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The author discusses the crucial question of whether Serbia truly pursues the path of modernization and European integration, or just a simulation of these processes. The author proposes the thesis that there are numerous obstacles on Serbia's transitional path toward the (post)modern European society. Therefore, he tries to discover the essential reasons for the citizens' reluctance and resistance, the reasons which are related to the modernization of the Serbian society. Serbia is today at the crossroads of the traditional and modern understanding of life. It contains some elements of (post)modernization, but still with a strong influence of its traditional (conservative) heritage. The processes of re-traditionalization (re-mythologization and pseudo-mythologization) represent a major obstacle to the liberation of the society from the grip of the past and to its orientation towards European values. According to the author, the main creators of retrograde flows can be found in the political establishment of contemporary Serbia. He labels them, ironically and derogatorily, the 'guardians' of tradition, who use demagogic statements, populist paroles, and media information control (for their personal and party interests) to slow down Serbia on its European path.

Each scientific explanation, as per the author's view, is strived and required to have the most possible systematic character, and to enable the explained problem to be comprehended in the widest theoric-systhematic frame. Having analysed the methodological problem of comparative studies in education from the point of view of the mentioned studies, the author determined that the approaches to comparative study of education and schooling were not to be uniformed ones from the simple reason they had been grown out from different philosophic and theoric fundament. From the wider point of view, comparisons enable the comprehension of the phenomenon of education and schooling, their dialectics of manifestation, and their importance for human and society development. Methodologically taken, comparativistics of education and schooling is enriched with new techniques and methods. The comparison overcomes the meaning of one method (comparative method). Different orientations and different methodological procedures in comparative study of education and schooling were being appeared. Bearing in mind the complexity of comparative pedagogy problems, the author indicated the relevant methodological problems from which the historic dimension of comparative pedagogy progress was being visible. The author made the analysis of methodological problem of comparative research in education through several phases having considered basic characteristic of research, understanding of method system of comparative pedagogy, problems of contradiction of comparative research, its presence etc. From the point of view of the indicated problem, it is essential to state the consciousness on the methodological foundation of comparative researches of education and schooling is being broadened, which leads to the research of phenomenon of education at more qualitative level.

In this paper, the author analyzes the key stages in the development of the Republic of Srpska, since its formation in 9 January 1992. In this context, it elaborates the process of genesis of the Republic of Srpska, its international verification by the Dayton Peace Agreement, post-conflict consolidation as a process of trial of the constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina that would redistribute responsibilities between the entity and state authorities. However, the paper points out that the Republic of Serbian unquestionable categories and that the current attempt by the U.S. and the EU for the amendment of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not imply denial of two-entity structure of the state. In the future, how would you rate the author will attempt leading actors in world politics to redesign the institutional framework at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to strengthening its negotiating capacity to assume the obligations related to membership of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

In his article Dr Pribicevic analyze relation between two largest political parties in Serbia: Democratic Party and Serbian Progressive Party and possibility of the creation of the so-called large coalition after the next parliamentarian elections scheduled for the beginning of the next year. Author explains the meaning of the conception of large coalition and pointed out its results in Germany where this idea of coalition between main parties of right and left was firstly implemented. Starting from the German experience of the large coalition between CDU and SPD Dr Pribicevic analyze the benefit and the damage such coalition might bring to its participants in Serbia. In spite of the fact that both Serbian parties reject such coalition and in spit of the fact that German experience shows that SPD and CDU lost a substantial number of votes after mutual government author concludes that voters in Serbia similar to German case in 2005 could create such option as a realistic one after next elections.

U tekstu se naglašava središnja uloga staha u razmatranju problema političkog poretka i dokazuje da svaka teorija države i razvijena politička ideologija teži da izbegne kolektivne posledice straha. Uprkos njegovoj važnosti, problem straha je bio zanemarivan u glavnim tokovima političke teorije. Autor je ponudio kratku geneaologiju načina na koji se problem straha razmatrao u tradicionalnoj političkoj teoriji, počev od Tukidida. U središtu analize je složeni odnos između poretka, straha i legitimnosti u radovima Giljerma Ferera i njegovog učenika Ištvana Biba. U poslednjem delu teksta autor je pokušao da pokaže kako se o političkoj dinamici Balkana može razmišljati u širim okvirima Fererove političke teorije. On smatra da Fererov pojam kvazilegitimnosti može biti plodan za takvu analizu. ; The article stressed the centrality of fear for political order, arguing that every theory of state, every developed political ideology tend to evade collective consequences of fear. Despite its importance, the problem of fear was neglected in mainstream political theory. The author offers a short genealogy of the way the problem of fear was addressed in traditional political theory since Thucydides. The focus of analysis is the complex relations between order (government), fear and legitimacy in the works of Guglielmo Ferrero and his disciple Bibó István. In the last part of article, the author makes an attempt to demonstrate how political dynamic on the Balkans could be refl ected within broader framework of Ferrero's political theory. He found that Ferrero's concept of quasi-legitimacy might be very useful in that analysis.

