The political economy behind the gradual demise of democratic institutions in Serbia

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to accomplish two goals. First, to present recent empirical evidence supporting the claim that Serbia is on the path towards embracing a more radical version of electoral authoritarianism. This is accomplished by examining most recent illiberal politics aimed at controlling electoral processes and the media sphere, and extracting public funds for partisan purposes. I claim that the incomplete design of democratic institutions in Serbia set up between 2001 and 2012 is primarily responsible for the democratic decline. The second goal is more general and aims to emphasize the importance of extracting public funds for hybrid regimes. Extractive institutions matter because they directly impact other critical segments of electoral authoritarianism (notably, elections and media freedom), but also because they explain the type of leadership they promote in politics. If public resources remain without proper institutional oversight and are simply ‘up for grabs,’ this will attract leaders more willing to dismantle democratic institutions and violate democratic procedures. Serbia serves as a good and current example of this linkage.     

Rule of law and democracy in the Western Balkans: addressing the gap between policies and practice

ABSTRACT

Three decades since the beginning of democratization processes, the Western Balkan countries have built a democratic façade by holding elections, by promulgating legal acts guaranteeing freedom of expression, or by constitutionally declaring a strict system of checks and balances. In reality, however, political elites rely on informal structures, clientelism, and control of the media to undermine democracy. Given that formal democratic freedoms are effective only to the extent that political elites are bound by the effective rule of law, the core argument of this study is that the structural weaknesses of democratic institutions are purposefully exploited by domestic regimes, which are able to misuse these fragile institutions to their advantage.     

Developmental Patterns in Adolescent Attachment to Mother,Father and Sibling

The aim of this study was to examine the development of quality of attachment of adolescents to their parents and siblings during adolescence and the role that gender differences play in this development, using latent growth curve analysis. In 288 families, adolescents reported on their attachment relationships with their parents and siblings. Quality of attachment changes during adolescence, and these changes are influenced by both gender of the adolescent and gender of the attachment figure. Results showed that change in mean level of quality of attachment to mother appeared to be nonlinear for boys, whereas mean level of attachment of adolescent girls to their mothers showed a linear decline. Results for attachment to father were opposite, with a linear decline in quality for boys, and a nonlinear development for girls. Quality of attachment to sibling showed differential development depending on gender composition of the sibling dyad.     

From Dayton to Bernese Jura: The Election of the Croat Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

After the signing of the Dayton Agreement, critical literature has attempted to portray consociation in Bosnia and Herzegovina as the predominant source of the country's political problems. At the same time, this literature has widely neglected the centripetal rules that have existed since the first elections of the tripartite Presidency. The paper analyzes the outcomes of the existing centripetal cross-ethnic vote pooling rules. It concludes that such outcomes are negative and it then discusses a possible solution by drawing inspiration from the application of the Bernese Jura's geometric mean. The paper focuses on the election of the Croat member in the tripartite Presidency as representative of the least numerous ethnic group. We argue that the application of the geometric mean based upon results in Croat-majority municipalities could eliminate certain grievances and weakens the chances for election of the Croat member by voters from dominantly Bosniak areas.     

Die Zusammensetzung des Schweizerischen Bundesrates nach Partei,Region, Sprache und Religion, 1848–2015

Verschiedene Kriterien sind für die Wahl in den Bundesrat bedeutend. Seit 1999 muss die Bundesversammlung darauf Rücksicht nehmen, dass verschiedene Sprachen und Regionen der Schweiz im Bundesrat angemessen vertreten sind (Art. 175 Ab. 4 BV). Zusätzlich achtet das Parlament darauf, dass ein gewisser Parteiproporz und die Präsenz beider Geschlechter in der Regierung gesichert werden. Früher war auch die konfessionelle Zugehörigkeit der Bundesratsmitglieder ein Thema und bis 1999 durfte maximal eine Person pro Kanton amtieren. Mittels einer Vollerhebung relevanter Merkmale aller Mitglieder des Bundesrates seit 1848 und einer, verglichen mit bisherigen Studien, differenzierteren Auswertungsmethode legen wir einen präzisen Überblick über die Vertretung der Parteien, Regionen, Sprachen und Religionen in der Regierung vor. Ein Anwendungsbeispiel – der potentielle Einfluss des Übergangs vom Majorz‐ aufs Proporz‐Wahlsystem für die Wahl des Nationalrates im Jahr 1919 – illustriert, wie diese Daten für wissenschaftliche Zwecke genutzt werden können.     

