
Legal Wounds: The Meaning of Human Rights for Lesbians and Gay Men in Russia. Summary
Legal Wounds: The Meaning of Human Rights for Lesbians and Gay Men in Russia. Summary
Extended summary of the article (in English)
More...Extended summary of the article (in English)
More...Keywords: Waste; Surplus; Disposability; Reindeer; Industrialization; Biopolitics
The article examines the emergence of waste as an industrial category in the context of contemporary indigenous Sami reindeer pastoralism and slaughter in northern Norway. In recent decades, commercially available substitutes and the industrial reorganization of slaughter have displaced traditional methods of extraction and utilization. As a result, the slaughtered reindeer body has been reorganized within new regimes of waste and waste management. Focusing on the relationship between disposal and harm, the first half of the article explores some of the reorientations involved in this transition. The second half links the emergence of industrial waste, as the worthless surplus of an anonymous carcass, to the formation of a disposable surplus at the populational level. Is there a link between the anonymous disposability of reindeer parts, constituted as the worthless waste of industrial modernity, and the anonymous disposability of living reindeer constituted within state biopolitics? In English, extended summary in Russian.
More...Keywords: Political economy; moral economy; institutional and social structure of accumulation; crony capitalism; privatisation; transition; path dependency; Croatia;
Using the analytical model and the categories of the American radical political economy as the starting point, the author analyses the dynamics of the economic changes in Croatia in the 1990s. Particularly significant for the understanding of that dynamics is one of its dimensions that the author, in line with classical political economy, calls the “moral economy of transition”. The basic institutional and social structure of the accumulation in Croatian economy of the 1990s was marked by state populism, clientelism and cronyism, the result of the HDZ’s model of “national capitalism” i.e. a specific collusion of the economic policy and the privatization. That model failed to address the major problems of development or to secure a satisfactory rate of economic growth. That is why the political-economic balance of Croatia’s first transitional decade is negative. The author concludes that the second decade requires a new political-economic model, one that will overcome the challenges facing the Croatian society: economic development, increased productivity, smaller government, reconciling the imperative of accumulation and the democratic legitimacy and the restoration of moral economy and trust.
More...Keywords: economy; economy as exchange; public choice; constitutional political economy; political science;
The author looks into Buchanan’s contribution to the contemporary political economy. His starting point is that Buchanan’s concept of economy as exchange links political science and economics, showing that this is feasible, since Buchanan has rejected the theory of allocation, a standard in economics, and promoted the market theory based on exchange. The theory of allocation is dubious for Buchanan since it reduces the subject of economics to a set of problems and not to a characteristic form of human activity. That is why he uses the concept of simbiotics, meaning the attitude based on the study of links among various actors that are beneficial for all. Buchanan’s basic concept evolved and was shaped in the 1980s in the form of the constitutional political economy. Constitutional political economy is an attempt to explain the possibilities of different legal-constitutional rules that determine the basic framework for selecting the economic and political actors. The author claims that for political science particularly important is the fact that Buchanan defines this type of political economy as a redux of the political in economics. In this way on the one hand it became questionable in economics as a discipline, and on the other more acceptable for political science. However, the fact that Buchanan’s work transcends the rigid boundaries of social disciplines does not mean that he unreservedly paves the way for political science. On the contrary, Buchanan is pursuing such a fundamental revision of the rigid boundaries among disciplines in social sciences that it may challenge the present status of political science.
More...Keywords: commercial on-line databases; scientific information; social sciences and humanities;
Due to their professional selectiveness and the standardized processing, commercial databases are a valuable source of scientific information. This paper describes the rationale behind their emergence and evolution in the sense of technological and content changes that the on-line databases have gone through in their forty-year existence. On today’s market there are hosts that offer a plethora of databases. In the Croatian academic community the access is provided via NSK and CARNet. The article lists the examples of surfing on major on-line databases available in the web form (EMERALD, CSA and EBSCO) as the relevant electronic sources of information from the field of social sciences/humanities.
