Tenth elections for the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia since the reestablishment of a multiparty system were held on March 16th, 2014, under a proportional electoral system. Electoral model essentially established in 2000 also included a single electoral district, closed party lists, five percent electoral threshold for non-minority parties and a use of D'Hondt formula for distribution of seats. Most important results of the March elections include: the lowest voter turnout and close to half of the votes won by the Serbian Progressive Party (which, in turn, gave them 63% of parliament members). Moreover, more than 80 percent of the seats was won by lists led by governing parties, i. e. Progressive or Socialist party. Elections were also not just a disaster for Democratic party, but also for Democratic Party of Serbia, Liberal Democratic Party, and United Regions of Serbia, which all lost seats in the National Assembly. Traditional success of the minority parties of most numerous national minorities (i.e. Hungarians, Bosniaks and Albanians) was noted. Also, for the first time, the parliament will convene without so-called sovereignists and opponents of European integration process. Finally, March elections were marked by a large number of squandered votes.
The paper analyses the influence of familial "political biographies" during World War II on party preferences. The survey has shown that about 50% of its subjects have a single-track political biography (they belonged to either the partisan movement (NOB) or the army of the Independent Croatian State (NDH)). The individuals whose political biography is NOB-inclined have a markedly more negative attitude towards the Croatian state of the II World War and Ante Pavelic, positively assess Josip Broz Tito, are less religious and prefer leftist parties. The individuals who have the NDH biography have a positive opinion of the Croatian state during II World War and Ante Pavelic, negatively assess Josip Broz, are much more religious and vote for the parties of the right. The individuals whose families did not get involved into the conflict or have a "mixed" political biography, are moderately religious and largely vote for centrist parties. Besides the political biography factor, the degree of religiosity has proved an extremely important factor in the choice of political parties. (SOI : PM: S. 128)
The author poses the question about the fate of neoconservatism, in the 1980s the official political orientation in the USA. Twenty years later, one can see how anti-communism and anti-modernism, neoconservatism's fundamental ideological premises, have changed the political practice and awareness, both (and equally) in American foreign and national policy. Though conceptually incoherent, neoconservatism has proved to possess exceptional clout. This has led the author to conclude that neoconservatism, despite the claims by neoconservatives themselves that it is dead, still has much leeway, since voters' awareness has been changed: they have got used to the new political context, they vote for well-balanced "mixtures" of rightist and leftist ideologies. (SOI : PM: S. 164)
In his article Dr Pribicevic analyze relation between two largest political parties in Serbia: Democratic Party and Serbian Progressive Party and possibility of the creation of the so-called large coalition after the next parliamentarian elections scheduled for the beginning of the next year. Author explains the meaning of the conception of large coalition and pointed out its results in Germany where this idea of coalition between main parties of right and left was firstly implemented. Starting from the German experience of the large coalition between CDU and SPD Dr Pribicevic analyze the benefit and the damage such coalition might bring to its participants in Serbia. In spite of the fact that both Serbian parties reject such coalition and in spit of the fact that German experience shows that SPD and CDU lost a substantial number of votes after mutual government author concludes that voters in Serbia similar to German case in 2005 could create such option as a realistic one after next elections.
Nowadays, there are divided opinions in Bosnia and Herzegovina when it comes to further mandate of the OHR and the institution of the High Representative. However, the e nd of the mandate of the High Representative is realistically expected in the near future. The need to abolish the office of the OHR and the institution of the High Representative has been mentioned increasingly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in the Republic of Srpska. The reasons for the abolition of the function of the High Representative are different between the entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as among its constitutive peoples. The authority of the High Representative has been increasingly questioned.It is on that basis that questions arise more frequently whether his (High Representative) legal acts will be valid, in particular individual decisions, such as deprivation of certain rights to citizens, the right to work, political action and passive right to vote. Representatives of the international community are worried that the interested domestic political circles could set a thesis (and be successful at it) that all acts of the High Representative will cease to apply at the moment when Annex X of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina is ended.A number of imposed laws not yet adopted by the local legislator himself, in the event of cancellation, would actually return BiH to the original competences under the Constitution BiH, as the legal consequence. The institution of the High Representative was set up by Annex X (Agreement on Civilian Implementation of the Peaceful Solution) of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Simultaneously, bearing in mind these facts, legally speaking, Bosnia and Herzegovina can not be classified into any known form of international dependence, however, the objective situation is such that Bosnia and Herzegovina with the powers vested in the High Representative and the actions that he is taking, can be considered a state with a specific form of international dependence and a special form of guardianship.
