Facing institutional change in Mostar: a litmus test for Bosnia and Herzegovina

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Zdeb

The reconstruction of Mostar could have been a symbol of renewed multiethnic coexistence. Instead, it has become a synonym for failed institutions and divisions, mirroring the difficulties of the whole country. While imposition of both the 1996 and 2004 statutes establishing the city's administrative units was connected with crisis, the city has also faced two major deadlocks, in 2008–2009 and 2012. In the first, a solution was imposed by the international community's High Representative (HR). But the second remains unresolved, as the HR resists intervening. The aim of the paper is to analyze these impasses – moments when institutional change should have occurred, but for some reason did not. Even the solutions – acts of external imposition – might be treated at best as institutional pseudo-change that shows that imposed institutions have a particular inertia that resists change. The topic will be presented from the perspective of historical institutionalism, with special emphasis on the path-dependency approach, which refers here not only to the formal institutional structure of the city, but also to the decision-making processes in the moments of stalemate.

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
Sara Nikolić

Abstract Colourful zigzags, arcade game motifs, geometric figures, pseudo-frames of windows and even infantile drawings of flora and fauna – those are just some of the visible symptoms of the aesthetical and urbanistic chaotic condition also known as Polish pasteloza. One of the most common readings is that the excuse of thermal insulation is being (ab)used in order to radically erase the urbanistic, cultural and political heritage of Polish People’s Republic (PPR) from the city landscape. On the other hand, inhabitants of ‘pastelized’ housing estates claim to be satisfied not only with the insulation but also with their role in decision-making processes. A sense of alienation from one’s home seems to have gone away, together with the centralized state administration, and it is being replaced by citizen participation. The possibility of vindication of pasteloza’s ‘crimes against aesthetics’ will be deliberated in this paper – in order to pave a path for more complex understanding of this phenomenon that could offer a solution for achieving a compromise between aesthetics and civic participation in post-transition processes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 1233-1256
Author(s):  
Nezir Aydin ◽  
Sukran Seker

PurposeLow cost carriers (LCCs) have become one of the most significantly growing parts of the airline servicing market. This new player has redesigned the whole airline industry, which was previously led by the national/international full-service airline companies. Considering such advancements, the hub locations of LCCs became an important issue than ever before. Within this concept, a guiding framework is developed for an LCC company, which is in search of a new hub airport location within Turkey to satisfy the demand and attract new passengers.Design/methodology/approachAn interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy (IVIF) sets based weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) and multi-objective optimization by ratio analysis (MULTIMOORA) methods are developed for decision-making processes.FindingsFive airport locations are evaluated using the developed method. Results showed that in determining hub locations for LCCs, potential number of passengers of the city, airport quality and the number of hotels within the city are obtained as the three most important criteria among 12 evaluation criteria. The best location for the LCC company is determined as Antalya Airport.Research limitations/implicationsTo apply the proposed method to a different set of alternatives, data gathered on comparing location of alternatives from experts should be updated.Originality/valueProposed hybrid framework is presented as the first time in the literature as a decision-making tool. In order to validate framework's applicability, efficiency and effectiveness, a comparison and a sensitivity analysis are conducted at the end of the study.


Urbanisation ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-93
Author(s):  
Aarathi Ganga

This article explores the nature of urban citizenship among fishers in Kerala, one of the state’s most marginalised communities, by analysing their participation in a centrally sponsored slum rehabilitation programme—Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY)—in Vizhinjam, Thiruvananthapuram. The ‘right to participate’ is considered an integral part of the ‘right to the city’, and the inability of the fishing community to participate in the decision-making processes of urban development programmes that directly affect their lives reveals the exclusionary nature of their citizenship. In a state that is renowned for its achievements in human development and governance, the fishing community continues to be marginalised and lack collective power to influence policies. Participatory meetings in such contexts become tokenistic, and their transformative capacity is undermined. The inefficiency of participatory meetings organised under RAY also stems from the powerlessness of local governments to alter urban programmes designed by national governments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
Alina Kaszkur

AbstractThe Urban Lab concept is aimed at creating innovations and expanding citizens’ participation in decision-making processes. This article presents the main premises of this concept, the specifics of its implementation in the conditions of Polish cities, the structure, objectives and types of activities of Urban Labs as well as functions they may perform in stimulating cooperation of the city with enterprises, scientific institutions and non-governmental organisations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-69
Author(s):  
Dženeta Omerdić ◽  

