We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
The main article’s question is social innovations’ influence on social policy development,particularly on the local level. Reliable evaluations are considered as a crucial element of implementation and dissemination of new and useful solutions. Presented recommendations concern that issue are based on research into evaluation of social integrations projects, conducted by social welfare institutions at local level.
More...
Social participation is well-known, realized and extensively described in the United States and Western Europe. It is also reflected on the decision-making process in the Polish public sector. Social changes, as well as, legal, political or economic significantly influence the development of social participation. The article focuses on indication of possible changes in social participation at the local level. It bases on the results of a survey that identifies the state of social participation. The author of the article developed a theoretical scenarios of changes in the area of defined factors, that determining the shape of social participation.
More...
Socio-economic changes in society have an important impact on existence and functioning of public transport systems. In the long run, it is possible to monitor the reduction of transport performance in road public transport (especially regular) due to increase in individual transport. Road public transport, due to its current state, is losing attractiveness and competitiveness in relation to alternative modes of transport. In order to increase the satisfaction of public transport customers, stabilize transport performance, to acquire new customers. It is necessary to know the key determinants of the public transport user’s satisfaction. The aim of this contribution is to identify the key factors influencing the decision-making of current and potential passengers of suburban bus transport on the basis of the research conducted with the application of the mathematical and statistical apparatus (descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, texting of hypotheses using Chi Square test and Fischer test). Authors largely dealt with the investigation of the dependence between the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and the intensity of the use of public transport. Interpreted results and formulated conclusions represent the current state of demand of the population for transport services and it can be considered as important determinants of future management decision of transport companies providing public transport services.
More...
Subjectivity and objectivity of human security without the explicit presence of psycho-social factors in their analysis are simply impossible. The article presents a part of research aimed at understanding some of the psycho-social factors determining human security nowadays. Their impact on the behaviors resulting from the need to be safe, in the context of the conditions of existence of people in the twenty-first century, is ever-growing. The article primarily tackles the following issues: changes in the security entities and the resulting educational needs, the essence and importance of the psycho-social space for human safety, examples of concepts, psychological categories necessary for a human to understand and interpret threats and challenges to his/her security.
More...
This work aims to examine the functioning of the stereotypes of Japan is the safest country in the world. The author focuses on the application of security policy towards internal and external threats to the country. Its main intention is to show the real functioning of laws.
More...
Public consultation is one of possible forms of social dialogue. It is defined as two-direction communication between public administration and social partners, conducted to obtain feedback on solutions proposed by the administration. Consultations should be taken in case of making important and irreversible decisions for the public. Unfortunately, they are not always implemented, there are many reasons for reluctance. Therefore the aim of this article is to analyze the causes of reluctance or failure of social dialogue in form of public consultation carried out by public administration. The indicated purpose subordinates the construction of the paper – it presents the essence of public consultation, legal basis identification, the scope and process steps. The assessment of the authorities reluctance reasons to carry out public consultation presented by Gawronski as well as it is supplemented is conducted. The analysis was made on the basis of communication context. Their determination can improve the social dialogue construction process and ease of reluctance in caring out public consultation.
More...
The article presents contemporary trends in public management processes in the context of the local social policy. The purpose of the article is therefore assumed to identify the general and fundamental rules of the New Public Management and Governance and to indicate the way of their possible implementation in activities of local social policy. The theoretical part of the paper describes the evolution of the concept of public management. It also focuses on explaining the concepts of public participation and co-production of public services. The empirical part of the article presents a case study of the use of co-production and co-creation of public services in local self-government in the Netherlands.
More...
Digital divide has been indicated as a considerable risk in the public discourse concerning Europe’s development opportunities and competitiveness over USA and Japan since the mid – 1990’s. Since 2010 and Europe 2020 strategy adoption, digital inclusion has become one of the key elements of social and economic policy in the EU and in Poland. The aim of the article is to present the scale of this phenomenon in Poland and its reference in sectoral strategies of local authorities’ areas (Solving social problems strategy), taking into account selected entities from the Lodzkie Region.
More...
Under consideration in the present article is the legal regulation concerning the holding of national referendums under the implementation of the fourth so far in force Bulgarian Constitution, respective legislation and the practice related thereto. Under particular analysis are provisions of the currently in force Direct Citizen Participation in State and Local Government Act and some of the issues, stemming from both the relevant Act and the Constitution are also pointed out. The author justifies the possibility for a constitutional referendum as well as for a citizens’ legislative initiative to be held by formulating proposals for the respective legislative and constitutional amendments to be made.
