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In this paper the author uses the analysis of a concrete case -- the introduction of political education into England's school system -- to describe the scientific, professional & political debates surrounding the status of school political education in schools in democratic states. Based on this analysis he concludes that England's case unmistakably proves that the proposals regarding the introduction of the new political education syllabuses, regardless of their quality, will invariably fail unless there is a strong political will i.e. the resolve of the political elites to accept & implement them. He also concludes that in today's democratic states there is some sort of a consensus on the necessity of the existence of this segment of education as an essential component of school systems. The consensus is based on the understanding that the future of democratic political systems to a large extent depends on the existence of citizens who possess the knowledge, attitudes & capabilities necessary for their informed & responsible inclusion in the process of political decision-making. The author thinks that the analysis embarked on in this paper might serve as an incentive for the actualization of the debate on the present status, scope, models & contents of political education in Croatian schools. Tables, References. Adapted from the source document.

Language plays the central role in the process of creation of a national identity. In the establishment of the supranational European identity, however, multilingualism is a democratic necessity guaranteeing equality to all European Union citizens. The decisions made by the European institutions influence everyday life of the citizens of the Union and for their legitimacy it is of the utmost importance that the citizens take an active part in the decision making process free of language barriers. In accordance with the EU language policy which guarantees an equal status to all the official languages of its member states -- once Croatia becomes a member of the Union the Croatian language will enjoy the position of an official language of the EU. In order to ensure Croatian citizens equality before the law and free access to the EU legislation, Croatia has the responsibility of translating the so called acquis communautaire, i.e. the total body of EU law, into Croatian and transpose it into its national legislation. The translation of the acquis must guarantee that the EU law is unequivocally interpreted and implemented and this can only be possible if the EU legal terminology is consistently and unambiguously used. Upon the Croatian accession to the EU, the Croatian translation of the acquis will be published in the special edition of the Official Journal of the EU and will become legally binding and used as the fundamental text for the interpretation and application of EU law in Croatia. Adapted from the source document.

Language plays the central role in the process of creation of a national identity. In the establishment of the supranational European identity, however, multilingualism is a democratic necessity guaranteeing equality to all European Union citizens. The decisions made by the European institutions influence everyday life of the citizens of the Union and for their legitimacy it is of the utmost importance that the citizens take an active part in the decision making process free of language barriers. In accordance with the EU language policy which guarantees an equal status to all the official languages of its member states -- once Croatia becomes a member of the Union the Croatian language will enjoy the position of an official language of the EU. In order to ensure Croatian citizens equality before the law and free access to the EU legislation, Croatia has the responsibility of translating the so called acquis communautaire, i.e. the total body of EU law, into Croatian and transpose it into its national legislation. The translation of the acquis must guarantee that the EU law is unequivocally interpreted and implemented and this can only be possible if the EU legal terminology is consistently and unambiguously used. Upon the Croatian accession to the EU, the Croatian translation of the acquis will be published in the special edition of the Official Journal of the EU and will become legally binding and used as the fundamental text for the interpretation and application of EU law in Croatia. Adapted from the source document.

Language plays the central role in the process of creation of a national identity. In the establishment of the supranational European identity, however, multilingualism is a democratic necessity guaranteeing equality to all European Union citizens. The decisions made by the European institutions influence everyday life of the citizens of the Union and for their legitimacy it is of the utmost importance that the citizens take an active part in the decision making process free of language barriers. In accordance with the EU language policy which guarantees an equal status to all the official languages of its member states -- once Croatia becomes a member of the Union the Croatian language will enjoy the position of an official language of the EU. In order to ensure Croatian citizens equality before the law and free access to the EU legislation, Croatia has the responsibility of translating the so called acquis communautaire, i.e. the total body of EU law, into Croatian and transpose it into its national legislation. The translation of the acquis must guarantee that the EU law is unequivocally interpreted and implemented and this can only be possible if the EU legal terminology is consistently and unambiguously used. Upon the Croatian accession to the EU, the Croatian translation of the acquis will be published in the special edition of the Official Journal of the EU and will become legally binding and used as the fundamental text for the interpretation and application of EU law in Croatia. Adapted from the source document.