The principle of non-discrimination in modern legal systems, both at national and at regional and global levels of government, is the primary prerequisite for the realization of all other (fundamental) rights and freedoms. The essence of this principle, which is, in fact, inextricably linked to the principle of equality in rights, is reflected in the requirement to ensure to all persons, without discrimination on any basis, the realization and enjoyment of the fundamental rights and freedoms that are guaranteed by provisions of the national constitutions, Laws and other legal acts. The functionality of the entire state government of Bosnia and Herzegovina is often hindered by the complex decision-making processes at all state levels which lead to obstruction of the entire decision-making process. Such a disfunctional decision-making process on the state level poses a threat and disables the Bosnian plural society to respond to the modern challenges of a democratic functioning state.The Bosnian model of democratic authority is trying to determine the individual primarily as a citizen, to which they bind certain rights and duties, but without neglecting the fact that citizens enjoy certain rights (and obligations) that belong to them based on their affiliation to a particular collectivity. Bosnian society as a community of citizens and a community of communities should not ignore any of the aforementioned sides of human nature.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
AJ Strydom ◽  
RG Nel

Tour operators have been identified as vital information sources influencing the images and decision-making processes of tourists. Bloemfontein is situated in Central South Africa.  Tourism marketers believe that the city is an ideal stopover destination for national tour operators  en route to other destinations.  Research was conducted among national tour operators in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town to determine their perceptions of Bloemfontein and whether they regard the city as a tourist or stopover destination.  The research indicates that the city is not regarded as a tourist destination, but is seen as an ideal stopover destination which could be included in future tour itineraries.  It is currently excluded because operators are unfamiliar with the tourism offering(s) of Bloemfontein due to insufficient marketing by the tourism officials of the city. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 283-301
Author(s):  
Emir Tahirović ◽  
◽  
Ermin Kuka ◽  

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the pluralization of society and the state began during 1990. This is the time when political parties are formed and the first multi-party parliamentary elections are held. Due to the strong influence and domination of the ethnic principle, political parties were formed in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1990 in two basic forms: as ethnic or people's (national) parties, and as civic (multiethnic) parties. In almost all election cycles from the beginning of the pluralization of Bosnian society until today, ethnic political parties have won the elections. Ethnic political parties have appropriated a monopoly in the promotion of national interests since the 1990 election campaign, guided by the idea of protecting the national interests of “their“ peoples. The continued rule of ethnic parties without a coalition political agenda and agreement has strengthened ethnic pluralism in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus, instead of democratic decision-making and competition between the majority and the opposition, the representative bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina have become an arena and a place of mutual competition and confrontation between the parties that make up the parliamentary majority. The lack of the necessary democratic consensus between the ruling ethnic political parties at the state level was compensated and compensated by the High Representative of the International Community (OHR), who, on the basis of the Bonn powers, promulgated certain laws. Hundreds of laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been promulgated by high representatives. This prevented blockages in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the absence of the necessary consensus of the ruling ethnic parties, it is not possible to develop or strengthen the power of parliaments as the highest representative body of the people and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Instead of parliamentary democracy, classical partitocracy is at work. The situation is similar at the entity level, and at the cantonal level in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity. All this, along with heterogeneous and complicated decision-making procedures and processes, ultimately reflects on the adoption of laws and decisions of importance to society and the state. Complicated forms of decision-making and the existence of a famous mechanism for the protection of vital national interests are some of the obstacles to the development of the state and society. All of these are some of the essential problems, but also the controversies that follow the decision-making processes in the representative bodies in the country. This is especially true of the adoption of important and significant public policies aimed at solving socio-political problems. Only decision-making at the level of local self-government units (municipalities and cities) can serve as a positive example. In general, the local level of government has so far proved to be the most efficient level of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The basis for strengthening the democratic decision-making capacities of the representative bodies of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina is contained in the application of the democratic principle on which parliamentary democracy is established and functions. Applying almost all basic and general scientific research methods, as well as the method of analysis (content) of relevant documentation as a method of data acquisition, will identify key problems and controversies of public decision-making and policy making in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the period after the Dayton Peace Agreement. today. A conclusion will be drawn on the need to establish a parliamentary majority based on the coalition agreement and the political program of that coalition, which significantly affects the public decision-making processes and the adoption of the necessary state public policy. Bosnia and Herzegovina is required to reconstruct public decisions in the direction of strengthening state public decisions and policies and building European standards, in order to more efficiently compose them with the requirements and directives of the European Union.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-32
Author(s):  
Deviarbi Sakke Tira

The purpose of this study was to find out how decisions were made at the family level in order to seek treatment for family members, especially mothers during childbirth. The population in this study were community members who resided in Ngada, Southwest Sumba, North Central Timor and East Flores- Indonesia. The sample size was determined using a purposive technique, where each district was determined by two locations based on the distance factor (the farthest area and the nearest area) from the capital city of the district. Data were collected using in-depth interview techniques and Focused Group Discussions (FGD) to explore family-level decision-making processes regarding the use of health facilities. The results of this study indicate that decisions at the family level to use health facilities in areas far from the city center tend to still adhere to local traditions and local culture; and it should be based on relatives' advice; while the people who live close to the city center, the decision to use health facilities is generally in the hands of the mother and husband.


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