- program - abstracts - hrvatski -

Dr. Aleksandra Alund, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Linköping, Sweden
Ethnic Entrepreneurship, Migration and Globalization

The article constitutes a reflection on migration and self-employment in an era of globalization. Ethnic entrepreneurship is increasing in Sweden as well as elsewhere in Europe. The motive powers towards this kind of self-employment are related to unemployment and discrimination in the Swedish labour market. Other discussed aspects of entrepreneurship are related to the tourism industry in Spain and "import" of Thais as "tourists" to Sweden, where they are exposed to heavy exploitation in the informal economy. Different expressions of ethnic entrepreneurship are discussed within the context of the "global city" and its various types of citizens.

Dr. Predrag Bejaković, Institute of Public Finances, Zagreb
Globalization, New Poverty and Inequality in Modern World and in the Republic of Croatia

Despite scientific and technological improvements, empowerment of democratic forces and movements in the world, the leveling of most totalitarian regimes in the world, an increase of universal economic and political cooperation, there remain huge problems of poverty and inequality in the world. Globalization, poverty and inequality have recently received a great deal of attention by politicians, social scientists, labor union leaders and journalists all around of the world. Some proponents of globalization claim that the process brings free and universal benefits. It is unquestionable that the gap between the world's rich and poor is huge and that global inequality has grown since the industrial revolution. Conversely, some opponents equate globalization with social and environmental destruction. Anti-globalizers usually make three further propositions: that inequality has continued to rise in the present era of globalization; that globalization has caused this increase in inequality; and that the way to halt these malign trends is either to stop integration altogether or to load a host of labour and social standards on it.

We feel that the discussion has been clouded by the lack of terminological and conceptual clarity, and often rather offhand depiction of the links between globalization, poverty and inequality. We would like to shed some empirical and substantive light on this highly controversial subject. The article consists of four parts. It begins with a theoretical framework explaining where lies the optimal distribution of income and measures of poverty and inequality. The second part focuses on former socialist countries and their attitudes towards poverty. The third part analyses the direct impact of globalization on poverty and inequality, while the last part deals with actions and strategy for combating poverty.

Dr. Alex J. Bellamy, King’s College, London, UK
The European Security Community and Civil-Military Relations in Croatia

The paper begins by outlining what is meant by the term ‘security community’ and briefly tracing the way that NATO and the EU have shifted from being a defensive alliance and trading bloc respectively into a sophisticated form of security community. The existence of such a community breaks down the boundaries of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, domestic policy and foreign policy. This leads us towards a ‘second generation’ of thinking about the international dimensions of Security Sector Reform in Croatia. So-called ‘first generation’ thinking viewed the relationship as one where the West devised the scope and nature of reform and ‘delivered’ it to recipients in Central and Eastern Europe. The problem with this was that such approaches did not take local concerns into account and that reform programmes were only successful when the process was internalised and the aims of the West and the target government were synonymous. The work of MPRI and others under the previous regime provide a good example of this. The new government increasingly perceives itself to be part of a security community with Europe and this is fundamentally altering defence priorities and the relationship with donor countries. The paper argues that this presents great dilemmas for the government that should prompt both the West to reconsider the types of assistance it provides and the Croatian government to utilise civilian solutions to military problems, pointing towards a new style of civil-military relations.

Dr. Anton K. Berishaj, Faculty of Philosophy, Priština, Kosovo
Kosovo's Post-war Media Image - Between Claustrophobia and Globalization

The subject of this paper is the internationally supported process of renewal, reorganization and development of an information network. The paper looks at the support provided by international institutions in furnishing and designing an information network in Kosovo, at program outlines of individual media – (e.g. "Kouchner's Decree" on reporting and the reaction of the domestic public), as well as at the representation of international elements in the media and media’s focus on Internet communications.

Dr. Gojko Bežovan, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Social work Study Center
Process of Globalization and Legitimacy of the Development of Civil Society in Croatia

This paper flows from an international comparative research conducted during the first half of 2001 which sought, through a common methodology, to estimate the health of civil society by offering indicators of civil society’s strengths and weaknesses and different political approaches. In addition, its goal is to estimate the influence and potential contribution of civil society in general, particularly in key areas of development.

Development of civil society is a global process and is connected to changes occurring at a global level, changes noted at the end of the 1980's. The text analyzes incentives that spur the development of civil society that originate externally, at a global level, and those that derive internally.

