Transitions Online_Around the Bloc-Dodik’s Pre-October Election Surprise
Bosnia’s Serb entity could find itself on the verge of rejecting Serb responsibility for the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica.
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Bosnia’s Serb entity could find itself on the verge of rejecting Serb responsibility for the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica.
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Managerialism is an approach that not have an intention to bring the employee to the fore since that it serves to the ultimate purpose of capitalism to “create surplus value and get greater share from the created value”, with its developed managerial tools. According to this approach, organizations need managerial/supervisory tools. Managerialism also offers a variety of tools used to meet this requirement has emerged as a concept. When considered from the perspective of organizations, the need for reconstruction over global dynamics brings about the quest for creating a new order in a chaotic environment. Meanwhile employers continue their efforts to reduce uncertainty, realizing flexibility to expand (consciously or unconsciously) the legitimacy of managerializm under the camouflage of emancipation of labor. Starting from this general perspective, employees' working life, modern, competitive blessed, they were taken by a managerializm understanding has been greatly influenced aesthetic becomes possible to argue. In this study, changes in perceptions about working life is argued and managerialism, which is criticized being subject of the human resources applications is discussed. Methodologically, from the general context, by going to the specific performance appraisal is intended to clarify the issue.
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The objective of this research is to explore how musical and cultural diplomacy have influenced political relationships between Turkey and Israel. Cultural diplomacy encompasses the exchange of ideas and information for the purpose of promoting mutually benefiting understanding between different cultural groups. Music diplomacy is the use of songs to promote respect, cooperation and understanding. The article emphasizes how Israel and Turkey have benefited from the power of music and cultural exchanges to maintain friendly ties when they have the lowest level of connection in terms of diplomatic relations. In the diplomatic crisis of two countries in 2010, the musicians, from both countries, took on the roles of peace ambassador and helped to soothe the masses through concerts. Using the constructivist theory of international relations, this article argues for promotion of culture and music as crucial diplomatic instruments for improving cooperation and communication between countries. In this context, it is very crucial to raise the highest possible levels of musical and cultural diplomacy between Israel and Turkey and to find ways to respect each other's cultural uniqueness. The topic of this article has been probed through the historical and critical method of musicology in the interdisciplinary context, including politics, international relations and cultural studies.
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The world which rapidly globalizes and where the boundaries diminish day by day, the foreign direct investments affect many diverse macroeconomic variables, specifically economic growth and unemployment. Most current studies support that there exists a strong causality relationship between foreign direct investments and economic growth.On the other hand, there exists a weaker positive causality relationship between economic growth and foreign direct investments. Moreover, it is an undeniable fact that the economic growth leads to a decline in unemployment. This study aims to compare the foreign direct investment trends of seven Eurasian countries (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) in the period of 1995 and 2011. The results are compared to both the world foreign direct investment trend and the other Central Asian countries.
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The paper is divided into two parts. In the first part (“Prehistory and History”, p.1—7), the author primarily discussed the theoretical plane, more precisely the centuries-long birth of the history of literature within the framework of historiography, the history of ideas and the history of art (from the 16th to the 18th century); the second part (“Methods and Achievements”, p. 8—15) is dedicated to the applied plane, sudden advance in the literary history as a kind of spiritual activity, as a part of cultural-historical sciences and the science about literature (19th to 21st century). Following the generation of literary-scientific ideas and the sudden increase in the scientism in the 19th, 20th and 21st century, the author meticulously discusses the relations in the productive and receptive model, wholeheartedly accepting the classification of the Polish scientist Henryk Markiewicz into: a) historical science about literature, b) theoretical science about literature and c) metascience of literature.
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This paper tries to analyze the “languages” of one of the most important speeches held by Sali Berisha, in “Bashkimi” newspaper, in 1990. The analysis will be divided in two main parts; 1- old language- referring to the language used by the leadership during communism and that is similar with the concept of newspeak, elaborated by Orwell, or “ the totalitarian Albania, elaborated by Ardian Vehbiu; 2- “new language” – or the western language that brought to use new words such as pluralism, democracy, human rights, private property etc.; 3- “ technical or scientific language”, words that have to do with the profession of the speaker, in this case, medicine and last but not least 4- “ the ideological/ political language, terms referring to the left or the right wing. The aim of the paper is to create a dictionary of words and after a quantitative analysis to define which language is more important than others in the discourse of Dr. Sali Berisha.
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The last decades of the XX century have known a considerate progress of changes towards democracy. That is why the study of democracy and democratization would built a school of thought embraced by many scholars of different disciplines, trying to answer one the main question of this process: what the factors that make possible the appearance and stability of democratic regimes in different countries? Different theories offer numerous tools to prove scientific evidences but one of the most prominent theories is the theory of modernism, based on the tradition of research imposed by Martin Lipset (1959). Its main claim is that it exists a correlative relationship between the social-economic development and democracy. This article tries to evaluate this thesis, discussing about main contribution done to this theory, dealing especially with critics addressed to it such as being a-historical, teleological from the point of social change it proposes.
