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In the paper, the author tries to answer the question, what are the sources of polarization in modern authoritarian states (that are procedurally democratic), and what are the key differences (points of conflict) between the polarized parties? Research attention is focused on the analysis of the political and broader social effects of polarization and on the dilemma of whether it is even possible to reduce the negative effects of the actions of value-opposing actors? The author observes a universal sociological regularity according to which the roots of polarization almost unmistakably arise from the pluralism of social identities that are built on ideology, religion, and ethnicity and which tend to be manipulated by political elites. Primarily, artificially created political polarization is a strategy for mobilizing the electoral base, and secondarily it represents a means for legitimizing and consolidating populist and authoritarian regimes. Once society starts to polarize, intra-group loyalty is strengthened within competing political and other groups and a group identity is created that is sensitive to any Otherness, which is reflected in conflicts with social groups and movements that are opposed in terms of interests and values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Socioloski Pregled is the property of Srpsko Sociolosko Drustvo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper analyzes the theory of Islam as a religion that could have formed a rationalistic civilization, based on scientific progress, individualism and democracy. One of the representative studies on this topic is the work of Mustafa Akyol Reopening of Muslim Minds, in which the author uses the method of counterfactual analysis, posing the fundamental question: what would Islamic civilization look like if in the Sunni majority had not prevailed Ash’ari theology, but rationalistic, Mu’tazili theology? Although it could be said that the author of this study does not err when he concludes that Ash’ari occasionalism stopped the development of science in Islam, he nevertheless errs when he claims that the doctrines of voluntarism, predestination, and uncreatedness of the Qur’an, were generators of injustice in Islamic society. In this paper we tried to analyze the metaphysical foundations of these doctrines, re-examine the validity of the hypothesis about their harmfulness, and re-examine whether the observed harmful effects come from Islamic tradition or from the more recent attempts of modernization of Islam.

According to Lysias’ oration 31 the paper deals with the relationship citizens – noncitizens, i.e. metics, and their rights, exploring this relationship with regard to moral values. It also deals with the institutional procedure of dokimasia which was established after the restoration of democracy in Athens in 403 BC in order to prevent the immoral and inappropriate citizens from running a campaign and from being elected public officials. The paper is accompanied by the first translation of this Lysias’ oration into Serbian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overcoming the obvious democracy crisis is possible to be done by taking an insight into our democratic thought. This paper reminds, directs, actualises, values and reminds scientifically-democratic thought of Bozidar S. Markovic, in a real context of strenuous processes of intoducing and consolidating democracy in Serbia. Understanding democracy of Bozidar S. Markovic is a theoretical frame work which satisfies criteria of scientific generalisation, for it includes characteristic and essential landmarks of democracy and criteria of methodological con textuality for different and specific experiences of certain countries and their people. In this paper the frameworks of democracy are being thematized, with its characteristics, good and bad sides in the circumstances of our current political practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Socioloski Pregled is the property of Srpsko Sociolosko Drustvo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Socioloski Pregled is the property of Srpsko Sociolosko Drustvo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The image of modern journalism increasingly includes tabloidization as an unavoidable process that affects all its aspects. Its influence can be seen as one of the causes of the lowering of professional standards and the overall crisis of the profession and for this reason, tabloid journalism and its social role is the subject of research, with a focus on the press. In this paper, we deal with the history of tabloid journalism, the phenomenology of tabloidization and its impact on the development of journalism. Through a synthetic analysis of current literature, we examine the social status of tabloids, and considering that in academic discussions this type of journalism is generally defined as "bad", we examine to what extent its appearance and actions had positive consequences. In this paper, we will critically review the conflicting positions of world authors, with the aim of determining the social role of tabloids, as well as their influence on the development and functioning of modern journalism. The results of this paper show that it is impossible to interpret the role of tabloids outside of the social, cultural and political environment in which they function. In addition, in the context of social development, the conclusion is implicitly imposed on the necessity of media pluralism in which the audience chooses the content to which it pays attention.