Civil society is broadly defined in this project as ''an area of institutions, organizations, networks and individuals positioned between the family, the state and the market, where people voluntarily cooperate in order to advocate their joint interests.'' Variables important for research of civil society are: structure -- how large and active is civil society and what resources are available?; space – in what sort of legal, political and socio-cultural sphere does civil society function?; values -- which values and norms does civil society represent and promote?; influence -- what contribution does civil society make in solving particular social, economic and political problems?

An index of civil society was made on the basis of interviews with various participants that play important roles in the development of civil society in Croatia. Our results are compared to results found in other countries.

Dr. Ivan Cifrić, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb
Globalization, Strategies of Development and Legitimacy of Agents

The paper discusses three issues: The relationship between international superstructures and nation states; achievements of national development strategies; and the problem of legitimacy of nation states within global strategies. The process of globalization raises questions about control over international superstructures and the role of the state and civil society at a global level.

One consequence of globalization is a process of the creation of a higher order of structures that enable the system to survive and develop. These superstructures become independent, but they are influenced by agents from developed countries. They become global and, consequently, unwanted structures that are difficult to control. A powerful agent under their control is the nation state.

There are three levels of strategies: the ''common global strategy'', (national) ''strategies valid globally'', and ''national strategies''. Globally valid national strategies play a key role in world development and influence developing countries. The author considers national strategies to be doubly ''dependent strategies''.

Democracy, human rights and environmental protection are three issues that are important with respect to modern democratic society and international politics, and which must be given consideration and legitimacy by international agents.

Dr. Snježana Čolić, Institut of Social Sciences «Ivo Pilar», Zagreb
The Culture of Capitalism, Global Culture and Globalization

The paper analyzes some basic characteristics of the culture of capitalism, global culture and globalization. The fundamental problem here is how to express the nature of capitalism as an economic and cultural system. During the past forty years, analysis of capitalist culture has focused on the cultural practice of consumption. Moreover, consumption has become the cultural telos of capitalism. The emphasis is on the cultural significance of (practices of) consumption. These practices are not static but change with time. Thus, the contents of «our culture» continually shift with time. While the idea of imperialism contains the notion of intended expansion of a social system from one center of power across the globe, the idea of globalization suggests the interconnection and interdependency of all global areas, and is the result of economic and cultural practices which are not aimed at global integration but produce it nonetheless. The cultural experience of people caught up in these processes is likely to be one of confusion, uncertainty and the perception of powerlessness. The general cultural insecurity of globalization has been described in some of the more considered accounts of «postmodernity». The global cultural arena is one to which we constantly refer, but one in which it is very difficult to determine our own personal experience. For today's global culture is not tied to any place or period of time. This sense of timelessness is strongly emphasized by the pre-eminently technical nature of its discourse. Eclectic, universal, timeless and technical, global culture is a «construed» culture.

On the other hand, there exists a new search for identity and distinction at the forefront of the appearance of new national and ethnic demands. What is required, above all, is a radical structural reorganization of the way in which human cultural goals are defined and achieved. Ultimately, the shape of the human world must be conceived as a function of cultural will. Therefore, what is emphasized is the fact of practical and theoretical rejection of those globalist and universalistic concepts of historical developments which elevated particular interests and visions to the level of universal principles.

Dr. Keith Doubt, Wittenberg University, Ohio, USA
Chasing the Question of Legitimacy in Hardt and Negri's “Empire"

This lecture surveys various discussions on the true character of globalization so as to formulate their common question. What explains the world's willingness or unwillingness to comply with the power of globalization? What justifies the sovereignty of globalization if sovereignty is what globalization possesses? Whether the discourse is Marxian or Weberian, postmodern or modern, leftist or fundamentalist, the discourse seeks to address the legitimacy of globalization's development. Is the new social order simply a factual order? What normative orientations are necessary to support and sustain this factual order? The lecture explores to what degree the discipline of sociology helps focus and develop the shared polemic of these different and competing discourses.

