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This study discusses the progress and impact of the process of polarization of space and settlement at the level of territorial units (okrug – districts and opcinas) in Serbia from 1991 to 2011. With the help of analysis of selected data and referencing different literature, the study identifies, characterizes and then compares different peripheral areas in Serbia. The study analyzes, within the regional differentiation of Serbian territory after 1990, the extent to which this period differed from changes in the socialist era, i.e. whether the differences between core and peripheries deepened after 1990 and whether the position of individual regions in the country remained continuously maintained. The article is based on analysis of statistical data and demonstrates that the Serbian territory, at the macro-regional level, can be divided in two basic ways which manifest themselves in the long run: firstly, using the so called north-south zoning, which is mainly due to the physical and geographical conditions (polarity between mountain and lowland regions) and secondly, dividing the country based on a continuous zone of economic development, which is located in the north-south direction from Vojvodina across Novi Sad, Belgrade, Kragujevac and Niš and further along the South Moravia River. Within the regional differentiation of Serbia there are also identified and examined two main stages of development. Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija was not included in this analysis because of deficiency of relevant statistics data in the period under review.
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The researchers’ interest in Majar, a Golden Horde city in the North Caucasus, has become obvious since the 18th century and still exists nowadays. In spite of the existing seemingly extensive historical evidence of the 14th through to 20th centuries, related to the description of the city existence and exploration, there remain quite a number of questions, which attest to the fact that the sources available have not been extensively processed. The combined analysis (not ventured before) of all available written, cartographic and illustrative sources without exception, with the involvement of newly identified ones, alongside with the application of modern GIS technologies, will have a positive effect on the study of the Madjary hillfort site and its practically unstudied environs.
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Modern Balaklava is located on the banks of a well-protected winding bay. The infrastructure of the medieval town formed during the 6th—17th centuries and was historically linked with the Byzantine, Golden Horde, Genoese and Ottoman periods of its existence, changing its name from Symbolon to Cembalo to Balaklava. The paper offers a brief retrospective consideration of the etymology of these toponyms in their historical and cultural context. It is also noted that the topography of the ancient fortress and the town is characterized by an unusually low number of preserved microtoponyms and urbonyms that had formed in conditions of cohabitation of the population speaking three languages: Greek, Tatar and Ligurian.
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It would not be an overstatement to claim that political cooperation on the Balkanshas been thwarting in the last three decades. Looking retrospectively, it becomes very conspicuoushow scarce, inconsequential or even dead-born have been the attempts at multilateral cooperationamong the Balkan states in that period. The present paper offers possible answers to the question"Why regional political cooperation on the Balkans has not marked sufficient success after the endof the Cold war?" Usually answers are sought in historical past and experience from previousinteractions and/or influence and intervention from extra-regional (f)actors. These (f)actors by nomeans should be neglected. Our claim, however, is that answers should be sought also on regionaland internal political level. In other words, in explaining the crippled efforts at all-Balkan political cooperation we look at internal political actors and the ways they might perceive externalstimuli and incentives. We argue that unlike previous historical periods when external environment and circumstances were rather unfavorable or even hostile to cooperation within the Balkans, since the beginning of the new century the external environment produces more positive incentives and stimulates political cooperation on the Balkans. Hence, the uncertain and stumblingpolitical cooperation on the Balkans is not due to external (f)actors. The emphasis on the internalpolitical actors reveals that political cooperation among Balkan states depends significantly onthe actors’ political will. Thus, the (im)possibility of Balkan political cooperation leans on theways political actors in the region perceive and interpret the signals from external environmentand communicate them back and forth to the national internal settings.
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Innovations are making the world more and more interconnected, but some regionsand countries are performing better than others. The topic is particularly important due to thelatest developments in the Balkan region, which has important political, economic and culturalspecifics that distinguish it from other parts of the world. They are linked with the particularitiesof projects and realities of cooperation activities in a regional context. It is vital to give specificattention to the topic also because of the opportunities that can be developed to benefit all partners in the region. At the same time one should be aware about the challenges that have to betackled in the process of enhancing the cooperation and connectivity in the Balkans.The present paper explores the opportunities that innovation holds for enhanced cooperationand connectivity in the Balkan region. Best innovation practices will be discussed to increase theawareness about the complexities of the topic, which requires serious analysis that draws on theexpertise of professionals across borders.
