SOVEREIGN STATE: FUNDAMENTAL LEGAL-POLITICAL PROJECT OF MODERNITY (1)

U traganju za konzistentnim teorijskim okvirom politologijskog poimanja države, valja se osloniti na valjane sadržajne i metodologijske orijentire. U članku se za njima traga u kritičkom i produktivnom dijalogu s tri najeminentnija pojedinačna suvremena znanstvena priloga primjerenom razumijevanju države: teorijom države A. Passerin d’Entrèvesa, poviješću državâ B. Barret-Kriegel i poviješću modernog pojma države Q. Skinnera. U prvom se dijelu članka sažeto iznose njihovi ključni uvidi o (modernoj) državi. Temeljno je djelo Passerin d’Entrevèsa, u kojemu je izložen nezaobilazan kategorijalni sklop za cjelovito poimanje države općenito, logike suverenosti posebice. Državi kao takvoj valja pristupiti kao moći (ili sili) (sa stajališta djelotvornosti), potom kao vlasti (sa stajališta legaliteta), na posljetku kao autoritetu (sa stajališta legitimnosti). Pojmovno odrediti državu, cjelovito i precizno, znači biti u stanju objasniti i razumjeti kako sila (ili moć), najprije legalizirana kao vlast, postaje legitimnom kao autoritet. Pojam suverenosti označuje transepohalni projekt preobrazbe moći u vlast posredstvom prava, podvrgavajući je zakonima. Te ključne uvide preciziraju i djelomično korigiraju istraživanja Barret-Kriegel i Q. Skinnera. Suverena država je dvostruko apstraktna javna vlast i nije transepohalna kategorija nego epohalni pravnopolitički projekt, razlikovna značajka moderne. Suverena je država epohalan politički novum, jer je prva organizacija političke vlasti u povijesti koja samoograničuje svoju moć da bi osigurala osobnu sigurnost i neovisnost državljana kao pravnih subjekata. Kao ideja racionalne i legitimne vlasti, povijesno se afirmira kao antiteza orijentalnom despotizmu i drevnome patrimonijalno-senjorijalnom režimu.In searching for a consistent theoretical framework of the political science understanding of the state, one should rely on valid substantial and methodological markers. The author identifies them in this article by means of a critical and productive dialogue with three major contemporary contributions to the pertinent understanding of the state: the theory of the state by A. Passerin d’Entrèves, the history of states by B. Barret-Kriegel and the history of the modern concept of the state by Q. Skinner. In the first part of the article their key insights into the (modern) state are briefly outlined. The seminal work is that by Passerin d’Entrevès, in which he presents the categorial set essential for a comprehensive understanding of the state in general, and the logic of sovereignty in particular. The state as such should be understood as might or force (from the perspective of effectiveness), as power (from the perspective of legality), and finally as authority (from the perspective of legitimacy). To conceptually define the state, comprehensively and accurately, means to be able to explain and understand how force (or might), first legalized as power, gains legitimacy in the form of authority. The concept of sovereignty marks the transepochal project of the transformation of might into power through the mediation of law which subjects it to laws. These key insights are made more precise and are partly corrected by the research done by Barret-Kriegel and Q. Skinner. The sovereign state is a doubly abstract public authority and is not a transepochal category but an epochal legal-political project, modernity’s distinguishing feature. The sovereign state is an epochal political novum, as it is the first organization of political power in history that self-limits its might to ensure personal security and indipendence of citizens as legal subjects. As a notion of the rational and legitimate power it historically affirms itself as an antithesis to oriental despotism and the ancient patrimonial-seniorical regime

Development of GIS in urban planning agencies in Serbia – experiences of town Planning Institute of Belgrade

Transition reforming processes in Serbia during past two years created prosperous environment for very complex activities of numerous aid agencies. Owing to some of them the knowledge level about modern concepts and approaches in the field of strategic and urban development is significantly raised in big cities. Especially important was the impact and the effect of building governmental capacities action. During the last year on the highest governmental levels and in some prosperous local governments consciousness of ICT support importance in contemporary urban development management process is higher than ever. Now the problem is lack of capabilities for defining of comprehensive and coordinated action plan, which will initiate the development of primary ICT tools on a city level. On the other hand a large number of local planning agencies started with their own reorganization trying to increase efficiency and effectiveness, and most often they recognized an ICT support as a right way to do it. In many cases local GIS is initiated and basically performed by the planning agency without of local government initial support, but soon after had a acceleration role in further institutional ICT development. In a first place, this paper will provide the oversight of ICT development levels in municipalities of Serbia. Interesting is that public institution ICT development is more rapid in some smaller municipalities than in Belgrade. Therefore, the paper will be more concentrated on presenting the process and problems of ICT development of City of Belgrade public institutions and governmental levels. Under the very difficult conditions Town Planning Institute as a major planning agency in Belgrade is making the big effort to increase work efficiency and effectiveness by using ICT tools. Of course, on an agency organization level the process of ICT implementation is suppressed with new problems. This paper will at the end present the overview of 6 month pilot project of initializing and conceptualizing the IS of planning agency and the results that ICT team succeeded to achieve. As a conclusion the action program for 2004. will be presented

A Fatal Hobbesian Charm?