Dr. Sharon Fisher, PlanEcon, Washington D.C., USA
From “Nationalist” to “Europeanist”: the evolution of cultural identity in Croatia and Slovakia at the turn of the 21st century

Throughout the 1990s, the major division among Croatian and Slovak elites was between “Nationalists” and “Europeanists.” Although the fall of communism was often associated with a “return to Europe,” many Croats and Slovaks initially turned to national concerns, electing the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) and Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) to power in 1990 and 1992, respectively. That happened mainly because elites represented most prominently by Franjo Tudjman and Vladimir Meciar managed to convince citizens that a solution to the national question would solve other problems as well. The “Nationalists” subsequently led their respective country to independence and embarked on a mission to strengthen national identity and instill loyalty to the new state. In the second half of the 1990s, however, the ruling parties’ discourse was challenged by the independent media, trade unions, non-governmental organizations, and political opposition. Slovaks and Croats gradually started to put other priorities before the nation, bringing a “Europeanist” victory in parliamentary elections in Slovakia in 1998 and in Croatia in 2000. By turning to other alternatives, citizens demonstrated that they no longer wanted to “protect the nation” at all costs but instead favored other politicians who would likely be more successful in bringing them “back to Europe.” Using Croatia and Slovakia as case studies, this work looks the evolution of cultural identity in Croatia and Slovakia at the turn of the 21st century, investigating the approach promoted by the HDZ and HDZS as well as the efforts by the post-Tudjman and post-Meciar leadership to move away from the past.

Dr. Branko Horvat, University of Zagreb
Globalization

Globalization has two different and juxtaposed aspects: one is positive and the other negative. The first aspect is the general tendency towards overcoming narrow-mindedness, isolation, xenophobia, or the conversion of the world into a global village. That tendency is maintained by over 200 regulatory international associations, such as the UN, UNESCO, UNICEF, ILO, WHO, WTO, IMF, the international Hague Tribunal, Interpol...

But a negative aspect also exists. Countries are quite distinct in their economic, political and cultural development. That is why proclamations about free trade and free movement of capital represent a reactionary policy of the politically and economically strong who wish to exploit those that are weaker. That is immediately obvious in conflicting demands such as when a wealthy country demands the free movement of capital (''own''), but at the same time prevents the free movement of people (''others''). Hence, protests that constantly erupt all over the world -- from Seattle to Genoa -- reveal the real state of things. This aspect of globalization, therefore, is not acceptable and should be resisted.

One important historical change should be noted. Militaristic imperialism has turned into economic imperialism. Economic imperialism has spread not only to former colonies, but also to formerly independent countries, with Croatia among them. That new imperialism is much more favorable for imperialist countries, because it is cheaper and there are no administrative expenses, and the military does not need to be sent out. Besides, more feeble countries -- among them also Croatia -- invite the new imperialist to subordinate them economically. In Croatia, the national property is being speedily sold to foreign capital, and four fifths of the banks are already owned by foreigners.

Is there a defense against economic imperialism? Various possibilities exist, but most important is for a country to increase its economic and political power through economic integration with its neighbors. As we know, Croatian governments have been avoiding this. That is why Croatia is in a crisis much deeper and longer than during the global economic crisis of the 1930s.

Dr. Vjeran Katunarić, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb
The Withering State?

The era of nation-states began with a few states in the early 19th century and continued with subsequent waves in the growth of the number of states until today. This progression did not bring about substantial change in the level of economic achievements and the degree of international influence for the majority of countries as much as it served their needs for collective identity and boundary-making. Croatia is a typical example of the asymmetry in these achievements. It has achieved state independence, but finds itself in a peripheral position within the context of economic development and international politics.

This is the result of profound historical changes. Unlike the older waves in the rise of states that occurred in an era of consolidated national economies and welfare-state policies, this new wave is contingent upon an era of economic globalization which entails a demand for the “powerless state”. However, pressure in terms of the “withering the state” is not really a global phenomenon. It rather reminds us of the asymmetry that existed during the early part of the era with a few strong states at the core and with dependent administrations in major parts of the rest of the world.

Otherwise, the “withering away of the state” is an old issue on the agenda of different ideologies, such as anarchism, neo-liberalism, religious fundamentalism as well as some forms of nationalism. Which one(s) will prevail this time? Which one(s) will prevail in Croatia? Or, will the welfare-state be restored or reshaped in a new way? Eventually, which forms of (de)structuring will the state(s) take in the aftermath of last September 11th?

Dr. Ivan Kuvačić, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb
The Relation of Authoritarianism and Democracy under Conditions of Globalization

Can authoritarianism be seen only as a necessary evil, which cannot be avoided by underdeveloped and uncultured nations? On the other hand, has not authoritarian government played a positive social role in certain circumstances?