Political parties are a necessary component of democratic systems. In the paper, the author defines the concept and basic elements of the concept of political parties, keeping in mind the political and public legal dimension. The paper analyzes five basic elements that classical and more modern authors considered when defining political parties. These are: ideology, expression of interests of social groups, realization of state (national) interest, nomination of candidates in elections for public-political positions, exercise of power and permanence. During the discussion, the change of the political party, and therefore the entire political scene with the changes that took place in society through the development of the economy, consumer society and mass media, were taken into account. Thus, certain elements that classical theorists of political parties considered the essence of former parties, such as ideology and representation of the interests of certain social groups, became more symbolic and easily changeable. The paper therefore gives one definition containing the necessary, constitutive elements. Hence, political parties are defined as permanent (permanent) organizations that, by nominating candidates in elections, enable the exercise of political power and the implementation of certain policies that are to be implemented through legally binding decisions and norms.

In this paper, I examine the view that, surprisingly, the more citizens deliberate about politics, the less likely they are to participate in the realm of the political, and vice versa. In the first part of the paper, I approach the problem from the perspective of the paradox of voting, the claim that voting itself is instrumentally irrational because of the very low probability that a single vote will make any difference at the elections. In the second part of the paper, I argue that rather than analyzing voting instrumentally, it is better to view it as part of the civic commitments that constitute what it means to be a citizen in a democratic society. The act of voting is not primarily an individual’s attempt to decisively influence any particular outcome, but an affirmation of the key practice that upholds the democratic society in which citizens play a part. This reveals a meta-paradox of voting. Namely, to not vote is to exhibit a type of behavior that implies acceptance of democracy simultaneously with rejecting its defining component. Because of that, I will claim, not voting is itself irrational. In light of that conclusion, in the third part of the paper, I explore the extant divide between deliberation and participation by referring back to the analysis of civic commitments. Whereas participation without deliberating reveals ideological bias, deliberation without participation expresses a lack of understanding of what it means to be a citizen. The way to connect them is to engage in a process of attaining reflective equilibrium between the two, starting from the practice of deliberation that would be fully informed by the awareness of our democratic commitments and disconnected from ideologically motivated participation.

In this paper, the author analyzes the process of establishing a system of fundamental values in the rule of law in the context of constitutional discontinuity by exploring the concept of the representative mandate as a basic constitutional principle in new democracies. The first part contains the general considerations on the relationship between the constituent power versus the fundamental values and (non-)legal factors, which should support both the establishment of constitutional rules and their interpretation in order to maintain the fundamental values. The subject matter of analysis in the second part are the citizens' value judgments on the representative mandate, which are to reveal the evolutionary pattern of this principle in both developed and developing democracies. Taking into account the gap between the existing and the proclaimed constitutional system in Serbia, the third part of the paper contains a proposal for instituting a set of potential constitutional measures to "defend" value judgments on the representative mandate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In my view, making the case for a specific interpretation of Critical Theory is problematic.1 Although the term has a prestigious origin stemming from Horkheimer’s 1937 paper, Traditional and Critical Theory,2 given during his term as Director of the Institute for Social Research at Frankfurt University and generating the enthusiasm of its members, the term and the movement associated would be defined and radically redefined not only by subsequent generations but by its very author. One of the merits of the book under discussion is that even before the first chapter an ‘Interlude’ is presented entitled Arguing for Classical Critical Theory signifying to the reader that Horkheimer got it right when he defined the subject and that it is possible to return to that particular definition after 83 years. This paper challenges Professor Sørensen’s claims for the restoration of classical Critical Theory on three levels: the scientific, the historical and the political level.

The aim of this paper is to examine the possibilities and scope of the participatory model of BIH libraries in the period of self-governing socialism for the purpose of rethinking the way of doing business and relations with library users through a new, participatory approach. Participatory activities in pre-war BIH libraries and theoretical assumptions of participatory librarianship can serve as a starting point for considering the current model of involving library users in their capacity as its members. The results of this paper will try to show that the participatory library model always depends on certain socio-political aspects of government, starting from different methodologies and ways of cooperation, but also that certain type of understanding of participation further implies wider civic engagement or verification of the existing social situation. The importance of this analysis is in a better understanding of the two types of participatory approaches in libraries that, due to redefining relationships with users, can lead to different forms of social action and management.