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.
Predmet istraživanja u ovoj disertaciji je plaćena komunikacija na televiziji u parlamentarnim izbornim kampanjama u Srbiji posle 2000. godine. Disertacija pronalazi svoje ishodište u teoriji okvira i socijalnom konstruktivizmu što je inherentno utemeljenje ove teorije. Koristili smo tri metodološka pristupa: (1) kvalitativnu analizu sadržaja u političkom izbornom oglašavanju, (2) analizu okvira i (3) dubinske intervjue sa političkim konsultantima i članovima izbornih štabova. U disertaciji su korišćeni brojni izvori sekundarnih podataka. Period istraživanja je obuhvatio period posle 2000. godine, sve parlamentarne izbore na uzorku onih subjekata koji su prešli cenzus. Nalazi istraživanja pokazuju da posle 2000. dolazi do krupnih promena u političkoj komunikaciji. Političko oglašavanje dobija važnu ulogu u kampanjama, produkcija je ogromna a ulaganja izbornih učesnika drastično uvećana u odnosu na period pre 2000. godine. Političko oglašavanje je gotovo po pravilu služilo za ubeđivanje a malo ili nimalo za informisanje. U disertaciji je autor jasno potvrdio da izloženost političkom oglašavanju i okvirima u njima osnažuje uticaj na biračeve preferencije odnosno na njihovu izbornu odluku. Autor je ukazao i potvrdio sužavanje saznajne odnosno edukativne komponente u kampanjama koja je limitirala kvalitetno informisanu izbornu odluku za većinu birača. Disertacija nije potvrdila da je oglašavanje preuzelo primat nad informativom, već da je kombinacija ogromne produkcije (posebno između 2007 i 2012) i zavisnosti redakcija od "stranačkih kamera", ugrozila pravo birača na kvalitetno informisanu izbornu odluku. Autor je delimično potvrdio da teme koje se pokreću u plaćenom oglašavanju nisu programski usmerene i da se više koriste u cilju ojačavanja imidža kandidata/lidera, a ne promocije javnih politika. ; This thesis examines paid political communication broadcast on television in Serbian parliamentary election campaigns after the year 2000. The thesis is rooted in framing theory and social constructivism, the broader underpinning of this concept. Three methodological approaches were employed: (1) qualitative analysis of the content of political election advertising since 2000; (2) frame analysis; and (3) in-depth interviews with political consultants and campaign managers. The thesis has also relied on numerous secondary sources. For all parliamentary elections after 2000, the paper looks at advertising by political subjects that won sufficient votes to cross the five percent threshold required to enter parliament. The findings show that the year 2000 was a watershed for political communication, with political advertising assuming an important role in election campaigns; political entities dramatically increased their investment, which made the volume of adverts produced grow by an order of magnitude. A major finding of the thesis is that political advertising has nearly always been deployed to persuade, with little or no thought being given to its informative function. The author clearly confirms that exposure to political advertising and the frames contained in it has had a substantial impact on voters' preferences and affected their voting decisions. The author also identifies and confirms how the narrowing of the knowledge or educational component in campaign messaging has restricted the ability of most voters to make informed voting choices. The thesis has not shown that advertising has supplanted news, but rather that the combination of the flood of advertising (especially from 2007 to 2012) and the dependence of television channels on content fed to them by political parties has jeopardised the right of voters to make informed choices. The author has partially confirmed that topics raised in paid advertising are not issue-oriented, but image-oriented, aiming to enhance the public perception of a particular candidate or leader rather than promote policies put forward in political manifestos.