More...Keywords: citizenship; adult education; lifetime education;
The citizenship principle is again in. Citizenship is defined by status, identity, virtues and the ideal of social cohesion. Citizens are viewed as subjects, clients and participants. The text describes the dilemmas about the various dimensions of citizenship. Contemporary adult education as part of lifetime education is closely linked to the citizenship principle, particularly active citizenship. In its various forms it aids in establishing active citizenship and is altered in the process.
More...Keywords: civil society; societies; foundations; structure of civil society; membership in civil society organizations; civil society resources;
The article brings the results of a research of the structure of the civil society in Croatia. This structure was analyzed by means of the following indicators: the number of the organizations of the civil society; the membership in these organizations; the range of the organizations of the civil society; the composition of the civil society; and the resources of the civil society. In the 1990s in Croatia the number of the civil society organizations increased greatly. They are relatively short in broader membership; also, in the 1990s the active membership shrank. The organization of the civil society can mostly be found in big cities. Insufficient networking and a certain dose of political divisions of these organizations diminish its developmental potential. Foreign organizations and their financial support played a major part in profiling the structure of the civil society. The relatively modest human resources reduce the partnership position of these organizations. The structure of these organizations can be compared to other transitional countries. The war and the humanitarian crisis particularly affected the profiling of the structure of the civil society in Croatia.
More...Keywords: public policy; comparative public policy; policy analysis; government activity; public sector growth; deregulation;
The article brings up the basic issues of comparative public policy, a separate research orientation in the contemporary political science. First, the principal works that have defined this research discipline are looked into. The contributions of two subdisciplines of the contemporary political science – public policy and political economy – are highlighted. The second part of the article investigates the fundamental methodological issues, synthesized into two basic dilemmas: what should be understood under the term government activity and how it is possible to measure this performance. The author is of the opinion that most works from the field of comparative public policy are largely devoted to the comparison of governments’ financial activities which are the easiest to measure due to a broad accessibility of the data on public expenditure, public sector growth, unemployment and alike. Referring to the Canadian author Louis Imbeau, the author stresses the need for a broader understanding of comparative public policy that would include those comparisons that do not exclusively rely on governments’ financial activities.
More...Keywords: Federal Republic of Germany; Eastern Germany; political system; PDS; elections; political parties; political ideology; electoral behavior;
After the first elections for the Federal parliament (Bundestag) of the unified Germany in December of 1990, one new party got into the Bundestag: the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). This party is the successor party of the United Socialist Party of Germany (SED), the ruling communist party in East Germany. PDS is still represented in the Bundestag; it has representatives in all länder parliaments of the eastern German regions, and is the third strongest party. In some eastern German towns it is even the strongest party. In order to explain PDS’ excellent electoral results and its political clout, the author analyses the party’s ideological/programmatic goals as well as the social conflicts it articulates in the German party system. PDS represents the anti-western social milieu, which includes 20% of the population of eastern Germany. Although PDS has been trying to shed its communist legacy, its attitude towards the elements of the liberal/democratic regime has remained ambivalent since its members and voters demonstrate a significant antidemocratic potential.
More...Keywords: constitutional politics; liberalism; nationalism; postcommunism; revolution; Serbia; constitutional patriotism;
In the light of the dramatic events in the Serbian political society, the author looks into the most fundamental question of the political theory of constitutionalism: in which way a revolution may reach its apogee in a viable form of constitutional government. The liberal revolution in Serbia enabled the collective identity to be redefined on the basis of constitutional patriotism. The author thinks that constitutional patriotism may be a good basis for a reconstruction of the political regime beyond the nation-state.