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Since the collapse of communism, political radicalism has been an important part of the political scene in Europe. The 2008 financial crisis furthered this trend, giving rise to new waves of radicalization. Albania appears to be a curious exception to this trend. Unlike most other countries in Eastern Europe there have been no successful radical parties in Albania since the collapse of communism in 1991. In the same fashion, social protests in Albania in recent years have been fleeting and far less radical than other protest movements in other countries in the region (Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey). This article argues that the relative lack of political radicalization in Albania is due to its traumatic communist past combined with a high level of bipolarization. The bitter experience with national communism reduced the attractiveness of both far right and far left discourses in Albania. The high levels of political bipolarization, on the other hand, divided the Albanian political sphere into two antagonistic camps. Such a deep division subsumed other possible cleavages.
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The main argument of this paper focused on the western media representations of Albania, is that the subject of Albania is constructed and represented in a constant pathway between the years 1923-2013 and also during the years of transition. Time Magazine sets out as a case study on this regard. The object of study is systematically researched and investigated building on the media content analysis and the analysis of the media agency per se. With regard to the content analysis, the quantitative data show that the place and space given to the subject of Albania in rubrics, topics, frequency and angles of coverage are constant over time. The textual analysis in qualitative terms speaks of similar textual constructions and representations from one period of study to the other. The dominant discourse is that of an Albanian abnormality combined with the broader discourse of the American Superiority. A range of consistent media frames and repetitive topics have been identified, surpassing the historical time lag. Such a similarity is found in the journalistic writing and the language used to speak about the subject of Albania in the articles of Time Magazine in terms of synonymy, epithets, metaphors, key words and phrases.
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We use many concepts to relate with Turkeys’ traditional foreign politics such as conservatism, protectionism, isolation, power balances etc. Based on a qualitative method- discourse analysis- operationalizing the concepts of status quo and westernization, this article analyses the traditional foreign politics of Turkey, which traditionally is based on “preserving the regime” and “applying a western oriented politics in foreign affairs”. Some of the research questions are: what do we understand with traditional resources and how have they defined foreign politics? Which is the geopolitical positioning of Turkey in the region and globally? Till the end of the Cold war, Turkey had a rigid geopolitical tradition because during that period it played the role of “army” to prevent the further Russian expansionism towards the western countries.
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This study focuses on citizen satisfaction with democracy in Albania. Utilizing data from the World Values Survey of Albania (2002), this study examines the impact that satisfaction with the work of high-level officials and confidence in social and political institutions have on satisfaction with democracy, controlling for the effects of financial security, education, and geography. Results indicated that individuals who were satisfied with democracy were more likely to be satisfied with the work of high-level officials and had a high level of confidence in social and political institutions. Satisfaction with the work of high-level officials had the greatest impact on the likelihood of Albanians to be satisfied with democracy. These findings add value to the existing debates on democracy and governance in Albania, showing that satisfaction with state leadership and confidence in social and political institutions matter to citizen satisfaction with democracy.
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This article aims to analyse the political party system in Albania ,focusing mainly in the role of ‘new parties’ in the performance of it. The paper will analyse the theoretical concept on ‘new parties’ and the environment in which they operate. Their presence shall be seen in the light of theoretical concepts like the ability to ‘blackmail’ the system or the coalition potential . The article will later on focus on two case studies like Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) and Justice, Integration and Unity Party (PDIU) which entered in the government in 2009.
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The aim of this paper is to analyze and explain the interaction of Albanian political parties with another important elements of democracy such as civil society organizations. The study argues that civil society organizations have been used by political parties for increasing their legitimacy of their actions and performance, in the eyes of the electorate and the wider public. Civil society organizations, in specific moments, have provided political parties with candidates and have helped them in regenerating and ‘cleaning’ the political staff. In the medium term, this trend has brought a slow loss of image of civil society organizations and their study products and activities in the community. The study applies some main theoretical works to the Albanian case and it is also based on the events of last political elections of 2009.
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As state socialism in Central and Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union began to crumble, a lively theoretical debate emerged concerning the potential beneficiaries of the transition from socialism to capitalism and about the fate of the old communist elite. In this article we present three competing theories offered in this debate: the political capitalism theory, the market transition theory, and the technocratic-managerial class theory. We argue that all three theories assumed that capitalism was a single destination and that all former socialist societies would travel on a single path towards this destination. Such assumptions have not been supported by empirical data. We attempt to develop a synthesis of these theories in a theory of postcommunist managerialism as a viable alternative, suggesting that instead of a single theory of transition from socialism to capitalism and of the reproduction of the elites in postcommunist societies, what is needed is rather a theory of comparative capitalisms.
