Regional differences are one of the most important forms of expression of uneven economic development. The unevenness of the level of development in the regions in the Republic of Serbia is one of the most complex development problems. The current economic policy has caused that the gap between rich and poor regions is increasing in Serbia. Different demographic development of the regions is consequences of differences of economic development. In this paper, the authors analyze the quantitative and qualitative population's characteristics. Attention is given to the implementation of VIKOR methods in order to rank the regions of Serbia according to the level of demographic development. Ranking regions by multiple criteria simultaneously, contributes to the determination of the real situation in terms of regional differences. The authors demonstrate that the multi-criteria analysis could be applied to determine the demographic disparities between the levels of development of the regions. The criteria and their importance could be changed depending on the consideration of demographic, economic and social development. Also, other methods of multi-criteria analysis in the evaluation of the demographic development of the region or state is applied.
Each day we make decisions, draw conclusions or resolve problems. The environment in which we make decisions is complex and dynamic and yet it influences the whole process as much as one's knowledge, experience, etc. In these situations, the decision making analysis stands out which provides a logic base for defining possible alternatives and the choice of an optimal option from the possible solutions. The decision making analysis helps the decision maker to choose the optimal option in line with his knowledge, reasoning, beliefs and preferences. When there are several criteria the decision making is ambiguous and one needs to find the optimal or the most efficient solution. The multi-criteria decision making can be multi-purposeful. In case the alternatives are explicitly defined and quantified we are dealing with the multi-attribute decision making. The criteria values for the analyzed alternatives can be qualitative and quantitative; therefore, the qualitative ones have to be quantified. Deciding on the location is one of the key elements of logistics and of the importance of the decision making process used by the companies in order to determine where to locate the facility is a decision of crucial importance to all logistic elements and the entire business development of the company. Further on, the contemporary economic, competitive and technological conditions and the business environment comprise a dynamic category, so the currently optimal location may not be optimal in the future. Companies use qualitative and quantitative criteria while deciding on the location of the factory. When deciding on the location of the factory one conducts a detailed analysis due to the dynamic business environment. Constant changes in the environment influence business adjustments. On the contrary, the logistic facilities and their locations are static and are not subject to alteration in a short period of time and in such a way respond to the business environment changes. While making such a decision one needs to use new methodologies and contemporary tools as a decision making support in order to adequately respond to the business environment changes and secure the high quality decision making by taking into account quantitative and qualitative criteria which are important for making a decision on a choice of a location. From the very beginning, local self-governments, worldwide as well as in Serbia, had different roles in the economic development. Local self-governments usually dealt with administrative procedures with no active part in the economic development. By establishing legal grounds local self-governments started improving the business environment and providing support to the business community, but also actively attracting foreign direct investments which have proven to be the key activity of the local economic development. Identification and understanding of the industrial location decision making process within the companies has been identified as a crutial activity which the local self-governments can use in improving the business environment and recruitment of direct investments. On the basis on the prioritization of the quantitative and qualitative decision making criteria in the process of selection a location, local self-governments can improve their business environment if resources are being used optimally and in such a way they support the local economic development by assisting the business community and attracting direct investments. In this paper we established a model which, using the method for decision making in the case of optimization of the industrial location decision making, enables efficient use of the resources of local economic development. The model will enable the identification of criteria / determinant of locations that should be invested in order to promote local economic development, on the basis of a comparison of local governments and types of potential investors. Use of standard methods of multiattribute analysis gives the possibility of a subjective approach to the researcher who must determine in advance the criteria weights, while the application of the model presented in this paper avoids the subjectivity and objectifies the process of preference, a combination of criteria DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis,) and multiattribute analysis methods (AHP, ELECTRE, PROMETHEE, TOPSIS). Within the dissertation, survey conducted, analysed local governments (alternatives) in terms of fulfilling the criteria (location determinants), within which each local government alone determines the criteria weight based on survey of types of potential investors. A comparative analysis of the results of these studies, where other various methods for decision making can be also used, identified the best method, among selected that are the best known and most used, and the result of the dissertation will determine the importance of the location determinants, which will enable to policymakers in field of local economic development, investment promotion and improving business environment at all levels, through the use of the proposed model of efficient planning, the opportunity to efficiently and cost-effectively use the resources at their disposal.
This doctoral dissertation confirmes possibilities of application of mathematical methods in the contemporary approach of decision making in development projects of cluster organizations in Serbia, as well as introduction of software application "MS Project" which ensure more effective and more efficient project management of cluster organization development, assessment of all project resources engaged and optimal forecast on the completion of the project implementation. Regarding the fact that this issue has not been sufficiently elaborated in Serbia, the main goal of the research was to clarify the role and significance of the mathematical methods, as well as to elaborate the theoretical models of multi-criteria analysis that can be successfully implemented in practice with the aim of identifying and solving problems in the development of cluster organizations in Serbia. The mode and level of topic elaboration is in compliance with the goal of theoretical and hypothetical research framework. Beside theoretical aspect the doctoral dissertation presents the application of the following methods of multi-criteria decision making: "ELECTRE" and "AHP", as well as the software application "MS Project" on data of cluster organization "Cluster House" in Nis.