During the first half of the 20th century, social reconstructionism represented a radical wing of the larger Movement for Progressive Education. Its supporters constituted the part of the progressive forces that withdrew from the primary focus on the child, which dominated in the 1920s, instead becoming focused on the social dimension of education during the 1930s. Since the contemporary post-industrial societies require reflective individuals capable of identifying and solving common problems through the dialog discourse, there is the question of the significance of social reconstructionism for education in the 21st century. The aim of this paper is to examine the reconstructionism perspective in the context of current global changes. The paper is based on the assumption that the ideas of prominent socially-oriented progressive theorists are crucial for consideration of the curriculum for the 21st century, i.e. for consideration of the ways in which the young people could prepare to become responsible, tolerant, and peaceable individuals in a globalized world. From both the historical and the current perspective, theoretical and comparative analysis shows that the importance of social reconstructionism lies in the demand for direct confrontation with the political, economic, social, and moral dimensions of education. In this context, the conclusion is that the study of ideology of social reconstructionism and the attained levels of practical experience of its application could contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the nature and possibilities of education in a democratic society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the phenomenon of Americanization of European universities in a historical perspective, referring to the critical comparison of higher education in Germany and the United States, conceived by Max Weber after the experience of his stay at American universities in 1904. In accordance with the subject and goal, the paper is divided into several thematic units that include the historical context of European university development, defining the research question, the historical and theoretical context (his trip to the International Congress of Arts and Sciences in St. Louis and defining two of Weber's key theoretical concepts (rationalization and bureaucratization) which are necessary for understanding his analysis of higher education), consideration of Weber's most important work on this topic (Wissenschaft als Beruf), and presentation of the conclusions of our analysis. The paper provides an overview of Weber's comparison of two university models: (a) the American model, which he sees as market-oriented, democratized and meritocratic, and (b) the German model, which he sees as critical, holistic and humanistic. Despite the prevailing opinion in modern Weberology that Weber was an apologist of the way in which American higher education works, in this paper we try to show that Weber in his deliberations offered a far more balanced view of the situation at universities in the two countries (United States and Germany), and that he managed to show different aspects, i.e. the advantages and disadvantages of these two, in many respects different, models of higher education and academic communities derived from them. Although the paper deals with a part of Max Weber's legacy and in that sense with a discussion that is part of the history of sociological ideas, the basic ideas that Weber argues in it have not lost their relevance in contemporary discussions on higher education reform in Europe.

Overcoming the obvious democracy crisis is possible to be done by taking an insight into our democratic thought. This paper reminds, directs, actualises, values and reminds scientifically-democratic thought of Bozidar S. Markovic, in a real context of strenuous processes of intoducing and consolidating democracy in Serbia. Understanding democracy of Bozidar S. Markovic is a theoretical framework which satisfies criteria of scientific generalisation, for it includes characteristic and essential landmarks of democracy and criteria of methodological contextuality for different and specific experiences of certain countries and their people. In this paper the frameworks of democracy are being thematized, with its characteristics, good and bad sides in the circumstances of our current political practice.

The central subject of this paper is the electoral rights and problems, abuses and complications that occur in society and law. The beginning of the work is devoted to the definition of the term and mechanisms of elections, terminological and legal meaning. The manner in which elections are conducted is also covered in this paper. The next part of the paper is based on the definition of the right to vote, the criteria for the possession of this type of rights and the classification of them by theory and practice. The part of the paper deals with the explanation of the treatment of electoral rights in case of abuse and the legislation regulating this area in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, more specifically with the norms of the current Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia. The last part of the paper covers the empirical research of crimes against electoral rights in the territory of the Republic of Serbia over a five-year period, from 2014 to 2018. This section focuses on the number of reported, accused and convicted persons for crimes against electoral rights.

Copyright of Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta u Nisu is the property of Law Faculty in Nis and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The key preoccupation and focus of the analytical attention of this paper is the consideration of the causative and consequential relations between the political and economic dimension of social life, that is, passing the boundary line between economy and politics. The major debate in this paper is: what is the causal relationship between democracy and economic development? When we are debating the Democracy-Development Nexus, the key finding of the analysis is reflected in the fact that, in spite of what the evidence in the scholarly literature is mixed and inconclusive, there is little disagreement that over time democracy and development are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. Although a strong positive link between the GDP per capita (key indicator of economic development) and the degree of development of the democratic structure in the case of selected transition economies has been confirmed, democracy, however, does not exclusively depend on the state of the economy, and economic weakness does not translate directly into the impossibility of democracy.

