Sustainable development is a developmental concept that takes into account the economic, the environmental, and the social dimension of development. The modem approach to the concept of sustainable development implies acknowledgement of new dimensions or pillars of development. The subject of this paper is the institutional dimension as the fourth dimension of sustainable development. The path to sustainable development requires interconnectedness, harmonization, and coordination of different dimensions of development. Institutionally, new principles or concepts are necessary to improve the functioning of the various institutions and actors involved in the process of achieving the goals of sustainable development. The aim of this paper is to indicate that economic, ecological, and social development based on sustainability requires institutional support as a complementary and necessary dimension.
After twenty five years since the introduction of the semi-presidential system in Serbia and in the region, this text attempt to reassess its performance, achievements and limits. It analyses the factors which the power of the directly elected president depends on (constitutional competences, manner of election, whether he is a party president, whether his party has majority in the parliament). The text explains the origin of the concept and institution, reasons for introduction, criteria for maximalist and minimalist understandings of semi-presidentialism. In new democracies the semi-presidential system faces additional challenges and temptations: 'the third mandate', absence of reelection-related incentives in the second mandate, manner of inclusion in/exclusion from the creation of politics and whether the directly elected president is in the same time the party president. Possible redesign of this political institution would require taking care that the manner of election is only one of the dimensions important for functioning of this system. The issue of the level of competences is of no less importance. The key is in the careful balance of power among the three branches of power, but above else between the president of the state and the prime minister.
The dissertation explores the causes of the Euro crisis of 2009, using the institutional explanation in social sciences and the game theory. It includes discussions on the role of fiscal and monetary policies for stabilization of the economy, a brief history of monetary unions, as well as a summary of the European monetary integration process. Key findings of the dissertation are considering strategic situations in which the Member States have been involved before and after the creation of the European Economic and Monetary Union and the euro, which can be analysed using the game theory. The institutional design of the European Communities, after the breakup of the Breton Woods system, has put the Members States in the strategic situation of prisoner's dilemma, which in turn made coordination of monetary policies and exchange rates unfeasible. The creation of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) made possible for the Member States to overcome the dilemma by transferring the monetary policy from national to the European level of governance. Unfortunately, the institutional design of the EMU created a specific set of the interdependence of the Member States and the institutional incentives which created a new collective action problem. The new problem can be observed as a strategic situation of the chicken game in which the Member States again does not have the incentive to act in the accordance with the rules in the same, cooperative manner. Finally, the dissertation analyses the institutional consequences of the crisis and the incentives emerged after the post-crisis reforms. The conclusion is that the reforms should prevent similar euro crisis. On the other hand, questions could be raised regarding the power shift among the main bodies of the European Union. ; Rad se bavi istraživanjem uzroka krize evra nastale 2009. godine, oslanjajući se na institucionalno objašnjenje u društvenim naukama i teoriju igara. Disertacija sadrži rasprave o ulozi fiskalne i monetarne politike za stabilizaciju privrede, kratku istoriju monetarnih unija pre Evropske ekonomske i monetarne unije (EMU), kao i sažetu istoriju evropske monetarne integracije. Ključni nalazi disertacije su tiču se strateških situacija koje su dovele do nastanka jedinstvene evropske valute i kasnije do njene krize, koje je moguće analizirati uz pomoć teorije igara. Institucionalni aranžman Evropskih zajednica nakon raspada Bretonvudskog sistema stavio je države članice u stratešku situaciju zatvorenikove dileme, što je činilo koordinaciju monetarnih politike i deviznog kursa neodrživim. Kako bi se prevazišao taj problem, formirana je EMU kojom je uveden evro, a monetarna politika prenesena na sa nacionalnog evropski nivo vlasti. Međutim dizajn EMU stvorio specifičan spoj međuzavisnosti i podsticaja iz koga je nastao nov problem kolektivnog delanja za države članice monetarne unije. Taj problem se ogleda u strateškoj situaciji igre kukavice u kojoj učesnici nemaju podsticaj da se ponašaju na istovetan, kooperativan način. Na kraju disertacije analizirani su podsticaji nastali sprovedenih institucionalnih reformi. Zaključak je će reforme najverovatnije sprečiti da nastanak slične krize u budućnosti, ali i da se mogu otvoriti nova pitanja u vezi sa promenom ravnoteže moći unutar organa EU.
