Suchergebnisse

Članak razmatra uspon, oblike i posledice protesta u nedemokratskim režimima, oslanjajući se na noviju literaturu iz uporedne analize političkih režima i društvenih pokreta. Oblik režima značajno oblikuje izglede za izbijanje protesta, kao i njegove oblike i posledice. Protesti često proizvode bitne promene u personalnom sastavu i politici vlasti, koje značajno utiču na strukturu i delovanje nedemokratskih režima, i ponekad vode promeni režima. Primeri su navedeni iz kasnog komunističkog autoritarizma u Poljskoj i Jugoslaviji, u kojima su dugotrajni protesti doprineli padu režima i države, i postkomunistički autoritarni režimi u Srbiji i Ukrajini koji su više puta uzdrmani a zatim i dokrajčeni "pritiskom odozdo". ; The paper explores the politics of protest in non-democratic regimes using insights from comparative regime analysis and social movement theory. A regime type strongly shapes factors that trigger popular mobilization, the repertories of collective action and their implications. Protest politics may produce a considerable political change, such as policy and personality change in the political establishment, as well as important shifts in the structure and operation of non-democratic regimes, even regime change. The paper provides evidence from the late communist authoritarian Poland and Yugoslavia, in which sustained protests contributed to the collapse of regime and state, and the post-communist competitive authoritarian Serbia and Ukraine, which experience repeated protest waves and were brought down by protest politics.

By reporting on some conflicts but not on others, and by representing conflicts they report on in particular ways, the media strongly influence the dynamics and outcomes of democratisation conflicts, and thus also shape the prospects of success of conflict parties. This paper explores the literature on media and conflict by focusing on the ways in which media frame inter-state and civil wars, institutionalised conflicts and social movements in western democracies, and conflicts in nondemocratic and democratising states. Much of the literature discusses the ways in which western media frame foreign conflicts and domestic election campaigns and policy debates, while there is considerably less focus on domestic conflicts in nonwestern settings, such as those that arise during and after transitions from nondemocratic rule. There are only limited attempts to draw parallels between the media coverage of disparate conflicts. In contrast, this study builds upon research findings in these related areas to draw lessons for empirical research of media framing of the contentious dimension of contemporary democratisation. This study concludes that the political context is the main factor that shapes the media framing of various forms of political conflict. Several dimensions of the political context matter in this respect, such as regime type, international (foreign) or domestic perspective, elite consensus or conflict, policy consensus or uncertainty, policy area, more or less institutionalised nature of the political conflict at stake, and the stage of democratisation. Also, the literature suggests that media framing strongly influences political outcomes and thus fosters or undermines democratic institutions in new democracies. .

This work analyses the relation between democracy and political participation, the typology and model of political participation, the findings of the research of political participation in the world (S. Verba, N. H. Nie, 1972; S. H. Barnes, M. Kaase, 1 979; and others), and the research of the same phenomenon on a sample of Croatian students. This analysis has shown that today all the elements necessary for a more comprehensive theory of political participation are in place. This theory would enable a more systematic and standardized investigation of this phenomenon in the national and the international context. The article also shows how the non- conventional participation is gaining ground while the conventional is gradually levelling out. Significant are the results of the analysis of the etiology of political participation, particularly the relation between the standard SES model and the model of value orientations (left-right materialism, materialism-postrnaterialism, etc.). The analysis of the model of participation of Croatian students has shown that the model of protest behaviour/potential' has a more complex etiology than other models, such as conventional participation and voting in parliamentary elections. Thus, for the "protest potential" it is necessary to possess a developed civic competence, a critical attitude towards the government's performance, a liberal arts education, etc., while for the conventional participation it is central to have a higher level of political interest. Significant differences between the Croatian students and those from other European countries can be observed regarding the role of value orientations in explaining political participation. (SOI : PM: S. 140)

From the very beginning the steps towards unification of European countries have been founded on the personal incentives of politicians, but not on broad democratic agreement of the people. That method has never been abandoned: even the huge administrative apparatus in Brussels that makes important decisions without any democratic control could be seen as natural consequence of such praxis. It is just because of such political behaviour where important political documents and decisions are made out of the eyes of the public, which the great political incentives, such as referendum on the European Constitution, have failed. If we ask ourselves where it has gone wrong the possible answer is that EU has been made according the needs of the rich and mighty countries. The states that are located on the periphery of EU have no political influence on the main decisions, and cannot decide about their own economic development. They are simply forced to adapt ourselves to the interests of the most advanced. But the protests all over EU show that the general economic concept of the EU is wrong and that it will generate crises in the long run.

The paper analyses the class basis of the civil society in Serbia in the period of post-socialist transformation. The analysis is based on data from several empirical studies implemented by the Institute for Sociological Research of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade over the past twenty years, specifically in 1997, 2007 and 2012. The main objective of the analysis is to determine whether there is rootedness of civil society activities among the middle class. The basic hypothesis of the paper is that members of the middle class are the key actors of civil society in the entire period observed. Results of the analysis show that the members of the middle class have been holders of civil protests during the period of blocked transformation - almost the only phenomenal manifestation of the civil society in Serbia in the 1990s. On the other hand, research findings from 2007 and 2012 indicated a significant decline of civic activism among all social groups, and the decline was most marked precisely among the middle class. Although members of the middle class, compared with other social groups, were still more willing to engage in civic activities, data show that the differences between social classes were not especially marked, and therefore we can talk only conditionally about rootedness of civil society activities among the middle class.