Suchergebnisse

According to Luhmann, religion transforms the indefinable/un-defined into the definable/defined complexity, thus outlining the problems of the whole society. Due to this function, religion remains bound to the level of the entirety of a social system. Nevertheless, in time, in the course of the functional differentiation of society, different sub-systems have been created for different tasks (economy, science, politics, education, etc) & religion has been accorded the status of one such system. Besides distinguishing among various subsystems, this process implies the separation of diverse task-areas within the religious system itself. By & by, within the Christian religion, three functionally differentiated spheres have emerged which Luhmann labels as a) the church, ie, the entirety of spiritual communication in which the function of the system of religion is fulfilled for the whole social system; b) Diaconate (Diakonie), which performs the system's tasks towards other social sub-systems (these tasks, in line with the theory of systems, may be termed services Leistungen) as well as towards personal systems (in line with the theory of systems they may be termed pastoral -- Seelsorge); & c) theology (Theologie) whose role within the religious system may be described as reflexion (Reflexion) ie, the task of the reflexive contact of one's own identity. 1 Table, 10 References. Adapted from the source document.

Using Luhmann's terminology, the author promotes the thesis that internal changes of constitutions are a nondemocratic constitutional/legal process & thus a political problem; ie, a constitution is exposed to political life, but also to an unmarked place within a constitutional system. This place is marked by constitutional judges who change constitutions on a case-by-case basis, either innovatively, precedently, or, of course, nondemocratically. Since democratic politics & constitutional law are different forms of activity, the question is which is the criterion for appraising the new things. How, then, to reject something as unlawful & nonpolitical? The author claims that this judgment can only be done by people with a refined moral sense. This requires the inclusion of those who create & interpret constitutions as the law of the polity so they ought to be selected very carefully. Thus, citizens are doubly burdened: (1) They have to understand constitutional changes to perceive their interest in them. (2) They have to appreciate the architects of constitutions to trust them. 15 References. Adapted from the source document.

Departing from the criticisms that have been raised towards the volume Comparing Media Systems (Hallin and Mancini, 2004) I'll try to discuss which consequences the adoption of the "concept" of system may imply for media studies, what its advantages are and what risks. The first part of the article is devoted to discussing how and when the notion of "system" has been used in political science starting from the work of Easton, Almond and Powell and many others. I'll try to highlight which are the main points of strength and weakness and which definitions have been used. Then I'll move to the field of communication studies: here I'll show how there has been a shift from the study of the effects of the message towards a more general approach linking the media to the surrounding context. I will focus mainly on the work of Blumler and Gurvitch who have been among the first scholars to use such a concept in political communication comparative research. Particular attention will be devoted to the discussion of the notion of "system" as deriving from system theory and functionalist approach. The last part of the text is devoted to discussing similarities and differences in the use that political scientists and media scholars have made of the concept of "system". Adapted from the source document.