The paper analyses Art. 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its implications for the position of persons with mental disabilities. The new concept of legal capacity contained in Art. 12 should ensure that fundamental human rights of these persons are no longer "a dead letter on paper". However, once the Convention came into force, the implementation of this provision has proved to be problematic for States Parties. Diane Kingston, former Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, best expressed the scale of the problem in October 2015 when she emphasized that no country had until that point fully met the requirements contained in Art. 12. Given that the Convention is a document that prescribes the fundamental human rights, the statement that no national legislation is consistent with its key provision is confusing and worrying. Therefore, a special attention should be paid to Art. 12 and its implementation in practice ; U radu se analizira odredba čl. 12. Konvencije o pravima osoba s invaliditetom te njezin utje- caj na položaj osoba s duševnim smetnjama. Nova koncepcija poslovne sposobnosti sadržana u čl. 12. trebala bi osigurati da temeljna ljudska prava osoba s duševnim smetnjama više ne budu mrtvo slovo na papiru. No, nakon što je Konvencija stupila na snagu, implementacija ove odredbe pokazala se problematičnom za države stranke. O razmjerima problema najbolje govori izjava Diane Kingston, bivše potpredsjednice Odbora za prava osoba s invaliditetom, iz listopada 2015., kako dotad nijedna zemlja nije u potpunosti udovoljila zahtjevima sadržani- ma u čl. 12. S obzirom na to da je Konvencija dokument koji propisuje temeljna ljudska prava, izjava kako nijedno nacionalno zakonodavstvo nije usklađeno s njegovom ključnom odredbom zbunjujuća je i zabrinjavajuća te zahtijeva da se odredbi čl. 12. posveti posebna pozornost.

The author looks into the issue of how to strengthen the role of national parliaments in the process of accession to the EU. In that process, the national parliaments of the candidate countries can draw on the experience of the EU member countries, The intensification of the EU integration has resulted in the so called democratic deficit. This means that national parliaments have been losing control over an increasing portion of the regulatory issues which are being taken over by the EU executive bodies, primarily the European Commission & the Council of Ministers, whose decisions are not swayed by the political clout & the control mechanisms of the national or the European parliament. That is why the EU member countries have been developing new mechanisms that will strengthen their participatory & controlling competence versus the EU executive bodies. Such mechanisms are most developed in the parliaments of the Scandinavian countries, whose experience serves as a model to other parliaments. Also important are the emergence of some new mechanisms of cooperation with the European parliament as well as the establishment of a permanent inter-parliamentary cooperation. Among the latter, the Conference of Parliamentary Committees specialized for EU affairs stands out; the so-called COSAC (Conferance des Organes specialisees dans les affaires communautaires/Conference of the Community & European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the EU) established in 1989. The author concludes that the candidate countries' parliaments should timely devise certain specialized & cooperative structures that will enable them to be on equal footing with their governments & the EU executive bodies in the process of decision making. 2 Tables, 3 Figures, 64 References. Adapted from the source document.

Geospatial intelligence is a new direction in the development of geographic information science. Besides being a scientific discipline, it is also an intelligence activity and technology directed towards ensuring support for decision-making processes. It complements conventional GIS by combining data from various sources and creating an interactive environment that involves simultaneous access and input to integrated information by a group of individuals with different areas of expertise. The most prominent fields of application in geospatial intelligence are military operations and disaster management. The discipline is currently in the early stage of development in Croatia, and is almost entirely associated with Croatian participation in the Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program. ; Geoprostorno obavještavanje (geospatial intelligence) novi je smjer u razvoju geoinformacijske znanosti. No osim što je znanstvena disciplina, to je također i obavještajna aktivnost i tehnologija usmjerena prema osiguravanju podrške u procesima odlučivanja, odnosno donošenja odluka. Nadopunjujući konvencionalni GIS, ona kombinira podatke iz različitih izvora i stvara interaktivno okruženje koje uključuje istovremeni pristup integriranim informacijama i omogućuje pojedincima razlišitih struka unos podataka u sustav. Najznačajnija područja primjene geoprostornog obavještavanja su vojne akcije i upravljanje kriznim situacijama. U Hrvatskoj je ta disciplina u ranoj fazi razvoja i gotovo je u potpunosti vezana uz sudjelovanje Hrvatske u Multinacionalnom programu zajedničke geoprostorne proizvodnje.

Geoprostorno obavještavanje (geospatial intelligence) novi je smjer u razvoju geoinformacijske znanosti. No osim što je znanstvena disciplina, to je također i obavještajna aktivnost i tehnologija usmjerena prema osiguravanju podrške u procesima odlučivanja, odnosno donošenja odluka. Nadopunjujući konvencionalni GIS, ona kombinira podatke iz različitih izvora i stvara interaktivno okruženje koje uključuje istovremeni pristup integriranim informacijama i omogućuje pojedincima razlišitih struka unos podataka u sustav. Najznačajnija područja primjene geoprostornog obavještavanja su vojne akcije i upravljanje kriznim situacijama. U Hrvatskoj je ta disciplina u ranoj fazi razvoja i gotovo je u potpunosti vezana uz sudjelovanje Hrvatske u Multinacionalnom programu zajedničke geoprostorne proizvodnje. ; Geospatial intelligence is a new direction in the development of geographic information science. Besides being a scientific discipline, it is also an intelligence activity and technology directed towards ensuring support for decision-making processes. It complements conventional GIS by combining data from various sources and creating an interactive environment that involves simultaneous access and input to integrated information by a group of individuals with different areas of expertise. The most prominent fields of application in geospatial intelligence are military operations and disaster management. The discipline is currently in the early stage of development in Croatia, and is almost entirely associated with Croatian participation in the Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program.

