Lessons from “Post-Yugoslav” Democratization

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vedran Džihić ◽  
Dieter Segert
Keyword(s):  
Political Regime ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
Economic Practices ◽  
Electoral Democracy ◽  
Democratic Rule ◽  
Democratic Stability ◽  
In Transit

State weakness is one of the main obstacles for democratic stability. Yet under certain circumstances even a mere electoral democracy may gain stable support from the citizenry. Mere electoral democracy is best understood as a regime of elite governance endowed by a certain support from the citizens but without any ambition of the ruling elite to increase the quality of democratic rule. This article explores the historical reasons of this specific type of political regime in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. Departing from the empirical examples from the Western Balkans, the article comes to some rather general conclusions about the concept and sequence of democratization: Conducting elections too early may produce serious challenges to sustainable democratization. The general population’s primary interest mostly lies in the stabilization of state apparatus and its ability to produce common goods rather than in the fast establishment of electoral democracy and formal democratic institutions. For a better understanding of the real level of specific course and paths of democratic “consolidation,” the democracy rankings like Nations in Transit and Bertelsmann should focus on in-depth analyses of the main actors’ political and economic practices.

scholarly journals Winning, Losing, and the Quality of Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172110261
Author(s):  
Richard Nadeau ◽  
Jean-François Daoust ◽  
Ruth Dassonneville
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Motivated Reasoning ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Electoral Democracy ◽  
Democratic Systems ◽  
The Comparative Study

Citizens who voted for a party that won the election are more satisfied with democracy than those who did not. This winner–loser gap has recently been found to vary with the quality of electoral democracy: the higher the quality of democracy, the smaller the gap. However, we do not know what drives this relationship. Is it driven by losers, winners, or both? And Why? Linking our work to the literature on motivated reasoning and macro salience and benefiting from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems project—covering 163 elections in 51 countries between 1996 and 2018, our results show that the narrower winner–loser gap in well-established electoral democracies is not only a result of losers being more satisfied with democracy, but also of winners being less satisfied with their victory. Our findings carry important implications since a narrow winner–loser gap appears as a key feature of healthy democratic systems.

scholarly journals Quantifying the Effects of Vibration on Medicines in Transit Caused by Fixed-Wing and Multi-Copter Drones

Drones ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Andrew Oakey ◽  
Tim Waters ◽  
Wanqing Zhu ◽  
Paul G. Royall ◽  
Tom Cherrett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Road Transport ◽  
Uv Spectra ◽  
Frequency Spectra ◽  
Vibration Measurements ◽  
British Pharmacopoeia ◽  
Medical Products ◽  
Industry Standard ◽  
The Stability ◽  
In Transit

The concept of transporting medical products by drone is gaining a lot of interest amongst the medical and logistics communities. Such innovation has generated several questions, a key one being the potential effects of flight on the stability of medical products. The aims of this study were to quantify the vibration present within drone flight, study its effect on the quality of the medical insulin through live flight trials, and compare the effects of vibration from drone flight with traditional road transport. Three trials took place in which insulin ampoules and mock blood stocks were transported to site and flown using industry standard packaging by a fixed-wing or a multi-copter drone. Triaxial vibration measurements were acquired, both in-flight and during road transit, from which overall levels and frequency spectra were derived. British Pharmacopeia quality tests were undertaken in which the UV spectra of the flown insulin samples were compared to controls of known turbidity. In-flight vibration levels in both the drone types exceeded road induced levels by up to a factor of three, and predominant vibration occurred at significantly higher frequencies. Flown samples gave clear insulin solutions that met the British Pharmacopoeia specification, and no aggregation of insulin was detected.

scholarly journals The Unemployment of Today and Tomorrow in Romania

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Mictat Garlan
Keyword(s):  
Labor Migration ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
National Commission ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Active Population ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The One ◽  
State Enterprises