Rad se bavi istraživanjem učinaka personalizacije izbornog sustava prije svega na političke stranke i kandidate za zastupnike. Pod personalizacijom izbornog sustava smatra se uvođenje mehanizama u izborni sustav koji osiguravaju veću ulogu birača u izboru njihovih parlamentarnih zastupnika. U radu su predstavljene četiri gusto opisane studije slučaja koje su služile kao temelj za testiranje temeljne i pomoćnih hipoteza. Rad sadrži fokusiranu poredbenu analizu dometa personalizacije izbornog sustava u odnosu na tri ključna slučaja (Austrija, Nizozemska i Finska), kao i u odnosu na kontrolni slučaj Kosovo. U radu je dokazano da snažni personalizirani izborni sustavi, koji imaju najveće vrijednosti personalizacije, odnosno izmjerene vrijednosti utjecaja dva institucionalna potičuća mehanizma koji su predstavljali nezavisne varijable ovog istraživanja (a. preferencijsko glasovanje unutar razmjernog sustava stranačkih lista i b. procedura selekcije kandidata), dovode do personalizacije političkih stranaka na razini zastupnika. Kroz dokazivanje pomoćnih hipoteza ispraćeni su učinci personalizacije izbornog sustava na političke stranke, kandidate/zastupnike, birače odnosno stranački/politički sustav. U radu predstavljeni nalazi fokusirane poredbene analize potvrđuju da snažna personalizacija izbornog sustava vodi personalizaciji izborne kampanje te smanjenoj ulozi političkih stranaka u političkom životu. Smanjena uloga stranaka u kampanjama otvara prostor jačanju uloge konkretnih donatora. Poslanici postaju nezavisniji u odnosu na stranku, ali s druge strane otvoreni za utjecaje donatora svojih kampanja. Nemogućnost opoziva, odnosno tekovina da je zastupnik, a ne stranka vlasnik mandata, dodatno ojačava poziciju zastupnika, a slabi poziciju stranke. Pozicija zastupnika jača, kao i birača koji imaju u snažno personaliziranim izbornim sustavima mogućnost presudnog utjecanja na to tko će ih zastupati u parlamentu, odnosno na koga će privremeno prenijeti suverenitet kao njegovi nositelji. Finski primjer najbolje pokazuje utjecaj snažne personalizacije izbornog sustava na političke stranke, kandidate i birače u konsolidiranoj demokraciji. Slučaj Kosova kao kontrolni slučaj govori da ukoliko izostane prevlast osobnog u odnosu na stranačko u unutarstranačkim procesima, učinci snažnog preferencijskog sustava bit će umanjeni. Izostanak vladavine prava utječe na ravnopravnost kandidata u predizbornim kampanjama, ali snažno preferencijsko glasovanje umanjuje negativne efekte izostanka demokratskih procedura unutar stranke te potiče daljnju demokratsku konsolidaciju u nekonsolidiranim demokracijama. ; The doctoral dissertation deals with research into the effects of personalization of the electoral system primarily on political parties and candidates for deputies. The personalization of the electoral system means the introduction of mechanisms in the electoral system that ensure a greater role for voters in the election of their parliamentary representatives. I define the electoral system as a "set of laws and party rules governing electoral competition between and within the parties" (Cox 1997: 38). This wider definition of the electoral system gives us space to build a more complete picture of the electoral system's impact on political parties, candidates and voters as main actors in the electoral process. The focus of the research is the relationship between personal and party representation. In order to conduct a more comprehensive analysis of the effects of personalization on political parties, the research framework is narrowed down to list proportional electoral systems with preferential voting. Contemporary liberal democracy is characterized by a highly personalized politics. Governments are more recognizable by their leaders than by the parties that are the basis of their constitution. This personalization trend is not characteristic exclusively of presidential systems, but has become a feature of parliamentary political systems. In addition to personalization of the party at the leader level, there is also the personalization of politics at the level of members of parliament (MPs). In this paper, we only use the term 'personalization of a party' in reference to personalization at the level of the MP. We will not deal with the question of the presidentialization of political parties. Under the personalization of a political party at the level of MPs, we mean strengthening the position of deputies in the intra-party decision-making process. Thanks to the introduction of preferential voting in list proportional list systems, the group of electoral systems in which voters play an important role in the selection of their representatives has significantly expanded. Historically speaking, the representative position has been strengthened by the accepted attitude that the MP, not the party, is the 'owner of the mandate'; preferential voting supports this. This paper deals with the personalization of politics at the level of the representative—the political party. That is to say, it explores the question of to what degree personalization of the electoral system affects the political party, its intra- and its inter-party dimension. Moreover, the paper deals with personal and party representation, an area that is a new field of interest for political scientists. Through this relationship, I explore the effect of electoral systems on political parties, candidates and voters. in developing this work, I was guided by the results achieved by Katz (1980, 1986) and Marsh 9 (1985) who first dealt with this issue. In his book A Theory of Parties and Electoral Systems (1980), Katz took his first steps in the research of preferential systems. Five years later, Marsh (1985) was dealing with differences between the preferential systems in Europe. In their works, Katz and Marsh set forth the first hypotheses about the effects of preferential voting. Although there has been a growing interest in research in this area over the last decade, no significant progress has yet been made. Karvonen (2004) made a significant step in systematizing the hypotheses of Katz and Marsh, and he added some more points. In his last paper on this subject (2011), Karvonen was working within the same group of hypotheses, which were open to further research. They are the basis of this research, with additional contributions. A major impetus for this work was one of the most influential articles in this field, 'Incentives to Cultivate a Personal Vote: A Rank Ordering of Electoral Formulas' by Carey and Shugart (1995), which examines the question of the influence of electoral systems on the candidate's electoral strategies—that is, how electoral systems influence the pre-election roles of parties and their candidates. The authors developed three variables: (1) lack of party leadership control over access to and rank in ballots; (2) degree to which candidates are elected on individual votes independent of copartisans; and (3) whether voters cast a single intra-party vote instead of multiple votes or a party-level vote. By combining these three variables, there are up to thirteen combinations. This approach set me up to explore the impact that personalization creates when it comes to the relationship between the MP candidate and the party, or the MP and the party. Most authors agree that the introduction of personalization of the electoral system significantly affects interparty relations, which are sometimes reflected in a high degree of autonomy in campaigning and even in the collection and spending of funds for funding of their personal campaign. The bidding of candidates from the same party exercises a strong influence on intra-party relations, and it often happens that rival relations within the parties remain in the shadow of rival relations between the parties.

