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Abstract. The study tries to discover to what extent knowledge of the local language of a diplomat's host country, and language skills generally, are considered while selecting candidates for EU delegation heads in the European External Action Service. With this aim, the study examines possible correlations between languages spoken by the EU delegation heads and the official languages in their respective host countries. It is concluded that a correlation often exists between the language(s), and especially mother tongues, spoken by the EU delegation heads and the official language(s) in the countries to which they are posted and, thus, a candidate's knowledge of the host country's official language is usually taken into account in the selection of candidates for EU delegation heads, although this criterion seems to carry different weight for candidates from various EU member countries. Keywords: EEAS, heads of EU delegations, EEAS staffing policy, EU diplomacy, languages in diplomacy

(Originally published in History and Theory, 1987, 26, 1-29.) It is postulated that, despite the best efforts of professional historians, there is no way of inventing a direct assessment of historical events. In fact, the professional standards of historians' honesty & professionalism are measured against the very conventions that include or exclude certain aspects of historical events. Even the thickest synchronic or quantified description must be understood by its readers as an excerpt from an explicit or implicit narrative. The desire for a source of an unprocessed story is a futile, frustrating effort, since all historical texts or materials are part of a society's cultural system. Adapted from the source document.

The author starts with the relationship between Badiou's otherwise severe critique of democracy & Lefort's theory of democracy. Though accused of not being democratic, Badiou's theory in a certain sense presupposes democracy & even deepens it, yet not the democracy of today, the democracy of consensus, but a democracy that is not based on exclusion. Through the comparison of Badious's & Deleuze's critiques of representation, the author shows some consequences of Badiou's starting-point that "people think" for the conceptualization of the community, equality, & universality. Adapted from the source document.

The author poses the question of whether it is possible to say, contrary to common agreement, that Hegel's political thought contains the elements of liberal political thought. She shows, through examination of The Elements of the Philosophy of Right, that Hegel's definition of an individual as a being of reason & as a free being at the same time points in the direction of liberalism & its preoccupation with the freedom & autonomy of the individual. Hegel's key emphasis, however, is that freedom of free choice already presupposes a choice already made, a forced choice of the frame of the free choice itself, which an individual has to take upon himself/herself. Adapted from the source document.

Karl Popper's distinction between science & metaphysics (pseudoscience) is analyzed, arguing that the principle of demarcation (falsification) cannot support Popper's thesis. Although falsification can be useful for distinguishing between empirical & nonempirical sciences, it also leads to clustering logic & mathematics, theory of induction, metaphysical theories, & philosophy in general. It is argued that Popper misinterprets A. Tarski's (1949) notion of the pursuit of truth in science & assumes that it can meet some objective criteria. One of the major problems of Popper's view of science in his theory of verisimilitude, allegedly capable of solving the problems of correspondence & objectivity. Instead, a blend of Popper's & Feyerabend's positions on scientific progress is suggested. 17 References. Adapted from the source document.

Old people living alone: consequences and prevention
Important findings in the field of solitary life in old age and the problem of loneliness are presented. Difficulties experienced by old people due to loneliness should not be neglected and their impact on their physical and mental health and general wellbeing needs to be addressed. Therefore some interventions are described that proved to be effective in preventing negative consequences of loneliness among the elderly. As the social network is very important for the health of the old, the most successful interventions are those based on strengthening the social support of old people (for example cooperation within associations, providing support to others, multigenerational households).

Platform work is often characterised by economic insecurity, dehumanising control procedures, isolation, deepening racial, economic and gender inequalities, and other socio-economic problems. There are lively debates underway concerned with how to regulate or limit the negative effects of platform capitalism. This article reviews two of the most common calls for action – regulation and platform co-operatives. We argue that there is also an unexplored, complementary option, which uses the network effects of platforms to provide greater benefits for platform workers. To understand this alternative, we introduce the American Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) mechanism for employee buyouts, redefine the model according to the main cooperative values, and apply it to the platform economy. We conclude that there is a third option is available to governments and municipalities, namely to require an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in the local subsidiary of the platform company. Keywords: Platform economy, platform co-operativism, employee buyouts, platform ESOP

