Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference "Social Changes in the Global World"

A MULTIPARTY SYSTEM WITHOUT A DOMINANT PARTY AS A PREREQUISITE FOR A MORE SUCCESSFUL CONSOCIATION – A COMPARATIVE REVIEW

2023-11-21T22:13:24+00:00

In political science, there is a principled consensus that the full functioning of the consociational model of democracy, so-called power-sharing, requires the existence of a multiparty system. But certain authors go a step further saying that not whoever multiparty system is appropriate for the countries of consociational democracy, but a multiparty system without a dominant party. This is also the main thesis of this paper. Hence, to process it, the paper is structured as follows: first, a theoretical overview will be given of the typologies of party systems that exist in political science, then through the prism of the so-called Laakso-Taagepera index (L-T index) for the effective number parties (ENP), named after the Estonian scientists of the same name, will be reviewed the party systems of the paradigmatic European ‟case studies” - the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland, as well as the newly formed consociations - Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM). The time segment for the analysis of election cycles and the effective number of parliamentary parties (ENPP) in these selected cases is derived as follows: 1. For the Netherlands, the focus is from the introduction of the proportional model in 1917 to 1967, that is, the so-called period of sixty years of consociation; 2. For Belgium from the elections after the First World War, with particular emphasis on the election cycles in the 70s, 80s and 90s, when with the six constitutional reforms the country became a federal and full-blooded consociation; 3. For Switzerland, since the introduction of the proportion in 1918, with a particular focus on the election cycles after the introduction of the so-called “magical formula” for the determination of the composition of the Federal Council (1959); 4. For BiH and RNM, the election cycles after the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) and the Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA), when consociational elements were introduced into their political systems. From the analysis made, on the one hand, it will be confirmed that in all selected cases, except RSM, in “the lion’s share” of the election cycles, indeed the ENPP index indicated multipartyism without a dominant party. On the other hand, it will be shown that the RNM does not fit into the definition of a typical consociation with a multiparty system without a dominant party, because its party system after the OFA according to the L-T index for the ENPP is a typical two-and-a-half party system. Therefore, it is more correct to speak of the totality of the Macedonian political system as a kind of ‟hybrid” of elements of parliamentary and consociational democracy, rather than a ‟pure” consociation.

LEGAL AND POLITICAL RETROSPECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN MIGRATION CRISIS IN 2015 IN NORTH MACEDONIA

2023-11-21T22:12:06+00:00

In March 2016, the Balkan Route was closed; the refugees and migrants continued transiting through the Republic of North Macedonia, using irregular means to reach the desired destination. Although the institutions were monitoring and controlling the south border with the help of the Army and foreign police officers from the EU Member States on grounds of bilateral agreements, a great number of the refugees and migrants used the services of smugglers, exposing themselves to risk upon their health, safety and freedom. This required amendment and adoption of new regulations which relate to the asylum system. The aim of this article is to make a comprehensive overview of the various practices, policies, and procedures in relation to the borders’ control and migration policies in the Republic of North Macedonia. The article emphasizes the key challenges faced by the asylum seekers and the refugees during the asylum procedure and during realization of other rights. An analysis is made of the current legal framework and corpus of laws regulating entry and exit in the territory, security of borders and borders’ management as well as laws regulating the rights and status of foreigners in the country. A particular emphasis is given to asylum procedures and policies to accommodate.

TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP, GOOD-NEIGHBOURLINESS AND COOPERATION BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA IN THE LIGHT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW OF TREATIES

2023-11-21T22:10:49+00:00

The Treaty for friendship, good-neighbourliness and cooperation between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria was 41nrolment in Skopje, on 1 August, 2017. The treaty still causes legal and political controversies regarding the legality and erasure of the Macedonian nation, language, history and culture. Hence, the question that I am exposing is interesting and important for the Macedonian people and Macedonian state and for interesting of the International law from the aspect of its content and a way the legal principles spill over into Political ones

CONSTITUITVE HOLDERS AND DEFINITION OF MINORITIES IN THE HUNGARIAN AND MACEDONIAN CASE

2023-11-21T22:09:41+00:00

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the legal regulations in the Republic of North Macedonia (Macedonia) and the Republic of Hungary related to state foundation, constitutive holders and definition of minorities. Considering that both countries have populations of different ethnic backgrounds, a comparison is made to examine how minorities issues are regulated and whether they are part of the state constitution.
The comparative analysis reveals differences in terms of the history of state formation, constitutive documents and legal acts related to the protection of minorities. However, similarities exist in the utilization of the ethnic element in definition of constitutive holders.