Napor na uključenju načela održivosti u osnove prostornog planiranja u današnjem postsocijalističkom svijetu traži nove odnose između ustaljenih i suvremenih sudionika. Pojedini interesenti uključeni u razvoj, upravljanje i politiku djeluju na ishod regionalnih i urbanih sustava u Hrvatskoj ponekad bez obraćanja pozornosti na održivost. Njihovo djelovanje pokazuje nedostatak svijesti i negativan odnos prema održivosti u planerskoj praksi gdje je glavni cilj unaprijediti kakvoću života sadašnjih i budućih naraštaja. Bez dobrih ideja o nosivim kapacitetima i održivosti, neki od ovih sudionika zanemaruju planerska znanja i ekspertizu (CAVRIĆ, NEDOVIĆ – BUDIĆ, 2007.). Vještinama i znanjima planeri ih savjetuju, međutim, glavna pokretačka sila još je uvijek politički utjecaj. Takvi predlagači uspijevaju zaštititi svoje osobne probitke glede prostora i zemljišta nauštrb javnosti i običnih građana, podržavajući sustav izrade "preslikanih" planerskih izvješća, pogodujući tek daljem urbanom širenju i nenadziranoj izgradnji. Na žalost, poradi dužega vremenskog društvenog ignoriranja i jake sveze lobija investitora, arhitekata i građevinara, različite međunarodne planerske ideje s "održivošću na umu" još ne utječu na hrvatsku teoriju i praksu planiranja. Neke su od njih jednostavno neprihvaćane, netočno tumačene ili odbacivane zahvaljujući krutoj zakonskoj regulativi, nepostojanju formalnog školovanja planera i povlaštenom položaju tek jednog tipa ovlaštenih planera tj. arhitekata . Osjetljivost za alternativna razvojna rješenja, sudjelovanje javnosti, novine u ponašanju, organizaciji i tehnologijama, raznovrsnost pomagala za provedbu u planerskoj "kutiji s alatima", kao i različite vrste planerskih poslova u usmjeravanju održivih promjena, tek treba prepoznati u zemlji koja je u procesu pristupanja EU. Unatoč tomu, ovaj rad teži sumirati održivost i njezine sastavnice kao nove postavke, u kojima je glavna misao vodilja novoga globalnog pristupa planiranju, objavljena od Centra za ljudska naselja Ujedinjenih Naroda (UNCHS) kako slijedi: "Novo planiranje je manje kodirano i tehničko, više inovativno i poduzetničko. Ono je više sudioničko i usmjerenije projektima nego cjelovitim prostornim sustavima. Plansku ekspertizu sve češće ne zahtijeva samo država već i dioničarski i javni dijelovi građanskog društva. Prijeporno nije planiranje samo po sebi, nego njegov cilj: da li ga voditi uglavnom učinkovitošću, jačajući postojeću razdiobu bogatstva i moći, ili bi trebalo odigrati distribucijsku ulogu da može pomoći pri stvaranju minimalnih standarda urbanog življenja" (Hague, 2001.). ; Effort to incorporate sustainability aspects into the spatial planning agenda requires new relationships between conventional and new players in today's post-socialist world. Some stakeholders engaged in development, management and governance are sometimes tailoring the destiny of regional and urban systems in Croatia without sustainability concerns. Their activities show the lack of awareness and negative attitude towards sustainable planning practices where the major goal is to improve the quality of life of current and future generations. Without sound ideas about carrying capacities and sustainability, some of these actors have ignored the planning knowledge and expertise (CAVRIĆ, NEDOVIĆ – BUDIĆ, 2007). Planners advise upon them with their professional skill and knowledge but the driving force is still political power. These proponents have managed to safeguard their own spatial and land interests on the expense of the public and ordinary citizens, by maintaining the system of "copy-paste" planning blue prints, suitable for supporting emerging urban sprawl and uncontrolled construction activities. Unfortunately, due to the long-term social ignorance and strong alliance of developer's lobbies, architects and constructors, various international planning ideas with "sustainability in mind" have not affected Croatian planning theory and practice, yet. Some of them are petrified, misinterpreted or simply abolished owing to obstinate legislation, the non-existence of formal planning education, and the privileged position of only one brand of chartered planners (e.g. architects) . Alternative development solutions, such as public participation, behavioral, organizational and technological advances, diversity of implementing instruments in the planner's "toolkit", and the planner's numerous tasks in guiding sustainable change, are still to be recognized in this EU accession country. Notwithstanding, this paper aims to summaries sustainability and its derivates as the new paradigms, in which the guiding leitmotif of the new global agenda for planning is spelled out by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (2001b) as follows: "The new planning is less coded and technical, more innovative and entrepreneurial. It is more participatory and concerned with projects rather than whole spatial systems. Planning expertise is increasingly sought not only by the state, but also by the corporate sector and civil society. What is controversial is not planning per se, but its goal: whether it should be directed chiefly at efficiency, reinforcing the current distribution of wealth and power, or whether it should play a distributive role to help create minimum standards of urban liveability" (Hague, 2001).