One should not overlook the fact that authoritarianism easily grows into despotism. The despotism of the 20th century emerged in two main variants – Nazism and Stalinism. Although the one is juxtaposed to the other, they are very similar by their inner structure. In both variants, the individual allows others to perform violence against him or her because one participates in acts of violence against the other. What is the difference between authoritarian and totalitarian rule?

What lies at the sheer essence of democratic society? Should democracy be founded on people, a republic or state, or is its basis the activity of free subjects? Three essential levels are: 1. civil society, 2. political society, 3. the state, wherein political society has a role of mediator between civil society and the state. Civil society is autonomous, i.e. separate from the state, and it gives equal opportunities to all individuals and groups that respect democratic procedures.

Dr. Milan Mesić, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb
Globalization of Migrations

The author attempts to defend three basic theses. Firstly, that modern international migrations make up a constituent part of globalization processes. Secondly, that further arguments about the globalization of migrations might be sought after by representatives of two opposite approaches towards discussions of globalization: globalization skeptics and globalization radicals. The former claims that globalization of international migrations began with colonialism, the latter that the swift changes in patterns, as well as the diversification of sources and destinations, characterize a distinctive, global phase of migrations. The author presents an opinion that the discussion between the radicals and skeptics is non-productive. Each party emphasizes one aspect of the same problem but cannot deny the other’s aspect. Five subtopics with respect to globalization of migrations are systematized: a) the volume of recent international migrations; b) diversification and fluidity of migration streams; c) international migrations and the crisis of (national) citizenship; d) globalization of science and education - brain drain vs. brain gain; e) Diaspora communities and new group identities.

Dr. Branka Mraović, Faculty of Surveying, University of Zagreb
Global Project: Is the New Grand Narrative on its Way?

My basic position expressed in this paper is that the project of globalization has not resulted from modernity, but is, rather, the product of a created project of capitalism that started immediately after the second world war and was accompanied by two fundamental presumptions that were yet to be made: firstly, the development of information technology, which represents the technical base for virtual communication; and, secondly, the fall of the Berlin wall, providing a metaphor for the fall of socialism. The modern project has been established through the modern organization. In contrast to it, postmodernity is a condition, and not a realization of the project, because it does not offer a specific type of organization. Postmodernity has undoubtedly succeeded in revealing the many contradictions of modern organization, but it has not managed to develop a new paradigm appropriate to the realities of the New Age. It is a fact that in the social practice of modernity neither individuals nor organizations have ever been under the diktat of the environment as is the case with globalism. The global age is characterized by the reality that organizations, including the path that society has taken, are no longer exclusively the result of human agency. Hence, the emphasis in research has moved more and more from organizations as such to the processes of organizations.

This presents an enormous challenge to organizational science, which is, in this global age, undoubtedly faced with the need to find some sense of social transformation in the realization of a new, global narrative. The benefit could be twofold; human organization could be protected from the risk of being subordinated to the needs of the technical mind, and people themselves could also, first of all in the sense of collective agents, learn how to manage global challenges so that we can become the masters of changes, and not its victims.

Ivo Paić, open university, Ivanić grad
Who Fears a Croatian Identity Crisis?

Is it possible for Croatian society to reach its desired EU-goal while preserving a Croatian identity in the age and sphere of globalized capitalism and rule of (not only its own) the logic of capital? Policies that are made legitimate by Croatian national issues says it is: en route toward a goal (as if it was a sitting duck!) where everything changes - and, in spite of this, the Croatian identity(ies) remains protected and preserved. Thus, the answer- permeated by romanticism and historicism - is also associated with so-called Croatian national sciences, literary criticism and ethnology based on “domestic theories” and “household subjects”; but also myth, legendary tradition, landscapes of the living world colonized by the practice of ideology, hindered learning processes and distorted communicative potentials of certain collective and individual subjects.

In contrast to this, I presume, Croatian society is challenged to becoming aware of, accept and promote the crisis as a value which must open up constructions of its identity and thus test its resilience against the assigned “transitional” route in time and space of many probably irreversible effects of globalizing. Working on this assumption, I shall present a critical understanding of this positive response with its implications, by reviewing the main outlines of its interconnected contents: the contemplative horizons of the creation of the Croatian state (methodically: 19th ct.) – globalized capitalism – mundane capital logic; Croatian trade mark identity tale and its incomprehensibility within the discourse of globalized capitalism, its dictates of power and socializing crisis and identity: a) the pre-scientific understanding of crisis as something undesirable and threatening; b) scientific theorems of crisis and identity; c) construction of the Croatian identity and relation towards philosophical and historical understanding of crisis (Husserl, Jaspers, Arendt, etc.); d) identity within the globalized network and creation of the crisis (of identity) as a value.

