The article discusses some aspects of continuity and change in Croatian society. The first part, entitled "A Synoptic View of the Croatian Society Today", gives a bird's-eye-view of the Croatian society -- its social structure, dominant values, main repetitive processes: cooperation, competition, conflict, and main processes of social change: modernization and re-traditionalization. It shows the simultaneous effect of forces of continuity and tendencies to change. The second part, entitled "Dominant Values of Croatian Society", presents dominant values on three levels of centeredness: individual (individualism and utilitarianism), national (the "heroic codex") and societal (radical egalitarianism, authoritarianism and solidarity). The war has not introduced significant changes into the value system, apart from a more prominent and generalized "heroic codex" and solidarity. Adapted from the source document.
The article discusses some aspects of continuity and change in Croatian society. The first part, entitled "A Synoptic View of the Croatian Society Today", gives a bird's-eye-view of the Croatian society -- its social structure, dominant values, main repetitive processes: cooperation, competition, conflict, and main processes of social change: modernization and re-traditionalization. It shows the simultaneous effect of forces of continuity and tendencies to change. The second part, entitled "Dominant Values of Croatian Society", presents dominant values on three levels of centeredness: individual (individualism and utilitarianism), national (the "heroic codex") and societal (radical egalitarianism, authoritarianism and solidarity). The war has not introduced significant changes into the value system, apart from a more prominent and generalized "heroic codex" and solidarity. Adapted from the source document.
The author discusses some recent changes in the theoretical literature on globalization. He claims that the irreversibility of the globalization process is no longer taken for granted as in the enthusiastic literature on the subject during the 1990's. The globalization is no longer regarded as an untouchable structure, and for over a decade now, we are witnessing an overall questioning of the globalization process itself. Therefore, the author pays special attention to the theoretical works of Justin Rosenberg who claims that the age of globalization is over. For Rosenberg, the globalization was only an ideological construction supported by the so called globalization theory which has failed in all its aspects: as a general social theory, as a historical and sociological argument and as a basis for interpretation of actual events. As opposed to Rosebenrg, the author claims that globalization should be regarded as a 'metapolitical' concept with its semantic and political functions. Using the methodological assumptions of Reinhart Koselleck, the author shows that 'metapolitical' concepts reach their intellectual and political high point by accelerating history and by transcending the actual situation. After their revolutionary peak, they disappear or they change their meaning in order to refer to the 'new reality'. Based on the insights of Hannah Arendt, the author shows that globalization has lost its revolutionary potential, but also that the end of globalization theory would not necessarily follow. Adapted from the source document.
The author discusses some recent changes in the theoretical literature on globalization. He claims that the irreversibility of the globalization process is no longer taken for granted as in the enthusiastic literature on the subject during the 1990's. The globalization is no longer regarded as an untouchable structure, and for over a decade now, we are witnessing an overall questioning of the globalization process itself. Therefore, the author pays special attention to the theoretical works of Justin Rosenberg who claims that the age of globalization is over. For Rosenberg, the globalization was only an ideological construction supported by the so called globalization theory which has failed in all its aspects: as a general social theory, as a historical and sociological argument and as a basis for interpretation of actual events. As opposed to Rosebenrg, the author claims that globalization should be regarded as a 'metapolitical' concept with its semantic and political functions. Using the methodological assumptions of Reinhart Koselleck, the author shows that 'metapolitical' concepts reach their intellectual and political high point by accelerating history and by transcending the actual situation. After their revolutionary peak, they disappear or they change their meaning in order to refer to the 'new reality'. Based on the insights of Hannah Arendt, the author shows that globalization has lost its revolutionary potential, but also that the end of globalization theory would not necessarily follow. Adapted from the source document.