The discussion on Hobbes’s “doctrine of politics” is confronted with J. F. Spitz’s methodically challenging standpoint: the latter radically refutes Hobbes’s theory of the State and sovereignty, deeming it to be a fatal epochal trap. This work approaches Hobbes through acknowledgement of the principal insights of political theory with regard to the conception of State as the politico-juridical project of modernity (A. Passerin d’Entrèves, Q. Skinner). Relying on the said insights, and building upon a critical scrutiny of Hobbes’s Leviathan, the author shows that the epistemological status of the “state of nature” concept is crucial for the understanding of Hobbes’s theory of the sovereign State. In so doing, he must resolve the following query: is the state of nature a logical construction aspiring to an ontological status, or rather a hypothetical state which outlines the historical constellation of Hobbes’s time? Instead of the struggle of covetous individuals for power, the main drawback of the state of nature proves to be the fact that people are lethally drawn apart and set against one another by their religious and political beliefs. There can be no lasting politico-juridical triumph over such a state of religious and civil wars unless the tasks of the representative sovereign are diachronically perceived as society-making. If and when, however, the sovereign should successfully fulfil his fundamental society-making task, the developed civil society would no longer find suitable the initial type of the sovereign absolute State. It would then require a new type – the liberal and democratic State

Impact of Electronic Customer Relationship Management (e‐CRM) on Efficiency of Rent‐a‐Car Sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Electronic customer relationship management system (e‐CRM) is acknowledged today as obligatory concept of customer relationship management in the world of services. Therefore, research on impact of CRM and e‐CRM system to efficiency of rent‐a‐car agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina is of crucial importance for companies and managers not only in rent‐a‐car industry, but the tourism industry as whole. The aim of this paper is to explore the impact of e‐CRM on efficiency of rent‐a‐car agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It explains if and how much is e‐ CRM incorporated in everyday business of rent‐a‐car agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, it proves that those rent‐a‐car agencies that have recognized the significance of e‐CRM in everyday business, it leads to increase of agenciesʹ  profitability shown through the level of customer retention and attraction. This study is based on the structured personal interviews conducted with major rent‐a‐car agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The research has several findings. Firstly, rent‐a‐car agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina recognize the significance of e‐CRM for everyday business. However, e‐CRM system is mostly used by rent‐a‐car agencies that have foreign license/franchise. Secondly, reasons behind non‐usage of e‐CRM in other agencies are mostly lack of capacities, insufficient knowledge of information‐communication technologies of higher degree, as well as financial constraints. Thirdly, rent‐a‐car agencies using the e‐CRM consider it as contribution to pertaining the long‐term customer relations and increase of profitability

Possibilities of applying the E-government management concept in Serbian cities

Recent urban transformations worldwide consequentially lead to the numerous environmental problems that have to be solved by complex structure of social interest groups which have to be included in that process. This demands initiated requisitioning and modification of concepts and methodologies of planning and managing urban development. At this moment there are different models used in world wide practice, but main bases of new methods and techniques are the same. Leaving the idea of possibility of constituting the universal urban planning model lead to very productive results in developing the disciplinary methodologies. Process of transformation of traditional comprehensive urban planning model to integrated procedural pluralistic model (based on sustainable development principles) is something that can be underlined as a main characteristic of disciplinary development. The questions of decision making mechanisms and plans implementation are put in axes of conceptual and methodological considerations. Urban planning loses the classic form of making the multi level comprehensive urban plans with exact spatial and time horizon. It means, in general that planning and managing of urban development is aiming to be realistic, decentralized, strategic and problem oriented, arbitrary, not instructive, but understood as a efficient and effective process. Operational support to the this kind of approach are Decision Support IT tools, such as GIS - Geographical Information Systems or ES -Expert Systems. Usability of IT tools is based on their capability to perform fast and complicated processing of spatial data and on their flexibility towards specific real problems which are to be solved. In order to use maximum of capabilities of these tools in practice problem solving it is necessary to adjust their structure and usage to the: - actual conditions of socioeconomic of the context in which urban development planning and management is performed, - practical demands that managing of urban development has to fore fill, - all participants in urban management process, - institutional mechanisms and procedures

