At the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, the Serbian Government issued the new national regulations in order to provide an acceptable legislation framework to achieve 2020 targets of 27% increase of total renewable energy sources share in the gross final energy consumption, relative to 2009. The target of a 37% increase relates to participation of renewable energy sources in electricity production. It requires construction of new significant capacities of renewable energy power plants as clearly defined in the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources.This paper comprises critical analyses of targeted new installed capacity of renewable energy power plants for electricity production from different point of views, such as: new national energy policy, new national regulations, renewable energy sources potential in Serbia, efficiency of power plants and the investment financial models.According to the new national energy policy identified in the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources, it is concluded that the new regulations related to the construction of new renewable energy power plants is completed, particularly concerning the investment security, provision of green electricity market, status of green electricity producer, and significant reduction of time for administrative procedures required to obtain a building permit. Particularly, the real wind potential in Serbia, based on the measured data over the past ten years of measurement campaigns at more than thirty locations, has been used to correct the targeted installed capacity of wind power plants. ; At the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, the Serbian Government issued the new national regulations in order to provide an acceptable legislation framework to achieve 2020 targets of 27% increase of total renewable energy sources share in the gross final energy consumption, relative to 2009. The target of a 37% increase relates to participation of renewable energy sources in electricity production. It requires construction of new significant capacities of renewable energy power plants as clearly defined in the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources.This paper comprises critical analyses of targeted new installed capacity of renewable energy power plants for electricity production from different point of views, such as: new national energy policy, new national regulations, renewable energy sources potential in Serbia, efficiency of power plants and the investment financial models.According to the new national energy policy identified in the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources, it is concluded that the new regulations related to the construction of new renewable energy power plants is completed, particularly concerning the investment security, provision of green electricity market, status of green electricity producer, and significant reduction of time for administrative procedures required to obtain a building permit. Particularly, the real wind potential in Serbia, based on the measured data over the past ten years of measurement campaigns at more than thirty locations, has been used to correct the targeted installed capacity of wind power plants.
The war in Kosovo and Metohia was the result of a decade long tensions between ethnic Serbs and Albanians. It was led from the air in order to avoid more potential victims in case of land invasion. The end of war was the result of mutual concessions: from NATO side and the Serbian one. The sovereignty of FRY was not put into question, but a great autonomy of Kosovo was predicted including the possibility of independence acquisition (secession). The Resolution 1244 was not abolished, but it was being derogated in order to prepare the fundament of Kosovo independence. Serbian military-security forces were withdrawn from the territory of Kosovo and Metohia. NATO intervention was not legal from the point of view of international law, but it subordinated sovereignty to human rights. Intervention was justified in cases of humanitarian need. Event though humanitarian need (catastrophe) is taken as the basis for the intervention, the example of such kind could not be found in the past. So, Kosovo cases were qualified as sui generis one. Thus, the war in Kosovo became an example to be followed in the future, and an unresolved situation may become the threat to the peace and security in the surrounding countries. Democratic countries give themselves the right to interfere and intervene into internal affairs of others differently from the autocratic ones, which was supposed to be neither correct nor consistent. Kosovo conflict and war rattled global power structure, especially with China and Russia as new challengers of the USA power. Both countries are trying hard to reach USA, but they are still in transition with unstable financial systems, migrations and unresolved system of social protection. Regarding Kosovo conflict and war, they engaged themselves rather indirectly than directly. As Security Council permanent members they were voting against the independence of Kosovo, but did not involve themselves into the war directly. Kosovo war showed how China is backward regarding war technique, and Russia regarding financial engagement. In addition, China expected membership in WTO, and Russia a great financial assistance. Russia engaged in negotiations via the Contact Group. With the arrival of Putin, Russia could not engage in Balkan more militarily but only commercially due to the fact most Balkan countries entered NATO or Partnership for Peace Programme. Internal cohesion of Russia with centralistic governance was reinforced, and ethnic tensions were calmed down. The perspective of Russia is United Nations and commerce through pipeline.
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.
