Forgotten status of many: Kosovo's economy under the UN and the EU administration

After eight years of the United Nations (UN) administration, Kosovo again is returned to the international centre of attention - this time about her future political status. The document presented by the UN Special Envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, proposed an ambiguous status settlement that is portrayed and understood as a supervised independence. Whatever expectations from political perspective will be, that is of secondary importance for this paper - the aim is in Kosovo's aggregate uncertainty about her economic sustainability, namely to investigate the relationship between fragile institutions, poor governance and weak economic performance. With a foreign aid since the second half of 1999 amounting to 22 billion, Kosovo still has massive unemployment and widespread poverty. How the UN's largest experiment ever undertaken, involving considerable resources and long time, left the economy in such a poor state? --Kosovo,UNMIK,Provisional Institutions of Self-government,poverty,political status settlement

Tax reform in emerging transition: Is Kosovo’s Government and NGOs mathematical economics rational?

Tax reform in small emerging democracies is difficult to measure what effects is likely to produce due to countries’ aggregate political and economic vulnerabilities. If both are taken as remaining relatively stable, then it is easier to discuss what impact the reform introduced may have in the economy and her stakeholders. In absence of a monetary policy, the Government of Kosovo in mid-2008 adopted the changes in tax rates taking effect from January 2009, with the aim to foster economic growth and improve business competitiveness at least in the regional market of the Balkans. This article critically assesses the proposed and approved changes by the Government that were in line with the proposals made by business community Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), and concludes that this tax reform is not well thought-out and properly analyzed to expect the benefits for which it was too optimistically hoped for, especially in relation to key stakeholders such as the Government’s budget, business development, and consumers.Kosovo, Ministry of Economy and Finance, tax reform, business associations, value added tax

Self-management socialism compared to social market economy in transition: Are there convergent paths?

Despite considerable and miscellaneous research in transition economics, some of its aspects have yet to evolve and come up with a more standard theory. After the initial systemic change in two versions of socialist systems - centralist in the former Soviet Union (FSU), and self-management in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), and rush towards a market-based system, setbacks in economic performance were marked by a sharp decline in living standards for the majority of population. A soar in socio-economic trauma during economic transformation from self-management to a (full) market economy along with civil wars, has mostly hit the middle class bringing them around the poverty line. Although economic recovery and growth picked up after a decade of downturn to reach the pre-transition level, the rise in income differentiation has not changed much the situation of poverty which in the former SFRY countries (except Slovenia) remains widespread, whereas it has made a tiny minority better-off, namely private entrepreneurs, politicians and professionals. Yet, this polarisation may be natural after ownership transformation and privatisation in the short to medium run. But among majority who slide towards poverty, there were, and still are, nostalgic attitudes about economic welfare in the previous system. The pressure for more socially-oriented economic reforms has mainly come from this group, though policy makers too, were aware that this approach which is necessary to fix structural-adjustment problems, is more likely to be successful at aggregate level for sustainable and long term development, ceteris paribus. By looking back at the previous system and exploring current social and economic reforms in the former SFRY, this paper aims at investigating common points and theoretical convergences between self-management socialism and social market economy (SMEC) in line with the challenge of economic development. --SFRY,self-management socialism,transition,social market economy,development

Violence of war, ontopology, and the instrumental and performative constitution of the political community

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from CUP via the DOI in this record.This paper considers a neglected question in International Relations, namely how violence of war contributes to the constitution of the political community at the intersection between war and peace. It exposes limitations of means-ends, instrumental understanding of war violence due to the overlooking of violence’s performative attributes stemming from the centrality of bodily injuries in war. The instrumental violence on which the constitution of the political community is grounded finds expression in an order of representation that can be termed ontopology, and a pervasive—circular—relationship between ontopology and violence insofar as ontopology has inspired extreme forms of human behaviour and also been used to justify violence as a means to enact an ontopological goal. Yet, recognising the role of bodily injuries in the course of fighting allows for a more complete understanding of war. Crucially it enables an interpretation of the structure of war as a relation between war’s interior content—casualties in war—and the exterior, verbal issues standing outside it (pertaining to security, identity, sovereignty, authority, ideology), that lead to a surrogate contest of re-imagining political community in the process of which performative power of violence contributes directly to the emerging post-war peace and laws that justify it