The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a difference between female abstinents in Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of certain demographics (age, education, rural-urban, party and ethnicity) and socio-psychological characteristics (interest in politics, the ways of getting their information about politics, trust in institutions, dogmatism, nationalism, cosmopolitanism, the end justifies the means, the attitude towards the leader, conservatism, liberalism and authoritarianism). The study was conducted in the first half of March 2013, on a sample of 483 adult women who did not plan to vote in the upcoming elections, who in the past six years (three election cycles) either voted occasionally, or they voted, but have no intention of voting again, or they have never voted. We started from the assumption that the different modes of political abstinence differ with respect to the measured variables. The results show that the three categories of women abstinents differ in terms of certain socio-demographic variables: age, education, ethnicity, party affiliation and religious beliefs. There are differences among respondents concerning political interests. The greatest interest was found among the respondents who manipulate their turning out to the polls, followed by those who were disappointed in the elections, while the slightest interest in politics was among the respondents who have never voted. Television is still the dominant medium for getting information about political events, the second and third ones are newspapers and radio, but they are much less influential. Yet among the three categories of women abstinents significant differences were found only regarding television and radio. Three categories of women abstinents differ only in cosmopolitanism and liberalism variables. There is a difference between women abstinents in their confidence in institutions. The most trust in institutions is found in women who occasionally took part in the elections, followed by those who voted, but no longer do so. The least trust in institutions is found among women who have never voted. ; Cilj ovog istraživanja je ustanoviti da li postoji razlika među apstinenticama u Bosni i Hercegovini prema određenim demografskim (starost, obrazovanje, selo-grad, stranačka i etnička pripadnost) i socio-psihološkim karakteristikama (zainteresovanost za politiku, način informisanja o politici, povjerenje u institucije, dogmatizam, nacionalizam, kosmopolitizam, cilj opravdava sredstvo, odnos prema vođi, konzervativizam, konzervativistička autoritarnost i liberalizam). Istraživanje je provedeno u prvoj polovini marta 2013. godine na uzorku od 483 punoljetne žene koje ne planiraju da glasaju na predstojećim izborima, a koje su u posljednjih šest godina (tri izborna ciklusa) nekad glasale, a nekad ne, glasale su, ali više neće, ili nikad nisu glasale. Pošli smo od pretpostavke da će različiti modaliteti političke apstinencije da se razlikuju s obzirom na mjerene varijable. Dobijeni rezultati pokazuju da se tri kategorije apstinentica razlikuju po pojedinim sociodemografskim varijablama: starost, obrazovanje, etnička i stranačka pripadnost i vjerska ubjeđenja. Ispitanice se međusobno razlikuju i zainteresovanošću za politiku. Najveće interesovanje nalazimo kod ispitanica koje manipulišu svojim izlaskom na izbore, a slijede one koje su se razočarale u izbore, dok je zainteresovanost za politiku najmanja kod ispitanica koje uopšte ne glasaju na izborima. Televizija je još uvijek dominantan medij za informisanje o političkim dešavanjima, dok su na drugom i trećem mjestu dnevne novine i radio, ali su znatno manje uticajni. Ipak, između tri kategorije apstinentica nalazimo značajne razlike samo kod televizije i radija. Tri kategorije apstinentica se međusobno razlikuju samo po varijablama kosmopolitizam i liberalizam. Prisutna je i razlika između apstinentica po njihovom povjerenju u institucije. Najviše povjerenja u institucije nalazimo kod ispitanica koje nekad izlaze, a nekad ne izlaze na izbore, slijede ispitanice koje su glasale, ali više neće. Najmanje povjerenja u institucije nalazimo kod ispitanica koje nikad ne glasaju.