What does it mean to have an identity and how can one finally give a sensible answer to the question: “Who is afraid of a Croatian identity crisis”?

Krešimir Peračković, Institute of Social Sciences «Ivo Pilar», Zagreb
Job Security in a Global Environment

The transition process defined as the change from a planned to a market economy within a global environment also includes a change from a system that guarantees employees relative job security to a system where the threat of losing one’s job is an integral part of the economic cycle. Research of employment incentives has clearly showed that the issue of employment security has become increasingly important within the hierarchy of motives to work in Croatia during the 1990s.

In addition, results from public opinion research concerning the consequences of privatization show that Croatian citizens expected job security to be the most important aim of the privatization of state-owned property, and this was by no means achieved.

This paper offers a model with four factors that influence growing insecurity of employment in Croatia. These are globalization; war and the consequences of war against Croatia; the consequences of transition; and the introduction of information technology into labor processes. Since transition also means linking up with global market mechanisms, the problem is only exacerbated due to the existing uncompetitiveness of the Croatian economy. Therefore, the issue of employment security was one of the key elements in the political program and pre-election promises made during the last elections, as a result of which this psychosocial category won its political relevance.

Mr. Marin Perković, National Park Mljet
Globalization and Protected Areas.

Who protects whom and why, from whom or from what in protected areas and how is this possible with globalization?

Are the new Utopias running away from what is “really the best, the greatest world that we know'' by way of globalization as construed by our philosophical and other classical thinkers. What will happen with society, especially with planet Earth and those protected areas, as the process of globalization succeeds or fails? Why are there any global tendencies and why are certain areas protected from them? What are the teachings of history as teacher of life and especially of sociology? What are the relationships between social communities, man and society, man and nature, and society and nature and the process of globalization as desire and consequence?

Globalization must be understood as the expression of a wrongful progress in every sense, with no return, nor can it be corrected until the origins and foundations of inequality of nature and society are resolved among people and based on progress in the sciences and arts which spoil rather than improve customs and life as a whole.

Dr. Šime Pilić, Faculty of natural sciences and mathematics and education, University of Split
Some Processes of Globalization and Education in Croatian Society

The term globalization is being used in social sciences and public discourse with somewhat different meanings. If the path of globalization means the spreading of the most successful material and spiritual products across the globe, then the modern world has already been pursuing the path of globalization for several centuries. However, in the current process of globalization, based on the neoliberal model, of international relations it is about the intentions of a network of supranational companies, from some of the most developed countries, and international economic organizations to subdue - with new rules - the totality of life, and all state, social and cultural boundaries.

So, for example, during the last five years, 200 of the world’s largest companies control one-third of the world's gross product.

The demand by the most powerful to ''deny all national politics, protection of public services and cultural activities'', starting with communications to education and publishing and on to art and nature protection, is aimed at repressing the social and cultural heritage and particularities of peoples in a quest to gain uniform profit.

The inequality between rich and poor countries is increasing, and, parallel to this, social benefits are being reduced, whereby the historic achievements gained from the struggle of the lower strata on the social ladder are being annulled. "New capitalism" or "the current globalizing world order", hence, also denies domestic solidarity within individual societies. These cuts, annulments and denials (independent of the reasons why) also evolve in transitional societies, including, of course, Croatian society.

At the very beginning of the 21st century, modern societies, Croatian society included, act within a socio-economic context that has been profoundly shaped by three basic factors: (1) the globalization of economic relations and partly of culture, (2) the influence of the scientific-technological revolution and (3) the establishment of an informatic society. These three factors also influence the development of a society that learns. Such a future society demands an extensive knowledge base as well as respect for this reality in conceptualizing the development of an education system, while taking into account the particularities of each country in order to avoid further intellectual dependency. Within this context, some processes of globalization and the future of higher education can be considered.