This paper gives an overview of the socially clearly expressed desire & need for social security, promoted by means of various measures & policies known under the common designation: elements of the social state
The speech given by Stjepan Mcsic, President of the Republic of Croatia, at the conference "15 Years of Croatian Democracy" held at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Zagreb on 11 November 2005 gives an account of the evolution of democracy in Croatia. The importance of the role of the Croatian parliament (Sabor) is analyzed. The Croatian Sabor has not only been the institutional state/legal expression of the sovereignty of the Croatian people within various state & national entities (apart from the period between 1918 & 1941) but also an expression of communality as a manifestation of the freedom of speech, assembly & agreement -- in short, the ultimate expression of the popular democratic spirit. In this speech, various aspects of the democratic development in Croatia since 1990 are analyzed. It is pointed out that in the last fifteen years Croatia has witnessed social & political protests & conflicts on a variety of occasions & for a variety of reasons, proving that it is capable of coping with ideological, social & political antagonisms & discords. Adapted from the source document.
This paper gives an overview of the socially clearly expressed desire & need for social security, promoted by means of various measures & policies known under the common designation: elements of the social state
The geopolitical evolution represents a permanent process. It is mostly influenced by the geopolitical condition, in which the geopolitical relations and processes are evolving. The understanding of geopolitical evolution is impossible without the critical review and even rejection of the dominant geopolitical visions. There are various theoretical perspectives that reject the dominant geopolitical visions and discourses as well as geopolitical practices of the political elites. Those theoretical perspectives are known as: critical geopolitics, anti-geopolitics, subaltern geopolitics, feminist geopolitics, radical geopolitics. There are also various comprehensions of relationship between these theoretical perspectives, although it is clear that each of them is overlapped with others, and all of them are overlapped with critical geopolitics, differing in the focus of study and the identification of new moments, and at the same time being similar by their deflection from the dominant geopolitical vision and practices, to which they react in different ways: by criticizing, by putting resistance or offering alternatives. In this paper, the research focus is mostly on anti-geopolitics, a radical geopolitical vision that puts into question the relations of exploitation and dominance. Anti-geopolitics also represents a theoretical perspective that poses the most serious challenge to the dominant ways of representing the World. The proponents of anti-geopolitics focus their research on the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles, as well as on the social movements and networks that offer a resistance to globalization and geo-economic logic that are advocated and practiced by the political-economic elites of states and multinational corporations and intergovernmental institutions, especially the financial ones. The paper also brings a brief review of the key aspects of other theoretical perspectives that represent a more or less radical deflection from the dominant geopolitical visions. Adapted from the source document.
This analysis of textbooks and working material is based on documents determining the curriculum standards and plans and the programme for primary schools of the Ministry of science, education and sport, as well as the UN conventions regarding the abolishment of all forms of discrimination of women. Covered by the analysis are the textbooks approved by the Ministry of science, education and sport. As focal points of the paper's subject matter and the centres of analysis, six aspects have been singled out: 1) contextualisation of women (individually or as social groups) in the thematic (textbook) framework, integration into the contents or mere addition of separate parts to the textbook whole, 2) lack of specific material pertaining to the equality of the sexes, 3) so-called women contents or subjects (housekeeping, female beauty, fashion), 4) wives, widows, mothers, sisters... of illustrious husbands, sons, brothers, 5) important women -- inclusion or ignoring of eminent women -- rulers, scientists, artists, 6) successful examples -- entire textbooks or some individual solutions. The analysis shows that only a small part of the textbooks and working material successfully integrates contents relating to women in such a way as to portray them uninfluenced by stereotypes. Further, the textbook authors had major problems with incorporating material dealing with women into historical events as a whole. Women and their activities, even the ones perceived as "male", as still merely added to history. Neglect or complete absence of certain great historical subjects has also been noted, e.g. of matriarchate/matrilineality and the subsequent development of the patriarchate. All authors found it much easier to portray women separately, either individually or as social groups, though the latter has, in general, been less successful than the former (important women, rulers, scientists, artists). Their position in various times is almost without exception described by the phrase "women remain at home, they cook, they look after the children, they have no rights..." with some variations in detail, but not in the essentials. Adapted from the source document.
