REFLECTIONS ON THE US AND BULGARIAN POLITICAL SYSTEMS - SOME (IM)POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS

Author(s): Lyubomir Stefanov / Language(s): English Issue: 17/2015

The debate about representation is quintessential for the modern understanding of democracy. However, it varies significantly both in terms of logic and mechanics throughout the democratic states. The present paper addresses a comparative perspective between two democratic political systems, Bulgaria and the USA. Though a strange couple for such a complicated and sophisticated exercise, the cases demonstrate some peculiarities which often remain not quite elaborated and explained, given the assumption that they do not share enough similarities in order to be compared. Approaching the quality of democracy by looking upon their electoral practices and methods stands for a provocative viewpoint of their political systems and modes of governance. Some major implications on contemporary democratic developments are also presented, as voters’ participation and interest is equally important to the overall quality of governance than the abilities of politicians and political parties

EXPERIENCE OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

Author(s): Daulet L. Baideldynov / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

The article is devoted to the political and legal analysis of integration processes in the post-Soviet states – Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. It reviews the activities of the Customs Union and its economic and political expediency, as well as the creation and functioning of the Eurasian Economic Union. The author has revealed the reasons for the ineffectiveness of the EAEC activities and proposed a number of legal, political and economic measures to improve it. The paper provides examples of internal economic and political contradictions of the Eurasian Economic Union and offers a legal mechanism to resolve them, and further regulation on the basis of creating a single legal space.

Parteneriatul Estic al Uniunii Europene şi limitele procesului de „europenizare” a Estului

Author(s): Gheorghe Ciascai / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 10/2015

The aim of this paper is to analyze and to highlight the political, economic and strategic consequences of the Eastern Partnership of European Union for the former soviet states from Eastern Europe after six years at the start of the Eastern Partnership.

Vývoj SPD v nemeckom politickom systéme v kontexte jej krízy identity

Author(s): Barbora Kollárová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 3/2016

German SPD is at present a democratic “catch all” party, which unites the people with various religious, ideological or economic courses, and which manifests peace, liberty, solidarity, justice, equality of the men and women, and the protection of the environment. However, in present, there is an opinion in the German party and political system that SPD goes through the deepest crisis since the beginning of the 21st century. Presented article deals with the analysis of the position and the activity of Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Germany in the German political system in the 21st century and focuses on the issues connected with this social-political crisis of the social democracy in the Germany. The aim is to inspect closer the issues of SPD and through the exhaustive analysis provide the answers on the questions whether the party faces the deep crisis, and how is this situation reflected and what steps are needed for the solution. The article has used predominantly the method of historical analysis, partly comparative method and theoretical method. The results are showing, that the main reason of the SPD misery is the loss of its own fundamental value oriented political identity caused by the concept of so called Third Way, demotivation and alienation from the member base, the absence of the charismatic leader. SPD has the long-lasting problem with the image and it needs to accomplish the analysis of its problems. The party needs to decide, what direction it wants to go in relation to the Agenda 2010 and the concept of the New Center, what conviction and idea it wants to represent to address the new electorate.

Direktna demokratija – švajcarsko iskustvo

Author(s): Petar M. Matić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 15/2016

This paper analyses the position and role of direct democracy in the Swiss political system. The Swiss political system is characterised by strong federalism with distinct cantonal responsibilities. Political authority is distributed bottom-up, i.e. from the cantonal to the federal level, and this is mostly achieved through referenda. The power of direct democracy instruments in Switzerland is best reflected in the fact that citizens can use referendum as an instrument in order to initiate constitutional and legislative change, but also to vote on their support to legislation that is already passed. This continuous threat of resorting to referendum has led to the specific „negotiation democracy”, later termed by some authors as consensual or consotiative democracy. A wide range of direct democracy instruments in Switzerland at all levels of government and regular consultations between the authorities and citizens resulted in the creation of the „culture of political consensus”.

Parallel Histories: Germany and Japan from Demilitarized Pacifism to Peace-Keeping Operations

Author(s): Róbert L. Holndonner / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2008

The course of the two states, Germany and Japan, has been full of contradictions, inconsistencies, and sometimes unclear compromises, and it required the whole arsenal of the tricks of balancing diplomacy. They have the same challenges concerning finding a healthy balance between satisfying the increasing international expectations and meeting the domestic pacifist requirements, between cultivating friendly relations with neighbouring countries and making the alliance with the United States as tight as possible, between threatening provocativity and threatening defencelessness. However, both of them succeeded in formulating a realistic and constructive national strategy and pursue a successful foreign policy – even if we take into consideration that both states have to be much more thoughtful concerning some actual public policy decisions and some political communicational manoeuvres. If they keep it in view, there opens a chance to play an actively decisive role, in a world characterized by generally peaceful conditions, without the necessity of giving up their responsible and rational pacifist attitudes.