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The least studied concept in social sciences in Albania is, perhaps, that of “civil society”. The main reason seems to be not only a tradition of poor organization of civil society in our country, but the lack of a consolidated school in sociology and political science in Albania. In fact, the concept of “civil society” dates back much earlier, but it has been modified and refined as a result of various treatments in different periods and contexts. Civil Society resurfaced as an important concept in Central and Eastern Europe after 1990 and it emerged as a social sphere independent of the state and against political authority. In this paper I try to argue that Albanian society has generally showed a problematic relationship between political elites and the state, on the one hand, and civil society, on the other. This paper poses a problematic combination of the very concept of civil society with some classical and contemporary theoretical treatments of it. Furthermore, this is combined with empirical findings in the Albanian context in its analysis on the development of this concept since 1990. At the conclusion of the paper I briefly try to formulate some conclusions and recommendations, which underscore the need to improve the performance, role and scope of activities of civil society, in view of establishing a more just and a more natural collaboration between the civil and the political.
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Historically, Albania has been a place between two or more legal cultures. A prominent example may be the relationship between two great empires, Rome and Constantinople. In the Albanian lands the feudal applied justiniane law, which were referred for state reasons, but also Western institutions such as the conventions of vassalage. This has led to the Albanian lands to merge a large number of institutes or legal action. Albania in its own history, can be called a country in constant transition. This transition has affected the application of various legal systems, not always compatible and harmonious. In this article I have taken various examples taken from areas such as property, the justice system and the privatization process and the law on commercial companies to illustrate the evolution of Albanian legislation in these 20 years of post-communism.
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Nëpërmjet shqyrtimit të rastit Edi Rama, kryetar i Bashkisë së Tiranës dhe kryetar i Partisë Socialiste, si i pari ‘mediakrat’ i mirëfilltë, i cili ka shpërfaqur politikën e stilit në mediat paskomuniste shqiptare, artikulli synon të analizojë rolin e mediave sa u përket dukurive të personalizimit dhe të mediatizimit të politikës në kontekstin special të një demokracie të re. Ky artikull do të argumentojë rolin domethënës të mediave në farkëtimin e ngritjes politike të Ramës dhe në konsolidimin e staturës së tij në arenën politike shqiptare. Ta interpretosh pushtetin e tij nën këtë perspektivë drite, do të thotë, gjithashtu, të kërkosh strategjitë dhe taktikat në hije që Rama ka përdorur për ta marketuar veten si startë politikës dhe, në mënyrë kontradiktore, si figurë politike mbi partitë politike. Kjo do të thotë që mediatizimi dhe personalizimi i politikës si procese të brendësuara në modelin etij, sugjerojnëjothjesht dhe vetëm daljen e mediave nërolin e aktorit politik duke përzgjedhur ‘kandidatin e tyre’ jashtë spektrit tradicional politik, por edhe përdorimin e ndërgjegjshëm të kanaleve mediatike prej Ramës për të kapërcyer strukturat politike.
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Review of: Belina Budini (2009), "Edi Rama politikani pop(ulist)-star"; Tiranë: UET-Press. by: Artan Fuga
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Review of: Fukujama "Ndërtimi i Shtetit, Qeverisja dhe Rendi Botëror në Shekullin e XXI"; by: Enri Hide
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Teorikisht gratë në zonat rurale përbëjnë më shumë se 25 % të elektoratit shqiptar. Praktikisht ky grup është inekzistent në hapësirën publike dhe për pasojë i padukshëm në procesin politik. Për një sërë arësyesh, që variojnë nga struktura patriarkale e shoqërisë shqiptare deri tek pasojat e tranzicionit, gratë në zonat rurale lcanë pakose aspak zë dhejanë të papërfaqësuaranëprocesin politik. Në hapësirën e ngushtë publike në zonat rurale vendimet politike merren nga meshkujt, ndërsa gratë janë të ngërthyera në intensitetin e jetës private duke humbur kështu çdo dimension publik dhe politik. Gratë e fshatit, të rikthyera në jetën shtëpiake pas rënies së regjimit komunist, për shkaqe si privatizimi i tokës, papunësia, heqja e kontributit vullnetar dhe aktivizimi i detyruar politik e shoqëror, e kanë pakësuar pjesëmarrjen e tyre politike deri në atë pikë sa të bëhen apatike dhe të konsiderohen si të parëndësishme për t’u adresuar nga partitë politike e polilikanët në nivelet e ndryshme të vendimmarrjes, duke u bërë ine pak fjalë të padukshme për ta. Një situatë e tillc është e papranueshme dhe tregon se procesi i demokratizimit është i papërfunduar dhe përsa kohë grupe të caktuara qytetarësh do të mbeten të paangazhuar politikisht e për rrjedhojë të papërfaqësuar, nuk mund të flasim për një rend demokratik në Shqipëri.
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