Having in mind the long evolution of constitutions & constitutional politics & the universal appeal of the process of the interplay between virtue & demagogy that occurs during presidential elections, the author touches on several topics. The first are the standard "dogmatic" comparative provisions regarding the election of the head of state which the author looks into through the constitutional-legal prism of the so called selection effect. As the institution of the president of the republic exists in many constitutions & is thus among the most significant institutionalized aspects of political & social life of every country, the author focuses on the extent in which that institution in the electoral context contributes to the affirmation of republicanism, democracy & public sphere. The author concludes that the election of presidents & the effects of electoral selection, among other things, affect the process of political integration that ought -- to not only in Croatia but everywhere & due to a plethora of reasons -- promote the universally accepted ontological principles of contemporary constitutional-democratic state. Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.
This contribution to the discussion about Dag Strpic's book Karl Marx and the Political Economy of Modernity focuses on the author's assessment that the weakening of US economic hegemony is questionable, especially with regard to the future prospects of capitalism (and its development), and prefers to speak of a "redesign" thereof. Accordingly, this article analyses in detail three aspects of capitalism redesign: the causal, the contingent and the functional aspects. Regarding causality, the partial redistribution of leading roles in world economy is caused by the introduction of new methods, from industrial and media technology to financial speculations and new wars -- which make profit-making possible. Regarding contingency, the shift in the centre provides opportunity for a small number of countries, such as China, India and Brazil, which are endowed with capitalist "talent" (in the sense of combining the policy of resource mobilization with elements of positive evaluation of labour in the local culture), to climb the ladder of successful development. The functional aspects indicate the favourable effects of the shift in the centre not only for newcomers to the club of the most developed, but also to the USA. The financialization of (primarily American) economy, along with giving over leadership to other industrial powers in many branches of industrial production, and in the rate of economic growth -- i.e. with a "new division of labour" in the centre -- gives to the US some sort of "aristocratic" status in the world of capitalism. Such a status is not incompatible with the cyclic process of capitalism development. Instead of a dialectical leap toward socialism, it rather aspires to a partial restoration of feudalism, as a global order of strong states in the centre and weak or apparent states on the margins. This, however, is not the worst possible ending of modern history. If a much more pronounced decline of US economic power in favour of the newcomers were to occur, this would probably strengthen the brutality of capitalism rather than weaken it. Provided that, in the EU, the trend of further decomposition of the welfare state is stopped, and the indispensable balance between the requirements of economic growth and of social solidarity and general well-being is restored, only a genuine and comprehensive "Europeanization" of the capitalist system could make possible the emergence of a global capitalism with a human face, and probably also of a world state which would provide for a balanced development of all parts of the world. Adapted from the source document.
How is law as both a set of standards of conduct and a way of reasoning related to politics, economy and culture? The approach to the problem taken in the paper is practical and instrumental rather than theoretical for its own sake. The aim is to appraise the subject-matter with a view of facilitating its change towards the basic values of the inquiry. Since the values are postulated by a stipulative definition of law, which implies relations of law to politics, economy and even culture, it may appear that the approach unduly trivializes rather than solves the problem. The approach may nonetheless be valid, if the stipulated definition of law is sufficiently integral, that is, inclusive. To that end the paper attempts to integrate into the stipulated definition of law three major philosophical traditions, which are still building blocks of -- and hence the keys to -- contemporary doctrines and cultures. In the classical (ontological) key (which is analysed in the first part of the paper) law is conceived of as a constituting and correcting aspect of the whole consisting of politics, economy, law and religion qua centerpiece of culture. In the modem (epistemological) key (analysed in the second part of the paper) ideas of law range from the conceptions that law is the constituent of modem social systems and hence an indispensable means of identifying modem social phenomena to the theories that law, as well as politics, economy and culture, is a phenomenon reducible to its natural causes. In the contemporary (linguistic) key (also in the second part) law, which is the constituent even of religion, can be understood only from within of the culture -- including politics and economy -- into which it is woven. The three traditions differ most markedly in their views of the contact between reason and action. In contrast to the classical tradition, which recognizes that reason can be action-guiding, reason and action are in the epistemological key separated by a logical gap, whereas in the linguistic key they are hardly distinguishable. The triple solution of the problem of inquiry increases both heuristic and practical potentials of the stipulated definition of law. By integrating diverse philosophical traditions, the definition is serviceable to the integrity of a pluralistic legal order, that is, to achieving the postulated basic values within the limits of the law. However, the approach taken in the paper, while more inclusive than more partisan approaches, is still merely an approach which is in the final analysis also partisan. Moreover, when seen from a culture that has not been integrated by the definition, the approach may be parochial or even inimical. Adapted from the source document.