The advantages and disadvantages of arbitration in relation to the regular courts in Kosovo

The purpose of this article is to identify advantages and disadvantages of arbitration in relation with regular courts in the Republic of Kosovo, in both the national and international aspect. In general, arbitration is more flexible and provides more privacy than litigation. An arbitration case provides more privacy than litigation. Arbitration participants can agree to keep the final resolution and sensitive information completely private. The disputes arising in the arbitration may be identified and resolved by specialized professionals in the particular fields as the list of arbiters consists of those who have professional background in certain majors. This article will be a comprehensive reference work on arbitration, considering that it has only been present in the Republic of Kosovo since 2010. In the framework of the institutional arbitration, the founding institutions of arbitration decide on the costs of the arbitration procedure so that the parties know the costs from the outset. Based on the decision on the costs of the arbitration procedure, the settlement of disputes in arbitration is less costly than in regular courts, as in some cases, court proceedings in regular courts last longer

THE USE OF RECOMMENDER SYSTEMS IN WEB APPLICATIONS – THE TROI CASE

Avoiding digital marketing, surveys, reviews and online users behavior approaches on digital age are the key elements for a powerful businesses to fail, there are some systems that should preceded some artificial intelligence techniques. In this direction, the use of data mining for recommending relevant items as a new state of the art technique is increasing user satisfaction as well as the business revenues. And other related information gathering approaches in order to our systems thing and acts like humans. To do so there is a Recommender System that will be elaborated in this thesis. How people interact, how to calculate accurately and identify what people like or dislike based on their online previous behaviors. The thesis includes also the methodologies recommender system uses, how math equations helps Recommender Systems to calculate user’s behavior and similarities. The filters are important on Recommender System, explaining if similar users like the same product or item, which is the probability of neighbor user to like also. Here comes collaborative filters, neighborhood filters, hybrid recommender system with the use of various algorithms the Recommender Systems has the ability to predict whether a particular user would prefer an item or not, based on the user’s profile and their activities. The use of Recommender Systems are beneficial to both service providers and users. Thesis cover also the strength and weaknesses of Recommender Systems and how involving Ontology can improve it. Ontology-based methods can be used to reduce problems that content-based recommender systems are known to suffer from. Based on Kosovar’s GDP and youngsters job perspectives are desirable for improvements, the demand is greater than the offer. I thought of building an intelligence system that will be making easier for Kosovars to find the appropriate job that suits their profile, skills, knowledge, character and locations. And that system is called TROI Search engine that indexes and merge all local operating job seeking websites in one platform with intelligence features. Thesis will present the design, implementation, testing and evaluation of a TROI search engine. Testing is done by getting user experiments while using running environment of TROI search engine. Results show that the functionality of the recommender system is satisfactory and helpful

On State Building and Wicked Problems: Stateness, Nationhood, and Mimicry

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from SAGE Publications via the DOI in this record.Responding to a set of wicked problems pertaining to weak or failed states, state building remains circumscribed by many of the problems it strives to address. Despite the expansion of literature, the challenging task of (re)building states in a postconflict setting is characterized by inadequate intellectual and policy coherence. Engaging with the existing literature, this paper seeks to add clarity in ways which relate directly to the agendas of academic research and policy making. Casting into sharper relief what is distinctive and/or familiar in state formation processes in the West and the rest of the world, the analysis highlights the differing impact of nationalism. In considering the critique that contemporary international-led state building neglects nation building, the paper suggests that the stateness of polities undergoing state building is intrinsically linked with nationhood. State building resides in both international and national locations of politics that condition the constitution of national identity via multiple (unequal) exchanges between external and local actors which can be depicted in terms of mimicry. Multiple political locations of state building notwithstanding, the task of bringing the imagined community into being is more suited to national actors. Ongoing challenges of nation and state building require more acknowledgement that the realization of the nation cannot be a primary domain of international actors