The paper discusses the role of the European Parliament in the inter-institutional quest for power on the ground of the effectiveness of its control over the supra- national institutions and bodies with the intelligence function as well as in the protection of the right to privacy. The starting assumption is that, despite the Lisbon reform, the powers and jurisdiction of the European Parliament are still quite limited with a view to oversight of the EU policy implementation and the performance of the EU institutions, respectively. The author examines the following cases: the recently revealed practice of massive electronic surveillance of the EU citizens' communication, the unselective processing of personal data, and the semi-secretive set up of a supranational intelligence function out of the MEPs' reach. The analyzed cases show that the European Parliament's control powers are weak when it comes to the issues that demand a narrow technical expertise, but still can endanger civil rights. The author concludes that the protection of the right to privacy can indicate the real power of the Parliament in future dynamics of the supranational institutional framework.
Summary: Establishing of the New institutional economics as dominant institutional theoretical perspective, has contributed to the theoretical affirmation of the institution and to the recognition that institutions and institutional changes are an important part of the overall dynamics of economic reality. Therefore, the importance of defining the "new" institutional paradigm is reflected not only in the "endogenization" of the institutions as the relevant economic variables, but also in the possibilities of a broader consideration of the potential contribution of institutions to the overall macroeconomic performances. However, despite to the significant theoretical achievements in the economic recognition of the multiple institutional importances, in the observation of institutional change as a determinant of economic development, many questions remain open. For instance, it is still not known which institutions, in which specific forms required, or rather useful for economic development, or in which context. Although it is known the role that specific institutions can play in the process of the economic development, the problem is how to build such institutions. If developmental effects generally depend on the quantity and quality of institutional changes, than how to explain the fact that the establishment of the same institutional forms in the countries with approximate developmental preconditions, usually in practice does not led to the equal developmental results? This study, in form of a doctoral dissertation, is exactly driven by such issues. Therefore, as its primary goal assumes the theoretical development of the concept of institutional contributions to the development and identification of institutional criteria and mechanisms for improving economic performance. The basic assumption on which this dissertation is based implies that institutions and institutional changes are necessary, but not sufficient condition for good macroeconomic performance of the country. This additional requirement is contained precisely in the implementation of "good governance", namely the establishment of the basic principles of this concept. The research is based on an analytical basis of the theoretical framework of the New institutional economics. Starting of the known information about the nature of institutions and institutional change, as well as on the basic assumptions of institutional sustainability and efficiency, there are theoretical elaborated concept of the institutional contributions to the development. Special attention was given to comparative institutional analysis. By combining information from different comparative economics, there are studied the relationship between institutional quality and economic efficiency. An attempt was made in order to identify main channels through which institutional quality determined economic performance, and therefore which is a possible causes of institutional inefficiency. Through the analysis of several representative cases in practice, the empirical validity of the findings is further checked. Since development issues become topical, especially during the crisis, it is clear incentives to explore the institutions and mechanisms of institutional change and use this knowledge in achieving, in a greater degree, controlled development.
The Republic of Serbia has introduced special circumstances for the determination of sentence for hate crime in the Criminal Code amended in December 2012. If a criminal offence is committed through hate based on race or religion, national or ethnic affiliation, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity of another, the court shall consider any aggravating factors except when it is not stipulated as a feature of the criminal offence. However, the State still neglects to consider mitigating factors. Moreover, it does not pay sufficient attention to eliminating verbal expressions of hatred and discrimination that often precede crimes motivated by hate. The paper discusses the possibility of improving education and coordinated activities of the State, particularly of courts, prosecutors, police and local self-governments, to combat hate speech and hate crimes. The aim of the paper is to present mechanisms of improving institutional capacities to prevent these phenomena that have been implemented within the project "Implementation of Anti-Discrimination Policies in Serbia" financed by the European Union. The paper concludes that central to the success of this process are the education of state actors, and the development of a value system based on equality and acceptance of diversity.