Copyright of TEME: Casopis za Društvene Nauke is the property of TEME: Casopis za Drustvene Nauke and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The principle of each contemporary democratic society implies division of power into legislative, executive and judicial. If there is no division into these three branches of power and if preconditions have not been satisfied for judicial power to be independent from the legislative and executive power, that inevitably leads to disrespect of human rights and freedoms, violation of political freedoms and absence of the rule of law. Independence of judiciary is the principal element for realization of a constitutional parliamentary state, primarily as the guarantor of protection of human, political and minority rights. The usual practice is that a security service in a democratic state has to ask for a court order if it wants to perform monitoring and other investigative procedures against a person or a group of persons. The order is usually pretty concrete concerning particulars with regard to the type of monitoring to be approved, against whom and for how long, as well as what is the legal basis for implementation. Courts and judicial bodies have a direct impact on protection of rights of individuals and on implementation of a democratic control over governmental institutions, especially over institutions of executive power, which include security services. This paper examines and analyzes the ways judicial authorities in the Republic of Serbia perform control of respect of constitutionality and legality in implementation of special procedures and measures and special measures, i.e., special evidence gathering actions, which security services apply for protecting of national security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

researches of religious education are becoming more and more complex. Curricula of religious education, its educational efficiency, competence of teachers, possible pros and cons of religious education etc., are only some of problems which attract researcher's attention from different scientific fields dealing with the study of religious education. Based on the mentioned researches a lot of publications were issued, and there were more scientific papers in magazines on religious education which were getting more importance. The key problem of its insufficient efficiency has been connected with realization in school. The research problem in this paper is the contribution of the lecturing of the Orthodox Catechism in the education of the pupils from primary schools for peace and democracy. In the research we started from the hypothesis that the lecturing of the Orthodox Catechism besides the contributions in the development of morale and human qualities of pupil's personality, it can also contribute to the education for peace and democracy. In order to determine that, a research on the sample of 126 teachers of primary schools in the area of Pčinjski District was conducted in January 2018, which was shown in this paper. Data gathered by the Scaler PNOŠ-DVOUOŠDGD (α = 0,81) were processed by Factual analysis and t-test. By the factual analysis three components which indicate to the most frequent contribution of the lecturing of the Orthodox Catechism in the education of pupils for peace and democracy were singled out: 1) morale education, 2) education for democracy and 3) education for peace (KMO = 0,73, common variance = 63,03%, p = 0,000). The results given by t-test shown that there were a significant difference in the assessments of teachers having experience in lecturing of the Orthodox Catechism comparing with other teachers: t = 2, 24, p = 0,014, η = 0, 04 and in the assessments of teachers by Scaler PNOŠ of the subject and class lecturing: t = 2, 86, p = 0,009, η = 0, 06 on the contribution of the lecturing of the Orthodox Catechism for peace and democracy. Based on the research result didactic implications for quality of lecturing improvement of the Orthodox Catechism were given so as to be in the function of the education of pupils for peace, democracy and mutual understanding of different cultures in multicultural civic society. In order to implement it in the practice, it is necessary the lecturing of the Orthodox Catechism to be designed, prepared, planned, and realized as per the needs of pupils and society, and contents of religious education. Contents of religious education should be of practical character. It is necessary to introduce a curriculum in schools through which pupils will be able to learn on different religious customs. In that way, pupils will be more familiar with their and religious education of others, which will be very useful in the quests of common points for giving incentives to understanding and co-operation. Due to that, duty of democratic society is to make available knowledge on religious, ethnical, and social organization of other minority communities to pupils (Table 7; Chart 1).