Poslovna etika i društvena odgovornost u upravljanju ljudskim resursima

Autori ovog rada, pre svega, nastoje da utvrde ulogu poslovne etike i koncepta društvene odgovornosti u upravljanju ljudskim resursima, a potom vrše analizu poslovne prakse u Srbiji i Bosni i Hercegovini po pitanju odgovornog odnosa prema zaposlenima, fokusirajući se prvenstveno na poštovanje zakonom garantovanih prava radnika, ali i na aktivnosti koje prevazilaze poštovanje zakona. Autori smatraju da postoje argumenti u prilog zahteva da menadžeri treba da poštuju prava zaposlenih, kao i da kompanije imaju odgovornost prema svojim zaposlenima, te da njihove ciljeve treba da uzmu u obzir prilikom definisanja ciljeva kompanije. Uspostavljanje međunarodne inicijative u vidu Globalnog dogovora UN za poštovanje ljudskih i radnih prava, zaštite prirodne okoline i borbe protiv korupcije dodatno potvrđuje neophodnost odgovornog i etičnog upravljanja ljudskim resursima. Srbija i Bosna i Hercegovina su potpisnice ovog Dogovora. Takođe, obe zemlje uspostavile su zakonski okvir koji garantuje zaštitu ljudskih i radnih prava. Međutim, u poslovnoj praksi dveju zemalja primetni su brojni primeri kršenja radnih prava. Takođe, u obe zemlje nedostaju društveno odgovorne aktivnosti prema zaposlenima koje prevazilaze zakonom definisane obaveze

Urban Management Model in the Implementation of Strategic Projects in Serbia

In the last twenty-five years world cities are using strategic urban projects in the global competition to attract investment and international companies in the promotion of the city as a place for enhanced quality of life. Sometimes these projects trigger the creation of new urban policies that have wider economic and social importance for the cities, but often they are an instrument of implementation of already developed strategies. Additionally, strategic urban projects challenge, and frequently break up conventional planning models of the development of cities through comprehensive urban plans as the only instrument of governance. New models, methods and instruments for transformative action in urban governance, planning and management are needed, which take into consideration both the logic and functioning of property markets on the global competitive level and sustainable, economic and social impacts and benefits for the locality where they originate. We will present the urban management model in the implementation of strategic urban projects on the initiated case of Belgrade waterfront project. We argue that beside many similarities with worldwide cases in the process of planning and management in the realization of strategic projects, namely the private sector initiative, the Serbian case illustrates strong entrepreneurial direction of the public sector, namely the state itself. We also argue based on our methodology and research, in spite of collaborative theorists and practitioners, that it is not necessary to involve general public at large in the participatory process, but instead to focus on fair and just outcomes in the planning and management of such large scale projects, as well as obtaining a broader social support. Practical implications of this research in Serbian context are in the introduction of new models, approaches and instruments at the local government level for responsible, effective, and efficient planning and management of its territory, along with representatives of the private sector and the civil society

Održivi urbani razvoj i koncept menadžmenta mobilnosti u Beogradu

Urban mobility and accessibility represent major challenging issues in the functioning of the city of Belgrade, both for the city government as well as for the residents. (In) efficiency of transport systems and street network; decreased mobility and traffic congestion followed with air pollution; limited accessibility and/or dependency on car to certain urban areas especially to sprawling informal settlements at the fringe of Belgrade; spent time, effort, price and lack of comfort that many people experience on a daily bases while commuting from home to school, work, health centers, shopping malls, stores and vice verse; questionable land use still planned with traditional formal sector planning; lack of parking or park-and-ride options, as well as lack of information on mobility options, call together toward complex conception of new adaptive planning, governance and management approaches to sustainable urban development and mobility in an integrated way. Good transportation system and high quality urban environment in the 21st century means choice: quality public transport; safe bicycle traffic; encouraged walking options and pedestrian routes; and good public spaces and place to live in the city where driving a car is a choice and not a necessity. This paper will present contemporary theoretical and practical European approaches in the field of sustainable urban development and mobility management and their applicability to Serbian context trough several case studies from Belgrade as well as achieved results so far, with recommendations for further research, especially for the role of urban planners, urban managers and architects

Building the ICT fundament for local E-government in Serbia - Municipality of Loznica example

Recent legislative changes in Serbia, directed toward European integration, established basic framework for implementing the Egovernment management concept in municipalities of Serbia. In spite of the fact that there are significant ICT potentials (available technological solutions and personal expert knowledge), there is no awareness among the local governmental structures of benefits that this model can provide. So there is no strategy or programs for ICT central and municipality development. New Low on planning and construction initiated a production of numerous local municipality Spatial and Master development plans. One of these is Spatial and Master plan of municipality of Loznica, which is managed and performed by the team from Faculty of Architecture University of Belgrade. Since there are no actual obstacles for ICT governmental development, except lack of political willingness and determination, we recognized actual circumstances and our work on this plan as a grate challenge in sense of finding a “side” way for ICT implementation in municipal governmental work. This paper, at the beginning, will present our ICT local development plan and methodological concept of its implementation in governmental and local public structures (except in Loznica we also started with its implementation in more municipalities). In the next chapter the practical results will be presented along with analytical reviews of collected experience. After a first working year we can conclude that we successfully managed to make a first major step in municipality ICT development. We succeeded to get very positive reactions of all governmental and public structures. The planning process become publicly acceptable and transparent... On the achieved results base we made a new action plan for next working period. We hope that after finishing those pilot actions we will be able to produce a practical guidebook for ICT development of municipalities in Serbia under the local actual conditions. This can be one way to ensure more intensive decentralized local development and to increase local initiatives to the central governmental levels towards implementation of E-government management concept