NATO's political and - above all - military participation in secession-motivated conflicts in former Yugoslavia (1990-1995), will be remembered as a clear example of demonstration of power, intentions and (in)capability of the Victor in a decades-long global "cold war" between the "freedom-loving" West and "totalitarian East". Regardless of the expectations of liberal theoreticians and the majority of public opinion, it was soon revealed that the victory was no "triumph of freedom" and even less "the end of history". On the contrary, as historically typical, it was only an unstable resultant of relations between major actors in the modern global theater, who strive to legitimize their need for domination with varying success and vocabulary. Hence the lessons to be learned from the final act of destruction of Yugoslavia (several months of NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999) have the expected tone of banality: absolute might strives for absolute power (which remains unattainable in principle); "the mighty oppress" is true always and in any place (but with a time limit); and, finally, what everyone knows but does not (or is unable or refuses) to say aloud: the only true alternative to military threat and/or aggression of a single political actor is an equally valid (military) threat/aggression by another one. We are tempted to conclude that, despite the ideological ardor of NGO activists, the political correctness of theoreticians and the rhetorical figures of speech of politicians, the "banalities" remain valid as the only certainties, i.e., regularities in the unpredictable currents of relations between states.
Hladni rat je predstavljao rat ideologija bez presedana u istoriji. Nijedan drugi rat, ni pre ni posle ovog višedecenijskog hladnog sukoba između Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i Saveza Sovjetskih Socijalističkih Republika, nije bio rat koji se vodio u tolikoj meri u sferi meke moći kao Hladni rat. Odsustvo neposrednog oružanog sukoba između Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i Sovjetskog Saveza učinilo je da se Hladni rat odvija kao takmičenje u sferi ekonomije, tehnologije i nauke, kao trka u nuklearnom i konvencionalnom naoružanju i kao svemirsko nadmetanje. Pored takmičenja u sferi tvrde moći, Sjedinjene Američke Države i Sovjetski Savez vodili su intenzivnu bitku u oblasti meke moći. Ovo je bio sukob između američke liberalno-demokratske ideologije i sovjetske marksističke ideologije. Svaka od ove dve zemlje težila je tome da ubedi građane one druge zemlje da je njen društveni i ekonomski sistem idealan i da je bolji i pravedniji od sistema njenog glavnog suparnika. Uzrok propasti Sovjetskog Saveza i komunizma u istočnoj Evropi nikada sa sgurnošću neće moći da bude određen. Okolnosti koje su dovele do raspada Sovjetskog Saveza, pada Berlinskog zida 1989. godine i urušavanja komunizma u Evropi ne mogu se svesti na skup vojnih, političkih, ekonomskih i društvenih činilaca koji su, nezavisno jedni od drugih, doveli do tektonskih promena u međunarodnim odnosima. Svi ovi činioci zajedno, isprepletani u kompleksnu mrežu poluga, učinili su da se Sovjetski Savez uruši i da Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama prepusti ulogu pobednika u Hladnom ratu. Pritom, Amerika nije bila samo vojni i ekonomski pobednik. Amerika je iz Hladnog rata izašla kao moralni i ideološki pobednik. Hladni rat predstavlja temu izuzetno velikog broja radova, ali mali broj tih radova se bavi analizom američko-sovjetskog sukoba u sferi meke moći. Stoga je cilj ovog istraživanja i rada rasvetljavanje, objašnjene i tumačenje poluga meke moći koje su Sjedinjene Američke Države institucionalizovale, pokrenule i upotrebile u ideološkoj borbi protiv Sovjetskog Saveza u vreme Hladnog rata. Međutim, Sjedinjene Američke Države nisu od svog nastanka u drugoj polovini 18. veka do Hladnog rata osmišljeno primenjivale svoju meku moć. Do Hladnog rata upotreba poluga meke moći bila praksa kojom su se Sjedinjene Američke Države bavile isključivo u vreme učešća u oružanim sukobima. Tek sa Hladnim ratom u Americi se javlja potreba za namenskom i osmišljenom upotrebom poluga meke moći. Odmah nakon Drugog svetskog rata Sovjetski Savez je počeo da vrši uticaj na druge zemlje šireći marksističku ideologiju i komunističke ideje. Osim širenja marksističke ideologije Sovjetski Savez je vodio i dobro osmišljenu kampanju protiv Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i američkog načina života. Američka administracija je kao odgovor na sovjetsku spoljnu politiku u periodu od 1946. do 1950. godine stvorila politiku obuzdavanja Sovjetskog Saveza i sovjetskog uticaja u svetu svim sredstvima. Ovo je podrazumevalo kako upotrebu poluga tvrde moći tako i primenu poluga meke moći. U to vreme u američkom društvu postojao je konsenzus o upotrebi političkih, vojnih i ekonomskih oruđa u borbi protiv Sovjetskog Saveza, ali je upotreba poluga meke moći bila predmet duge javne rasprave. Jedna od izuzetno važnih poluga meke moći su državni programi informisanja, odnosno ono što se u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama smatra propagandom, a propaganda se od nastanka Sjedinjenih Američkih Država do danas smatra nečasnom delatnošću autokratskih režima. Sjedinjene Američke Države su u periodu neposredno nakon Drugog svetskog rata sprovele zakonske, institucionalne i strukturalne promene koje su omogućile trajno ustanovljavanje poluga meke moći zarad širenja američkih vrednosti, ideja i kulture i zarad ideološke borbe protiv Sovjetskog Saveza i sovjetske marksističke ideologije. Zakoni doneti u to vreme su na snazi i danas i pružaju okvir za mnogobrojne programe i aktivnosti na polju primene poluga meke moći po celom svetu. ; The Cold War was a war without precedent in the history. No war