More...
The Free University of Political and Economic Sciences was established in 1920 as a private higher education institution meeting the requirements of the Law on National Enlightenment. The idea is maturing in an intellectual circle of State University professors dissatisfied with the policy of the state university. In 1924, the Law of Recognition as a Legal Person of the Free University for Political and Economic Sciences (Balkan Middle Eastern Institute) was adopted in Sofia. The first director (rector) of the Free University is Prof. S. Bobchev. The Middle East and the Balkans are traditional trade zones for Bulgarian manufacturers and traders. This is why the founders of the university consider it necessary to prepare future consuls, sales agents and other specialists for the Balkans, Asia Minor and the Middle East, while studying one Western and one Balkan language during their studies. Despite the high quality of education, innovative teaching methods and academic achievements of lecturers, the Free University is transformed and closed.
More...
The aim of the article is to introduce a governance analysis model which can be used for the investigation of public service media (PSM) change processes. With its help it is possible to explore to what extent the PSM system is dependent on political as well as economic influences in a timeline. The PSM governance model derives from the theoretical framework of the actor-centered institutionalism (ACI) and the participatory media governance approach. Participatory media governance allows civil society members to be included in the investigation. With the help of ACI and the agent-structure dynamics model one can analyze three different spheres of actor’s actions which can be observed empirically: sub-systemic orientation horizons, institutional arrangements and the actor’s constellations. Based on these preliminary considerations, the model is applied to PSM governance in Poland since the socio-political transition of 1989 until 2016.
More...
The article is dedicated to the experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the field of Transitional Justice providing for the problems, connected with internal displacement, dealing. Possibility and directions of Transitional Justice’s application in Ukraine was augmented in relation to the challenges caused by internally displacement of people, who had previously lived in Crimea and certain territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. A list of ways and prospective results of implementation of Transitional Justice elements was defined. The main approaches of Bosnia and Herzegovina strategic planning on the issues of internally displaced persons and Transitional Justice was studied. As a result some opportunities of its application in Ukraine were determined. The role of international community activities in post-conflict period in Bosnia and Herzegovina was investigated. The certain ways, which could support rising of positive and minimizing of negative effects of international actors’ presence in Ukraine, were outlined. Also an attention was paid to the issues of organizing the work of the authorities and building of civil society in these conditions.
More...
This article analyises the allies and opponents of the three movements in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina taking into consideration some of the main factors and actors within the POS approach to social movement studies, primarily the political systems in the three states as main organizational fields for political parties and other actors in the political system; the role of the political parties and allies and opponents to the movements; the key role of the international community in regards to the interaction with the social movements and the main political parties; as well as the role of the most significant media actors and their relationship with the movements.
More...
Recent anti-governmental social movements in countries of former Yugoslavia have awakened the spirit of contention which had been dormant for almost two decades. The overwhelming economic deprivation, accompanied by the massive violations of basic human rights of the citizens, urged the challengers to take the streets. This paper explores the processes of democratization in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia as background triggering factors for the initiation of the “Citizens for Macedonia” movement in the Republic of Macedonia, and the “Bosnian Spring” movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I argue that both societies have been only formally democratized, substantially lacking democratic values and principles. Departing from these reflections, I differentiate in this study between deep and shallow democracy, as defined by Meighan (2001, p. 297). The introduction of the text outlines the basic characteristics of both transitional societies, as well as the main characteristics of the two analyzed social movements. Furthermore, the theoretical framework tries to bridge two strands of literature – the literature on social movements and the one on democratization, mostly following theoretical recommendations by della Porta (2014). The third part of the text underlines the data collection process and the methodological approach. The central part of this work analyzes the collected data, based dominantly on in-depth interviews in Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The brief conclusion to the text aims at highlighting three key issues: the possible influence of the “democratization from above”, the role of the shallow democratization as a triggering factor for the two social movements, as well as possibilities for further mobilization.
More...