Even though security services have the same function as before, today they have different tasks and significantly more work than before. Modern security problems of the late 20th and early 21st century require states to reorganize their security services, adapting them to the new changes. The reorganization involves, among other things, giving wider powers of the security services, in order to effectively counter the growing and sophisticated security threats, which may also lead to violations of human rights and freedoms. It is therefore necessary to define the right competence, organization, authority and control of these services. In democratic countries, there are several institutions with different levels of control of security services. Parliament is certainly one of the most important institutions in that control, both in the world and in our country. Powers, finance, the use of special measures and the nature and scope of work of the Security Information Agency are certainly object of the control of the National Assembly. What seems to be the problem is achieving a balance between the need for control of security services and security services to have effective methods for combating modern security problems. This paper presents the legal framework related to the National Assembly control of the Security Intelligence Agency, as well as the practical problems associated with this type of control. We analyzed the role of security culture as one of the factors of that control. In this regard, it provides guidance for the practical work of the members of parliament who control the Security Intelligence Agency, noting in particular the importance of and the need for continuous improvement of security culture representatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper addresses Aeschylus, and the way he wanted to be remembered by his fellow Athenians and the other Greeks. Having lived from 525/524 until 456/455 BCE, Aeschylus experienced the quick transition of his polis from a small city-state to a leading political and military force to be reckoned with throughout the Greek world. The inscription on his gravestone at Gela, Italy, commemorates his military achievements against the Persians, but makes no mention on his enormous theatrical renown. His plays were so respected by the Athenians that after his death, his were the only tragedies allowed to be restaged in subsequent competitions. And yet Aeschylus, when time came to describe himself and the work of his lifetime, mentioned exclusively his contribution in the fight against the Persian Empire as an Athenian. Triggered by the poet’s narrative on his most memorable moment of his life, the present paper seeks to shed some light on the Athenian political identity, emerged during and soon after the Persian Wars, which not only derived from the newly-established democratic constitution of the late sixth century, but also supported it. Aeschylus’ epigram as well as some particular plays of his (the Persians, the Eumenides, and the Suppliants), narrates the confidence, the solidarity and the feeling of equality the Athenian citizens shared in regards to the defence of freedom of their polis as well as of all Greece, which came above anything else in their life, meaning above noble lineage and wealth. The gravestone of the poet stresses, in other words, how it felt like for an Athenian to live during the emergence of the very first Democracy that progressively supported the claim of Athens to become a ruler in the Aegean, by constructing its naval "Empire", ideologically upon the commemoration of the victory of the Athenian Democracy against the tyranny of Persia at Marathon and Salamis.

How to comply with the demands of democracy and thus contribute to its realisation, is a question which has repeated itself through history up to modern age. In the context of such an argument, the author wishes, through this paper, to return the reader to the time when Serbs, in a newly restored country, faced similar requests which the age of modernism had carried. Europeanisation of modern Serbia, followed by imperative respect for traditional values, meant accepting certain ideas significant in the context of modern state law organising. Along with the idea of constitutionality, the idea of modern representative democracy followed by its characteristic prodigies, was strongly rooted. Hence, the author wishes to explain the institutionalising process of representative democracy through promoting national representation, accentuating the period which highly contributed to formal democratization of the society and state. The author also underlines the fact that only few decades stand between the period of unrestrained despotic government and the period when, liberally coloured tendencies were formed into the first National Assembly Act (1858). A decade later, by Constitution of 1869, for the first time, National Assembly got its place in the system of central government, and after introducing democratic parliamentarism, Constitution of 1888, finally founded the state on its modern grounds, in compliance with modern European standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important issues in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was the process of the agrarian reform. The agrarian reform was a complex state measure with an economic, social and political aspect. All political parties, due to political reasons, spoke in favor of the resolution of the agrarian issue through agrarian reform. Political parties kept in mind the large number of those individuals interested in the agrarian reform, as well as the fact that majority of the voters were farmers, when they formulated their position towards the reform. The Democratic Party was one of the most influential political party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The paper presents the basic concepts related to the agrarian reform and agricultural policy in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes that represented the Democratic Party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the history of parlamentarism, ist institution and development in the Kingdom of Serbia, in the period from 1903 until the outbreak of I World War. The first part outlines the basic socio-economic and political conditions, the pillars and theoretical position of the concept of parlamentarism. The journey towards a parlamentary democracy was short but generally beneficial. The new Serbian state conformed to the constitutional practice of the European countries, above all, England, France and Belgium. The second part is dedicated to the activities of the basic constitutional institutions (the assembly, the crown and the government), as well as to the activities of the political parties. The enactment of the Constitution in 1903, brought about dynastic changes, which liberalized and strengthened Serbia and improved its reputation throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entitlement to gender equality is one of the basic human rights. It is a democratic issue and it is lined up with basic values of European cultural environment. This right has been legalized in the international documents dealing with human rights. In European constitutionality, particularly in transition countries, the influence of international documents stipulating the entitlement to gender equality is observed, as well as the measures providing for creation of better legislative and institutional framework enabling the utilization of such rights. The subject of this Paper are the most important general constitutional rules providing for the framework for effective realization of right to gender equality, and therein two groups of questions. The first group refers to constitutionally stipulated general framework of guaranteed gender equality including especially the following issues: concept of political community (constitutional state); policy of equal possibilities as the obligation of the state; relationship of international and local laws; immediate application of the Constitution and the International treaties; deviations and limitation of human rights as well as the guarantee of the gained rights. The second group deals with the entitlement to gender equality in the context of basic (constitutional) rights and freedoms and the highlight thereto is the equality of men and women, banning of discrimination, equality of men and women before the law and special measures representing an instrument of equal possibilities policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of this paper is the debate between political moralists and political realists. I will try to show that it is possible to find the middle ground that simultaneously satisfies the main demands of both camps while resisting objections directed against each. In the first part, I start with the view shared by both moralists and realists: that the main challenge lying before a political theory is solving the problem of legitimacy. I first sketch Rawls’ moralist approach. I then move to outline the realist criticisms of such moralism. I will mainly follow one of the most detailed recent theories - Sleat’s realist theory, although I will also draw from other well-known realists. In the second part, I outline objections against realism. They somewhat similar to the same criticisms they themselves direct against moralists. The main issue is, in short, the problem of underdetermination - that is, the insufficient determination of political action by facts. Since realists hold that a political theory has to be applicable, their view is thus considerably weakened by such criticism. In the third part of the paper, I point to deliberative theory as a view that can answer both realist criticism - because its main aspect is dealing with the way things work in actual politics of concrete societies - but it can also answer criticisms directed against realists themselves, because empirical research of deliberation suggests an actual and viable way to solve the problem of legitimacy - by raising the quality of deliberation. Moreover, a deliberative theory retains autonomy of the ethical, although it doesn’t do that, unlike moralism, by encroaching on the autonomy of politics. Thus, at the end of the paper, I claim that such a deliberative approach can be accepted by both realists and moralists. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179067: Logičko-epistemološki osnovi nauke i metafizike]