Harmonisation of the foreign policies of the Western Balkan states with the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) within the Charter 31 of the pre-accession negotiations will be a significant obligation and challenge for most of them. Within this context, the author takes as a starting point the regular annual reports on the progress achieved by the states in the region. They show the degree of harmonisation of their foreign policies with this Union's mechanism (within four years in the 2011-2014 period). The author of the article particularly points to the real and substantial discrepancy between the normative framework of the EU CFSP and the specific activities taken by the Western Balkan states in the part concerning their position to the current crisis in Ukraine which, in a way, 'reflects' the geo-strategic interests of the 'West', on one hand, and those of the Russian Federation, on the other. At the same time, he points to the membership in the North Atlantic Alliance as a favourable framework for the acceleration of harmonisation of a country's foreign policy with the EU CFSP.
Summary: The governance at the national level has commonly been measured as poor or good governance by researchers in the area of public sector reforms. They have rarely attempted the numeric estimation of the concept but used different socioeconomic indicators as proxies. Governance is a multidimensional concept that cannot be accurately elaborated by a single indicator. In the literature there exists a gap for gauging the governance in the form of an index. The current study has attempted to ameliorate different dimensions of governance by including forty two social, political, economic, demographic and environmental indicators. These indicators are firstly merged into thirteen sub-dimensions and then into five dimensions. The dimensions have been transformed in to governance index. The trend of the index shows that governance has not only progressed very slowly but it remained desperate in the study period. The contribution of this study is to provide governance index named KU index for Pakistan in annual time series for the years 1980-81 to 2010-2011. The index explained the level of governance in different eras and is ultimately connected with public sector reforms. It can be used by researchers as an explanatory factor for various political, socioeconomic and regional strategic phenomenon. Furthermore, the criterion of estimation of governance may be adopted for other economies and comparative analysis may be done.Рeзимe: Упрaвљaњe нa нaциoнaлнoм нивoу je oбичнo oцjeњивaнo oд стрaнe истрaживaчa у oблaсти рeфoрми jaвнoг сeктoрa кao дoбрo или лoшe. Oни су риjeткo пoкушaвaли нумeричку прoцjeну кoнцeптa, вeћ су кoристили рaзличитe сoциo-eкoнoмскe пoкaзaтeљe кao приближнe вриjeднoсти. Упрaвљaњe je мултидимeнзиoнaлни кoнцeпт кojи сe нe мoжe прeцизнo oбjaснити сaмo jeдним индикaтoрoм. У литeрaтури пoстojи jaз у мjeрeњу упрaвљaњa у oблику индeксa. Tрeнутнa студиja je пoкушaлa ублaжити рaзличитe димeнзиje упрaвљaњa укључуjући чeтрдeсeт двa друштвeнa, пoлитичкa, eкoнoмскa, дeмoгрaфскa и eкoлoшкa пoкaзaтeљa. Oви пoкaзaтeљи су првo спojeни у тринaeст пoддимeнзиja и oндa у пeт димeнзиja. Димeнзиje су прeтвoрeнe у индeкс упрaвљaњa. Tрeнд индeксa пoкaзуje дa je упрaвљaњe нe сaмo нaпрeдoвaлo врлo спoрo, вeћ je билo лoшe у пoсмaтрaнoм пeриoду. Дoпринoс oвe студиje je oмoгућити индeкс упрaвљaњa пoд нaзивoм KU индeкс Пaкистaнa зa гoдишњe пeриoдe: 1980-1981. и 2010-2011. Индeкс je oбjaсниo нивoe упрaвљaњa у рaзличитим пeриoдимa, тe je пoвeзaн с рeфoрмaмa jaвнoг сeктoрa. Moжe сe кoристити oд стрaнe истрaживaчa кao oбjaшњaвajући фaктoр зa рaзнe пoлитичкe, друштвeнo-eкoнoмскe и рeгиoнaлнe стрaтeшкe фeнoмeнe. Нaдaљe, критeриjум прoцjeнe упрaвљaњa мoжe бити усвojeн зa другe eкoнoмиje и мoгу сe урaдити кoмпaрaтивнe aнaлизe.
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.
