from the source document.

The author argues that in the debates about "democratic transition" of postsocialist societies the importance of development of state of law for the formation of democracy has not been sufficiently accounted for. The absence of state of law results in the formation of authoritarian structures of political power, which in the long run obstruct the process of democratization. Those structures include the concentration of political power in the hands of charismatic leaders, the transformation of political into economic power, the formation of clientelist structures, the development of a system of privileges & corruption, & the breakdown of the state monopoly of the means of violence, resulting in the "refeudalization" of political power. In conclusion the author describes two developmental options for the postsocialist societies: the formation of a "Latin American" type of authoritarian-populist regimes or the gradual transformation toward a Western type of state of law & liberal democracy, initiated by the pressures from the international environment & internal forces. Adapted from the source document.

The changes in the social position of women in transitional countries is the consequence of the latest economic & political changes in the countries of Central & Eastern Europe. Croatians think that the social position of women today is worse than in the former regime; in this, women are more critical than men, particularly well-educated women, working outside the home (modernists). Those who believe that the position of women today is better than it used to comprise a smaller group; they believe that a woman's place is primarily in the home, that the church should have a decisive say in the position of women, that women are not born for politics, & that pro-choice attitudes should not be tolerated. Women should resolve their dissatisfaction with their lives & social position by choosing either the modern or the traditional variant, or a middle path, which has been suggested by the logic of the newly created living conditions. 8 Tables, 2 Graphs, 9 References. Adapted from the source document.

Changing the name FC 'Dinamo' into FC 'Croatia,' & all the events connected with that change, are linked with political culture. The study of this correspondence included 403 young respondents who, with the help of semantic differential, assessed FC 'Dinamo,' FC 'Croatia,' the Croatian national soccer team, & the Yugoslav national team. Results show that the connotative meaning of the name 'Dinamo' is much closer to the national identification of Croats than the name 'Croatia.' Thus, the accusations that the advocates of the name 'Dinamo' are enemies of both Croatian independence & the democratic changes have been proved unfounded. Even more unfounded was the way the government treated the issue, which harked back to the treatment of Dinamo supporters at the hands of the former communist Yugoslav regime (they were harassed because of the connotative meaning, ie, national identification). Similarly, in the newly created Republic of Croatia they were harassed because of the denotative meaning attributed to 'Dinamo' (Yugo-communist nostalgia), with which Dinamo fans never identified. 1 Table, 3 Figures, 3 References. Adapted from the source document.

Changing the name FC 'Dinamo' into FC 'Croatia,' & all the events connected with that change, are linked with political culture. The study of this correspondence included 403 young respondents who, with the help of semantic differential, assessed FC 'Dinamo,' FC 'Croatia,' the Croatian national soccer team, & the Yugoslav national team. Results show that the connotative meaning of the name 'Dinamo' is much closer to the national identification of Croats than the name 'Croatia.' Thus, the accusations that the advocates of the name 'Dinamo' are enemies of both Croatian independence & the democratic changes have been proved unfounded. Even more unfounded was the way the government treated the issue, which harked back to the treatment of Dinamo supporters at the hands of the former communist Yugoslav regime (they were harassed because of the connotative meaning, ie, national identification). Similarly, in the newly created Republic of Croatia they were harassed because of the denotative meaning attributed to 'Dinamo' (Yugo-communist nostalgia), with which Dinamo fans never identified. 1 Table, 3 Figures, 3 References. Adapted from the source document.