The author starts the article with a discussion of the ideas of deliberation & deliberative democracy in general & then presents some impressions & findings of the ongoing comparative research project on global justice movements. The research tries to answer two main questions: "How do (attempts to) deliberation, participation & decision-making look like in different kinds of groups, different countries (and probably at different levels -- from the local to the international)?" & "What factors influence & restrict deliberate/participatory practices?". The presented empirical investigation is mainly based on a semi-structured & full-structured participant observation, complemented by informal interviews in the local & regional groups in six countries & a number of transnational meetings of networks & political campaigns for global justice. The author concludes that global justice groups, though generally putting much emphasis reducing what they perceive as illegitimate forms of power within their own ranks & to deliberate as much as possible, do exhibit quite a number of aberrations from this ideal. Still, the author points out that deliberation, at least at the level of small-scale groups, is not just a dream but actually occurs, & that the majority of these groups are more successful in reducing in their internal communication "hard" power & enabling deliberation than most trade unions, political parties, & big NGOs. Adapted from the source document.

Each election year in Croatia is an occasion for comparing the social guidelines & the practice. To what extent is the policy of gender equality applied to the participation of women in political decision-making at the parliamentary level in Croatia? Modest results are not an exception: almost in all countries there is the gap between the two. Nevertheless, the extent of the participation in older democratic countries is on the average somewhat higher, which can be attributed to the influence of the egalitarian concept of gender roles & the proportional electoral system. In younger democratic countries, including Croatia, the average is somewhat lower due to the significance of socio-economic factors. In some countries a higher level of participation can for the time being be achieved only via the mechanisms of affirmative action i.e. quotas. Therefore, for Croatia it is essential to achieve the "critical mass" of women in its parliament, which can be brought about by introducing quotas at the party level, by democratic selective procedures of nominating candidates, & by putting up candidates of both genders on the party lists, which means that the highest percentages of women in the parliament can be expected from modern parties promoting the deliberate regulation of the above processes. References. Adapted from the source document.

One of the most significant results of European convergence is an increase in the number of channels for the "European" policy activities of subnational actors. These actors are no longer limited to bilateral political relations & national i.e. state actors, but are to cooperate & communicate with different actors in different arenas of decision-making & make use of various channels of influencing the European policy process. The question of subnational mobilization has become extremely significant in the theory of European convergence, particularly following the major reform of the EU cohesion policy of 1988 & the introduction of the partnership principle. In that sense, the mobilization of subnational actors is closely linked to the evolution of the EU cohesion policy. Tt should be noted that despite this, the EU cohesion policy is primarily the essential catalyst of subnational mobilization & thus not "exclusively" linked to the public policy realm; it has increasingly become a prominent feature of other public-policy areas. And finally, hand in hand with the elaboration of the common cohesion policy (related to subnational mobilization) the concept of the so-called multilevel governance was formulated in the context of the European integration, in the sense of identifying the environment in which the processes of the formation & the implementation of common European policies are today taking place. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

Rad je posvećen teoriji političkog procesa američkog politologa i ekonomista Charlesa E. Lindbloma. Nakon kontekstualnog uvida u cjelokupan Lindblomov teorijski opus, što je nezaobilazan korak za interpretacijski zahvat u središnjem dijelu teksta, rad se koncentrira ponajprije na Lindblomovu teoriju inkrementalnog odlučivanja, razvijenu u članku Znanost "plivanja u mutnom" (1959) i knjizi Strategija odluke (1963), povezanu s njegovom koncepcijom "međusobne prilagodbe pristaša", koju je razvio u knjizi Inteligencija demokracije (1965). Rad nudi interpretaciju Lindblomova argumenta koja odstupa od dosadašnje recepcije u hrvatskoj politološkoj literaturi. U njoj se Lindblomov model odlučivanja u osnovi tumači deskriptivno, kao opis stvarne prakse odlučivanja, i suprotstavlja se preskriptivnom racionalnom modelu odlučivanja, što je karakteristično i za neke inozemne interpretacije. U ovome se radu pak ukazuje kako Lindblomova teorija sadržava snažan preskriptivni element. Lindblomova teorija inkrementalizma, uzeta zajedno s pluralističkim modelom međusobne prilagodbe pristaša, nudi cjelovit i konzistentan model politike s naglašenim normativnim implikacijama, koji opravdava upotrebu sintagme politika teorije, što se podrobnije obrazlaže u zaključnom dijelu rada. ; The paper is dedicated to the political process theory by the American political scientist and economist Charles E. Lindblom. After providing a contextual insight into Lindblom's complete theoretical opus, which is a necessary prerequisite for the interpretative manoeuvre in the central part of the text, the paper is primarily focused on Lindblom's theory of incremental decision-making, developed in The Science of Muddling Through (1959) and in A Strategy of Decision (1963), which is related to his concept of "partisan mutual adjustment" developed in The Intelligence of Democracy (1965). The paper offers an interpretation of Lindblom's argument which moves away from its past understanding in Croatian political science literature. There, Lindblom's ...