Predmet istraživanja doktorske disertacije odnosi se na analizu značaja i mehanizama na koji institucionalna obeležja utiču na efikasnost nacionalnih ekonomija. Pritom, cilj je da se istraživanjem identifikuju relevantne normativne i pozitivne pozicije u pogledu uloge koju institucije imaju u ekonomskim procesima, kao i njihov međusobni odnos i relativna važnost pri uticaju na ekonomske performanse, sa posebnim osvrtom na iskustva privrednih sistema zemalja u tranziciji. Iz tog razloga, analizirane su osobenosti institucija kao jedinica ekonomske analize, raznovrsnost elemenata institucionalne strukture, kroz, naročit, osvrt na interakciju koja se pojavljuje između formalnih i neformalnih institucionalnih pravila. Uslovljenost ekonomskih performansi institucionalnim svojstvima analizirana je iz perspektive teorije transakcionih troškova, kao i teorije vlasničkih prava i mehanizmima kojima oni ostvaruju uticaj na ekonomske performanse. Iz razloga što značajan deo institucionalne strukture nastaje, ali se i menja, u okviru političkog sistema, efekti na ekonomsku aktivnost posmatrani su kroz uticaje koji nastaju kao posledica specifičnosti političkih institucija, odnosno, njihove stabilnosti, forme i centralizovanosti, kao i kvaliteta javnog upravljanja, uticaja rent-seeking-a i političkih konjunkturnih ciklusa. S obzirom da su postojanost i dinamika integralna svojstva svakog segmenta institucionalne strukture, deo istraživanja je orijentisan na analizu osnovnih elemenata, tipova i teorija institucionalnih promena, zavisnost promene institucija od istorijskog institucionalnog, formalnog i neformalnog, nasleđa, kontroverzi u pogledu transplantacije institucija, kao i uzroka institucionalne histereze i neuspeha. Na osnovu empirijskog istraživanja odnosa ekonomskih performansi i institucionalnog kvaliteta, utvrđeno je da nivo per capita dohotka odlučujuće zavisi od kvaliteta institucionalne strukture, efikasne zaštite vlasničkih prava, usklađenosti između formalnih i neformalnih pravila, čime institucionalne promene u pravcu unapređenja svih institucionalnih segmenata predstavljaju neophodnu pretpostavku efikasnijoj ekonomskoj aktivnosti. ; This paper refers to the analysis of the importance of the institutions and the mechanisms through which the institutional characteristics influence the efficiency of national economies. In this context, the main goals of the research are to identify and explain relevant normative and positive aspects of institutional theory, the way in which institutions affect economic processes, as well as the interrelation and relative importance of different institutional units in their influence on economic performance, with special emphasis on the experience of transition countries. For this purpose, the author has reviewed the uniqueness of institutions as units of economic analysis, the diversity of the elements of institutional structure, with the particular accent on interaction between formal and informal institutional rules. Dependence of economic performance upon the institutional characteristics has been analyzed from the perspective of transaction-cost theory, as well as the theory of property rights. Special attention is paid to the mechanism through which the property rights exercise their influence upon the efficient operation of economic system. Bearing in mind the fact that the important part of institutional structure is made within a political process, the effects of institutions are observed through the influences derived from political stability, political regime and the level of administrative and fiscal centralization. The quality of governance, the impact of rent-seeking activities and the influence coming from political and business cycles are additional important features in this regard. Since the institutions display the persistence and changeability at the same time, the important part of the research is dedicated to the analysis of different types and theories of institutional changes, the dependency of changes on the past formal and informal institutional development, the issues related to the transplantation of institutions and the causes of institutional hysteresis. Based on the empirical part of the thesis, we have reached the conclusion that the level of per capita income largely depends on the quality of institutions, especially the protection of property rights, as well as the harmonization between formal and informal institutions. This makes good institutions a decisive and long-lasting factor of the success and efficiency of national economies.