The methodological assumptions of rational choice theory -- methodological individualism & rationality -- are not generally considered suitable for analyzing nations. Nevertheless, if we accept that the political process is at least partially rational, & that nation-building & change are part of that process, this will provide an opening to look at nations from the unorthodox perspective of rational choice. The club theory, as part of rational choice theory, offers great opportunities for establishing analogies between clubs & nations, & thus for shedding new light on some features of modern polities. Establishing a polity, by the club analogy, entails two basic selections: the selection of members & the selection of a sovereign territory that will serve to provide physical protection & material resources for its members. The choice of membership is in general based on the choice of desirable membership characteristics (usually cultural ones). The choice of a sovereign territory is linked to the decision on the part of the members to engage in collective action to acquire the sovereign territory. Adapted from the source document.

The purpose of this essay is to prove the connection among political culture, political structure, & democracy. All the arguments pointing to such a connection have been analyzed within the framework of two fundamental approaches to the relationship between culture & structure, ie, within the framework of the classical approach to their correspondence (which claims -- primarily in line with the functional theory of culture -- that there is a functional concordance between culture & structure, that democracy is mirrored by the civic political culture, ie, that "culture is a structure's way of life," that culture determines the structure) & the contemporary interactional approach (in which -- primarily in line with the theory of culture "as meaning" or "social functioning" -- complex relations among various cultural variables & structural variables are analyzed as well as their combined effect on democracy as the consequence of these relations). The latter approach considers democracy not as a "fixed condition" but rather as a dynamic phenomenon or the end result of the combined interactional relationships between culture & structure. The analysis has shown that both approaches are legitimate & useful in understanding & maintaining democracy. Of course, the interactional approaches are more complex, as well as more important & more vital for understanding democracy. The analysis has shown how political culture (democratic legitimation or political trust, support for civil freedoms, satisfaction with the functioning of democracy, etc.) often depend on the elements of the very political structure (party systems & coalition models, election patterns, patterns of democracy, positions in power structure, etc.). Political culture is autonomous in relation to political structure, but frequently its role greatly depends on the relations among political actors & the variables of the political culture itself. The analysis has also demonstrated how these investigations into the interaction (combined effects) between political culture & structure are extremely sophisticated & that in the future they are going to become the most fruitful part of political science, making possible not only a deeper understanding of the "dynamic regularities" in the functioning of democracy but also the attempts at its "innovative sustainment" & gradual development. 1 Table. Adapted from the source document.

Using the contemporary system theories, the author primarily points to the asymmetry of the constitutional law & the political processes it so rarely regulates. Then he goes on to analyze the historical process of separating the custom law, oral law & written law, of the court & the courtroom, the law & the constitution, the constitution & its interpretation, the constitution's interpretation, & the constitutional theory, & concludes his study with a description of the difference between constitution & democracy in the postmodern categorical optics. Adapted from the source document.

This article concentrates on the political theory of Thomas Hobbes inside the European political tradition. Security is understood as a primary political good. In accordance with this, the creation of Leviathan is understood as a symbol connected to the typical process of the creation of the European state. Starting from this basic assumption, the author discuses the political theories of T. Hobbes, C. Schmitt & F. Neumann. References. Adapted from the source document.

For many pre-20th-century legal & political authors, the crucial issue was to find the answers to the questions of why one cannot support every claim to the right of absolute rule & how to curtail power & authority. In this text, the author reviews the contribution of three classics of the modern debate on constitutionalism -- C. H. McIlwain, C. J. Friedrich, & F. A. Hayek -- whose political/legal theories represent the most glorious pages of the contemporary theory of state & rights & comparative political systems. Adapted from the source document.

