Access to Asylum and Reception Conditions in Western Balkans : Focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 161054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel Grasgruber ◽  
Stevo Popović ◽  
Dominik Bokuvka ◽  
Ivan Davidović ◽  
Sylva Hřebíčková ◽  
...  

The aim of this anthropometric survey, conducted between 2015 and 2016 in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), was to map local geographical differences in male stature and some other anthropometric characteristics (sitting height, arm span). In addition, to investigate the main environmental factors influencing physical growth, the documented values of height would be compared with available nutritional and socioeconomic statistics. Anthropometric data were collected in 3192 boys aged approximately 18.3 years (17–20 years), from 97 schools in 37 towns. When corrected for population size in the examined regions, the average height of young males in BiH is 181.2 cm (181.4 cm in the Bosniak-Croat Federation, 180.9 cm in Republika Srpska). The regional variation is considerable—from 179.7 cm in the region of Doboj to 184.5 cm in the region of Trebinje. These results fill a long-term gap in the anthropological research of the Western Balkans and confirm older reports that the population of the Dinaric Alps is distinguished by extraordinary physical stature. Together with the Dutch, Montenegrins and Dalmatians, men from Herzegovina (183.4 cm) can be regarded as the tallest in the world. Because both nutritional standards and socioeconomic conditions are still deeply suboptimal, the most likely explanation of this exceptional height lies in specific genetic factors associated with the spread of Y haplogroup I-M170. The genetic potential for height in this region could then be the greatest in the world. Future studies should further elucidate the roots of this intriguing phenomenon, which touches an important aspect of human biodiversity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 385-389
Author(s):  
Emina Mostić ◽  

Prikaz//Review: Journal of the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo (History, History of Arts, Archeology), posebno izdanje: Reflections on Life and Society in the Western Balkans. Studies in the History of Bosnia and Herzegovina, knjiga 7, broj 2, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo 2020, 321 str.


2021 ◽  
Vol XXIII (4) ◽  
pp. 70-77
Author(s):  
Dunja Mirjanić ◽  
Tihomir Dabović ◽  
Željko Marković

- Electricity markets in the Western Balkans are still not fully liberalized, so different of degrees electricity market openness can be observed from country to country and even within the country - Bosnia and Herzegovina is an obvious example. In Republika Srpska, the formal legal conditions for starting the process of opening the electricity market were met with the entry into force of the Law on Electricity in late 2007 and the Rulebook on Supplying Qualified Customers and the Procedure for Changing Suppliers, which entered into force in late 2014. However, the actual process of opening the electricity market did not begin until the Ordinance on Amendments to the Ordinance on the Supply of Qualified Customers and the Procedure for Changing Suppliers entered into force, which entered into force in March 2019. The paper first examines and analyses the activities carried out so far on the liberalization of the electricity market, and provides an assessment of achieved results. The necessary conditions and issues that arise before the further opening of the electricity market in the Republic of Srpska are further analysed. Finally, the most important activities that await all relevant actors, first the RS Government, then the line ministry and RERS, suppliers and businesses that actively participate in shaping the electricity market in order to prepare the market for further opening and meeting conditions for its successful completion were analysed in the text.


Author(s):  
Andi Hoxhaj ◽  
Fabian Zhilla

Abstract This article offers a comparative analysis of the covid-19 legal measures and model of governance adopted in the Western Balkans countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo) and its impact on the state of the rule of law, and ability of parliament and civil society to scrutinise government decisions. The article assesses the governments’ approaches to introducing and enforcing covid-19 legal measures, and shows examples of how covid-19 has exposed more openly the weaknesses in the existing system of checks and balances in the Western Balkans. The article offers new insights into how covid-19 presented a new opportunity for leaders in the Western Balkans to implement further their authoritarian model of governance in undermining the rule of law. This article offers suggestions on how the EU could respond, through its accession conditionality instruments and civil society, to redirect this trend towards more state capture.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Драган Микеревић

Резиме: Стратегија реиндустријализације, поготово малих земаља, једна је од могућих стратешких радњи које би омогућиле излазак из кризе. Колико ће тај процес трајати и с којим ће се потешкоћама суочити, зависи од анатомије кризе сваке земље па и цијелог западног Балкана. Као лимитирајући фактори у раду су номинирани: глобални процеси, неуспјешна транзиција и неефикасне институције. Специфичност мале балканске земље, Босне и Херцеговине као и Републике Српске је: макроекономска стабилност и инсуфицијенција јавних финансија који угрожавају одрживост пензијског система, здравственог осигурања и дјечју заштиту, што у цјелини негативно утиче на демографску и економску слику Републике Српске и Босне и Херцеговине.Summary: The strategy of reindustrialization, especially of small countries, is one of exit strategies from the crisis. How long this process will take and what difficulties it will face with depends on the anatomy of the crisis of each country including the entire Western Balkans. The following factors are nominated as limiting in this paper: global processes, unsuccessful transition and inefficient institutions. The specificity of a small Balkan country, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska is the macro-economic stability and the insufficiency of public finances that threaten the sustainability of the pension system, health insurance and child protection, all of which adversely affect the economic and demographic picture of the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina.


