The information technology is increasingly shaping human life. Thanks to it, the quantity of publicly accessible information has been extremely enlarged. There is also a greater number of people who use these information actively, which should make more space for the development of communication culture. However, there are certain problems. The information technology deprives man of many natural ways of communication. In spite of everything, man needs it. Then again, when using the information technology, he should not let himself to be a mere slave, but he should aspire to become the subject - an active agent of the process with all characteristics that make him human. (SOI : PM: S. 243)
In this work, the author analyses three basic requisites for the establishment of a comprehensive information system in Croatia: contemporary worldview, the latest state-of-the-art technology of the electronic media and the new rhetoric of tele-dialogue/polilogue. The author claims that, regarding the implementation of the latest technology, Croatia is on a par with the world (since we have links with the satellite and optical system and the number of the INTERNET subscribers is growing). However, the situation with the growth of political culture is not so rosy, since the media are still far from a constructive polilogue and mostly stoop to the ad hominem rhetoric. The bleakest situation is in the unpreparedness of journalists and citizens for active, participatory communication in powerful polilogist electronic media. + That is why the author advocates a speedier progress in all subsystems, since only through the synergetic linking of the new communicational technology with the new rhetoric of the polilogue, as well as with the responsibility of all the participants in public communication, a comprehensive Croatian information system may be developed. (SOI : PM: S. 215)
The history of nuclear energy, as one of the possible ways out of energy crisis and the transition into the post-oil period is analysed Since its discovery, nuclear energy has been used for military purposes and consequently shrouded in mystery and volatility. The coalition formed during World War II found the new legitimacy for the continuation of nuclear power use via its programme "Atoms for Peace". The atomic bomb has evolved into atoms for peace, a complementary means by which the USA have been trying to secure global domination through nuclear technology. The programme has not achieved its objectives, although external conditions should have warranted that. (SOI : PM: S. 260)
The paper analyses the development of journalism from practice to theory and outlines the stages in the formation of the science of journalism or novitology. As an interdisciplinary, synthetic science, novitology connects everyday journalistic practice and meta-theoretical deliberations on the scope and the potential of journalism as a social function. While cogitating on the general tasks of journalism, the author focuses on the creation of news, their dissemination, fostering awareness of the methodological instruments, the moral dimensions of journalism, and the modern media technology. All these chain-links should be connected in the journalistic science; also, the relationships and inter-relations among universal, particular, and individual disciplines within the system of novitology should be analysed by means of a systematic methodology. (SOI : PM: S. 221)
The author describes the evolution of philosophical foundations of the mechanical and the organic principle, from Spencer to Whitehead as well as Durkheim's first application of these principles (mechanical and organic solidarity) and their sociological extensions as a form of sociability (L. V. Wiese, Gurvitch). And finally, the author gives a detailed review of the application of the mechanical and the organic as a structure of organisation in the science of management (Burns, Stalker, and later theoreticians). The mechanical and the organic principles identily the structure of being, society and organisations from the point of view of the capacities of individuals and their involuntary or voluntary ties. The mechanical and the organic are also the poles between which the structure of an organisation varies depending on strategy, size, technology and environment. (SOI : PM: S. 256)
The Kosovo crisis once again brought the powerful, unscrupulous and destructive Milosevic media apparatus into the spotlight. This is nothing new nor surprising for all those who have been covering his political ascent from the very beginning, but this time he used his heaviest artillery, never mincing words nor flinching from using all possible means to achieve his ends: to justify the genocidal policy and rallying Serbs once again around the well-known platform of national unity and Greater Serbia rhetoric. On one side, we had a well-oiled media machine that mercilessly rolled over everything on its way, not respecting any basic journalistic principles, not to mention ethics. On the other side, there were the most powerful world media, aggressive, assertive, equipped with the state-of-the-art technology, but with one major flaw: these are mass media, not a propaganda machinery. Two completely different structures clashed head-on. Thus, the media in war turned into the war of the media, a totally unfair war between a powerful propaganda machine and democratic media. (SOI : S. 113)