CAPITALISM FROM BELOW: AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS OF SMALL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN HUNGARY, POLAND, AND ROMANIA

Author(s): Augustin Stoica / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

The contours of markets and entrepreneurship are shaped by historical and politico-institutional factors. In the case of Central and Eastern Europe, the development of new entrepreneurial classes is a function of communist legacies and post-1989 political processes. Employing survey data from 2000, this article examines how political and institutional conditions influence patterns of recruitment into self-employment and income returns to small entrepreneurship in Hungary, Poland, and Romania. The results of this analysis show that human capital (captured by education) has positive significant effects on becoming a self-employed individual with employees in Hungary and Romania. As compared to other individuals, former socialist “petit bourgeois” (i.e., individuals who were business owners in 1988) are more likely to be small business operators in post-communism. Individuals who held managerial authority positions before 1989 have higher chances to become small business operators in Romania but not in Hungary or Poland. Unemployment seems to function as a push-factor for becoming a small business operator in Hungary and Poland but not in Romania. In Romania,most small entrepreneurs earn significantly more than employees in the state or private sector. Gender, age, and education have significant positive effects on income returns in all of the three countries under scrutiny.

Around the Bloc: Uzbekistan to Choose New Leader in Milestone Election

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English Issue: 11/29/2016

Four candidates are running for president of Uzbekistan in Sunday’s election, although it may be hard for voters to tell them apart.

Around the Bloc: Little Hope for Swift Release of Czechs Held in Turkey

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English Issue: 11/29/2016

Incident underscores complexity of EU-Turkish relations as each side pursues its own interests in the Syrian conflict.

Around the Bloc: No Surprises in Uzbekistan Election

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English Issue: 12/06/2016

Acting president will become the real thing after obliterating the competition in a poll that fell short of international standards, observers say.

„Patterns of Democracy“ Arendta Lijpharta a jeho kritika

Author(s): Branislav Dolny,Darina Malová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 1/2013

The study analyzes Lijphart’s theory on patterns of democracy (consensus and majority), including his critiques, which are divided into four streams. The first focuses on theoretical assumptions and the design of models. The second one questions methodological issues and operationalization of indicators. The third concerns Lijphart’s empirical analysis and his findings. The fourth deals with his normative conclusions about consensus democracy. The authors also assess the research applicability of this theory and suggest some alternatives.

Osvrti, prikazi, recenzije

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1-2/2013

Aleksandar Gordić - Važan spomenik srpske filozofije Dobrica Gajić - Hajdgerova epistolarna filozofija Jovica Trkulja - Federalizam u ustavnom sistemu Bosne i Hercegovine Mirela A. Avdagić - Sudbina jednog priručnika Jovica Trkulja - Mene srpske političke retorike

Uzroci političke korupcije

Author(s): Goran Marković / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3-4/2013

This paper analyzes causes of political corruption in countries with a regime of representative democracy. It points to the abundance of these causes, the most important of which are: elitist character of the regime of representative democracy, economic inequality and the concentration of economic power, the nature of electoral system, the type of political culture and inadequate legislation. Depending on the degree of development of society, a type of political system, culture and tradition, these causes are more or less important in different countries. Previous research does not provide a sufficient basis for drawing conclusions about the extent to which these effects influence the political corruption. It is obvious that their influence is undoubtedly existent but it is connected with the influence of other factors, which together lead to political corruption. General conclusion is that political corruption is systemic and results from uneven distribution of economic and political power. Political leaders are willing to use their privileged position in order to achieve desired goals b– illegal or illegitimate actions. Thereby they become the most important agents of political corruption.

Nove granice kapitalizma i povratak Marksa

Author(s): Momčilo Pudar / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1-2/2014

Odbrana demokratije: zašto demokrate upropaštavaju autokrate

Author(s): John Shattuck,J. Brian Atwood / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 03+04/2001

Fareed Zakaria primjećuje da uvećani broj demokratski izabranih vlada zloupotrebljava svoje moći i guši ljudska prava. On smatra da bi se umjesto promoviranja izbora, američka politika trebala koncentrirati na konsolidaciju postojećih demokratija koje poštuju ljudske slobode, vladavinu zakona i podjelu vlasti među vladinim institucijama. Proglašavajući ustavni liberalizam nužnim preduvjetom za “liberalnu demokratiju”, Zakaria potvrđuje da će bez nje izbori neizbježno voditi ka onome što on zove “neliberalna demokratija”, donoseći ekstremni nacionalizam, etnički konflikt i rat. On predlaže da, umjesto maženja neliberalnih demokrata, Sjedinjene Države trebaju podržati “liberalne autokratije” u manje razvijenim zemljama - vlade koje, iako ne demokratski izabrane, poštuju prava pojedinca.

Neliberalne iluzije: vraćanje prvog imena demokratiji

Author(s): Charles Kupchan / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 03+04/2001

Fareed Zakaria upozorava da uspon “neliberalnih demokratija” – država koje imaju slobodne izbore ali ne poštuju vladavinu zakona i prava svojih građana - dovodi u pitanje jedan od centralnih ciljeva američke spoljne politike: izvoz demokratije (“The Rise of Illiberal Democracy”, November/December 1997). Demokratija sama za sebe ne čini države mirnima i blagostivima, tvrdi Zakaria, nego liberalna demokratija. Bez zaštite prava pojedinca i obuzdavanja centralizirane moći, koje prate ustavni liberalizam, demokratija je podložna zloupotrebi od strane vlasti i, pogotovo u raznolikim zemljama, etničkom rivalstvu i konfliktu. Samo onda kad demokratska vlast evoluira pod plaštom prethodno postojećih liberalnih zaštita, to će voditi toliko hvaljenom “demokratskom miru”. Imajući u vidu da su pola svjetskih demokratija neliberalne, širenje izbora, daleko od kreiranja harmoničnog života, vodi povećanoj nestabilnosti.