2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (11) ◽  
pp. 1821-1838 ◽  
Author(s):  
Almir Peštek ◽  
Merima Činjarević

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the underlying dimensions of local cuisine image by identifying the key cuisine attributes tourists rely on in their evaluations of local cuisine; and to identify those dimensions of local cuisine image which have the strongest influence of tourist satisfaction with food experience. These issues are addressed within the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an emergent tourism market in Western Balkans. Design/methodology/approach – The research is exploratory. The city of Sarajevo was chosen as a study setting. Image of local cuisine was measured by using a multi-attribute approach in which several food attributes are specified and incorporated into the measurement instrument. Data from convenience sample of foreign tourists (n=402) were quantitatively analyzed using multivariate and descriptive statistics. Findings – Results suggest that the local cuisine image compromises four components (dimensions): “food uniqueness and cultural heritage”, “food quality and price”, “nutrition and health benefits of food” and “affective image of food”. Furthermore, findings show that these dimensions differ in terms of their relative importance in explaining the overall tourist satisfaction with food experience. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of this study is related to the geographical area (tourist site) where the research process was carried out. Thus, future research with greater geographical scope is required. Practical implications – This study provides valuable insight to practitioners who are seeking to integrate local food (cuisine) into the tourism product. Originality/value – This paper is the one of the first study that tries to identify perceived image of local cuisine held by visitors in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-360
Author(s):  
Dragan Djukanovic

The path of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards NATO membership began after its entry into the Partnership for Peace in November 2006. In just a few years, Bosnia and Herzegovina has achieved an intensive dialogue with NATO (2008) and the launch of negotiations on the Membership Action Plan (2010), which was however activated in December 2018. In the meantime, there have come to a discord between the key internal political factors in Bosnia and Herzegovina and particularly clear distinction between the Bosniak and Croat elites that unequivocally support NATO membership, and representatives of Serbs at the state level and the Republic of Srpska who are currently against it. Moreover, in October 2017, the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska took a stand by which it proclaimed the military neutrality of this entity and in that regard insisted on consultations with the neighboring state - the Republic of Serbia. However, in March 2018, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a five-year strategic foreign policy document which stipulates that NATO membership is one of its foreign policy foundations. This document only added to the confusion regarding BiH?s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Following the general elections held in October 2018, this issue has now posed a specific problem over the formation of the Council of Ministers. Neighbors of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro have different opinions concerning the possibility of membership of this country in NATO. Accordingly, Croatia declaratively expresses support and emphasizes its interest in integrating BiH into NATO to prevent cross-border security challenges. Serbian officials are quite restrained about BiH?s entry into NATO, saying that this should be the result of the compromise of the elites of the three constituent nations. The global race between the United States and the Russian Federation represents a turning point in terms of BiH?s membership in NATO. The United States strongly supports this process, believing that it will secure the post-conflict Western Balkans project, while Russia retains the explicit position that any new enlargement poses a problem for its security.


AGROFOR ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Łukasz AMBROZIAK

The aim of the paper is to compare the competitive positions of Poland and of sixcountries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) in their trade in agri-food products with theEuropean Union (EU) in 2010–2015. To this end, the synthetic tradecompetitiveness index (CI) was created, being the arithmetic average of twonormalised indices of the competitive position, i.e. the trade coverage index (TC)and the Balassa revealed comparative advantages index (RCA). The study is basedon the trade data from the WITS – World Integrated Trade Solution database(Comtrade, HS – Harmonised System 2002), expressed in USD. Agri-foodproducts are understood as products classified in chapters 01–24 of the HarmonisedCommodity Description and Coding System (HS). The research results show thatonly in trade of 5 product groups no country from the Western Balkans competedwith Poland in the EU market. In other product groups which were competitive inPolish exports Poland competed in the EU market with some of the WesternBalkan countries.


The aim of this paper is to point to the specificities of economic and political transformations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) and the Western Balkan in the context of economic and political changes in the global environment that can significantly affect the EU accession process. An analysis of the position of B&H in the group of Western Balkans countries and the perspective of economic growth was conducted by focusing on the political and economic criteria as well as on the current obstacles these countries are facing, specifically, based on their political and economic background and in conditions where external risks are growing. All these countries are commited to implementing structural reforms because the commitment of all the countries towards Europe, which means convergence towards the European countries and a reduction in the size of the GDP per capita. In order to achieve such long-term goals, it is necessary to implement structural reforms that will result in stimulating production, trade, financial flows and reforming the labor market and the public sector. That is why growth of investment and exports is the main determinant of long-term growth. This paper gives an overview of the basic economic features of B&H compared with the other countries that belong to Western Balkan region, as well as projections on the certain macroeconomic indicators in the forthcoming period.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (46) ◽  
pp. 320-329
Author(s):  
Elena Kašťáková ◽  
Andrea Chlebcová

Abstract The aim of the paper is to assess the current state of economic freedom in the Western Balkans region using the Index of Economic Freedom. From the Western Balkans territories, the best rating in the observed period of 2010 – 2019 is achieved by the Republic of North Macedonia and the worst by Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the 2020 Index of Economic Freedom, the region belongs to the group of moderately free economies. The investment and business environment of the Western Balkans is at a low level. The reason is poor law enforcement, corruption, organized crime, or the shadow economy.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document