Constitutional-formative status of political parties & political pluralism has a major impact on shaping political will in democracies. Croatia, as a country caught in the process of a (democratic & liberal) transition to democracy, must carefully contemplate how to constitutionally institutionalize, ie, legally secure recognition for political parties as the key actors in shaping peoples' political will, but at the same time by laws to legally & precisely restrain the scope & methods of their activity. In line with this, the author analyzes & evaluates the experience of the Italian First Republic & the French Fifth Republic. The constitutional standardization of political parties in those regimes took place in, for us, comparable social & political circumstances of the so-called extreme & polarized pluralism, which, according to Sartori, inevitably leads to a deeply seated crisis or even a civil war. While the Italian Constitution of 1947 recognizes that centrifugal type of political pluralism, the French Constitution of the Fifth Republic of 1958 envisages the function of its political parties in the same manner to overcome the polarized pluralism of the Fourth Republic. The Italian Constitution defines political parties as instruments above the state, providing guidance ("they determine the national politics"), while the French Constitution reduces their function to the electoral process & stipulates that they have to respect national sovereignty; ie, they have to be a "democratic" influence in the state, ancillary political participants in the democratic political process. The constitutional changes that established the Croatian Third Republic meant that the French institutional arrangement (semipresidential plurality system) was renounced as a way of overcoming polarizing party dynamics. If the French Fifth Republic was a response to the impasse of the Fourth Republic's "regime of parties," why was Croatia's Second Republic (1990-2000) forsworn & the Third republic instituted, modeled after the unequivocally failed regime of the French Fourth Republic? 61 References. Adapted from the source document.

More than a decade has passed since the momentous events of 1989 that changed the world order & redefined the geopolitics of Central Europe. This is the right moment to assess the results of these changes & discuss the future of that region. A review of past & contemporary comparative studies indicates Central Europe differs from the postcommunist East (the former Soviet Union) & the Southeast (the former Yugoslavia with the exception of Slovenia) & Albania in several ways: (1) The Central European states overthrew their communist regimes earlier & in a more decisive manner than the USSR. (2) The economic transformation of Central Europe, though not completely smooth, is nevertheless much smoother than the transformation of the member countries of the CIS. (3) The postcommunist societies differ in the pattern by which their systems of social stratification changed after the collapse of their communist regimes. (4) There are big differences between the Central European postcommunist states, including the Baltic states on the one hand, & the CIS members & Yugoslavia on the other, regarding their international orientation. The author highlights three significant events that are going to leave their trace on the regional geostrategic situation: NATO's eastern expansion, NATO's campaign against SRY, & the election of Vladimir Putin as President of Russia. The regional geopolitical picture may become more stable with closer ties between the states of Central Europe & Germany. Adapted from the source document.

The Partnership for Peace (PfP), created by NATO in Brussels in 1994, was an integral part of the Clinton administration's foreign policy toward Europe, based on the premise of a strong, viable NATO & democratic, US-friendly Europe. The military, political, & economic advantages the creation of PfP presented to the US are pointed out. Due to the Balkan War & Franjo Tudman's refusal to accept the Dayton agreement, Croatia was denied a PfP membership. However, following the Croatian president's death, his successors were eager to embark on the process of democratic changes in their country & thus please the Clinton administration by meeting its conditions for PfP membership, including (1) the acceptance of the Dayton agreement vis-a-vis the territorial integrity of Bosnia & Herzegovina, (2) cooperation with the International Tribunal in The Hague, (3) the facilitation of the return of war refugees, & (4) concrete steps on the democratization of the regime (free mass media, free elections, changes in the electoral law). It is noted that Croatia was accepted into the PfP to show other Balkan states, especially Serbia, that there are rewards for going democratic & showing willingness to cooperate with the West. Since NATO does not plan to increase its membership soon, PfP seems to be, for the time being, the principal format within which the security of Croatia & peace in the Balkans can be preserved. Z. Dubiel

A democratic state's constitution ought to guarantee basic personal, political, economic, social, cultural, & ecological rights & freedoms of individuals & citizens & shape an efficient system of legal & juridical protection of all the guaranteed human rights. The Republic of Croatia, since its Constitution of 22 December 1990, has undoubtedly been a democratic constitutional state. The Croatian Constitution is an example of the adoption of the constitutional option in the establishment of the constitutional regime. After seven years of its application, it is clear that there is something controversial in its content regarding the fundamental rights & freedoms of individuals & citizens as well as in their legal protection at the constitutional/legal level. Also contentious are the constitutional provisions regarding the structure of the government & local self-rule & administration. There have been many misunderstandings & dangerous constitutional/legal & constitutional/political illusions regarding this matter, particularly concerning the Croatian semi-presidential system & parliamentarism. This analysis shows that semi-presidential system, as a specific variant of parliamentary government, is extremely adaptable to all possible changes in both the party & the broader political setting. Adapted from the source document.