Dr. Vlado Puljiz, Dr. Siniša Zrinščak, Social work Study Center, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
Globalization and Current Welfare System Reforms in Croatia

The claim that recent social reforms in Croatia are undoubtedly affected by the processes of world globalization, especially by global and powerful financial agencies, seems indisputable. Such a claim supports the view that these influences completely ignore domestic circumstances and needs and concentrate exclusively on the interests of the so-called winners of the globalization process. Nevertheless, a more detailed analysis of Croatian social development over the past ten years shows that a concept of globalization thus understood can be neither a simple nor an unequivocal factor in explaining the development of Croatian welfare policy.

With the aim of trying to explain this relation more precisely, this paper will focus on two key issues. Primarily, it is necessary to explain why the category of social dumping, as one of the most reliable indicators of welfare state restructuring and social costs reduction, is not the most adequate for social process analysis in post-communist countries. This is particularly so in Croatia where welfare expenses have kept growing in the last ten years and where there have been no significant attempts to decrease labor costs or to attract foreign capital (at least not until the start of 2000).

Undoubtedly, this is the result of a failure in internal democratization and external integration tied to the development of a clientelistic welfare policy, so one can even argue that Croatia’s developmental problems were more due to the lack of openness towards globalizing influences. Secondly, it is necessary to answer the question as to whether, in order to describe the Croatian situation, postcommunist countries are more significantly influenced by political (ideological) globalization or economic globalization. In line with this thesis is the attitude that Croatian welfare policy development has been significantly marked by the clash of domestic interventionist demands and global pressures to reduce social costs. This clash has generated a paradoxical situation in which the public is totally, but unproductively, engaged in the actual reduction of certain welfare benefits, while the far-reaching effects of complete reform of the inherited pension system remains fully outside of society’s focus. An analysis of this social cost structure and the current changes in family policy and pension system will be performed within the context of these issues.

Dr. Carl-Urlik Schierup, Linköping University and the National Institute for Working Life, Sweden
What Creed in Europe? Migration, Social Exclusion and Citizenship in the Dual Crisis of Welfare and Nation

In the ongoing battle for the consolidation of European integration in the context of the European Union, an official rhetoric of citizenship and solidarity face multiple and increasingly racialising processes of social exclusion of which the leading political elites are well aware. This represents a corporeal dilemma, which cannot be circumvented in any easy way, but must be taken firmly by its horns. On the one hand the very future of the European project of integration is utterly dependent on the capability to work out new inclusive modes of citizenship and broad forms of social solidarity. On the other hand, to take this task seriously will inevitably mean to confront powerful political and economic interests. These interests are embedded in the structural features, power relations and the social and cultural life worlds belonging to that ‘Great Transformation’ of new times, which we have habitually come to represent through the multifaceted catchword of ‘globalization’. An increasingly essential feature of this global transformation of contemporary capitalism is the increasingly unmanageable migratory flows and new forms of racialised social exclusion contingent on Europe’s dual crisis of the nation and of the welfare state. Along these lines the paper alludes to Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal’s study An American Dilemma, while comparing an emerging European dilemma with today’s new American dilemma evolving around immigration and race; a dilemma, which is today no less worrying than when Myrdal studied the American ‘negroe problem’ of the 1940s.

Dr. Dimitrije Sergejev, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb
Processes of Globalization and Development of Croatia

Globalization is a modern phenomenon and a phenomenon that existed in the past. Yet, we must understand it in its entirety. New things that enter into our life are not perfect in the beginning and our treatment of them is not adequate right from the start. Both change over time. This is why the globalization process is accompanied by constant self-improvement. Self-improvement is an integral part of both globalization and the whole of human history.

With globalization each society in the world acquires new solutions, new discoveries, and new technologies. Each society of the world must also give something in return or sell something on the world market. If it does not do so, and in the right way, it will become dependent on others, fall into poverty and see its population scatter throughout the world.

What should be avoided while attempting to resolve this problem is an opinion, many hold especially in transition countries, that the market mechanism itself solves problems. All developed countries in the world today direct aid to social and economic development in various ways. Generally speaking, today’s highly developed capitalism would not exist if it was not for the economists and politicians who learned how to overcome the crisis of hyper-production by using a set of measures.

It is necessary to create a program which everyone would accept as the right path to take, one that will make Croatia into another Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Japan, i.e. a highly developed country grouped with such countries. This program is also the best way for all people in this country to tackle a joint task. Sociologists are also faced with the duty of explaining the meaning of this program and the human obstacles that stand in the way of its realization.

Dr. Nikola Skledar, Faculty of Philosophy, Zadar
Globalization and Croatian Cultural Identity

Globalization is a civilizational phenomenon and a process where focal points and agents change. In the contemporary world, it is the agents of the economy, technology, information, communications that prevail, and less so authentically cultural ones.

