Search results

The peoples living in the Balkan Peninsula over centuries have created a very rich cultural heritage and the constant political upheavals in the region have affected the development and preservation of their cultures. This paper aims to review the internet infrastructure and networked readiness levels of the Balkan countries, which are conducive to scientific co‐operation and preservation of digitised cultural heritage. It also explores the destructive effects of wars on the cultural riches of the region.

The internet facilities and the scientific production of the Balkan countries were identified using published sources and Thomson's Web of Science database. A game‐theoretic approach was used to expound the consequences of wars and the adverse effects of the nation‐building process on cultural heritage artefacts.

Balkan countries lack sound internet infrastructures, hindering their contributions to the world of science and stifling scientific co‐operation among themselves in terms of joint papers. The co‐ordinated efforts have yet to exist to streamline the digital preservation of the unique cultural heritage of the Balkan countries.

This paper discusses the impact of the nation‐building process on cultural and scientific heritage artefacts using the concepts of the “game theory”. It reinforces the fact that destroying the cultural heritage artefacts during wars is not a “zero‐sum game” in which the dominant culture wins and the “other” culture loses. It is not even a “lose‐lose game” in which both parties lose. Rather, humanity loses part of its whole cultural heritage forever.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the conditions of entrepreneurship in transition and post-conflict societies, using Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) as a case study. There are many features of this country which make it an interesting case such. It was once a part of Yugoslavia and had a socialist regime. Post-socialism, B&H turned to creating and maintaining a market-based economy, making it a transition country. Lastly, the transition process has been disturbed and delayed due to the war that began in 1992.

The author chose a single case study research design to present a unique case and to give in-depth analysis. The author has used the method of data triangulation to increase reliability and credibility of the case study research.

The case study's findings reveal that three types of conditions influence entrepreneurship in B&H: socio-political, economic and legal. The paper has several implications; more specifically, inter alia, it has helped understand complexity of transitional environments and the implications of the same on entrepreneurship development.

The paper adds to the existing literature on factors affecting entrepreneurial activity within a post-conflict context by simplifying categorization into three broad categories. By doing so, the paper emphasizes particular areas obstructing the development of the enterprise sector in B&H.

This study examines the relationship between gender and religious affiliation to the preferred conflicts styles of 384 student participants living in and attending university in South Africa, Israel, Bosnia‐Herzegovina and Northern Ireland. Participants report living in stressful social contexts that are often characterized by reports of terrorism perpetrated by paramilitaries, the state, violence that is brought on by long standing ethnic hatreds and years of division between major groups contending for control of political and social institutions, civilian uprisings, and in some cases low scale civil war. The results indicate that the independent variables—gender and religion—provide statistically significant observable differences in how people report they engage in conflict as seen in their choice of conflict styles. In particular, the findings on gender differences provide a surprising result that is partially attributed to the contextual factors of warfare and one's active participation in it. The results on religious affiliation provide a number of intriguing patterns among various religions including a desire to accommodate or collaborate with others and a strong dislike of avoidance. There are other more specific patterns that can be partially attributed to contextual factors as well. With so many contexts being present in the study a number of intriguing explanations and working hypotheses are brought forth to help explain why these patterns on gender and religious affiliation exist.

This paper aims to investigate the current energy status in the West Balkan countries and the related perspectives for renewable energy sources (RES) cooperation mechanisms, within the framework of RES Directive 2009/28/European Commission (EC), through the elaboration of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. Particular emphasis is laid on the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The SWOT analysis provides a clearer view of expanding RES in the West Balkans, as well as the level of utilization and potential of cooperation mechanisms and renewable energy in each country.

The adopted approach is mainly based on the context of a project co-financed by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, titled “Bringing Europe and Third countries closer together through renewable Energies (BETTER)” (project number: IEE/11/845/SI2.616378). The adopted approach incorporates the steps of desktop analysis, stakeholders’ mapping and engagement, key factors’ identification and analysis of results.

The barriers to expand RES in the region are significant. Currently, the region is electricity importer and by far not in the position to efficiently exploit the large RES potentials. It remains to be seen whether and to what extent cooperation mechanisms may be used in the Western Balkans and the EU by 2020. The unification of the fragmented electricity system and market-oriented reforms aim to join regional power markets and then to integrate with the European Union power market. There is a multitude of market barriers for RES, resulting in a high risk perception n by investors. Cooperation mechanisms could strengthen the regions’ policy frameworks and be a starting point to integrate the region’s energy systems and to overcome the fragmentation of the past two decades.

The potential of West Balkan countries to make use of the cooperation mechanisms provides opportunities for RES exporting between West Balkan and other European countries. An analysis of these opportunities for cooperation will allow drawing clearer conclusions on cooperation potentials and business cases for the region.