Genocide and the ending of war: Meaning, remembrance and denial in Srebrenica, Bosnia

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.The occurrence of genocide during war is a serious security predicament facing humanity in modern times, producing civilian casualties measured in millions. The persistence of this heinous crime renders imperative understanding of the effects of genocide in the course of war and its aftermath, effects that this paper examines in the context of the Srebrenica genocide of July 1995 – the darkest moment in European history since the Holocaust. The analysis is grounded on a critical examination of the concept of genocide and its close connection with war. It shows that relations of power are central to the happening of genocide and the ways of dealing with it in the post-conflict setting. When embedded on asymmetrical relations of power, war can be conducive to genocide because it creates organizational, political, and psychological conditions that facilitate large scale killing of targeted people. Whilst in the course of war genocide benefits the perpetrators, in the aftermath of fighting genocide can lend credence to the victims’ community demands for recognition, accountability and redress. At the same time, the perpetrators and their community – frequently – deny genocide with the view to avoiding responsibility and reparations. The instrumental utility of genocide reflects rationales that go at the heart of enhancement of national identity and (contested) claims for political authority and legitimacy. More than twenty years after the Srebrenica genocide, these competitive and divisive claims do not bode well for Bosnia’s societal cohesion and transition to sustainable peace

War and State Making at the End of Empire: Ottoman Collapse and the Formation of the Balkan States

ArticleThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.While the connection between war and state making in the ascendancy of the western state system has been well explored, the war-state linkages in the peripheries of the Great Powers, especially in times of imperial decline and collapse, have attracted insufficient attention among peace and conflict studies analysts. This contribution helps to fill this gap by revisiting the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 to underpin correlations between state making and political violence in this case which scholars are only now starting to research in more detail. The article contributes above and beyond the existing state of scholarship by grounding the analysis in a focused and explicit comparison between state formation processes in the Balkans and those in western Europe, which have provided the template for modern state making in the rest of the world. The focus is primarily on the initial stages of state formation in the context of the growing influence of the Great Powers in the region and the emergence of nationalism as a rationale for the nation-state notwithstanding the multiethnic setting

Electoral Offenses in The Common Law System

Electoral behavior is a new element in the political analysis of democracy in Albania. Distinctive features of the Albanian transition distinguish other models of the former communist countries, as well as significantly differ with Western models and electoral behavior analysis of the relations between political actors and citizens voting. Penal Code of the Republic of Albania remains the basis of criminal law to sanction criminal acts in the election. The object of criminal misconduct are directly related to the normal criminal and legal protection and free elections as well as the Albanian Constitution provides all these obstacles to electoral subjects committed by force or by any other means which directly affect the normal performance electoral system. Barriers can be done with physical or psychological, and consists in blocking commissioners election materials, election materials decay affecting decay electoral system unfairly supported a particular political party or a coalition of political parties that present list candidacy according to the rules defined in the electoral code. Albanian Constitution as the fundamental law of the Albanian state provides for the rightness of the equality of the vote for all Albanian citizens The vote is the democratic way that every citizen expressing the opinion and its political will but to have democratic value ratings should be personal equal, free and secret. The right to vote is a political right provided by the Albanian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and as such is closely linked to democracy, the sovereignty of the people and citizens. Total vote, or the right to get to the polls all Albanian citizens, men and women, and in fact is the greatest achievement of the twentieth century. According to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Albania every citizen exercises his right to vote at his polling station, where placed under citizen’s location criteria. Voting centers organized in such a way as to facilitate the voting process and ensure the secrecy of the vote. Democracy lives by opinions competition. In all areas of society, in the family and at school, association and enterprise, democracy needs a social climate which stimulate open discussion on the differences of opinion