This paper examines the legitimacy vs. the legality of the electoral process having the right to vote as one of the main indicators of democratization. To be more precise, it will closely analyze the last 10 years of governance and the settings in the Macedonian society where no clear separation of powers is present along with explicit usurpation of public institutions by the ruling political party. Having this Orwellian setting with the state as the main source of employment, control on public institutions, influence on judiciary, interception of citizens’ communications, ordered news stories streamed through media and exaggerated propaganda during political campaigns, this essay will delve into the content vs. the bare legal form of elections. If elections define democracy and voting is regarded as mechanism for expressing free will, in Macedonia it is questionable if this is imposed (free) will based on citizens’ direct dependence on the political party in power. The research is based on elections monitoring reports by the OSCE/ODIHR mission as well as the progress reports of the EU institutions. The opinions and recommendations in this paper are directed not only to the current government in Macedonia, but also refer to all democratically elected governments and authorities that underestimate the power of citizens. Because, that is what the quest for democracy urges us to do – holding politicians accountable for their actions, having people in power that represent citizens with dignity and never forget the source of their legitimacy.
More...
Roughly 40% of today’s world population live in decentralised state constructs. Whilst a long list of federal organisms have endorsed federalism via foregoing natural historical developments, it was decentralisation in its nature as a tool for conflict resolution, qua federalism, to mark an end to the bloodiest war in Europe after World War II, giving at the same time birth to a new federation on European soil. Modern civil conflicts do not end up in a classical military victory to one of the warring parties, but, instead, into brokered peace for and among them. Up to its federal (re-)birth, Bosnia had never been organised along ethnic lines, nor had it any experience as an independent state in modern era; it did have, however, experience with consociational power-sharing by virtue of its long history as a country of multiple peoples. Nonetheless, ‘federalism’s federation’ was not meant and is not bound to initiate a rigid institutional status quo to last for centuries: federalism is polymorphic, it is dynamic and flexible in its nature, and this not least through its bargain element. This is also what the proposed contribution shall introduce us to: although differently faceted, bargaining for power between centre and subunits is inherent to each federal organism. Is it though able to work out in illustrating the Bosnian ‘federal case’?
More...
The revolutionary events that have collectively dubbed ‘the Arab Spring’ in the Middle East had started in December 2010. Even though some turmoil continues in the region, it is a fact that the Arab Spring has paved the way to a transitional justice era – at least – for some of the countries. This piece defends that the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the second-largest public international organization after the United Nations, shall take an active part during the transition period of the Arab Spring countries. It is highlighted that the OIC could implement joint projects in cooperation with some other public international organizations that have experience in implementing democracy, rule of law and human rights programs in some Muslim dominant European countries.
More...
The aim of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) is to determine the fate of persons that went missing due to inter-communal fighting between the Cypriot Greek and Turkish communities during 1963-1964, as well as those that happened during and after the Turkish invasion in 1974. During most of the time since its creation in 1981 the CMP did not undertake any activities and out of the overall 1995 persons reported missing, only 321 have been identified so far. This article seeks to analyze the committees’ activities, locate strengths and weaknesses.
More...
The “right to return” is protected under the Macedonian Constitution, the UN Universal Declaration and numerous international covenants. However, so far there has been absolutely no precedent on this issue in Macedonian domestic law, and only marginally applicable precedent in the corpus of the European Court of Human Rights. The paper aims to follow the development of the case of N.S. and his family before the Macedonian court system, pending proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The case refers to a possible violation of Protocol 4 Article 3 of the ECHR committed when the Macedonian government failed to act and as consequence N.S. and his family, Macedonian citizens, were left stranded in the Dominican Republic for four years with no means of getting home.
More...
The question that I seek to answer is whether cultural relativism about human rights (hereinafter “cultural relativism”) is a view that can give a good account of human rights. I will take cultural relativism to the view that human rights are not universal and that we should act in accordance with the standards set by our own cultures. I will take human rights to be a type of moral claim that an agent holds, a claim that has a corresponding duty that is owed to him/her. Human rights are individual-centered concerns and agents hold these rights in relation to, and sometimes against, the society or state (Donnelly, 1984, p.411). I shall argue that cultural relativism cannot give a good account of human rights understood in this way. This is because when individual human rights are in conflict with the values of a given culture - cultural relativism instructs us to give up individual human rights. In addition, I will argue that cultural relativism suffers from logical inconsistencies because cultural relativists need to resort to non-relative, value based arguments to defend their position.
More...
