Contents
Saso GEORGIEVSKI
FROM STABILISATION TO BALKAN ENLARGEMENT
Ljubomir KEKENOVSKI, Toni MASEVSKI
HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE THROUGHOUT THE BOLOGNA PROCESS
Petar ATANASOV
MULTICULTURALISM AS A POLICY
Dejan MICKOVIK
CONCEPT OF THE FAMILY WITHIN
THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Goce GALEV
COMPATIBILITY OF E.C. ANTITRUST PROCEDURES WITH
THE CONVENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Janko NIKOLOVSKI
EUROPEAN STANDARDS TOWARDS THE ACCESS TO
INFORMATION AND OPENNESS OF THE GOVERNMENT
Zoran KOSTOV
TELEVISION AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE:
EUROPEAN VERSUS THE US EXPERIENCE
Vladimir GLIGOROV
SOUTHEAST EUROPE: HISTORY OF DIVERGENCE
Irena RAJCINOVSKA
EU ACCESSION POLICY: CYPRUS EXPERIENCE
Summary
FROM STABILISATION TO BALKAN ENLARGEMENT
[Saso GEORGIEVSKI]
It seems likely that the Thessaloniki Summit between the E.U. and the Balkan states – members of the Stabilization and Association Process in June would present a shift in the strategic approach of the Union (and its international partners) towards the Balkan region. “From Stabilization to Enlargement” seems to be the paradigm under which the revised Balkan strategy would be devised at the Summit, with emphasis put more on the enlargement aspects of the E.U. engagement in the region. Starting from that premise, the article reviews current proposals for – what has been called – the Agenda for SEE (Balkan) Enlargement, in the search for possible directions of the new strategic approach.
HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE THROUGHOUT THE BOLOGNA PROCESS
[Ljubomir KEKENOVSKI, Toni MASEVSKI]
The article tackles the process of developing the Higher education in Europe throughout the Bologna Process. At first it tackles the main reasons that initiated the process on the European level. Furthermore it gives an overview of the Magna charta of the European universities, a document that is considered as a grassroots of the Bologna Process; the Sorbona Declaration-the starting initiative of the four ministers in charge that signed the document; the Bologna Declaration of the Ministers of Education coming from the 29 signature countries, that is the beginning of creating a common Higher education Area; the Salamanca Convention that sent a strong message to the Ministers meeting in Prague; and the Prague Communiqué of the Ministers. It tackles the treatment and evolution of the key issues that are treated by the Process throughout the several international meetings. The article shows the raising intensity of the reforms from meeting to meeting, and how the European community widely accepts the Process, that enlarges by accepting new members.
MULTICULTURALISM AS A POLICY
[Petar ATANASOV]
The author of this essay is trying to communicate with the multiculturalism as a policy in the context of the themes and dilemmas of the multiculturalism as a model of management with the ethno-cultural differences. With the elaboration of the newer senses in this area he starts with the essential goal of the multiculturalism as a struggle for recognition of the diversity and the identity. Across some examples of the different regions questions and problems are stressed in the state affairs in search for adequate models that can deal with the new challenges after the “revival” of the ethnicity as one of the most powerful focus of mobilization. Big part of the explanations of the multiculturalism as a policy is dedicated to its relations with the modern state and the democratic society in general and the nation-state as particular. Among the categories that are specifically elaborated are the political integration of the diverse ethnic groups in the mainstream of the society and the formation of the national identity as a category that either reach the inclusiveness of the different or intensify the conflict for the symbolic and material resources. It is emphasized that the essence of the multiculturalism as a policy is to find out the way for decision-making that will be in possibility to guarantee the individual freedoms without sacrificing of the collective wishes expressed by the appearance of the cultural factors of differentiation. In the last part of the essay the author elaborates a few questions in relation with the European multiculturalism and the multiculturalism in the Macedonian society.
CONCEPT OF THE FAMILY WITHIN THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
[Dejan MICKOVIK]
This article is dealing with the historical and sociological aspects of the evolution of the family law systems in the western (dominantly European) countries. It analyzes the potential conflict between the concept of human rights and the family that comes out due to the fact that there is no concise definition of the family rights within the international legislation.
