Structural weaknesses and the role of the dominant political party: democratic backsliding in Croatia since EU accession

ABSTRACT

Croatia is regarded as a success story of the EU’s enlargement policy. However, this narrative conflicts with the situation on the ground and with expert surveys, which depict incremental, yet persistent democratic backsliding in recent years. A shift towards illiberal practices, primarily focused on the liberal part of the liberal-democratic nexus, is taking place. This research aims to explore the prevalence and causes for the re-emergence of illiberal practices in Croatia by employing an interpretive method to evidence gathered from media articles and research reports published 2013–2019. The use of illiberal policies by the governing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in three areas of the political system – the capture of independent agencies, control of the judiciary, and the weakening of independent media – is found to be the driver of democratic backsliding. Causes are found in structural reasons linked to the dominant party. Without either internal power-sharing constraints or external EU conditionality pressure, the HDZ has been able to take advantage of structural weaknesses of the system it built and shaped during the 1990s.     

民族地区扶贫开发与扶贫资金使用问题的思考

本文根据中共贵州省委、贵州省人民政府《关于切实做好新阶段扶贫开发工作的决定》精神 ,在分析扶贫开发和扶贫资金重要意义和作用的基础上 ,针对当前扶贫开发和扶贫资金使用中存在的主要问题 ,最后提出了加快扶贫开发和提高扶贫资金使用效率的对策和建议     

生活质量评价若干问题探讨

生活质量是人们对生活的全面评价和总结。对其进行评价时 ,必须遵循一定的原则构建有关生活质量的指标体系。城市化低下是影响我国居民生活质量的主要原因所在 ,因此 ,大力发展经济 ,促进城市化建设将成为提高我国人民生活质量的重要推动因素。     

中国结构性腐败的成因与综合治理

中国的结构性腐败有其深刻的体验结构性和制度结构性原因.体验结构性原因源于官本位的价值观、德本财末的伦理观、独尊的政治文化和礼治的法律文化传统等的消极影响.制度结构性原因包括传统政治观和本位主义的消极影响,以及缺乏制约的集权结构.要对其进行综合治理,必须使程序和规则法制化,建立完备的法律体系和对公共权力进行制约.     

论我国私募股权基金IPO退出的法律环境及渠道选择

私募股权投资是指对未上市企业的股权投资。私募股权投资者的目的是为了获取高额收益,而退出渠道是否畅通是关系到私募股权基金投资产业是否成功的重要问题。为了实现投资者的目的,就要求市场上有健全的退出机制,让投资者能够顺利地把资金撤出。首次公开发行(IPO)无疑是私募股权退出的首要选择。在我国,可以通过海外上市和A股上市实现IPO。随着《并购规定》的实施和中国A股相关法律制度的完善,在A股上市,实现私募股权基金的退出,成为私募股权基金的重要选择。     

传统现实主义与结构现实主义的比较分析

现实主义是国际政治领域有典型代表意义的理论 ,是国际关系两大传统理论之一。其思想渊源可以上溯到 2 4 0 0多年之前 ,二战以后到 2 0世纪 6 0年代以前是传统现实主义的全盛期 ,被许多国家推崇为分析世界局势 ,制订外交政策的实践指导。 6 0年代以后 ,随着世界各国形势的发展变化及全球化趋势的不断加强 ,现实主义学派的学者试图从新的视角 ,新的方法来研究国际政治与国际关系领域的各种问题及内在联系 ,于是产生了与传统现实主义既相联又相区别的结构现实主义。本文将对新旧两种现实主义理论的产生背景 ,内容特点 ,研究方法作一比较分析。     

文学作品的四层次结构理论

文学作品的结构层次应该是由语言符号层、意象符号层、意义意蕴层和生命意识层构成的一个有机整体。其中 ,生命意识层是其最深层次。     

European Structural Policy: Bend or Break

This article deals with the consequences for the European Structural Policy (ESP) of the extension of the EU with countries from Central and East Europe. It argues that the allocation mechanism of financial assistance from the structural funds must be changed profoundly in order to gain a balanced system of distributing the available funds. In view of the changing Common Agricultural Policy and international trade policy in the framework of the WTO the European Structural Policy will become gradually more important. In order to compensate for the decreasing price support for agricultural products extension of structural assistance in the near future is inevitable.     

市场经济条件下的干部素质结构

在市场经济条件下,努力建设高素质的干部队伍是我们建设有中国特色社会主义,实现民族全面振兴的重要保证.全面提高干部素质,使现代化的干部更加适应社会变革和经济发展的需要,是各级干部提高管理水平的重要基础,是我们现代化过程快速发展对于干部的紧迫要求.     

当代中国犯罪观的转变

The view on crimes has progressed from the past monism to the present pluralism. In modern China, the concept of crime is in pluralism. The so-called pluralism here means the many concepts of crime not only co-exist macroscopically within a society, but also microcosmically within a single social member. The pluralism of the concept of crime provides us with a multiangular cognition for the complicated phenomena of crime. As a process of the transformation of the view on crime, it has developed from absolutism to relativism, from scientism to humanism, from conservatism to liberalism, from structuralism to progressivism, and from the pattern of state control to the pattern of social control. Li Weihong is an associate professor of law in China Youth University for Political Sciences, whose research covers science of criminal law, criminal policy and criminology. She published her monograph, named Studies on the Hot Issues of Economic Crime; and co-authored a book, ie. Essentials on Criminal Liability. Moreover, she has released over 40 research articles in Chinese journals, the best of which are titled as On the Crime by Taking Advantage of Credit Cards, The Transformation of the Concept of Crime in Modern China, on the Research Object of Science of Criminal Policy.