The aim of this paper is to explore the relation between democratic values and emotions. The author argues that democratic values and emotional judgments are inter-reducible: political agents use emotional judgments to reflexively evaluate normative paradigms of political life. In the first part of the paper, the author describes the state of emotions in contemporary political philosophy and identifies Charles Stevenson’s ethical conception of emotivism as the first comprehensive attempt to neutrally conceptualize emotions in moral and political thinking. The second part of the paper explores the shortcomings of emotivism and finds an adequate alternative in Martha Nussbaum’s concept of emotional judgment as the one that contains beliefs and values about social objects. In the final part of the paper, the author identifies that moral and political disagreements emerge in democracies from ranking of the importance of political objects. The evaluation criteria for this type of ranking is derived from democratic values which are reducible to agents’ emotional judgments. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179076]

In this paper I will discuss a recent attempt of justifying democracy and its authority. It pertains to recently published papers by Niko Kolodny, which complement each other and taken together practically assume a form of a monograph (Kolodny 2014a, Kolodny 2014b). It could be said that Kolodny’s approach is a non-standard one given that he avoids typical ways of justifying democracy. Namely, when a justification of democracy is concerned, Kolodny maintains that it is necessary to offer a kind of an independent justification. It is not so much that he insists that the usual approaches are wrong as much as that an independent justification is necessary in order to discern what it is that gives them their significance. Kolodny’s independent justification of democracy is based on the idea of social equality. In this paper I will try to reconstruct and critically assess Kolodny’s approach by paying special attention to the question of democratic authority. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 43007]

In the paper, the author tries to answer the question, what are the sources of polarization in modern authoritarian states (that are procedurally democratic), and what are the key differences (points of conflict) bet ween the polarized parties? Research attention is focused on the analysis of the political and broader social effects of polarization and on the dilemma of whether it is even possible to reduce the negative effects of the actions of value-opposing actors? The author observes a universal sociological regularity according to which the roots of polarization almost unmistakably arise from the pluralism of social identities that are built on ideology, religion, and ethnicity and which tend to be manipulated by political elites. Primarily, artificially created political polarization is a strategy for mobilizing the electoral base, and secondarily it represents a me ans for legitimizing and consolidating populist and authoritarian regimes. Once society starts to polarize, intra-group loyalty is strengthened within competing political and other groups and a group identity is created that is sensitive to any Otherness, which is reflected in conflicts with social groups and movements that are opposed in terms of interests and values.

Starting from Rawls's concept of civil disobedience, the author argues that it is carried out on justified moral grounds and must be distinguished from all other tortious actions. It is a communicative act that non-violently and publicly points out problems within a system, thereby guaranteeing itself a position of loyalty to the law, not the opposite. The paper first analyzes the concept of civil disobedience, along with the question of its justification, as well as Dworkin's point of view on the interpretation of disputed legal norms by citizens who refuse to obey them. It then examines the purposes of punishment as stated in the theory of sanctions - applied to civil disobedience, along with the potential treatment of civil disobedience by judges. The author believes that in each specific case, according to the judgment of the court, such disobedient individuals could either be given reduced sanctions or be completely exempted from punishment.