THROUGH BRICS FROM THE PRESENT TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER IN THE FUTURE

2023-11-21T22:08:32+00:00

BRICS today faces the challenge of taking historic steps in its quest to dictate the rules in an international order that needs leadership and direction.
Namely, the BRICS countries have experienced significant economic growth in contrast to their political voices in global governance which have failed, over the past decades, to grow at the same level as their economic boom.
In the post-Covid period and military operations on the territory of Ukraine, that is, from the perspective of today's developments, the key question is being asked more and more often, how does BRICS influence the architecture of global governance? This dilemma of how to think about the BRICS remains relevant, as today's external geopolitical context is very different from when the grouping first emerged.
Today, BRICS is the main and most comprehensive platform for dialogue, acting on behalf of emerging markets and developing countries.
On the other hand, from the perspective of their increasingly comprehensive power, the BRICS countries will definitely have the capacity to contribute more to international public goods. Namely, the BRICS countries can contribute significantly or maybe they can be the main bearers in solving all the main issues currently facing the world, i.e. international security, development, world economy and human rights, etc.
In that context, BRICS is not conceived as a counterbalance to the established Western powers, but it requires the realization of a more efficient or equal interaction with them in order to build a better world order for humanity.

OPEN BALKANS - BETWEEN ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND POLITICAL REALITY

2023-11-21T22:06:26+00:00

The Open Balkans initiative has received huge media attention for three reasons: first, because it is an authentic regional initiative launched by the leaders of Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia without foreign "mentorship"; second, because it has enabled practical mechanisms and measures that directly provide the economic sector of the participating countries to facilitate their business operations; and thirdly, because, unlike other initiatives with a regional character, it does not include all six economies of the Western Balkans, precisely because of existing political disagreements. The goal of this work is to determine and predict the real capacities of the Open Balkans, as well as the possibility of complete integration of the entire region within the framework of this initiative, aside to existing political disagreements. The research question is do the economic interests prevailed over the political interests of local politicians, so the future of this initiative is certain? In a theoretical sense, this paper will provide a new contribution to the science of international relations, more specifically in studies of regionalism by providing a new analysis of the importance of regional integration and association in the processes of economic development and political visibility of small and micro states, on the example of the Western Balkans.

INTERCULTURAL TRANSFORMATION OF PHILOSOPHY AND RECOGNITION REPORT IN RAUL FORNET-BETANCOURT. A RESPONSE TO THE CHALLENGES OF GLOBALIZATION AND NEOLIBERALISM

2023-11-21T22:05:12+00:00

The political recognition of every cultural and every identity/different in a democratic and inclusive sense, requires the practice of intercultural dialogue, and therefore of the rethinking of the relationship between cultures: a dia-logic, as an instrument, but also as a terrain, of identity recognition that, constitutively implying "facing the other", and translates into putting in place a dialogic experience. Moreover, every question related to recognition implies an "unavoidable disimmetry", peculiar specificity of every relationship with others different from us. This proposal intends to show how intercultural philosophy, starting from the elaboration of the Cuban philosopher Raul Fornet- Betancourt, is first of all a search for new paradigms of thought, starting from the comparison and conflict of cultures, to try to understand if it is a question of dialogue / confrontation or conflict, and this touches the practical-political sphere and therefore also an ethical option. And the search for a new relationship between philosophy, politics and interculturality can meet precisely in the assumption of the task of overcoming the situation of mere fragmentation of cultural universes, to fulfill instead that of building new interidentity and transcultural relations, as a response to the contemporary challenges of neoliberalism, Western capitalism and globalization.

MODEL OF THE SWEDISH SOCIAL STATE: PAST AND PRESENT

2023-11-21T22:03:50+00:00

In the article analyzes features Swedish model`s of the social state in the past and the transformation in the contemporary conditions. Shown, social policy of modern Sweden is changing under the influence of active migration processes, inside economic changes, the aging of the country's population, worsening of the situation on the labor market. Noted that nowadays as before, the active role of the state in the regulation of social processes in Sweden.

CHANGES IN EDUCATION

2023-11-21T22:02:30+00:00

The changes that are occurring in contemporary societies should be viewed in an educational
perspective. In the case of European Union (EU), an example can be seen in the ongoing effort to arrive
at a unified education system. It seems clear that freedom of circulation for EU citizens and their ability
to work and study in different countries is closely linked with a similarity in educational backgrounds.
In line with these purposes, an experimentation was undertaken with first year university students of
Political Science at the University of Teramo, Italy. A focus group was created with students
administered with different teaching methods, looking at how they interact with the learning process
and skills. In addition, the Dublin Descriptor expected from the European Educational Reforms, are
considered. Another important aspect in the evolution of this debate is linked to computers and the
internet implications which changes the entire approach to knowledge and understanding. The Covid-
19 emergence has also outlined the importance of teaching, learning and working using new
technologies and the advantages and multitasking opportunities of the new generations faced to internet.