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Na konci října 2013 se čeští voliči rozhodovali v předčasných volbách do PSP ČR, komu dát svůj hlas, případně zda vůbec k volbám jít, a právě rozbor toho, jak toto rozhodnutí v českých zemích dopadlo z pohledu regionálních rozdílů, přináší tato kapitola. Zjednodušeně řečeno, cílem následujících stran bude prostorové představení volebních výsledků všech úspěšných politických stran, které dokázaly získat zastoupení na půdě Poslanecké sněmovny.
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The chapter identifiesthe main needs for interconnecting at the national level the competitiveness poles of the settlement network.
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The chapter performs an economic assessment of the territory adjacent to the Danube for identifying the potential elements within the framework of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region.
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The deepening socio-economic imbalances and the negative trends in the development of the EU and our country determine the need to justify a new approach to managing the processes in the complex territorial systems. Of particular importance is the underlying understanding of the objectively existing regionality and the factors contributing to the growth of development imbalances. For this purpose, it is necessary to develop a new methodology for analyzing and evaluating the complex organization and structure of socio-economic and cultural-ecological processes and systems, based on the interpretation and measurement of geospatial inequalities.
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The main topic of this article is the question how folk songs can help us understand social oppositions. The research is based on a case study in the central part of Slovenia, north-east from Ljubljana, in the Kamnik area. By analyzing major conflicts of the Slovene Civil War, which took place during the Second World War, the author tries to find the reasons for these oppositions. She points to the pre-War oppositions between the remote Tuhinj valley and between Kamnik, revealing the town versus countryside opposition. By studying mocking songs, many images of difference, of parallel worlds, and even of big social tensions, come to the foreground. Seeking parallel worlds in folk songs was an attempt to get an emic view. The most important key to revealing social processes was the mocking song about the Kamnik burghers. In the study of life practices in the Kamnik area, this mocking song provided an extremely informative testimony of the perception of the ‘other’. It explained oppositions not only during the time in which it was created, but also during the period when it has already become a part of tradition.
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Within the history of German settlement in East Central and South East Europe, Bosnia seems to be an area outside. Nevertheless, it has been, although marginally, only, part of medieval ‘Saxon’ settlement as well as of the later, so-called ‘Swabian’ settlement of Germans in this part of Europe. This paper is supposed to draw attention to this fact and, in short, present the main aspects of German as a quasi-autochthonous language spoken by native speakers of German in Bosnia and Herzegovina up to the middle of the twentieth century.
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The city of Zagreb is the largest city in Croatia and its capital. It has the same powers as other cities, including the powers of a capital and the powers of a county. Within the reforms of 2005, cities with more than 35,000 inhabitants (17) were given the status of a major city, and were given the same powers as all county seats. Since 2001, the so-called decentralized functions were taken by 33 cities. Forms of institutional strengthening of cities include widening their functions and financial capacity, strengthening their autonomy and focus on the economic development. Previous changes have not significantly strengthened the capacity of Croatian cities for development and regional cooperation. Even the larger cities are focused on their internal problems, while cooperation at regional level is not very prominent. Only strong units with considerable capacities develop more meaningful cooperative ambitions, including regional cooperation. It is necessary to redefine the territorial structure, wherein we can observe between 120 and 140 possible urban centers of varying size and importance. So far, only Zagreb - despite its governance problems - because of its size and power has the capacity to cooperate with other cities in the region and in Europe in general.