More...Keywords: Belgrade; public transport; light metro
In Belgrade the process of transition from oriental kasaba to European city was long and thwarted by various economic political and social cultural factors. The European ideal still hasn’t been reached. Transition, as a development process in Belgrade, operates by a specific paradoxical inversion – the logic of harmonised development of urban transport, urban form and structure, which in theories of urban planning appears as a postulate, is in Belgrade influenced by incredible, ephemeral, disfigured, yet authentic transformation. However, quality solutions, conclusions and recommendations for further implementation of the idea about introducing the new public transport system, which is part of the main project for the first light metro line in Belgrade, establishment of a united group of experts, investors, negotiators, public opinion and all actors needed to make decisions, united and uncompromising idea about the future image and quality of urban life in Belgrade, have uncovered an until recently untried field of possibilities for transport management coupled with urban development as the optimal and acceptable model. City life could again become dynamic, productive and attractive.
More...Keywords: GIS; prenova; Ljubljana; mestno središče
Propadanje mestnih središč in izgubljanje njihove stanovanjske funkcije sta najbolj pereča problema evropskih zgodovinskih mest. Rešitev je nedvomno v prenovi degradiranih območij znotraj mestnih središč in izboljšanju kakovosti življenja v njih. Te probleme bi mesta lahko uspešneje reševala, če bi pozorno in kontinuirano spremljala stanje v prostoru in sproti identificirala tista območja, na katerih je potreba po prenovi najnujnejša, in tiste probleme, ki jih je treba najprej reševati. Kot orodje za sistematično spremljanje stanja v prostoru smo na Urbanističnem inštitutu v sklopu več projektov, razvili računalniško podprto metodologijo, ki omogoča evidentiranje in vrednotenje prioritetnih območij prenove.
More...Keywords: analiza kakovosti; Ljubljanska urbana regija; krajinsko planiranje; prostorsko planiranje; razpršena gradnja; širjenje pozidave; vplivi na okolje
Mestno obrobje se širi navzven, (ne)načrtno širjenje pozidave posega po zelo različnih zemljiščih in lahko prizadene tudi večje naravne in okoljske kakovosti. Z analizo širjenja pozidanih zemljišč na vzorčnem območju ljubljanske urbane regije (LUR) v daljšem časovnem obdobju (1951–2002) ugotovimo, na katera zemljišča se je pozidava širila in katere kakovosti v prostoru so bile zato prizadete ali izgubljene. Iz rezultatov omenjene analize je mogoče sklepati, kako učinkovit je bil sistem varstva zemljišč pred pozidavo, ki je bilo v prvi vrsti usmerjeno v varstvo kmetijskih zemljišč. Zakon o varstvu kmetijskih zemljišč pred spreminjanjem namembnosti naj bi zagotovil varstvo najboljših kmetijskih zemljišč pred pozidavo. Z določili tega zakona so bila vsa kmetijska zemljišča uvrščena v območja najboljših kmetijskih zemljišč, ki so najprimernejša za kmetijsko obdelavo ali območja, ki so manj primerna za kmetijsko obdelavo. Domala vsa ravninska območja so bila uvrščena v 1. območje varstva kmetijskih zemljišč. Za planiranje pozidave in za druge dejavnosti v prostoru je ostalo malo možnosti in tudi zaradi različnih sporov so se izgubljanja najboljša kmetijska zemljišča kot tudi zemljišča, ki so pomembna zaradi ohranjanja narave in naravnih virov.