QUALITATIVE APPROACH IN POPULATION STUDY RESEARCH

2023-11-21T22:01:10+00:00

This article addresses the assessment of data quality in qualitative research. The analysis shows that the use of the qualitative approach in demographic research has a selective approach in terms of topics. It is used to increase the information about a certain problem or to clarify the existing knowledge obtained from the quantitative approach. The criteria for evaluating the quality of qualitative data are in the context of the methodological aspects in the research, but still there is no agreement regarding the framework for evaluating the quality of the data. In perspectives, aspects suggested for assessing data quality are data collection method, sample, selection and training of interviewers, field work and data analysis.

UNDERSTANDING THE KEY FACTORS THAT IMPACT THE QUALITY OF PARTNERSHIP RELATIONS

2023-11-21T21:59:05+00:00

The objective of this paper is to comprehensively examine partnership relations and analyze the key factors that affect their quality. The study will focus on identifying individual factors that significantly contribute to the quality of interpersonal relationships among romantic partners. Additionally, the paper will provide a clear definition of partnership relationships, outlining their fundamental characteristics and features. By highlighting the critical factors influencing partnership relations, this study aims to enhance our understanding of the dynamics that drivehealthy and sustainable romantic relationships.
We will be presenting the findings from a survey "Quality of Partnership Relations," which was conducted with 72 respondents aged from 17 to 73. This survey aimed to gather insights into participants' individual experiences, opinions, and understandings regarding the quality of partnership relations. The results of this research will complement the theoretical elaboration presented.We will compare the results obtained from this survey with data extracted from professional literature and other research, for each individual factor. Our objective is to identify similarities and differences between the findings from the literature and the real-life experiences of the survey respondents. By doing so, we hope to gain deeper insights into the factors that impact the quality of partnership relations.
The underlying hypothesis posits that the quality of a partner relationship is significantly influenced by interpersonal factors. In other words, the way individuals interact and communicate with each other is paramount in determining the success and satisfaction of their relationship.

STATE INTERVENTIONISM, “TOO BIG TO FALL”, BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS-A POSSIBLE THEORETICAL ECONOMIC-SOCIOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL- ECONOMIC VIEW

2023-11-21T21:57:20+00:00

Especially in the period after August 2008, when the bursting of the real estate market bubble in the USA developed into a global financial and overall economic crisis, global economic and global social relations in their entirety are permanently facing quite serious unfavorable and crisis situations. It is also true that the factors of those unfavorable and crisis situations have an external genesis and character. That is, all those factors are not strictly financial and economic market factors. For example, the strongly limiting factors of the pandemic and the developments in and around Ukraine. But academically, in no case can and must not bypass or relativize the factors that are internal, market financial and economic factors. In the closest connection with these internal market factors of generation, production and development of unfavorable and crisis situations, especially from the point of view of economic-sociological and political-economic perception, study and understanding, with all its extremely real and objective force and power is imposed the problem of state interventionism, primarily in terms of its impact on overcoming unfavorable and crisis market situations. The fact is that historically, especially in the period starting with the Great Depression (1929-1939) until today, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (2023 year), state interventionism was practically the only factor powerful enough to overcome unfavorable and crisis situations. In the closest connection with this statement, the extremely realistic and objective statement is naturally imposed that the absence of a certain optimal level of scope and quality of the state regulation and supervision of the markets, especially the financial markets, both at the national and global level, has a very strong impact as a factor for the emergence, development and a flare-up of unfavorable and crisis situations in the markets.

VISUAL HEALTH COMMUNICATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: THE CASE OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

2023-11-21T21:55:50+00:00

The world has faced several pandemics in its existence, but the COVID-19 pandemic has opened up new aspects, making it a good introduction to what could be explored in the field of visual health communication in times of global crisis when it matters most for the message to reach as many people as possible in as short a period as possible, and for as many people as possible to understand it. The initial analysis conducted in ISPJR showed that the official source/medium of information related to the conditions and measures regarding the COVID-19 pandemic was the official Facebook page of Minister of Health of Republic of Macedonia, and the digital posters worked as a tool for persuading citizens to behave responsibly. The sample consisted of digital posters that were posted from March 2020, and by the end of the year, a total of 113. As this research showed, the digital poster campaign focused on promoting disease prevention among the general population, as much as 93% of digital poster messages refer to this goal – what citizens can do to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus.
Answering the main research question of how the relevant official (domestic) institutions shape the message that aims to motivate the population to comply with their recommendations, it can be summarized that in Republic of Macedonia, through Facebook, on the official page of the then Minister of Health an incompletely properly prepared communication campaign and an incompletely defined communication strategy were conducted.