Similar to other countries of former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is still regarded to be a transitional economy, both from the social, political, and economic perspectives. In this regard, it is important to note that political agendas and economic strategies are still not satisfactory for the development of entrepreneurial activities. There are serious deficiency issues in regard to entrepreneurship ecosystem in BiH. This chapter describes 10 elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EES) and their implications on the EES outlook of BiH.

Slovenia has joined the club of peacekeepers in 1997. The decision was made under pressure of foreign expectations that a country which strives for NATO membership should prove its willingness to co-operate in common defence efforts. First military units, sent to UN-led peacekeeping operations, comprised volunteers on an ad hoc basis and were very small (platoon level). There were also a few policemen who joined missions abroad, first under WEU leadership in Albania. The governmental need ‘to show the flag’ in many operations increased the number of soldiers needed for peace operations and the number of policemen. Currently, there are around 200 soldiers and 30 policemen in different operations abroad. In the period 1997–2001 all soldiers and policemen entered the missions on a voluntary basis. In 2002, there was the first contingent of Slovenian SFOR soldiers that used its home military structure (infantry motorised company) in a peace mission. It marked the end of ad hoc units, comprised to serve the goals of the mission only, and the start of more organised, and also more ordered co-operation of soldiers in missions. They could still refuse participation in the mission, but that would have led to risks of losing unit cohesion. In the transition from voluntary peacekeepers to peacekeepers on duty, or by order, the Slovenian Army realised the need to understand what helps soldiers to fully accept the terms of operations abroad.

Al-Qaeda is conventionally portrayed as a monolithic, hierarchical organization whose activities – coordinated by the network's leader Osama bin Laden – are the source of international terrorism today. Al-Qaeda is considered a radical tendency within the broader Islamist Salafi movement, legitimizing its terrorist operations as a global Islamist jihad against Western civilization. Al-Qaeda's terrorist activity today is considered, “blowback” from long finished CIA and western covert operations in Afghanistan.

The conventional wisdom is demonstrably false. After the Cold War, Western connections with al-Qaeda proliferated around the world, challenging mainstream conceptions of al-Qaeda's identity. Western covert operations and military – intelligence connections in strategic regions show that “al-Qaeda” is a network whose raison d’etre and modus operandi are inextricably embedded in a disturbing conglomerate of international Western diplomatic, financial, military and intelligence policies today. US, British, and Western power routinely manipulates al-Qaeda through a complex network of state-regional and human nodes. Such manipulation extended directly to the 9-11 hijackers, and thus to the events of 9-11 itself.11This paper advances an original argument based partially on research in Ahmed (2005), supplemented here with significant new data and analysis. Also see Ahmed (2002).

This paper aims to provide a Norwegian perspective of how trade unions in the former Soviet block countries have dealt with the challenges of the post‐communist period and how the European trade union movement has attempted to assist them as they have adjusted to representing and protecting the interests of workers in a market economy.

This paper considers the point that the experiences of trade union development in the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe should not be assumed to have followed some monolithic pattern.

Each of the individual states experienced challenges that were unique to them and which reflected the economic, geographical and social situation they found themselves in when they took the “leap in the dark” at the end of the 1990s. The speed at which they made the transition to a market economy was also quite diverse with some countries such a Czech Republic and Hungary making progress quickly whilst others, for understandable reasons, were much slower off the mark.

One of the main thrusts of this paper is the diversity of experience amongst the former Soviet block countries both prior to and after the 1989 changes. The paper invites researchers to explore this diversity further in terms of causality and the impact of this diversity on the democratisation process of Central and Eastern European Countries.

Provides a timely reminder of the dangers of perceiving trade unions in the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe as replicas of their counterparts in the West. The picture he paints of the diversity of the region, the weakness of national trade union headquarters starved of funds to pursue industrial objectives by local trade union organisations who have a “holiday club” mentality and retain the bulk of the income for social and welfare benefits reminds us of the extreme difficulties that face trade unions in CEE countries as the strive to build strong and effective organisations capable of challenging multinational conglomerates.

The purpose of the paper is to research local sustainable development strategic planning processes and practices in the Drina River Basin (geographical area delineated by the river Drina and shared among Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia).

Research methodology included the analysis of the existing country-based strategic documents and processes, as well as the local strategic documents and processes of implementation in 21 municipalities in the Drina River Basin, including interviews with the representatives of central and local governments and civil sector and a questionnaire-based assessment of the situation and needs in municipalities.

The paper argues that local sustainable development planning, although still lacking the proper methodological approach and facing insufficiencies in institutional and implementation capacities is becoming more appreciated by local authorities in the region.

The findings should help better understand the interactions between local government institutions and civil society in the Drina River Basin municipalities in achieving local sustainable development, as well as the conditions enabling improved communication networks and capacity building.