The signing of the European Convention of Human Rights, a document that is understood as a revolutionary model compared to the classical concepts of the international law, raised a question: whether the member states of the Council of Europe, besides being under jurisdiction of the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, have been subordinated to the mechanisms of the protection of human rights as well?
COMPATIBILITY OF E.C. ANTITRUST PROCEDURES WITH THE CONVENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
[Goce GALEV]
The author of this paper deals with the compatibility of the antitrust procedures of the European Community, with the article 6 of the Convention of Human Rights. The analysis and the comparison of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice and the Court of Human Rights that have been done in regard to the protection of the rights provided by the article 6 of the Convention, have resulted in two questions. The first is concerned with the incompatibility of the procedures of the Court of Justice and the European Commission with the article 6 of the Convention. The second is related to the non – equivalence of the protection in regard to the right of defense by silence within the national legal systems of the member states of the Convention, with the protection that has to be provided by the European Court of Justice.
EUROPEAN STANDARDS TOWARDS THE ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND OPENNESS OF THE GOVERNMENT
[Janko NIKOLOVSKI]
The European theory and practice has accepted the idea of free expression and public information for a long period of time. However, the right to access information, especially public documents and the openness of the Government in regard to that, has been still new and insufficiently known idea, regardless of the existence of specific Recommendation of the Council of Europe.
There are ongoing debates and drafting of theses in some South – Eastern European countries, in regard to the preparation of specific laws towards the access to the public documents. This article brought an opinion that the access to information should be the right of each citizen, not only an exclusive right of the journalists. In addition, the openness of the Government can not be seen through the issue of access to the public document only. The transparency should be achieved through a wider understanding that includes the Governmental policy, performance, solutions offered and the practice of being in power as whole.
TELEVISION AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE: EUROPEAN VERSUS THE US EXPERIENCE
[Zoran KOSTOV]
This paper deals with the phenomenon of decline of the public functions of the media, particularly television, under the pressure of the neo-liberal tendencies driven by the market economy. Besides the introductory problematization of the classical, liberal understanding of the publicness and the public sphere, the results of the analysis confirm the thesis that the public broadcasting service undergoes the controversial phase of its existence, while the television audience transforms as well. The audience namely, has been increasingly understood as a market (consumers) instead of public (citizens). Having the fact that the mentioned tendency seriously threatens the survival of the basic concepts of the public service, including its role within the public sphere, the paper deals with several theoretical stands towards the necessary reform.
SOUTHEAST EUROPE: HISTORY OF DIVERGENCE
[Vladimir GLIGOROV]
It is clear, according to the author of this paper, that the Southeast Europe differs from the European Union, as well as from the most of the Central Europe economies. Due to the internal disputes, the region continues to disintegrate, causing new economic troubles. In that sense, the author gives historical review of some economic parameters that the Balkan states are characterized with.
In the conclusion, the author emphasizes that the world and the regional wars, the socialism end the newest processes disintegration have created the condition – Southeast to stay behind the Central Europe, much more at the beginning of the 21-st than at the beginning of the 20-th century.
EU ACCESSION POLICY: CYPRUS EXPERIENCE
[Irena RAJCINOVSKA]
This paper is an attempt to give a brief and straightforward perception of the EU Accession Policy through the Cyprus case. It aims to research and present the mutual experience of the both parties involved in the background of existing and unresolved political conflict of the two communities living in Cyprus.
The paper begins with a overview of the meaning and significance of the latest enlargement process in the Cyprus case. The second part of the paper examines the Cyprus – EU pragmatic relationship i.e. the question of who gets what with the joining of Cyprus in the EU. The third part gives a brief historical perspective on the treatment of the Cyprus conflict in the documents of the EU bodies in the period since Cyprus acquired its associative status (1973) till the latest EU summit (December 2003). The next part explains the content of the plan for comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus conflict by Secretary General of UN and the two most likely to happen scenarios. The final part of the paper deals with the advises that can be drawn from the Cyprus experience by the EU and the potential candidate for accession.
Editorial Board
List of involved authors