Predmet rada su činioci i struktura političke kulture mladih u Srbiji. Politička kultura shvaćena je kao sveukupnost političkih i politički relevantnih orijentacija među pripadnicima jedne političke zajednice koja obuhvata nekoliko tipova orijentacije: kognitivne, afektivne, motivacione, vrednosne i ponašajne. ; The paper explores the factors and structure of youth political culture in Serbia. Political culture is defined as a comprehensive sum of political and politically relevant orientations of the members of a political community and comprises several types of orientations: cognitive, affective, motivational, evaluative and behavioural. Accordingly, five components of youth political culture were distinguished and operationalised by a large number of indicators. The empirical basis for the thesis is a survey conducted in 25 randomly selected secondary schools from the city of Belgrade. The total of 788 students from four different types of secondary school participated in the research: grammar schools (N=202), technical (N=207), economic (N=211) and medical (N=168). The sample was restricted to students of the final year (average age M=18.10, SD=.40). Three-quarters of students (75%) in the sample attend urban secondary schools and one quarter suburban (25%). There were more female participants (58%) than male (42%). Research results indicate that the level of youth political knowledge is low. The majority are not informed about topical social and political issues nor acquainted with certain basic rules regarding the functioning of the Serbian political system, such as the election threshold, government composition or the number of MPs. The prevailing feelings towards numerous analysed political objects are negative. Young people are highly dissatisfied with the current socioeconomic situation. The President, the Government, the Parliament, police, judiciary, the European Union or NATO, are not much trusted. Political cynicism is dominant, while for the majority politics is not the field of interest nor is considered important in life. Most students believe that they cannot influence political affairs (however, surprisingly, they are ready to vote in the following elections) while their opinions on social activism are divided. The attitude towards pro-system values is often ambiguous and vague. The attitude towards democracy is predominantly positive. However, the majority of students do not perceive favourably the newly established mechanisms and institutions of market economy and are hence more inclined towards the socialist than (pro-)market orientation. It can be said that they do not support the freedom of speech, multi-party system and rule of law.
The article explores the Baltic musicological conferences as a non-hierarchical network and its role and meaning in the changing political and cultural contexts. Starting from 1967, when the first conference took place, the annual meetings of the Baltic musicologists soon became a transnational space for the professional exchange and crosscultural discussion. Based on the results and the impact of cooperation between musicologists of neighbouring countries, the Soviet formation of the national history writing and the development of the Baltic musicological comparativism is discussed, given the political and cultural factors of these changes. The theoretical foundations and cultural aspirations of the concept of national music historiography by Vytautas Landsbergis is highlighted as representative example of the national self-confidence in Lithuanian musicology during the Soviet period. ; Балтички културни простор – да ли је то реалност или фикција, спонтана транскултурална традиција или вештачка геополитичка конструкција? Ова питања, која доводе под сумњу балтичке музиколошке конференције, које се у континуитету одржавају већ педесетак година, уопште нису реторичка. Од 1967. године, када је одржана прва конференција, годишња окупљања балтичких музиколога нису била ограничена само на остваривање професионалних циљева. Политичке промене и културне пукотине увек изнова остављају своје отиске у историји транснационалне балтичке музиколошке сарадње. Приликом покретања прве конференције пре више од пет деценија, примењен је совјетски метод обредног посвећења: окупљање музиколога из три балтичке државе формално је било посвећено 50. годишњици Октобарске револуције, чиме је је успостављена традиција која је пркосила совјетској централизацији. Ускоро су конференције постале простор за професионално самоизражавање и транснационално нехијерархијско умрежавање младих музиколога који су стасавали током шездесетих година ХХ века, као и каснијих генерација. Ова традиција је допринела успостављању институционалног статуса балтичке музикологије, настале као алтернатива званичној доктрини совјетске музике и музикологије у другој половини ХХ века. Супротстављајући се наметнутом совјетском приступу развоју националне културе, балтичке музиколошке конференције прошириле су геополитичко и хронолошко истраживачко поље у вези са музиком својих земаља. Скромни покушаји да се развије компаративизам најбоље су промовисани заједничким напорима да се дефинише појам националне музичке културе и категорије типичне за овај концепт: национална школа и национални стил. Компаративна перспектива била је посебно карактеристична за презентације Арнолдса Клотинша (Arnolds Klotiņš), Марта Хумала (Mart Humal), Витаутаса Ландсбергиса (Vytautas Landsbergis) и Алгирдаса Амбразаса (Algirdas Ambrazas), који су сумирали своја фундаментална истраживања у области музике као културне праксе и музичких стилова. Међутим, чак и у радовима наведених музиколога, универзалнији аспект је био засењен традиционалном концепцијом националног израза у музици. Успостављање алтернативних канона националне класичне и модерне музике, као и модернизација музикологије, спадају у резултате ових конференција. Током година политичких промена деведесетих година прошлог века, културно оживљавање је инспирисало дискусије о општијој потрази за балтичким културним идентитетом и могућностима његовог институционалног успостављања. Међутим, истовремено су се отворила питања идентитета ове манифестације, доводећи у питање сам формат балтичког музиколошког простора као могуће совјетске геополитичке конструкције. ; Часопис је индексиран на http://doiserbia.nb.rs/, http://dais.sanu.ac.rs/handle/123456789/914 и у међународној бази ProQuest. / The journal is indexed in http://doiserbia.nb.rs/, http://dais.sanu.ac.rs/handle/123456789/914 and in the international database ProQuest. Издавање ове публикације подржали су Министарство културе и информисања Републике Србије, Министарство просвете, науке и технолошког развоја Републике Србије и СОКОЈ - Организација музичких аутора Србије / The publication of this volume was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia and SOKOJ - Serbian Music Authors' Organization