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In the period between 70s and 90s of the twentieth century, the city of Sarajevo had a remarkable boom in its development. Implementation of three development projects contributed to this fact: the project of protection of the environment; the project of territorial expansion of Sarajevo with 10 municipalities and the project of organization of the XIV Winter Olympic Games in 1984. The rise in the development of Sarajevo was stopped in the war against the existence of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the siege of the city between 1992 and 1995. Reconstruction of the city of Sarajevo in the post-war and post-Dayton period took place with the help of foreign donations. Municipal infrastructure and housing facilities were rehabilitated. The rebuilding of the economy had an unfavorable flow within the course of privatization of state-owned companies. A strategic issue for the development of the city of Sarajevo in the post-Dayton period referred to the definition of the political-constitutional and legal position of the city of Sarajevo. The influence of historical forces in the process of implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement had led to the signing of the Protocol on the Organization of Sarajevo in 1996 by the two ruling parties at that time: the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Croat Democratic Party (HDZ), and Deputy High Representative of the international community. With this protocol, the city of Sarajevo had lost its own jurisdictions from the pre-war time. It also lost its urban-territorial wholeness. From ten municipalities it had before the war, Sarajevo was reduced to four municipalities in the narrow urban core. It also lost its original powers and own revenue. Authority in the area of municipal infrastructure, utilities and urban planning were transferred to the Sarajevo Canton. Such chain of events in defining the constitutional-legal position of the city of Sarajevo was treated in the literature as the process of reduction of jurisdiction and territorial reach of Sarajevo in the post-war period. Despite significantly limited jurisdictions, the city of Sarajevo emerges as a successful carrier of inter-city and regional cooperation. It has developed cooperation with most capitals of SEE countries. This paper brings an overview of the contents of cooperation agreements which Sarajevo has signed with the major cities of the countries of Southeast Europe. In the last two decades, inter-city and regional cooperation have been focused on the areas of culture, sports and tourism. What is still missing are cooperation projects between Sarajevo and the capitals of SEE countries in the fields of economic development, development of utility infrastructure and the construction of roads and railways. In the coming years, which are the years of integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the European Union, Sarajevo as BiH’s capital and its largest city has an important role in the creation of development projects and their implementation through collaboration with major cities in the region of Southeast Europe and in the area of the Danube and the Adriatic-Ionian European macro-region.
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European Union regional policy has fundamental importance in elimination of existing disparities between regions, making conditions for increasing economic growth and achieving full potential of each region. Common policies have proved to be the most complex area of European integrations, particularly in funding and the allocation EU funds. Bosnia and Herzegovina has the same practice that, as pointed out by representatives of Directorate for European Integration (DEI) and Directorate for Economic Planning (DEP), has not developed regional policy or strategic approach to the funds allocation. Object and aim of this research will be identification of lessons that the EU led, leads or will lead for implementation of regional policy that BIH could use in its further development, especially for the period 2014–2020. The document could be used as development document for DEI and DEP, and as a document that would be used as the basis for further programming of funds (obtaining for period 2014–2020), aiming to regional involvement. The necessary methodology in completing this work encompasses using the historical method, method of analysis and synthesis, comparative method and the actual researches overview enriched with secondary data sources. Primary data sources will be collected through semi-structured interviews with representatives of DEI and DEP, and with other relevant institutions’ representatives. EU Regional Policy course is for the first time available course at Doctoral program within the Bologna concept of study at the School of Economics and Business Sarajevo in cooperation with University of Vienna and Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, which is of special significance for this research.
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The paper aims at analysing the competitiveness (dis)advantages of the 8 selected Balkan countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia. In the case of basic requirements (functioning of institutions, developed infrastructure, macroeconomic performance, healthcare and primary education) the lags in all examined countries are not considerable (from 15 to 31 percent ). Relatively worse competitive position has been assessed for efficiency enhancers pillars: higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labor market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness and market size (lags from 21 percent in Slovenia to 32 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. International benchmarking shows important impact of human resources on competitiveness of any analysed economy. The worst competitive position was found for innovation and sophistication pillars (capacity for innovation, company spending on R&D, value chain breadth, production process sophistication, university-industry collaboration) where the lags in some countries are approaching to 50% of the most competitive economies.
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The paper analyzes models of economic development of the Western Balkans including: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia in the period 1952-1984 and first decade of the 21st century. The primary goal is to identify common elements and similarities, which could be the basis for considering the justification of profiling a joint regional strategy. The paper proves the hypothesis that the models of economic development in these countries are similar, or that have the necessary and sufficient number of common elements that seem worth profiling the common regional strategy.
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