How is law as both a set of standards of conduct and a way of reasoning related to politics, economy and culture? The approach to the problem taken in the paper is practical and instrumental rather than theoretical for its own sake. The aim is to appraise the subject-matter with a view of facilitating its change towards the basic values of the inquiry. Since the values are postulated by a stipulative definition of law, which implies relations of law to politics, economy and even culture, it may appear that the approach unduly trivializes rather than solves the problem. The approach may nonetheless be valid, if the stipulated definition of law is sufficiently integral, that is, inclusive. To that end the paper attempts to integrate into the stipulated definition of law three major philosophical traditions, which are still building blocs of -- and hence the keys to -- contemporary doctrines and cultures. In the classical (ontological) key (which is analysed in the first part of the paper) law is conceived of as a constituting and correcting aspect of the whole consisting of politics, economy, law and religion qua centerpiece of culture. In the modern (epistemological) key (analysed in the second part of the paper) ideas of law range from the conceptions that law is the constituent of modern social systems and hence an indispensable means of identifying modern social phenomena to the theories that law, as well as politics, economy and culture, is a phenomenon reducible to its natural causes. In the contemporary (linguistic) key (also in the second part), law, which is the constituent even of religion, can be understood only from within of the culture -- including politics and economy -- into which it is woven. The three traditions differ most markedly in their views of the contact between reason and action. In contrast to the classical tradition, which recognizes that reason can be action guiding, reason and action are in the epistemological key separated by a logical gap, whereas in the linguistic key they are hardly distinguishable. The triple solution of the problem of inquiry increases both heuristic and practical potentials of the stipulated definition of law. By integrating diverse philosophical traditions, the definition is serviceable to the integrity of a pluralistic legal order, that is, to achieving the postulated basic values within limits of the law. However, the approach taken in the paper, while more inclusive than more partisan approaches, is still merely an approach, which is in the final analysis also partisan. Moreover, when seen from a culture that has not been integrated by the definition, the approach may be parochial or even inimical. Adapted from the source document.
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.
This analysis of textbooks and working material is based on documents determining the curriculum standards and plans and the programme for primary schools of the Ministry of science, education and sport, as well as the UN conventions regarding the abolishment of all forms of discrimination of women. Covered by the analysis are the textbooks approved by the Ministry of science, education and sport. As focal points of the paper's subject matter and the centres of analysis, six aspects have been singled out: 1) contextualisation of women (individually or as social groups) in the thematic (textbook) framework, integration into the contents or mere addition of separate parts to the textbook whole, 2) lack of specific material pertaining to the equality of the sexes, 3) so-called women contents or subjects (housekeeping, female beauty, fashion), 4) wives, widows, mothers, sisters... of illustrious husbands, sons, brothers, 5) important women -- inclusion or ignoring of eminent women -- rulers, scientists, artists, 6) successful examples -- entire textbooks or some individual solutions. The analysis shows that only a small part of the textbooks and working material successfully integrates contents relating to women in such a way as to portray them uninfluenced by stereotypes. Further, the textbook authors had major problems with incorporating material dealing with women into historical events as a whole. Women and their activities, even the ones perceived as "male", as still merely added to history. Neglect or complete absence of certain great historical subjects has also been noted, e.g. of matriarchate/matrilineality and the subsequent development of the patriarchate. All authors found it much easier to portray women separately, either individually or as social groups, though the latter has, in general, been less successful than the former (important women, rulers, scientists, artists). Their position in various times is almost without exception described by the phrase "women remain at home, they cook, they look after the children, they have no rights..." with some variations in detail, but not in the essentials. Adapted from the source document.