Social reforms had an important position in the process of transition changes in Serbia in the previous decade. Their strategic framework and aims have been defined in the first years after the 'democratic changes' of 2000 and their realization followed by a series of problems. The transition from the 'socialist welfare state' to the concept of 'active social policy' has been in compliance with the accepted model of (liberal) reforms and changes in the institutional sphere. Analysis of effects and achievements have pointed to an inadeaqucy of the accepted model and deficiencies in the practice. From the point of view of the current situation and expected changes in the future, there is an obvious need for a comprehensive evaluation of cause of (un)success of social reforms. The reason for that lies in the elimination of insufficiencies and creation of a basis for the construction of a system in compliance with the national objectives, the European standards and global challenges.
In recent years, the violation of the principles that guarantee the respect of democratic norms and institutions has placed Serbia into the category of deficient democracies, and more recently in hybrid regimes. Since the beginning of the transition, the implementation of political and economic reforms in Serbia has been characterized by frequent shifts of periods with modest progress in the field of political and economic transformation with periods of stagnation and even backsliding in regards to the important reform segments. The indicators of political and economic reforms point to the strengthening of extractive institutions. Extractive institutions protect the economic and political interests of privileged groups to the detriment of the rest of society. This leaves fewer resources available to stimulate economic growth and job creation, with negative countereffects on the regime legitimacy and trust, which are crucial for the implementation of economic reforms. Serbia's failure to provide stronger economic growth is largely caused by extractive institutions that determine the business environment. The development of extractive institutions is indicated by the absence of a more even distribution of political power, weaknesses in the mechanisms of checks and balances, deficiencies in the sphere of the rule of law, widespread corruption, problems in the sphere of protection of property rights. The transitional developments in Serbia can be regarded as a historical heritage that adapts to the current social environment and has a great impact on institutional performance and democratic consolidation. Prolonged exposure to extractive institutions creates a cumulative effect of institutional learning, where individuals become vulnerable to political abuse, dependent on the state and unwilling to use political mechanisms of government accountability, contributing to a vicious circle of extractive political and economic institutions. Identifying the mechanisms of such accumulation, which include prolonged exposure to extractive institutions, as well as the transmission of cultural patterns from older generations who have long experience with extractive institutions, is a complex research task.
Rad istražuje ulogu i doprinos razvojne pomoći u procesu programiranja i implementacije pravosudne reforme u Srbiji od 2002. do 2012. godine. Pojam razvojne pomoći u ovom radu obuhvata donacije i projektnu pomoć međunarodnih partnera u širem smislu, što obuhvata kako međunarodne organizacije tako i razvojne agencije i/ili programe stranih država. Pod pravosudnom reformom rad primarno podrazumeva postizanje nezavisnosti pravosuđa u čijoj je osnovi stručnost nosilaca pravosudne funkcije. Stoga, posebno mesto u istaživanju zauzima jedinstveni slučaj transformacije Pravosudne akademije od projekta do državne institucije u funkciji osnaživanja kriterijuma stručnosti. Osnovna hipoteza rada je da je uspešnost reforme pravosuđa uslovljena primenom kriterijuma stručnosti u izboru, vrednovanju i napredovanju nosilaca pravosudne funkcije. Sprovedeno istraživanje potvrđuje hipotezu i donosi zaključak da nije postignut značajan uspeh u reformi pravosuđa u Srbiji. Utvrdili smo da su stagnaciji reforme doprineli, u jednakoj meri, s jedne strane, međunarodni partneri nekoherentnim pristupom programiranju reforme, a s druge, nacionalni partneri u Srbiji nedostatkom stvarne potražnje za reformom. Sadejstvom ovih razvojnih partnera u primeni tehnika izomorfne mimikrije i preuranjenog opterećenja došlo se do mešovitog rezultata - kapaciteti pravosuđa u Srbiji su u izvesnoj meri uvećani ali nezavisnost suda nije. Rad na osnovu ovih nalaza daje preporuke za unapređenje programiranja i realizaciju reforme pravosuđa kao što su koherentni strateški mehanizmi, koordinacija razvojnih partnera i depolitizacija reformskog procesa. ; The study explores the role and contribution of development assistance within the process of programming and implementation of