In this article, the processes of re-stratification in Serbia during the period from the end of the 1980s until recent times are analyzed on the basis of findings of several empirical investigations. In the first part of the text, the author points out that a systemic change implies not only quantitative changes in the control and distribution of social resources, but also changes in the way of constituting the basic social groups, and the forms of their relations, which means that the groups themselves (ruling elites, middle classes, and even manual workers) in socialism and in capitalism must be defined differently. In the second part of the text, attention is drawn to the changes in three areas of the stratificational system in Serbia: mobility, economic differentiation and value orientations. In the field of social mobility, an increase of self-recruitment of all basic classes is established, but also, in particular, a strengthening of barriers between manual workers and higher social strata. Furthermore, the author points out an increase in economic differentiation, and a growing importance of private property to this differentiation (the singling out of major private entrepreneurs on the top of the material status hierarchy). It is shown that, on the level of values, all classes (including the ruling class and the middle class) are characterized by inconsistency, in terms of a pronounced presence of statist-distributive values, which hampers the process of consolidation of a new institutional and normative (market and pluralistic) order in Serbia. Adapted from the source document.

After the failure of the European constitutional process, the question of creating the European identity has become in the center of attention of the academic public again. According to the scientific literature about Europe it is mostly discussed as the set of institutional solutions, but not as the collective cultural space, the dominant paradigm discussing the European identity is the one that sees it as entirely political, indeed. The goal of this work is to show that insisting on creating of purely political European identity has its basic neither in theory nor in practice. In order to document the claim, in this work the author critically investigates different theoretical approaches studying the European identity and analyzing the results of available empirical researches tries to determine a role of cultural, civil and instrumental components in its creation.

This article deals with problems of poverty in Croatian society. The introductory part points out the economic and political circumstances in which the poverty of a considerable number of citizens becomes an important social problem. In the next part, concepts of absolute, relative and subjective poverty are defined. This is followed by an overview of the results of research into the extent of absolute and relative poverty in Croatian society conducted from 1998 to 2009. The results show that the rate of relative poverty basically remained the same throughout the above-mentioned period. Furthermore, it is shown that the risk factors causing citizens' poverty are the following: low level of education, unemployment, low retirement pensions, old age, and large number of children in the family. The author concludes that the Croatian government neither developed nor carried out any systematic and efficient plan of fighting poverty in Croatian society. Adapted from the source document.

This article deals with problems of poverty in Croatian society. The introductory part points out the economic and political circumstances in which the poverty of a considerable number of citizens becomes an important social problem. In the next part, concepts of absolute, relative and subjective poverty are defined. This is followed by an overview of the results of research into the extent of absolute and relative poverty in Croatian society conducted from 1998 to 2009. The results show that the rate of relative poverty basically remained the same throughout the above-mentioned period. Furthermore, it is shown that the risk factors causing citizens' poverty are the following: low level of education, unemployment, low retirement pensions, old age, and large number of children in the family. The author concludes that the Croatian government neither developed nor carried out any systematic and efficient plan of fighting poverty in Croatian society. Adapted from the source document.