More...Keywords: Barcelona; globalizacija mest; ideološki učinki; mestna prenova; Poblenou; predstavitve mesta
V prispevku želimo pokazati nekatere družbene posledice prehoda industrijskega mesta v postindustrijsko, kot primer bomo pogledali preobrazbo soseske Poblenou v Barceloni. Najprej bomo ugotovili, da je mesto lahko nosilec ideoloških sporočil in da ima produkcija mestnega prostora vedno tudi neposredne ideološke učinke. Pokazali bomo, da integracija barcelonske ekonomije v globalno ekonomijo in njena strukturna preobrazba pomembno vplivata na preobrazbo soseske Poblenou ter tako neposredno določata vsakdanjo izkušnjo mesta tamkaj živečih prebivalcev. Vendar barcelonski mestni oblastniki ekonomsko motivirano preobrazbo prikazujejo kot nujno prenovo »problematične soseske«, ki da je v interesu njenih prebivalcev. Prav tu je zato treba kritično premisliti ideološke učinke hegemonističnih reprezentacij mesta ne le kot instrumentov vsiljevanja korporativnih ali birokratskih interesov od zgoraj, ampak tudi kot nosilca normalizacije posameznika in homogenizacije mestnega prebivalstva. Kot primer takšnega vsiljevanja bomo v sklepu navedli primer Kolizeja v Ljubljani.
More...Keywords: high speed railway; Slovenia; railway infrastructure
The debate about building a network of high speed railway connections on Slovene territory after full membership in the EU is becoming ever more pending. Following the Italian initiative discussions are mainly focused on the extension of the high speed railway in the 5th transport corridor from Trieste, across Slovenia, eastwards. This route has also been adopted in national strategic physical and transport development documents, although the professional public voiced its doubts about the feasibility of such a network in our territory, as well as suitability of connections in the 5th corridor. With a review of strategic and programme documents concerning development of railway infrastructure in Slovenia and the EU the article gives argumentation for necessary immediate comprehensive assessment of development possibilities of high speed connections in Slovenia and the definition of pertaining national interests.
More...Keywords: port; Rijeka; Sušak; urban development
The geographical and transport position of Rijeka determined its predominantly maritime orientation and decisivela influenced the entire region’s economy. The development of its port was a consequence of numerous political and economic changes in European space, which were manifested in the position and development possibilities for one of the three most important ports on the North Adriatic transport corridor. Moreover, the town was born, developed and declined just as the port was born, developed or declined. The Rijeka-Sušak basin lies directly before the town core and stretches to Mlaka in the west and Brajdica in the East. The inner part of the Rijeka basin is used for passenger transport. Building of this artificial port basin simultaneously closed the town’s coastal fasade, which is a typical property of other coastal towns. The only spaces where the town has direct access to the sea are the passenger port and Sušak. Owing to administrative divisions the latter town was until recently developing independently; events tied to the port’s development affected it only indirectly. The subject of the diploma thesis, which the article presents in an abridged version, was to join the towns and create a uniform space.
More...Keywords: arhitektura; deljena pisarna; delo na daljavo; delovni tipi; pisarna prihodnosti; računalnik
Računalnik je sestavni del bivalnega okolja. Z uvedbo moderne informacijske in komunikacijske tehnologije znotraj delovnih procesov se spreminja organizacija pisarniškega dela, kar vpliva na potrebne prostore ter posledično na zasnovo poslovnih zgradb. Neodvisnost, ki jo prinaša razvoj vedno novih, vedno bolj izdelanih, sofisticiranih in mobilnih pridobitev informacijske in komunikacijske revolucije, omogoča poleg dela v pisarni tudi delo na domu, v vlaku, hotelu ali celo na plaži, travniku, v parku. Poimenujemo ga delo na daljavo. Ena od novejših različic tega tipa prinaša kombinacijo dela v pisarni in na domu. Gre za koncept deljene pisarne, kjer zaposleni večino samostojnega dela opravijo doma, medtem ko se v pisarno odpravljajo zgolj za sestanke, posvete in druge oblike skupinskega dela. Pisarniška poslopja prihodnosti bodo zato v prvi vrsti namenjena delovnim procesom, pri katerih bosta potrebna skupno delovanje in usklajevanje, kar naj bi utrjevalo medsebojno zaupanje in občutek za skupnost. To bodo kraji spoznavanja in komuniciranja, kjer se ljudje srečujejo in izmenjujejo svoja mnenja. Arhitektura tako dobiva katalitično funkcijo povezovanja.
More...