judicial reform in Serbia from 2002 to 2012. The notion of development assistance, according to the study, includes donations and project assistance from international partners in a wider sense such as from international organizations, development agencies and/or bilateral assistance. The study defines judicial reform as the independence of the judiciary, which is based on the competency of judges and prosecutors. Thus, special attention is given to the unique case of the transformation of the Judicial Academy from a project to a state institution with the mandate to enhance the competency criteria and the merit based system for judges and prosecutors. The basic hypothesis of the study is that the success of judicial reform is conditioned by the application of competency criteria in the appointment, evaluation and career advancement of judges and prosecutors. The research confirms the hypothesis and leads to the conclusion that the judicial reform in Serbia did not achieve significant successes. It concludes that both the international and national partners contributed equally to the stagnation of the judicial reform process. While international partners applied incoherent approaches, through their reform programming, the national partners exercised a lack of genuine reform demand and commitment. The joint actions of these development partners in the implementation of techniques of isomorphic mimicry and the premature load bearing led to mixed results – the capacity of the judiciary in Serbia has been increased to a certain extent, but the independence of the judiciary has not been reached. The study, based on these conclusions provides recommendations for the improvement of programming and implementation of judicial reform such as through a coherent strategic programming mechanism, coordination of development partners and depolarization of the reform process.
The subject of this dissertation is the mutual relationship between institutions and economic growth and development. The analysis focuses especially on this relationship during the privatization process in Serbia, as well as the influence of institutional quality on the process of privatization. Accordingly, the theoretical framework of this thesis represents institutional economics, which as a theoretical concept, points out the role and importance of institutions for economic growth and development of each country. The institutions create the "rules of the game", that represent the normative framework of given economy, as well as the mechanisms that affect its efficiency. According to this theoretical concept, economic analysis can not be reduced to an examination of the market and market relations, but must also include the institutions that regulate the market and allow its efficient functioning. The dissertation first discusses the theoretical bases of institutional economics and provide the basic elements of its genesis (old institutionalism and new institutional economics). On this basis, the basic concepts of institutional economics are defined and their methodological meaning for the purposes of the analysis are determined in this dissertation. That is why it is specifically discussed the role of rules and contracts and property rights and transaction costs, particularly in terms of economic efficiency. Using the above basic concepts of institutional economics is analyzed and the fundamental question of this dissertation - the influence of institutional quality on the privatization process and its effects in Serbia, and consequently its economic growth and development. Different outcome of institutional reforms and attitude towards them is in transition countries resulted in different levels of their economic development and to a large extent determined by the character of the economic system and the quality of its institutions. Uneven development in these countries is due to the different institutional capacities, conditioned by the political and economic determinants. Developed countries in transition had the better of the institution, which has allowed them to implement the overall reform faster and more efficiently. On the other hand, the less developed countries find themselves in front of urgent institutional reforms that did not have adequate economic base, resulting in the potential for economic growth was much slower. There were no adequate and quality institutions. Determine what kind of economic and institutional environment did the process of privatization in Serbia is an important element of this dissertation. ; Predmet istraživanja ovog rada je međusobni odnos institucija i privrednog rasta i razvoja. Analiza se posebno fokusira na ovaj odnos tokom procesa privatizacije u Srbiji, kao i na uticaj kvaliteta institucija na sam proces privatizacije. U skladu sa tim, teorijski okvir ove disertacije predstavlja institucionalna ekonomija, koja kao teorijski koncept, u prvi plan ističe ulogu i značaj institucija za