A comparative analysis of the most popular models of local goverment

Author(s): Dragan Bataveljić,Dušan Jerotijevic,Dejan Logarusic / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2016

The authors point to the fact that the local government in Europe has a long tradition, so that in each of the European countries meet certain specifics regarding the structure, functioning and other characteristics, by which these countries differ from each other. It is quite natural, because such differences are a result of numerous factors that are, more or less, exerted influence on the formation of local self-government (its organization, jurisdiction code, position in society, the relationship between the state and the like). The authors pay special attention and give an analysis of the four major (the best known) model of local self-government - Britain, France, Germany and the United States. England and the United States can be considered the cradle of direct and independent forms of local government, while France was a prime example of the dependent (child) and indirect local government. In modern constitutional systems of much greater application has a two-stage local government, and its chief representative of the Federal Republic of Germany. Finally, there are some systems that do not distinguish between the state and local government, ie. between their bodies, because in such systems the organization of state power is unique and that, from the top all the way to the to the bottom (for example, the former Soviet Union, today’s People’s Republic of China and others).

Sličan početak, različit kraj. Konsolidacija demokratije na primjeru Crne Gore, Hrvatske i Srbije (1990- 2010)

Author(s): Filip Milačić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2014

This article will examine the process of the consolidation of democracy in Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia. These countries are chosen for various of reasons, among which one ‘possesses’ special scientific importance: those are the countries with similar initial conditions and different outcomes. Under similar initial conditions I understand the following: lack of liberal tradition, the nature and length of previous authoritarian systems, system change as control from above and creation of new states, the unresolved problem of the statehood, ethnic heterogeneity and socio-economic development. Regarding different outcomes, I argue the following: Croatia is more consolidated than Montenegro and Serbia, but Montenegro is more consolidated then Serbia, what I will test with Wolfgang Merkel´s model of four levels of consolidation of democracy and measure with BTI (Bertelsmann Transformation Index). So my puzzle is the following one: How can one explain, despite similar initial conditions, such different outcomes? The method that I use in order to give an answer to my puzzle is John Stuart Mill’s Method of Difference (1843). And in accordance with this method, I argue that these different outcomes are to be explained with actor-oriented theories (key actors´ decisions) and constitutional engineering (institutions). Causal analysis will be performed with explaining outcome process-tracing form Beach and Pedersen (2012) and will include the statehood problem, as an independent variable, as well as the influence of external factor (EU), as an intervening variable.

Virtues and institutions as the foundations of a res publica in Wawrzyniec Goślicki and Gasparo Contarini

Author(s): Dorota Pietrzyk-Reeves / Language(s): English Issue: 50/2024

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to examine and compare two republican approaches to politics and res publica presented in the sixteenth century by Wawrzyniec Grzymala Goślicki and Gasparo Contarini.THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: Both authors define the core elements of a republican scientia civilis but emphasize different aspects as being of primary importance for a well‑ordered civitas libera. Goślicki saw the best safeguards of a free and well‑ordered commonwealth in the character and virtues of the rulers and citizens, whereas Contarini believed that such safeguards could only be found in a good legal and institutional structure that kept corruption at bay. The article follows the contextual method typical for intellectual history to present different arguments that Contarini and Goślicki formulated in their understanding of scientia civilis and the best commonwealth looking at both the context of their works and their arguments.THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: After introducing the context for the two works the next two parts focus on Goslicki’s and then Contarini’s vision of scientia civilis and the most effective ways to keep corruption and decay at bay followed by comparison and conclusion.RESEARCH RESULTS: A comparison of these two visions should shed some light on the later development of both polities and republicanism in modern Europe more generally which largely followed Contarini and not Goślicki. It can also provide an important lesson for our own understanding of politics and political philosophy that should underpin a political order to make it resilient to corruption and backsliding. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Examining these two authors and their prominent works helps better situate political discourses in the two countries that explain different trajectories of their constitutions and political developments, and for us today provide an interesting lesson on how we should understand politics and respublica.

Research project report ‘Knowledge is power’: The boundaries of political advising and lobbying in the political decision-making process – political expert culture in a Polish-German comparative perspective

Author(s): Artur Kopka / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2024

This paper presents the assumptions, the implementation process and the results of the research project: "‘Knowledge is power’: The boundaries of political advising and lobbying in the political decision-making process – political expert culture in a Polish-German comparative perspective", carried out between 2020 and 2022. The main objective of the project was to analyse the perception of political advising and lobbying within political decision-making processes by politicians and their advisers in Poland and Germany. The basis for the project was empirical material obtained in 150 standardised in-depth interviews with MP’s and experts involved in political advisory processes in both countries.