Nothing is more prone to errors than newspapers. Croatian newspapers (dailies, magazines and a few journals) were studied during a several- month period in 1997. The review is not comprehensive, nor have all the pages been scanned, since this would require a sort of analysis for which there were no necessary funds nor researchers. Nevertheless, the picture of the typical newspaper errors is all-inclusive. The errors which are a result of haste, hard working conditions and obsolete technology are bearable and excusable. However, flagrant carelessness shows disrespect for readers and the profession. Even worse is ignorance. Journalism is advancing fast, but there are certain well-known basics which can be easily learned. There is no excuse for ignorance-based errors, as there is no justification for a surgeon who would - due to ignorance - amputate a healthy instead of a diseased leg. But, what to say about the intentional, deliberate distortion of facts? It is unforgivable not to inform the public about the opinions of the President or the Governor of National Bank or to give a true dimension to a crime. This side of journalism must be rectified by educated professionals who respect the rules of the profession and whose primary concern are not ideological connotations and drifts. (SOI : PM: S. 198)
The aim of this article, through an analysis of Veljko Vujacic's text and other pamphlets and manifestos by the Serbian political elite, was to show that the Serbian elite and the Serbian society have not got rid of their nationalist bias in explaining the events which led to the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. They claim that the main culprit for this failure was the communist national policy and the failure to use adequate means (meaning Rankovic's technology of violence) in order to preserve the unity of the state. The second part of the article serves to demonstrate how Weber's view on the politics of power does not suffice to explain away the bolshevist and the communist form of the populist Serbian nationalism. The moment when the former Yugoslav political elite split into the anticommunist and anticentralist on the one hand, and the bolshevist and the centralist on the other, there was no possibility for a compromise. The third part suggests that Vujacic (and not only he) thinks that a way of overcoming the Serbian "dominant" nationalism is the catharsis of Serbian intellectuals and the Serbian society. However, as the latest events and proclamations of the Serbian elite show, his is a solitary case. (SOI : PM: S. 37)
Mixed government, which is commonly regarded as a distinctly medieval form of government, is relevant also to contemporary constitutional states. It is the best form of government, since the aristocratic element is a continuous source of virtue, especially of justice, and a check not only on the executive, as the monarchical element which is the seat of political power, and the legislature, as the democratic element which expresses the will of the majority, but also groups and institutions that have the might and will to impose themselves as oligarchies. Mixed government is also the form of government that is practised by most developed contemporary constitutional states: USA, UK, France, Switzerland, Germany etc. European nobility is the original aristocratic institution, by virtue of the fact that it was a system for the transfer of both virtue and general conditions of life. Three institutions that emerged in the late Middle Ages assumed structures and functions of the nobility. + The first is the clergy. When, as a result of the differentiation of feudal society ethical and intellectual virtues of the nobility could no longer maintain general conditions of life, the clergy, by virtue of their abstract knowledge that ranged from philosophy and theology to law and medicine, became a class of new experts in generalities and thereby a new aristocracy. The second modern aristocratic institution is the judiciary, which has a structure and function similar to earlier aristocracies. The task of judges is to establish the highest virtue o constitutionalism. It is justice by law, which regulates general conditions of life in the state and society. What qualifies judges for the task is expertise in the new generality. The expertise includes not only education and experience in law but also impeccable private life and demonstrated professional ethics. + The third modern aristocratic institution is the profession, whose most important instance is the legal profession. It shares its structure and function partly with the judiciary and partly with other professions. It seems that modern professions are degenerating. In the key area of data processing, due to rapid changes of technology, professions as systems of the transfer of virtue do not even seem to be possible. Professional aristocracies are replaced increasingly by oligarchies of capitalists and technocrats. (SOI : PM: S. 111)