In this article Dr Pribicevic analyses the impact of Kosovo crises on Serbian EU integrations and shaping of political scene of Serbia. Dr Pribicevic pointed out how crises started in spring 2011 when idea of split of Kosovo appeared again in Serbia and then continued with the clashes between KFOR and Serbs from north of Kosovo in order to get the control of administrative crossing Jarinje and Brnjak. During the summer 2011 German chancellor Merkel visited Serbia and asked government in Belgrade to normalize its relations with Kosovo and dissolve "parallel institutions" of Serbs in the north of Kosovo. Following this visit Serbian government continue its negotiations with Pristina and find out solutions for administrative crossings. On the other side, Belgrade and Pristina didn't find solution for the problem of presentation of Kosovo on the regional gatherings after what European council, under the German influence, decided to postpone the decision to give Serbia the status of candidate for the EU. Therefore, Serbia remains without EU candidaturein December 2011 in spite of the fact that government in Belgrade handedover general Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic to Hague Tribunal as well as conducted a number of successful reforms which got very high marks from EU commission. In this article Dr Pribicevic is trying to answer several questions. Why Washington and Berlin imposed such a strong pressure on Serbia in this moment? Is split of Kosovo possible solution? Could Serbian government continue with current politics of EU and Kosovo or it should take one of these politics as a priority? How Kosovo crises influenced Serbian political scene? At the end, Kosovo crises opened the crucial question: could Serbia enter EU without "recognition of territorial integrity of Kosovo"as described by German foreign minister Westervele. Having in mind forthcoming elections in spring time 2012 author thinks that ruling Democratic Party as well as leading opposition party Sebian Progresive Party will continue with current politics "both EU and Kosovo". Such politics will be in accordance with the public mood in Serbia which shows that support for EU integrations is declining with the growing pressure of US and Germany on Serbian Kosovo's politics. On the other side, Serbian politics "both EU and Kosovo" is not sustainable on the long run and Serbia has to face difficult decisions in future. Also, according to the author opinion Kosovo crises showed weakness of Serbian international position. It is without important allies among key Western powers which has dominant influence in this part of Europe. Serbia has support of Russia but key influence on Kosovo has US, GB, France and Germany. These powers connected Serbia's further progress towards EU with normalization its relations with Kosovo, knowing in advance that the time when Serbia is seeking for the EU candidature is the best time to ask Belgrade to make concessions in its Kosovo's politics. Western powers do not expect Serbia to recognize Kosovo but they expect Serbia to accept " territorial integrity of Kosovo", including its north part. Why Kosovo become so important for leading Western powers? Author thinks that several reasons influenced such tough behavior of Western power towards Serbia. First, after helping them to create an independent state, US perceived Albanians as the most reliable ally in this part of Europe. Second, Germany and other big powers in Europe wants to prevent creation of new frozen conflict in Europe similar to Cyprus one, Third, all big Western powers has reserves towards Serbian foreign policy and its orientation on EU but as well as on Russia, nonalignment world, China which quite often is described in the West as sitting on the two chairs, Last but not the least, Germany as well as France is not very eager of politics of enlargement of EU in the eve of forthcoming elections in these countries scheduled for 2012 and 2013. Therefore its hesitation in this moment towards further enlargement with US pro Albanian politics creates tough dillemas for Serbian politics in foreseeable future.

This article firstly focuses on the initial recognition, in the final period of the second Yugoslavia, of the existence of social inequalities, as the first serious symptoms of abandoning the ideology of social equality and socialism as a whole. Moreover, the nationalist mobilization was used as a lever for restoration of capitalism as a typical class society. After that it briefly outlines two post-war periods of structuring social opportunities in societies in the West, and partly also in the East. The first period is designated primarily by egalitarian tendencies, which is manifest in increased popularity of critical and radical trends in social sciences. The second period, which still lasts, is quite opposite in orientation, and this is, in turn, manifest in ever greater relevance of social Darwinism as a discursive foundation of a series of sciences. The next, and largest, part of the article is dedicated to an attempt at explaining the permanence of social inequalities, and the author stresses the inexhaustible character of Rousseau's question regarding the origin of social inequalities. In the present-day quest for an answer to that question, certain similarities are noticeable between (neo) evolutionism and (neo) Marxism. Although Marx himself stressed the correspondence of his conception of class struggles in history with Darwin's conception of struggles for survival in nature, but also took into account the differences (between natural evolution and human history), the conclusion on the identity of their conceptions imposes itself through observations about the constant defeat of the proletariat in age-long struggles against the oppressors, which continue to this very day in the epoch of neo-liberal global capitalism. Reflecting on possibilities of a generally different outcome in the struggles for a more just society, the author finds that there are two interrelated prerequisites to their existence. The first has to do with connecting the theory and practice of liberalism and socialism with the aim of establishing a balance between the mechanisms of individual freedom and competition on the one hand, and social sensitivity or solidarity on the other. The second prerequisite is the construction of a world democratic state. Its political interest and scope of governing would neutralize the key concept (and self-reproduction mechanism) of social Darwinism -- inclusive fitness. Quite simply, the latter means to favour "one's own" group while humiliating or excluding the other. In a society with a globally ruling government, the division between "one's own" and "somebody else's" parts of the world -- the boundaries of which are nowadays all too often shifted to and fro as a consequence of the erratic character of expansion and contraction of the market and the breaking out of conflagrations of war, producing a permanent Hobbesian "state of nature" -- would make way for wisdom of governing and for work of all for the benefit of all. Adapted from the source document.

The article provides an analysis of youth values in Croatia in the socialist and post-socialist periods, comparing them with values of older citizens and of the political elite. The comparative analysis is based on data obtained through four empirical investigations conducted in 1986, 1999 and 2004. The results show that the predominant youth values remain stable, with minor oscillations in rank. The aspects in which the young are different from the older citizens are a broader variety of interests, a greater acceptance of post-materialistic values, and a lesser acceptance of traditional and political values. It is also shown that the optimism of youth is constantly on a high level, as well as their satisfaction with life, which is more pronounced than with older citizens. In all analyzed segments the political elite is noticeably different from both above-mentioned groups. The overall findings confirm that the acceptance of observed values varies depending on the social-political context, and the age and social status of the respondents. Since the scope of the variations is limited, the author concludes that this analysis gives one more confirmation of the relative stability of values, and of the fact that they are transmitted from generation to generation in a way which does not endanger social continuity. Adapted from the source document.