For any political regime the employment and unemployment of active population represents the most pressing social and economic obligation. in Romania, any comparative study before and after 1990, on 2 x 2 decades of different economic policies, can observe the damaging effects which they had forced privatization of state enterprises on the labor market, with over 1,000,000 declared unemployed in 1999, compared to zero unemployed in 1989. After this disaster, and after a short economic rehabilitation, it followed another crisis, with a further increase in unemployment of ANOFM, from 445,000 persons in 2009 to 626,960 persons in 2010 to 740,000 in 2011 of 674,000 in November 2012 , 512 333 persons in December 2013 to 724,000 persons in March 2014. These data indicate that in Romania the crisis is not over yet. in parallel to these developments there have been published the analyzes of the National Commission for Prognosis, but with some significant deviations in two directions. On the one hand, the calculations are made on the formula BIM records, and on the other hand, they are in the direction of a lower estimates. So, in the estimates of performed forecasts for the years 2014 -2017, with trend analysis and analysis of previous years, the total number of unemployed in 2011 was to be of 730 200 persons. in 2012 the total number of unemployed was to be of 701,200 persons, in 2013 of 726,000 persons, of 705,000 persons in 2014, of 690,000 in 2015 and of 685,000 in 2016. Without contesting the effort to accuracy of this Commission and the fact that any forecast includes a dose of risk too, there are obviously immeasurable variables that were not taken into account. We refer to the quality of business environment, revenues polarization, with decreasing trends in wages, to labor migration especially medium and high qualified. We refer to the existing difficulties in the allocation of development credits, to the corruption of officials from the local councils the excess of electoral concerns of governments, with the necessity of different approaches for each of them. With this supplement of fren factors we can say that on prospective 2 years, the registered unemployment from National Institute of Statistics, will not fall below 740.000 persons. To these things, it must be added the volume of more than twice unregistered persons, which means a total of approx. two million persons, this being the actual estimation of the non-employed population, to which has reached in Romania today.

HISTORICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROSECUTION BODIES

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 198-203
Author(s):  
Adilet Merkanov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
The State ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Kyrgyz Republic ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Democratic Rule

Nowadays in Kyrgyz Republic take a place huge reforms of prosecutors. The implementation of national projects requires a new quality of prosecutorial oversight so that the human rights and law enforcement potential of the prosecutor’s office really contributes to the development of a democratic rule of law. The prosecutor's office as one of the state legal institutions plays an extremely important role in the public and state life of the Kyrgyz Republic. As you know, the successful implementation of socio-economic and socio-political transformations in the state largely depends on existing laws, the observance of which the prosecutor's office is called upon to monitor.

Chremacracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 184-197
Author(s):  
Debasish Roy Chowdhury ◽  
John Keane
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Campaign Spending ◽  
Special Interests ◽  
Indian Politics ◽  
Quantum Leap ◽  
Private Money ◽  
Electoral Democracy

This chapter studies how Indian politics is becoming a chremacracy—a system in which big money rules supreme. In 2018, the already shady party finances system took a quantum leap towards absolute chremacracy when the Modi government introduced electoral bonds, an instrument that allows individuals, corporations, and other legal entities such as trusts and associations anonymously to channel unlimited amounts of money to political parties. Under this new measure, anyone is allowed to buy tax-free bearer bonds for specified amounts via the state-owned State Bank of India (SBI) and then deposit them into the registered bank accounts of political parties. Like political violence, the organized secrecy over money irreversibly distorts the spirit and institutions of electoral democracy. The misallocation of resources that results from poorly regulated campaign spending ensures that elections and governments are captured by special interests. Ultimately, the grip of private money on electoral politics is detrimental to the quality of representation as it skews the field of available choices, and a system of free choice is gamed into one of prompted selection.

Democracy and Quality of Life in Asian Societies

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-357
Author(s):  
SHINYA SASAOKA ◽  
KATSUNORI SEKI
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Hierarchical Modeling ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article examines whether democracy affects quality of life. Scholars have conducted surveys to investigate whether democracy is likely to lead to good quality of life. There are two contested views to the relationship: some suggest that democracy has a positive causal effect on quality of life, whereas others contend that democracy does not play such a role. Previous findings are supported by cross-national statistical analysis with aggregated survey data. However, aggregated survey data may cause ecological fallacy. Also, in order to ascertain the extant research, it would be beneficial to test the hypothesis by incorporating both individual- and country-level variables. Therefore, this paper applied hierarchical modeling to investigate the regularity. Both individual-level perception of democracy and country-level political regime data were incorporated in our empirical model. Our findings suggest that individual-level satisfaction with democracy has positive causal effect on one's quality of life, whereas the country-level characteristic of the political regime has no effect.