before this prolonged cold conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was waged that much in the realm of soft power as the Cold War. In the absence of an immediate armed conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cold War was conducted as a competition in the areas of economy, technology and science, nuclear and conventional weapons, as well as the space race. Besides the competition in the realm of hard power, the United States and the Soviet Union pursued an intensive battle in the realm of soft power. This was a conflict between the American ideology of a liberal democracy and the Soviet Marxist ideology. Each of the two attempted to persuade the citizens of the other country that its social and economic practice was an ideal one, better and more just than the other one. The source of the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism in Eastern Europe will never be fully determined. The circumstances that brought about the break-up of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the fall down of communism in Europe cannot be summarized as an aggregation of military, political, economic and social factors that independently from each other led to the colossal changes in the world order. All of these factors, entangled together in a complex net, caused the implosion of the Soviet Union which left the United States as the winner in the Cold War. Yet, the United States was not only a military and economic victor, it resurfaced as a moral and ideological champion, as well. The Cold Was has been a theme of numerous papers but only a handful of these papers tackled the American-Soviet conflict in the realm of soft power. Thus, the objective of this research and dissertation is to shed the light, explain and construe the instruments of soft power that the United States institutionalized, put into motion and deployed in the ideological battle against Soviet Union in the Cold War. However, since its birth in the 18th century until the Cold War, the United States had not wielded its soft power strategically. Up to the Cold War, the soft power instruments were used exclusively during the times when the United States was involved in an armed conflict. Only in the Cold War, the need for intentional and thoughtful use of soft power instruments emerged. Soon after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union got set off to exert its influence by diffusing its Marxist ideology and communist values. In addition to spreading its ideology, the Soviet Union led a well-planned campaign against the United States and the American way of life. From 1946 to 1950, in response to the Soviet policy towards the United States, the American administration coined the policy of containment of the Soviet Union and the Soviet influence in the world. The policy of containment included both the use of the instruments of hard power and of soft power. At that time, there was a consensus in the American society on the use of political, military and economic means in fighting the Soviet Union, while the use of soft power instruments was a subject of a prolonged public discourse. Government information programs, perceived as propaganda in the United States, have always been a very important soft power instrument, and propaganda has been considered by Americans to be a dishonest activity of autocratic governments. In the period right after the Second World War, the United States implemented legislative, institutional and structural changes that allowed for permanent establishment of the soft power instruments. These foreign policy instruments made it possible for the United States government to diffuse American values, ideas and culture and to wage an ideological war against the Soviet Union and its Marxist principles. The acts adopted at that time are in place nowadays, and provide a legal framework for numerous programs and activities in the realm of soft power.
Global trends in the energy sector are focused towards extensive inclusion of renewable sources in the energy production. Solar energy has proven to be a valuable candidate, especially for direct conversion into electricity. Its wider use has, so far, among other, been constrained by the technological limitations, resulting in higher production costs compared to those from conventional non-renewable sources, primarily coal. In that sense, the efforts of the scientific community have for long been directed towards development of both efficient and inexpensive solutions. However, the major boost in the electricity production from photovoltaics (PV) came from the legislative measures, primarily the introduction of feed-in tariffs. Following the global trends, a significant increase in PV inclusion in the electricity production was made in the Republic of Macedonia. In the article we give a brief review of the achieved progress. ; Global trends in the energy sector are focused towards extensive inclusion of renewable sources in the energy production. Solar energy has proven to be a valuable candidate, especially for direct conversion into electricity. Its wider use has, so far, among other, been constrained by the technological limitations, resulting in higher production costs compared to those from conventional non-renewable sources, primarily coal. In that sense, the efforts of the scientific community have for long been directed towards development of both efficient and inexpensive solutions. However, the major boost in the electricity production from photovoltaics (PV) came from the legislative measures, primarily the introduction of feed-in tariffs. Following the global trends, a significant increase in PV inclusion in the electricity production was made in the Republic of Macedonia. In the article we give a brief review of the achieved progress.