CHANGES IN THE POLITICAL-ECONOMIC SYSTEM AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES IN ALBANIAN ECONOMIC TERMINOLOGY

2023-11-21T21:54:31+00:00

This article is part of a broader study, the aim of which is to analyse the changes and novelties in the terminology and generally in the discourse of the economic field of today’s Albanian language, because not only did the change of political system in years ’90 have political characteristics, but it also had powerful impetus of socio-economic factors. The transition initiated in years ’90 would have as a political slogan: “We want Albania like the entire Europe!”, but also other new collocations such as “market economy”, “free market”, and the famous “white cheque” etc, or other appellations of international organisations such as “International Monetary Fund” (IMF), “World Trade Organisation” (WTO) etc. Through the analysis of terminology and generally economic discourse, we can point out great changes that have occurred in economic terminology due to the change of systems. First of all, the decommissioning or the semantic change of many words, terms, collocations of the socialist period and their substitution with new terms. Secondly, the natural but also rushing outpouring of the terminology of market economy, of processes related to the deep economic transition that occurred in Albania during years ‘90. The massive socio-economic changes have had wide reflection in administrative texts and other publications of economic character, articles in newspapers and magazines or publications of businesses’ advertisement etc.

USING AND UNDERSTANDING OF SEMIOTIC ELEMENTS IN ONLINE MEDIA

2023-11-21T21:53:04+00:00

Symbolic activity widely disseminated through online communication has become a media communication trend in recently. The signs that are used to replace language are adapted in such a way that they serve as models of meaning, which symbolically link perception to cognition. Through the use of these signs in communication, we manage to distribute our knowledge in different meaningful situations, which have an effect on the common use of language.
This paper aims to describe and analyze the development of symbolic meanings (combination of written text with different visual forms) in media communication, through the expression and content they convey in communication. Understanding text and language richness in visual meaning systems (emoji and language) will be evidenced from social networks (i.e: Facebook) and online media, using observational and descriptive methods. The collected data show that the images in the text play the role of a meaning system interacting with the language, manifesting thoughts and perceptions through the emotional attitude of the speaker. At the end of this paper, it will be shown that images play a special role in media communication, because they convey connotative meanings as forms of expressions and emotions, which are combined with the common use of language

MEDIA WORKERS PERCEPTION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN REPUBLIC OF N. MACEDONIA

2023-11-21T21:48:07+00:00

The subject of this paper is the perception of media workers about freedom of expression, the degree of censorship and self-censorship in the Republic of N. Macedonia. Considering that freedom of expression is one of the basic human rights, contained in both international and national documents, the purpose of this research is to see if this right is exercised by media workers in N. Macedonia and whether there are reasons for its restriction. The analysis was made by comparing the results obtained from three surveys covering the northern, southern, eastern and western regions in the country. The basic guide question in the research is "what is the perception of media workers about the degree of freedom of expression in the Republic of S. Macedonia?

LANGUAGE OF HATE THROUGH COMMUNICATION IN SOCIAL NETWORKS

2023-11-21T21:43:59+00:00

Work on the theme of hate speech used in the media and mass media for the importance and complexity that this topic represents, can hardly be neglected, especially since today the whole world is under the influence of the development of modern technology. In our society, where there is a lack of adequate information of the citizens about the impacts that derive from the use of hate speech, when it comes to the content of these messages, it is noticed that they are tainted by the most diverse, regardless of the status, gender or other extra-linguistic factors. The Internet revolution has redefined the concept of communication. The main objective of this article is to study the impact of the use of hate speech in the media in Albania, the examination and linguistic interpretation of the lexicon, drawn from the speech of public figures, as well as the evidence of characteristics in the relevant speech. The main method is the research, classification and analysis of the selection of the "language" of hate from the speech of public figures in written and spoken discourse. Through this statement, we must come to the conclusion that the use and promotion of hate speech in the media has a profound psychological, spiritual, but also physical impact, which can go up to fatal consequences. Based on this analysis, we can say that it remains the duty of state institutions through legal acts, even media, etc.

2023-11-09T09:20:22+00:00

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