Learning and Legitimacy

1966 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 548-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard M. Merelman
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Secondary Reinforcement ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Public ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Dissonance Theory ◽  
Relationship Of

This paper examines the theory of political legitimacy through the framework of psychological learning theory and the theory of cognitive dissonance. The concepts of primary and secondary reinforcement in cases of learning permit a general understanding of the growth of positive affect toward a political system. Cognitive dissonance theory allows us to understand how this general positive affect built up by a regime's actions produces the sub-set of attitudes called political legitimacy. In order to build a theory of political legitimacy on these foundations, it is necessary to conceive of government policy-making as a case of producing successful learning throughout a population.The diffuse, largely irrational nature of political legitimacy has made it difficult for political scientists to handle the concept systematically. That systems are or are not “legitimate” has been asserted numerous times, though often the precise definition of legitimacy employed has been at best vague and the indices of legitimacy unclearly stated. This paper attempts to meet the problem by setting forth a theory and a set of implicit indices of political legitimacy. After the general model has been explicated, I will specify several problems in the manipulation of political legitimacy. Finally, I will look at the relationship of governmental structure to these problems.Before consideration of the model two preliminary tasks must be performed: a definition of legitimacy and justification for discussing it. We may define political legitimacy as the quality of “oughtness” that is perceived by the public to inhere in a political regime.

Failing Promises of Democracy: Structural Preconditions, Political Crisis and Socioeconomic Instability in Bosnia and Herzegovina

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vedran Džihić
Keyword(s):  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Specific Kind ◽  
Hybrid Form ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Electoral Democracy ◽  
Democratic Rule ◽  
Major Factors

This paper departs from the thesis that the notion of democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been damaged dramatically during the 17 years after the war. The paper explores major factors that contribute to the crisis of democratic rule in Bosnia and thus focuses on a) structural problems of the constitution agreed to at Dayton and the resulting dysfunctional government, b) a permanent political crisis based on the instrumentalization of ethno-nationalism paired with c) prolonged socio-economic problems. As the paper shows the combination of all these factors results in a hybrid form of governance best described as electoral democracy or electoral ethnocracy. Such a system has a specific kind of its own logic and functionality; it is able to satisfy certain needs of constituencies while neglecting others, thus creating a permanent crisis in the country and leaving it in limbo.

scholarly journals Czy to koniec zawodów prawniczych w Europie - przykład Polski

2018 ◽  
pp. 167-180
Author(s):  
Paweł Antkowiak
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Quality Of Services ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Professional Self ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Democratic Rule

The subject of this article is access to legal services in Europe, demonstrated on the basis of Polish solutions in the field. The legal professions operate as corporations called professional self-government. The theoretical assumptions behind professional self-government is that it guarantees high ethical and professional standards, as well as balance between free professional practice and the quality of services provided. Its existence and operation is therefore an integral part of the democratic rule of law.

scholarly journals Military Interventions As Omitted Variable Of Inversed Democratic Peace: An Empirical Evidence

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (4/2019) ◽  
pp. 77-97
Author(s):  
Srđan Korać ◽  
Nenad Stekić
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
Military Interventions ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Relationship

The paper examines the relationship between military interventions and democratisation processes which took place in targeted states. While many researchers try to identify relationship between the regime type and countries’ war proneness, the authors of this paper put these two variables in a reversed order. To test this so-called “inversed democratic peace” thesis based on an argument that an ongoing war is likely to lead to democratisation, we focus our analysis on the US interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and FR Yugoslavia (Kosovo). We deploy three variables: 1) Foreign policy similarity, to determine whether the intervening actor (USA) had similar or different foreign policy goals at the beginning of interventions; 2) Political regime similarity, to indicate whether there were any deviations in the quality of political regime between the intervening state and the target country, as indicated by the democratic peace postulates; 3) military interventions (independent variable). Foreign policy score includes S score dataset developed by Curtis S. Signorino and Jeffrey M. Ritter (1999), while for the political regime quality, the authors deploy Polity IV data. Statistical analysis including Pearsonʼs correlation, logistic regression and descriptive statistics, will be presented for specific dyad level in three specifically designated models. The authors conclude that it is more likely that military interventions affect further democratisation of the targeted post-conflict societies, if observed in a short term rather than in longitudinal domain, while the foreign policy similarity (with the United States) positively correlates in cases with more successful democratisation process.

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