privredni rast i razvoj svake zemlje. Institucije kreiraju "pravila igre", odnosno predstavljaju normativni okvir date ekonomije, kao i mehanizme koji utiču na njenu efikasnost. Prema ovom teorijskom konceptu, ekonomska analiza se ne može svesti samo na ispitivanje tržišta i tržišnih odnosa, već mora obuhvatiti i institucije koje uređuju tržište i omogućavaju njegovo efikasno funkcionisanje. U radu se najprije razmatraju teorijske osnove institucionalne ekonomije i daju osnovni elementi njene geneze (stari institucionalizam i nova institucionalna ekonomija). Na toj osnovi se definišu osnovni pojmovi institucionalne ekonomije i određuje njihov metodološki smisao za potrebe analize koja se vrši u ovom radu. Tako se posebno razmatra uloga pravila i ugovora, te svojinska prava i transakcioni troškovi, prvenstveno sa aspekta ekonomske efikasnosti. Primjenom navedenih osnovnih pojmova institucionalne ekonomije analizira se i osnovno pitanje ovog rada – uticaj kvaliteta institucija na proces privatizacije i njegove efekte u Srbiji, a posledično i na njen privredni rast i razvoj. Različit ishod institucionalnih reformi i odnos prema njima je u zemljama u tranziciji rezultirao različitim nivoom njihovog ekonomskog razvoja i u značajnoj mjeri je odredio karakter ekonomskog sistema i kvalitet njegovih institucija. Nejednak razvoj u tim zemljama je posledica različitih institucionalnih kapaciteta, uslovljenih političkim i ekonomskim determinantama. Razvijenije zemlje u tranziciji su imale i kvalitetnije institucije, što im je omogućilo da sveukupne reforme sprovedu brže i efikasnije. Sa druge strane, manje razvijenije zemlje su se našle pred neodložnim institucionalnim reformama za koje nisu imale odgovarajuću ekonomsku podlogu, usled čega je njihov ekonomski razvoj bio znatno sporiji. Nisu postojale adekvatne i kvalitetne institucije. Utvrditi u kakvom ekonomskom i institucionalnom okruženju je tekao proces privatizacije u Srbiji predstavlja važan element ovog rada.
Sustainable development is a globally recognized multi-dimensional concept which takes into account the three basic dimensions of development: economic, environmental and social. This concept is incorporated in the development of modern models of strategy of economic, social and environmental development. The road to achieving sustainable development is associated with a number of uncertainties and requires interconnection, harmonization and coordination of different dimensions of development. It is particularly important to the development of each dimension is given equal importance. This is in practice very difficult to achieve and there is always a trade-off or a dimension of sustainable development is given more or less importance. Contemporary approaches to the concept of sustainable development representing the existence of new dimensions of development. There is a view that the institutional dimension is the fourth dimension of sustainable development. Thus, this paper will point out that the economic, environmental and social development on the basis of sustainability, institutional support is complementary and necessary dimension. Rural development policy is an important part of development policy of many countries. One of the important issues in development policy in many countries is the integration of sustainable development policy and rural development policy. For the realization of sustainable rural development requires a strategic framework to identify available resources and define priorities and guidelines for further development with respect to economic, environmental t and social dimensions of sustainable development. Important in the conduct of such a policy and implementation strategy is an adequate institutional framework. To manage the institutional dimension of sustainable rural development is necessary to coordinate a number of activities in the fields of economic, environmental and social policies at the national level, and align them with international policy and development program. In order to realize progress in rural development policy requires a strategic framework to identify available resources and define priorities and guidelines for further development with respect to economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. Of importance in this paper is carried out a comparative analysis of rural development strategies aimed at positioning Serbia compared to some countries in the European Union and South East Europe and to point out the critical elements of designing and implementing this strategy. Consideration of the institutional framework, as an important dimension of sustainable development, should assist in the coordination of activities and cooperation of various institutions in order to ensure the achievement of development goals. Good institutional arrangements should provide all necessary support for the creation and implementation of policies and strategies for sustainable rural development.