The purpose of this essay is to prove the connections among political culture, political structure, & democracy. All the arguments pointing to such a connection have been analyzed within the framework of two fundamental approaches to the relationship between culture & structure ie, within the framework of the classical approach to their correspondence (which claims -- primarily in line with the functional theory of culture -- that there is a functional concordance between culture & structure, & that democracy is mirrored by the civic political culture ie, that "culture is a structure's way of life," that culture determines the structure) & the contemporary interactional approach (in which -- primarily in line with the theory of culture "as meaning" or "social functioning" -- complex relations among various cultural variables & structural variables are analyzed as well as their combined effect on democracy as the consequence of these relations). The latter approach considers democracy not as a "fixed condition," but rather as a dynamic phenomenon or end result of the combined interactional relationships between culture & structure. The analysis has shown that both approaches are legitimate & useful in understanding & maintaining democracy. Of course, the interactional approaches are more complex, as well as more important & more vital for understanding democracy. The analysis shows how political culture (democratic legitimation or political trust, support for civil freedoms, satisfaction with the functioning of democracy, etc.) often depends on the elements of the political structure (party systems & coalition models, election patterns, patterns of democracy, positions in power structure, etc). Political culture is autonomous in relation to political structure, but frequently, its role depends on the relations among political actors & the variables of the political culture itself. The analysis has also demonstrated how these investigations into the interaction (combined effects) between political culture & structure are extremely sophisticated & that in the future they are going to become the most fruitful part of political science, making possible not only a deeper understanding of the "dynamic regularities" in the functioning of democracy but also the attempts at its "innovative sustainment" & gradual development. 1 Table. Adapted from the source document.

The term charisma was first used in theological writings. In the Old Testament literature, the term occurs only twice. However, in the New Testament it occurs seventeen times. It is used by St. Paul in the First Letter to the Corinthians, in the Letter to the Romans, in the Second Letter to the Corinthians. In the political context, the word charisma has been lavishly used in the analyses of national-socialist & Stalinist regimes. Charismatic legitimation is, primarily, a feature of various types of dictatorships & not of democratic, constitutional states. This is probably why charismatic aspects are so notorious in most contemporary social theory. 18 References. Adapted from the source document.

The essay deals with the evolution of the theory of transformation in German political science of the 1990s. This research was given fresh blood by the collapse of the communist systems in Eastern Europe. Realizing that the existing theories of transformation cannot be applied to Eastern European countries due to a plethora of important distinguishing features, German political scientists used two general starting points in their research. The first starting point is the theory of universal waves of democratization, which focused its research on the application of comparative methods & comparative politics. The second starting point is the assumption that Eastern Europe is undergoing the social system change & not the political regime change, which enormously broadened the research scope. These general starting points gave rise to a series of studies, which are among the best works from the field of the theory of transformation in contemporary political science. This also resulted in the first political science handbook on the theory of transformation. 31 References. Adapted from the source document.

The Croatian Constitutional Court, by its decision of 24 June 1992, partly rejected a request to start proceedings, & partly terminated already started proceedings, to determine the constitutionality of some thirty emergency decrees passed by the President of Croatian Republic during the undeclared war with Serbia & Yugoslav People's Army in the second half of 1991. The Court backed its decision inter alia by the following arguments: The President has the power to pass emergency decrees without first declaring a state of emergency. Presidential emergency decrees can be retroactive, since the Croatian Constitution does not specifically forbid their retroactivity. The Court's reasoning, which endorses a permanent coup d'etat, is probably a corollary of the idea, taken for granted by some Croatian constitutional lawyers, that the Croatian Constitution is modeled on the Constitution of the French 5th Republic, so that the sweeping powers of the French President belong also to his Croatian counterpart. The paper challenges the idea & discusses the relevance of comparative constitutional theory for Croatian constitutional practice. The first three sections demonstrate that, despite political similarities between the early years of the French 5th Republic & the Croatian Republic, the two semi-presidential systems differ in several important constitutional & legal respects so that the powers -- especially emergency powers -- of the French President cannot be used as a persuasive authority to interpret powers of the Croatian President. Section four indicates that if anything in the French law is authoritative in interpreting Croatian constitutional provisions on state of emergency, it is the effort of the French Conseil d'etat to control, to a limited extent, the legality of presidential emergency decrees. The last section points out that assumptions used by the Croatian Constitutional Court in interpreting presidential powers are more in accord with Weimar Constitution than with the Constitution of the 5th French Republic. The paper ends with the warning that unrestrained exercise of presidential powers in Croatia may lead, as it did in Mussolini's Italy & the Weimar Republic, to dictatorship. Adapted from the source document.

The paper is reviewing basic features of contemporary economic crisis, from the standpoint of political economy and public policy. The argument developed in the paper is, on the one hand, based on the political economy of the public sector and its crucial empirical findings. Secondly, the contributions of public policy theory related to basic problems of public governance systems are systematically reviewed, by emphasising the potential of these systems for formulating development policy. The paper is also discussing the importance of the non-economic sources of economic crises. Adapted from the source document.