Ovaj rad bavi se važnošću "znanja" i "pristupa informacijama" u formiranju mišljenja mladih građana o pojedinim temama kroz deliberativne procedure. Deliberativna demokracija, kao demokratski model i demokratska procedura koja dopušta sudionicima uključivanje u racionalan i otvoren dijalog prije odlučivanja o određenoj temi, teorijski je okvir na kojem se temelji istraživanje predstavljeno u ovom radu. Empirijski dio našeg rada temelji se na deliberativnom događaju koji se odvio u listopadu 2014. na instituciji za visoko obrazovanje Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences u Grčkoj. Tema deliberacije bila je "Anketna istraživanja javnog mnijenja o politici". Rezultati ovog istraživanja potvrđuju tezu iz relevantne literature koja naglašava kako deliberativne procedure obogaćuju znanje građana i tako im omogućavaju da učinkovito sudjeluju u procesu donošenja odluka. ; This paper addresses the importance of "knowledge" and "access to information" in the formation of young citizens' opinion through deliberative procedures. The research presented in this paper is grounded in the theoretical framework of deliberative democracy as a democratic model and procedure that allows participants to be engaged in a rational and open dialogue before deciding on a particular issue. Our research draws empirically upon a deliberative event that took place in October 2014 at the Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences in Greece. The topic of deliberation was "Political Public Opinion Polls." The results of this study are commensurate with the dominant thesis in the relevant literature, which underlines that the deliberative procedure enriches the knowledge of citizens and thus enables them to participate effectively in the decision making process.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has maintained control over the Chinese political system since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. Although the Chinese economic system has experienced a drastic change, passing from socialist to more market-oriented economy, the CCP maintained the communist rhetoric that has been adapted to a new reality. Though the political system suffered significant modifications, it never made a U-turn towards liberal democracy. Yet, the most important reform is the transition from a country ruled by a strong leader, to what has been called a collective leadership. Accordingly, the leadership transition has been somehow institutionalized and became a complex process, which is happening in a peaceful way, avoiding major political turbulences. Deng Xiaoping, even though he could be indicated as the last absolute leader of China, promoted the reforms that eventually led to creation of collective leadership and a peaceful leadership transition. The most important aspects were the implementation of the pension system for administration and the top leadership positions, and the establishment of a maximum of two terms in office for all major positions in the country. The collective leadership prevents the possibility of a one-man show and the creation of a dictatorship. Although the system has its discrepancies, it makes PR China a predictable power in which the consensus-based decision-making process is intended to avoid struggles among various fractions and leaders in the Party. Adapted from the source document.

There are various assessments, occasion-related & partial analyses, & even empirical evaluations of the recent collective protest of Croatian students, but there is hardly any attempt of a theoretical clarification & comprehension thereof. Having in mind the largely disparate definitions of social movement, the author is of the opinion that, from the standpoint of theory, the demands of rebelled students, the blockade of the faculty, the plenum decision-making & other forms of collective student activity can best be perceived as a form of student movement. For this reason, he first presents various theories of social movements: the classic American theory of collective behavior (ie., its two versions -- the breakdown theory & the theory of relative deprivation), the theory of resource mobilization, the theory of new social movements (especially Touraine's model of understanding new social movements), the theory of networks, the theory of solidarity, & the political-process analysis. Second, the author attempts to apply each of the enumerated conceptual perspectives to the Croatian student movement for charge-free education. Although the presented theories of social movements are critical of one another, this article points out their complementarity. It goes on to show that not all of them are equally adequate for clarification & comprehension of the central issue. In the author's judgment, one of the key reasons why a multi-perspective approach is necessary is the exceptional, hybrid character of the Croatian student movement, as a mixture of old & new social movements. Adapted from the source document.