Political tolerance is one of the basic values of a democratic society. At the same time, it is also a controversial value - political freedoms are often used to undermine democratic order. In light of the early findings of low level of political tolerance in Eastern Europe (e.g., Bahry, Boaz & Gordon, 1997; Gibson & Duch, 1993), it is important to investigate both its general level and the association with the support for general democratic norms. This paper presents results of a comparative research of political tolerance in Europe, with special focus on the situation in Serbia. The first part of the paper presents descriptive findings abut the support for general democratic norms and the degree of tolerance in approximately 30 European countries. The second part analyzes the relationships between the general acceptance of democratic norms and political tolerance, i.e., the application of the abstract norms to specific groups. The research is based on the World Values Survey data (WVS; http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org). WVS data include the so called 'the least liked group' measure of political tolerance, developed by Sullivan et al. (1979, 1982). The results, once again, indicted the gap between widespread endorsement of abstract democratic norms and readiness to grant the basic political liberties to various specific political groups. Although the level of political tolerance is low across Europe, intolerance is still more widespread in East European countries. Serbian respondents appear similar to those from neighboring countries.

This paper is a scholarly debate on theses which equate the concepts of "civil society" and "democracy". The main objection put forward against the concept of education for civil society is its ideological nature. The paper analyses theoretical and empirical difficulties of the concept. In the first place, "civil society" concept is not identical to "democracy" concept. The author contests the claim that a good citizen ideal is a general ideal of modern society. A claim is put forward that there is no significant pedagogical or didactic difference between a civil education teacher and teachers of other subjects. The paper also points out some outstanding problems in school practice of civil education as a proof that the concept does not have a valid theoretical foundation. The call for civil education not to be limited to a single subject has been contested by the argument that a single vision of a desirable society can lead into doctrinal and ideological bigotry and not democratic pluralistic society. .

The paper presents a critical approach to globalization as a major social process nowadays and globalization as an ideology. Globalization is a contradictory process of modern society with uncertain outcome. Ideologists of democracy would like to find a universal solution to modern-day problems in this power order. In the 20th century problems with democracy multiplied with the increasingly important role of the media, confrontations in multinational countries and political manipulations. The UN endorses the restriction of national sovereignty for the benefit of democracy and human rights. However, in reality this idea is often used for the sake of certain geopolitical interests. The paper points out difficulties of education for "global" democracy. Problems of professional education in schools are discussed. The conclusion emphasizes the problem of incorporating global differences in national educational programs for democracy.

The author explains and proves that in epochal changes at the crossroads of centuries and millennia, there are two similar, but in many ways different processes: transit and transition. Transit means the passage of some parts of the state through a complex and unique state in the direction of international independence. From an empirical perspective, transit proceeds in two ways: peacefully or in a conflict or. Transit is, in fact, another name for separation or secession. Transit secession in one state shapes several independent states. In that sense, transit is the exteriorization of national politics, its internationalization and geopoliticization. Although it manifests dramatically, tragically and catastrophically in the secession conflict, in the theoretical discourse of social, national and state changes, transit is covered by the process of transition. Therefore, the author recognizes three approaches to the relationship between transit and transition: transit that is partially differentiated from transition; transit that is fully differentiated from transition and transit equated to transition. The author advocates a clear and principled distinction between the phenomenon of transit and the phenomenon of transition. Finally, the paper emphasizes the chronopolitical moment of geopolitical metamorphoses in which transit precedes and in many ways determines the later transition. Transition as a socio-economic process, i.e. the political-economic structural transformation of the socialist into the capitalist society cannot be sufficiently understood without understanding the previous events of transit. It is precisely the Yugoslav case of the disintegration of a complex state that could be instructive for the current EU integration, and also certain multinational and mononational states that face the danger of extreme regionalism, autonomy and separatism.

The subject of the research is the development of competencies for democratic culture in the digital age through the analysis of youth media culture. The aim of the research is that on the basis of the obtained results adequate solutions to the problem of media influence on the culture of communication and culture in general among young people can be proposed, and theoretically to determine how much the media influence the culture of communication and the development of youth awareness. young people. The paper concludes that the surveyed group of teenagers, 300 of them from Belgrade high schools, mostly watch television and follow an entertainment program, that the media in Serbia promote violence and hate speech, and that most of them enrich their language and culture of expression using electronic media, not a book. The results obtained confirm that the media, as they are today, have a very negative impact on the language culture and the culture of behavior of young people in general.