Energy security and stability has become a major issue over the last few years in the whole world's economic and social development. Despite its high development and evolution of its approach to the issue of energy security, the European Union is also facing the problem of decreasing its role in reducing human impact on the climate. Energy is of essential importance for the development of any country, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. Without adequate policies in the energy sector bussines, industrial and economic progress is not possible either. However, regardless of how energy is important for the development, it is still only a mechanism for achieving an ultimate goal – sustainable economy, clean environment, high living standards, prosperity and population health. According to the official data, Bosnia and Herzegovina produces annually about 13.600 GWh (data from 2010), out of which 7.950 GWh in thermal power plants and 5.650 GWh in hydro power plants. Basic domestic energy sources in Bosnia and Herzegovina include coal and hydropower, while gas and oil are imported. This paper gives an overview of future of the European Union energy policy by 2020, together with the situation and outlooks for Bosnia and Herzegovina renewable energy sources: hydropower, wind power, solar energy, biomass and geothermal energy. The legislation of renewable sources in the Federation of BIH, as well as the European Union's legislative framework, are also presented. ; Energy security and stability has become a major issue over the last few years in the whole world's economic and social development. Despite its high development and evolution of its approach to the issue of energy security, the European Union is also facing the problem of decreasing its role in reducing human impact on the climate. Energy is of essential importance for the development of any country, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. Without adequate policies in the energy sector bussines, industrial and economic progress is not possible either. However, regardless of how energy is important for the development, it is still only a mechanism for achieving an ultimate goal – sustainable economy, clean environment, high living standards, prosperity and population health. According to the official data, Bosnia and Herzegovina produces annually about 13.600 GWh (data from 2010), out of which 7.950 GWh in thermal power plants and 5.650 GWh in hydro power plants. Basic domestic energy sources in Bosnia and Herzegovina include coal and hydropower, while gas and oil are imported. This paper gives an overview of future of the European Union energy policy by 2020, together with the situation and outlooks for Bosnia and Herzegovina renewable energy sources: hydropower, wind power, solar energy, biomass and geothermal energy. The legislation of renewable sources in the Federation of BIH, as well as the European Union's legislative framework, are also presented.
By modernizing society, corruption is becoming the global problem and is considered to be the main cause of state dysfunction. Widespread in a large number of countries, embracing political and social life, corruption has become the everyday life of citizens convinced that without corruption there was no proper functioning of the society. Countries in transition, with an unstable political system, are the fundament for the development of corruption. The fight against corruption is long lasting and painful issue with an unknown outcome. The enjoyment of media attention, the commitment of the European Union and the United Nations, the establishment of anti-corruption organizations and agencies within states are mechanisms to combat this global problem. Anticorruption culture as a preventive mechanism prevents the existing and emergence of new forms of corruption. Effective preventive action requires careful and long-term planning to result in a better quality of life in the future.
Thucydides is considered to be the founder of political realism. Even in those times he determined the basic premises of realism - security and survival. He made an impact on subsequent development of realism embodied in the works of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Morgenthau, Car, Niebuhr, Aaron, Waltz etc. They will call the system of international relations as anarchical one since there is no supreme arbitrator which will force states to adequate behaviour. His views of realism were given in the volume 'The Peloponnesian War' where he had determined the anarchy of the relationships among states. Such system did not rely on justice and morale, but force and power were the predominant facts. He also introduces the category of just wars by claiming that Sparta led a just war against the increased power of Athens, and observed morale principles. Nevertheless, Thucydides faces contradictory, since Sparta itself as the largest land force of that time had to use force in order to beat Athens. He went ahead since he considered force and power as a necessary condition to achieve other objectives, which was later on adopted by Raymond Aaron. Following the example of the war between Athens and Sparta, he successfully analysed bipolar system of balance of power in which the conflict between the leading members of the two opposite blocks was possible in the end, while beforehand there should have been conflicts among weaker members of both blocks. Thucydides explained the manifestation of force and power using example of the Melian dialogue between the envoys of Athens and Melos. It was about the pure politics of force of Athens regardless of the fact that Melos had its independence.