The author analyzes the process of democratization of international relations & the future configuration of international order following the end of the era of bipolar confrontation & the establishment of cooperation in a world that has witnessed changes in the key actors' roles regarding their approach to the resolution of the post-Cold-War crises that jeopardize the world's peace & stability. First, the author provides a short outline of the genesis of the evolution of US foreign policy, from the end of WWII to the beginning of the Cold War & the formation of NATO. He points out that today's agenda of the international order, its structures, interventionism, & use of force in achieving political objectives, were already shaped at that time. The suggestions put forward constituted the framework & foundation for world politics until the late 1980s; the cumulative effect of these responses on today's attempts at solving post-Cold-War crises enables us to evaluate the roles & behavior of individual actors in the resolution of the Kosovo crisis. The maintenance of peace & stability in the post-Cold-War world in the circumstances of cooperation & partnership requires an appropriate approach & manner of resolving the crises triggered off by the collapse of communist federations. Imperial policies & regimes must be eliminated, while the processes of geopolitical consolidation & the creation of independent & sovereign states in Central & Eastern Europe (& in Euro-Asia on the whole), built around democratic & market principles, must be wrapped up. The new political leaders (mostly leftist) in the countries that for 50+ years (& now through the Kosovo crisis) have been developing the transatlantic alliance within the military-political framework of NATO (based on the same values, principles, & goals), are now developing appropriate strategies for the post-Cold-War hotspots (based on cumulative experience). 25 References. Adapted from the source document.

The author's starting point is the principle of contemporary phenomenology: we are able to comprehend & adequately evaluate our own & new regimes in general, only if familiar with their predecessors & their traditions in their otherness. Naturally, in this paper the otherness is neither the essential natural world nor its cosmological structuredness as a universe, but a historical & political world as well as the possibilities of its alterations & transformations. Despite the changes it has gone through in the course of history, it has retained its cultural-historical continuity & its "fundamental features" in the form of a certain, in Husserl's words, "contingent a priori," that precedes certain cultural & historical experiences, but not "the entire experience," as Waldenfels points out. In order to adequately grasp these complex problems of cultural & political world, the author refers to Aristotle who, when asked in the second volume of his Politics about the best state, uses the then known forms of the state to show "what is right & useful in them" & what is not, & also that it is possible not only to transcend the existing forms but to elaborate them & search for "something new." Contrary to the modern reduction of the concept of the state to "the organization of government," Aristotle defines the state by means of three prerequisites: the land, the people, & the government & "always by one of these three components, while the other two are somehow implied." Thus, in all its various forms, the state always includes all these three components: the land as territory, the people as identity & the sum of its citizens, & sovereign government as state authority of the people. Regarding the opportunities for political activity in the contemporary global world, the author opts for a certain practical philosophy that, despite the universal crisis of today's society shows that the practice of good life is still possible & that not everybody has given up on it. This also means that in reflecting upon & in accomplishing the good life it is possible to build upon Aristotle's practical philosophy. Besides the phenomenological & practical philosophy, the final part of the paper looks into the political philosophy of American communitarians & shows that communitarian universalism & historicism are complementary to the European phenomenological & hermeneutical philosophy & productively assist it in developing a new historical thinking as practical knowledge that is applicable to our contemporary situation & that, historically, & in a variety of spheres & at different levels enables us to act ethically/politically in today's global world. 12 References. Adapted from the source document.