Suchergebnisse

Based on the experience of former rightist and communist dictatorships in Europe regarding different forms of opposition - both open and hidden within these regimes' structures - the author analyzes the role of the opposition in the process of the sweeping democratic change that has taken place the "new democracies" of Central and Eastern Europe in the direction of the state of law and civil society. His conclusion is, that in today's Central European countries political multi-party pluralism which includes viable parliamentary opposition was given a smooth start and has since taken root. However in the countries with only superficial democracy and an obvious "democratic deficit" - for example Croatia (and Slovakia) - parliamentary opposition plays the second fiddle. The prime movers of the change - and 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 major fraction opt for them considering them the lesser of two evils, either because they are no longer satisfied with the distribution of power and goods within the existing 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 and then again under Mihail Gorbachev. Changes, however, when imposed from above get out of hand and backfire against those who have set them off (remember Gorbachev); what emerges is usually a compromise between tbe vestige of the old and the emerging regime. (SOI : PM: S. 92)

The changes in the social position of women in transitional countries is the consequence of the latest economic and political changes in the countries of Central and 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 the well-educated women, working outside the home (modernists). Those who nevertheless do believe that the position of women today is better than it used to be, make a smaller group; hey 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, and that pro-choice attitudes should not be tolerated. Women should resolve their dissatisfaction with their lives and 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. (SOI : PM: S. 168)

More than a decade has passed since the momentous events of 1989 that changed the world order and redefined the geopolitics of Central Europe. This is just the right moment to assess the results of these changes and discuss the future of that region. Based on the past comparative studies or those currently going on, we may say that Central Europe differs from the post-communist East (the former Soviet Union) and the South-East (the former Yugoslavia with the exception of Slovenia) and Albania. First, Central-European states overthrew their communist regimes earlier and in a more decisive manner than the USSR; second, the economic transformation of Central Europe, though not completely smooth, is nevertheless much smoother than the transformation of the member countries of the CIS; third, the post-communist societies differ in the pattern by which their systems of social stratification have changed after the collapse of their communist regimes; fourth, there are big differences between the Central-European post-communist states, including the Baltic states on the one hand, and the CIS members and Serbia/Montenegro-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 SKY and the election of Vladimir Putin for president of Russia. The regional geopolitical picture may become more stable with closer ties between the states of Central Europe and Germany. (SOI : PM: S. 11)

The Bosnian Hercegovinian society, which immediately after the World War II was predominantly peasant, has undergone since 1953 some social transformations. In this article, the author attempts to explain ideological premises and basic features of economic policies, following transformations in agriculture and industry. At the end of the WW II, 80 per cent of the population of Bosnia and Hercegovina lived in villages, and only 2 per cent worked in factories. Communist regime, inspired by the Soviet economic policies, forced industrialization of the country, a process which placed the agriculture in the background. A low technical education of workers, however, did not allow significant changes of the agrarian society of BiH, even though some progress in industrial production was noted since 1953. This is the main reason why under the aegis of industrial development we witness a development of agrarian society. (SOI : CSP: S. 376)

A democratic state's constitution ought to guarantee basic personal, political, economic, social, cultural and ecological rights and freedoms of individuals and citizens and shape an efficient system of legal and 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 and freedoms of individuals and 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 and local self-rule and administration. There have been many misunderstandings and dangerous constitutional/legal and constitutionallpolitical illusions regarding this matter, particularly concerning the Croatian semi-presidential system and parliamentarism. This analysis shows that semipresidential system, as a specific variant of parliamentary government, is extremely adaptable to all possible changes in both the party and the broader political setting. (SOI : PM: S. 120)

The two construction ventures mirrored political currents and were affected by politics while themselves making politics. In the aftermath of the regime's backlash following the Croatian quest for more autonomy within the Yugoslav federation, the Cathedral was reduced in size and relocated to an inappropriate site. Builders of the St. Sava's church, meanwhile, defied recommendations by experts to adjust its style to the surroundings or change the location. Even though the authorities offered financial assistance with the construction permit, the Serb church in Split remained unfinished. In the late 1980s as ethnic tensions grew and the multiethnic country was on the brink of war and disintegration, leaders of the Serbian Orthodox Church and propaganda in the capital of Serbia Belgrade exploited the Split case as an evidence of discrimination against the Serbian ethnic minority in predominantly Catholic Croatia. The Serbian Church, utilizing the unfinished temple, also attempted to revive symbolically the ancient Byzantine/Roman disputes over the church community in the ancient city in order to imply that there existed a long tradition and "continuity" of religious disputes in this region. Yet, both the Croatian authorities and the Catholic Church sought to appease the Serbian church, rather than to accept the challenges. This case demonstrates that the Serbian Orthodox Church followed the militant course of the regime in Serbia, which was the principal firebrand of the 1991-95 Balkan war. (SOI : CSP: S. 126) + This article is built on primary sources that include the author's research in the offices of state commissions for relations with religious communities with numerous interviews carried out between 1985-1991. It examines church-state relations and interconfessional rivalry under communism in the former Yugoslav federation of six republics. Construction of new religious facilities, especially in case of building of significant edifices symbols of religious and ethnic identity, was a popular practice by which religious institutions animated the faithful, sought to break the isolation imposed upon them by the regime, and symbolically expressed resistance against the communist system, and finally, competed with one another in a society with three major religious institutions and over forty minor religious groups. The analysis tracks down coinciding processes of rebuilding of two significant churches symbols. One is a Serbian Orthodox memorial church dedicated to the chief Serb national saint Sava, built in neo-Byzantine style, and installed amidst a historic Romanesque block in the predominantly Croatian Catholic town of Split. The other church under construction was the city's co-Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle, damaged in World War II

The maintenance of peace and stability in the post-cold-war world in the circumstances of cooperation and partnership requires an appropriate approach and manner of resolving the crises triggered off by the collapse of communist federations. Imperial policies and regimes must be eliminated while the process of the geopolitical consolidation and the creation of independent and sovereign states in Central and Eastern Europe (and in Euro-Asia on the whole), built around the democratic and market principles, must be wrapped up. The new political leaders (mostly leftist) in the countries that for over fifty years (and now through the Kosovo crisis) have been developing the trans-Atlantic alliance within the military-political framework of NATO (based on the same values, principles, and goals), are now developing appropriate strategies for the post-cold-war hotspots (based on the accumulated experiences). (SOI : S. 89) + The author analyses the process of democratisation of international relations and the future configuration of international order following the end of the era of bipolar confrontation and the establishment of cooperation in the world which has witnessed the change in the key actors' roles regarding their approach to the resolution of the post-cold-war crises which jeopardise the world's peace and stability. First, the author provides a short outline of the genesis of the evolution of the US foreign policy, from the end of World War II to the beginning of the cold war and the formation of NATO. He points out that today's agenda of the international order, its structures, interventionism, and use of force in achieving political objectives, were already shaped at that time. The suggestions put forward constituted the framework and the foundation for the world politics until the late 80s; the cumulative effect of these responses on today's attempts at solving post- cold-war crises enables us to evaluate the roles and behaviour of individual actors in the resolution of the Kosovo crisis