The aim of our paper is to formulate and empirically verify the simple backward looking econometric model of the monetary rule, which would be able to describe the development of CNB repo rate, namely only on the basis of statistically measured and in the given time available information. We focus on the period after 1998, when the CNB's inflation targeting policy is implemented and the repo rate (14 days) plays the role of the monetary policy rate. In the paper we discuss some methodological problems associated with the "ex post" empirical verification of the central bank monetary rule. We construct an empirical model of the monetary rule, justify the choice and the inclusion of explanatory variables, we analyze the statistical properties of time series and verify the alternative forms of econometric models. Our analysis showed that the development of CNB repo rate in the reporting period can be explained by the past and present evolution of three explanatory variables: the yearly inflation rate, the exchange rate and the ECB repo rate. The annualized inflation rate proved to be statistically insignificant in the model. We find interesting that the statistical quality of the estimated model was further increased after a six-month delay of the yearly inflation rate. The obtained results indicate that in determining the CNB repo rate the expected future level of the yearly inflation rate does not play important role and the last yearly inflation rate is more important than its present level. Adapted from the source document.

The study in this article addresses three research questions: a) how do college students view the effectiveness of technology-mediated virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic; b) how does virtual learning impact their perceived mental health; and c) what is the mode of learning they most prefer? It follows an explanatory research design and survey method. Data are collected using a questionnaire with a purposive sample of 102 students and interviews with 20 students and 40 faculty members in India. The conceptual framework of this study is quite similar to the modified version of the Technology Acceptance Model (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000). The study reveals that 86% of the students find virtual learning to be ineffective. Such learning not only fails to provide adequate opportunities for experiential learning for developing knowledge, skills, and leadership abilities but also creates several perceived mental health problems. This study may help higher education institutions while designing and implementing virtual teaching-learning systems in order to prevent their negative impact on student's perceived mental health in future crises. Keywords: Virtual learning, perceived mental health, COVID-19 pandemic, Behavioural Intention, Perceived Usefulness

The article examines agenda-setting factors in Kosovo concerning the war in Ukraine. Due to the complex situation in the Western Balkans and the context of the tensions between Kosovo and Serbia, the presented research explains the role played by television in the hybrid media environment as the most important source of information in the crisis. The research looks at how television has impacted how the public views the war in Ukraine, and how it has covered the situation both before and after the invasion. A mixed methodology consisting of a questionnaire, television monitoring, content analysis, and desk research was thus adopted on the empirical level. On this level, 716 news stories were analysed between 1 February and 31 March 2022 and a survey with 1,312 respondents from Kosovo was conducted in April and May 2022 to identify different agents in the agenda setting and how that works with respect to the war in Ukraine. The research results show that the war in Ukraine has dominated the agenda of television stations in Kosovo, while the effects of their reporting vary according to the audience's demographic characteristics. Keywords: agenda setting, framing, Kosovo, public opinion, Ukraine, war

Abstract. Nativism does not only present a concept,
but also an ideological framework as well as a political practice related to identity politics. In the article we
firstly present the theoretical reflection of nativism and
operationalise the most important terms and characteristics of this phenomenon. Later, we apply the concept of nativism to the analysis of conservative populist
and/or nativist political actors in the Central European
region. The analysis shows how nativism, as a relatively
peripheral issue in the first 10–15 years after the democratic transition, became stronger in the next period
characterised by a set of crises after 2008. The analysis
demonstrates how the mainstream parties in Central
Europe adopted the nativist and conservative populist
agenda and implemented it into mainstream politics.
Furthermore, the analysis shows how Central European
nativism correlates with the long-term existence of antiliberal streams that were revitalised after the fall of
Communist regimes. These anti-modern societal groups
were reformulated as the counter-cosmopolitan camp
within the polarisation process that is clearly visible in
the political arena.
Keywords: nativism; national conservatism; identity
politics; Central Europe