Critical legal and environmental view on the Ramsar Convention in protection from invasive plant species: an example of the Southern Pannonia region

The emergence and continued expansion of one of the most dangerous causes of biodiversity loss and habitat alteration such as invasive species at some Ramsar wetlands of the Southern Pannonia raise a series of questions of both an environmental as well as a legal character relevant to these fragile ecosystems. The Ramsar Convention provides a set of general instructions and guidelines, but it does not establish an adequate mechanism of sanctions that could be imposed on states or individuals who violate its provisions. Fully aware of the importance of wetlands and their wildlife for a healthy living environment and human welfare, the authors of this paper describe the present conditions of invasive plant species at some Ramsar Sites and briefly analyze the current legal framework for the implementation of the Ramsar Convention. Finally, the authors propose innovative normative solutions that would improve the protection of wetlands and contribute to the suppression and prevention of the presence of invasive species not only in this region, but also worldwide.     

Allele frequencies and population data for 17 Y-chromosome STR loci in a Serbian population sample from Vojvodina province

Seventeen Y-chromosomal STR (short tandem repeat) loci were analyzed in a group of 185 healthy unrelated male individuals (n=185) from the population of Serbian province of Vojvodina. After minimal haplotype STR loci analysis we observed 129 different haplotypes. The most frequent haplotype was found in 13 copies, and total haplotype diversity was 99.11%. After analysis of additional eight Y-STR loci (DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635 and YGATAH4) there were 176 different haplotypes observed, out of which 168 appeared in single copies, and 7 haplotypes appeared twice. The most frequent haplotype was found in three copies. The haplotype diversity (99.94%) and discrimination capacity (95.13%) were calculated. Comparisons were made with previously published haplotype data on neighbouring population samples and significant differences were demonstrated at DYS19, DYS389II and DYS393 loci. Pairwise comparison of populations revealed that our sample was significantly different only from Hungarian sample (RST=23.98%, p=0.0091).     

No child left behind in the European Union?: the position of Romani children

This paper analyses how different EU documents (communications, recommendations, reports and surveys, etc.) focusing on Roma frame the position of Romani children. Many studies have shown that because of their intersectional positioning, Romani children often face multiple discrimination and triple exclusion: on the basis of their ethnicity, their age and their socio-economic status. The paper comments on selected findings on Roma in the Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey published by the Fundamental Rights Agency in late 2016. One of the main findings of this Survey was that 80% of Roma live below the country-specific risk of poverty line in all EU Member States in which the Survey has been conducted. By specifically examining the implication this finding has for the position of Romani children, I argue that their position is, in fact, produced and reproduced with systemic, but also everyday racism. When it comes to Roma, but specifically Romani children, not even the European Union (EU), based on principles of fundamental human rights, is immune to such phenomena.     

Gender-related differences in the pharmacokinetics of opiates

Previous studies have documented gender-related differences in a number of aspects of the pharmacology of opiates, including their analgesic activity, stimulative properties and generation of physical dependence. The current experiments were carried out with the aim to examine whether male–female differences exist in the blood and brain levels of opiates attained after their intraperitoneal injection to male and female Wistar rats. The tests were performed 5, 15, 45 and 120 min after the animal treatment with seized heroin. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method was developed to quantitatively determine opiate alkaloids in blood and brain regions (known for their high concentration of μ-opiate receptors): cortex, brainstem, amygdala and basal ganglia. Maximal contents of opiates in blood of animals of both genders were found in the second measurement time (15 min), the values measured in the males being significantly higher, which suggests a faster passage of the opiates from blood to brain tissue in female animals. The highest content of opiates in the brain tissue of female animals was measured 15 min and with male animals 45 min after the treatment, which also indicates faster distribution of opiates from blood to brain in the female compared to male rats. The highest proportion of opiates was found in the basal ganglia of the animals of both genders. The obtained results offer the possibility of selecting this part of the brain tissue of both males and females as a representative sample for identifying and assessing contents of opiates.     

Policies and practices of fertility control under the state socialism

The socialist state run modernization produced low fertility throughout Eastern Europe. Fertility rates started falling soon after the end of the Second World War quickly reaching below replacement levels in many areas. This article examines the state responses to the falling fertility as well as birth control practices that individuals relied on in order to maintain small families. After outlining some common features of population policies under the state socialism, the article focuses on family planning policies in Yugoslavia. It is argued that liberal population policy and uninterrupted liberal abortion legislation in Yugoslavia, resulted, among other reasons, from the communist leadership's commitment to national and gender equality, respectively. It is further argued that gender hierarchy within the marriage and family remained almost untouched by the socialist project of women's emancipation and that these hierarchical gender relations shaped birth control practices in specific ways.