In this paper author is dealing with the problem of democracy and neoliberal capitalism, through the prism of history; it explains the difference in certain socio-economic and political-economic systems. The concept of the neoliberal capitalist system that has been current for the last forty years has become unsustainable due to the enormous inequalities in the society that it has created. Therefore today, the rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer. It has also been shown that without the economic intervention of a state, no economic system can survive. The growing protests throughout Europe and the world have prompted the author to consider the following questions' What are the alternatives to neoliberal capitalism? Why are Marxism and socialism always current when we talk about changing? Can we talk about socialism in the 21st century?

In her book Democracy and Truth: The Conflict between Political and Epistemic Virtues, Snježana Prijić Samaržija advocates a stance that not only political, but also epistemic values are necessary for justification of democracy. Specifically, she mounts defense for one particular type of public deliberation on epistemic grounds. In this paper, I will discuss the following issue: What connects this type of public deliberation to the wider context of (epistemic) justification of democracy? I will attempt to explain why Prijić Samaržija’s stance can be understood as a version of deliberative epistemic instrumentalism and to discuss the role played by the public deliberation within this framework. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 43007]

The essence of democracy is to enable citizens to participate in the decision-making process. In order to actively participate in the process of democratic decision-making, it is necessary to have an own view on certain issues. Based on the freely formed and expressed attitude of contemporary democracy, they ensure a consistent and clear application of the will of citizens in the process of making key political decisions. Bosnia and Herzegovina faces great challenges today. Citizens do not have the possibility to exercise passive voting rights under equal conditions. Normed human rights and freedoms are not exercised in practice. Citizens do not have a developed political culture and in a kind of vicious circle that is a consequence of material endangerment do not engage in political processes. The paper analyzes elements that influence the impossibility of carrying out socio-political processes in a democratic spirit, in a way that fits modern democratic countries.

In this paper, the author chose Fukuyama's interpretation of Tocqueville's teaching on the nature of aristocracy and democracy as the subject of his research. He took particular note of Fukuyama's observation that Tocqueville, in his thoughts on advantages and shortages of American society, anticipated Nietzsche's teachings on aristocratic morality, wondering about what was lost after the change of government and whether the spirit of time changed. The unequivocal answer of the French historian and politologist was that the former aristocratic values had been lost. There is no more daintiness in behavior or nobility in social relations, nor are there independence and distrustfulness, which Nietzsche desperately needed to shadow the ideal of the overman. Instead of a complete man we meet a partial man, an individual hiding in a community of equal citizens who can save their freedom only by moving and working in a group, masquerading as members of an increasing number of associations that take on the power and responsibility for the individual's existence. Tocqueville finds that in the American civic society the relation of trust - mistrust has turned into the relation of debtor - creditor. He examines in which of all the institutions of American democratic society, which did not originate from the revolution, he could perceive a loss of aristocratic values and examines paradoxical situations where from recently matured democracies a new aristocracy emerges.

By reporting on some conflicts but not on others, and by representing conflicts they report on in particular ways, the media strongly influence the dynamics and outcomes of democratisation conflicts, and thus also shape the prospects of success of conflict parties. This paper explores the literature on media and conflict by focusing on the ways in which media frame inter-state and civil wars, institutionalised conflicts and social movements in western democracies, and conflicts in nondemocratic and democratising states. Much of the literature discusses the ways in which western media frame foreign conflicts and domestic election campaigns and policy debates, while there is considerably less focus on domestic conflicts in nonwestern settings, such as those that arise during and after transitions from nondemocratic rule. There are only limited attempts to draw parallels between the media coverage of disparate conflicts. In contrast, this study builds upon research findings in these related areas to draw lessons for empirical research of media framing of the contentious dimension of contemporary democratisation. This study concludes that the political context is the main factor that shapes the media framing of various forms of political conflict. Several dimensions of the political context matter in this respect, such as regime type, international (foreign) or domestic perspective, elite consensus or conflict, policy consensus or uncertainty, policy area, more or less institutionalised nature of the political conflict at stake, and the stage of democratisation. Also, the literature suggests that media framing strongly influences political outcomes and thus fosters or undermines democratic institutions in new democracies. .