Povzetek. Radikalizem in radikalna politična gibanja so logični in hkrati problematični odziv na družbene spremembe in probleme. Namen članka je prikazati težavno umeščenost radikalizma med povsem legitimne oblike reagiranja na družbeno stvarnost in potencialno ali celo dejansko grožnjo nacionalni varnosti v primeru nasilnega ekstremizma. Avtor preverja in potrjuje tezo, da je politični radikalizem oblika odzivanja na družbene probleme, ki v primeru uresničitve z največjo verjetnostjo pripelje do velikih družbenopolitičnih sprememb, vendar pa se sooča s tveganjem, da postane grožnja nacionalni varnosti v primeru izvajanja ekstremističnih nasilnih dejanj. Avtor ugotavlja, da je radikalizem rezultat kontinuuma med naraščajočo radikalnostjo ciljev in naraščajočo radikalnostjo implementacije ciljev. Ključni pojmi: radikalizem, radikalna politika, nasilni ekstremizem, terorizem, grožnja nacionalni varnosti

The special legal nature of the concession contract (as one of the legal transactions) which represents a legal framework where the public & private interests meet (two parties cooperate for mutual benefit) is characterized by intertwining of general rules of obligation law & special legal institutes that originate from the sphere of public law. The legal nature of the contractual relationships that arise between administrative & private entities requires special regulation of individual institutes that should reflect the public interest as an important guiding principle for concluding these contracts, & a special legal position of a public law entity as a holder of this public interest. Despite adoption of the new Public-Private Partnership Act in the legislative regulation of the concession contract that still remains variously regulated in previously adopted special provisions of sectoral laws, there are still some deficiencies & dilemmas that are more or less effectively dealt with in the contractual practice. For the legal positions that are classically civil at first sight, the legislator or court practice have laid down special modified rules of civil law in most developed countries. In the course of time, these rules became part of public law/administrative law. Thus, the French legal order has best developed the rules of the public contractual law & the legal institute of the administrative contract that the Slovenian administrative theoreticians try more & more to introduce also into our legal order. References. Adapted from the source document.

When national authorities decide what activities will be needed to provide public goods & to what extent, they must also make a decision on the modes of allocation & distribution of public goods (which are the objects of public service provision) among users. In the practice of the EU Member States, a variety of diverse public service provision systems can be found. They vary between the public sector & the market, & they include numerous & highly diverse organizational forms of public service provision. A public enterprise is one of them. In the Slovenian legal regulation, a variety of problems arise due to the deficiencies in the existing public enterprise organization. These problems mostly result from some public enterprise status issues regulated under private law. The biggest problem of statutory regulation of the public enterprise status in Slovenia is certainly the absence of a special organizational model of the public enterprise. Adapted from the source document.

Dejstva, ki dokazujejo povezanost okoljskih in varnostnih problemov sodobne družbe, so neizpodbitna, na kar opozarjajo številne znanstvene analize. Vprašanje je, ali se tudi slovenska javnost zaveda te povezanosti in če da, v kolikšni meri, kar proučujemo prek analize podatkov o njenem odnosu do okoljske problematike. Ključna metoda je analiza podatkov raziskav »SJM 2020/3 Odnos do okolja« in »SJM 2011/1 Okolje«. Ugotavljamo, da postaja slovenska javnost vse bolj občutljiva za okoljske probleme, vendar pa skrbi zaradi le-teh niso tako izrazite, kot bi predpostavili na podlagi argumentov in podatkov o pogostosti in intenzivnosti podnebnih nesreč, okoljskega terorizma in kriminala, nasilja ob državljanskih nemirih, okoljskih migrantov ter oboroženih spopadov, ki so tudi okoljsko pogojeni. Nekateri od teh pojavov namreč že močno vplivajo na varnost Slovenije in njenih prebivalcev. Ugotavljamo tudi, da okoljske probleme javnost sicer zaznava, da jo skrbijo do določene mere, vendar njihovih posledic ne povezuje v zadostni meri s svojim vsakdanjim življenjem, vključno z varnostjo. Ključni pojmi: okolje, okoljski problemi, viri ogrožanja, okoljska varnost, javnost, zaznava