Culture, (ie. art, religion, philosophy, science), along with its general, universal human vision also contains indigenous, space-time and personal creative visions and sources. These are fixed primarily in language and creative texts in general, and archived and preserved in cultural tradition (not traditionalism!) and an already shaped cultural identity (hence, also Croatian) as a solid basis of new creative achievements. Briefly, this creativity in its essence is also creator, as a producer and product of a certain socio-cultural circle that guarantees the historical continuity of its identities.

Dr. Paul Stubbs, The globalizm and Social Policy Programme (GASPP), University of Sheffield, UK and STAKES, Helsinki, Finland

'Amnesia International'?: Transnational advice regimes and the problem of memory in post-Yugoslav countries.

This paper will reflect on one aspect of 'globalization', the increasing role of international consultants as 'advisors'. Using a reflexive, ethnographic approach, the author will build on his earlier critical analysis of international agency interventions in post-Yugoslav countries
with reference to 'civil society' and to 'social policy'. The development of various kinds of flexible organisations, the privatisation of advice, and the increasing power of transactors and intermediaries, will be discussed as sociological phenomena and also in terms of implications for governance. The issue of memory claims will be highlighted as a key concept in understanding global-local interactions.

Dr. Anđelka Šajković, Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb
Konstanca Korenčić Kampl, Veterinarian Faculty, University of Zagreb
Attitudes of the Student Population Toward Globalization in Croatia

Globalization is an issue of topical interest in the postindustrial era and sociology has been harboring the opinion that globalization constitutes the final stage in an ongoing process of social change. This is a process that integrates separate national economies into one integrated global economy. In the social sphere, it is about the emergence of social relations from a distance. In the public sphere, it is about the loss of power and authority of states/nations. Understanding globalization as a ''major issue'', we decided to carry out research on this matter among students of the Faculty of Forestry and Veterinarian Faculty of the University of Zagreb.

Our research was conducted through a questionnaire consisting of 40 assertions grouped into three sets of assertions. The first group refers to the concept of globalization, investigating the students' familiarity with this concept. The second group focuses on the potential consequences of globalization such as potential conflict between civilizations, terrorism, multicultural education, etc. The third group of assertions concerns the opportunities and consequences of globalization in Croatia. We were interested in student attitudes toward the possible disappearance of national culture, the creation of a multicultural society, the emigration of the highly educated from the country, immigration of workers from the East, etc.

The basic aim of this research was to establish to what degree the student population - the young population engaged in ecological and biological professional specializations – is aware of this powerful phenomenon of globalization in its political, economic and ecological context, i.e. if they are aware that this marks a shift from one era to another, and how much they think this will influence Croatia's destiny.

Dražen Šimleša, Institute of social sciences “Ivo Pilar”, Zagreb
Croatia Between Identity of Blood and Globalization from Above

It was only after the late 1999 demonstrations against the WTO conference in Seattle, as a process of economic, social, cultural and political activity that exceeds the boundaries of national states, that globalization became the subject of public (intellectual) discourse, media attention and activism of the civic sector in Croatia. Until then, this entire process was mostly ignored as something remote and only a small number of members of the above-mentioned and other social groups was concerned with it. Since Croatia joined the WTO, there is almost no newspaper that, although superficially and with over simplification, does not use terms such as (anti)globalization, (anti)globalism, (anti)global, etc., in its everyday reporting. Promoters and opponents of globalization in Croatian culture, politics, economy and other social areas have become conspicuous since Croatia became a member of the WTO.

After an initial introduction and short explanation of the meaning of globalization and the consequences it produces and leaves behind, the paper devotes its attention to representatives and opponents of globalization in Croatia, we provide a detailed analysis of their manifest and latent forms of expressing their views of this process. Through a rooted political division between the left, the right and the center, the paper presents views toward globalization from the perspective of various political agents, corporations, civil society and broader Croatian public. The main part of the paper will refer to the thesis made by Benjamin R. Barber, expounded in his book Jihad vs. McWorld, on how these two seemingly opposed worlds treat the issue of the right to choose and the values of civil society in a similar manner-- they negate them. Who can be seen in Croatia as searching for identity in blood, and who can be seen searching for identity as a part of the whole global consumerist tribe. In the end, the paper tries to answer whether civil society offers an alternative in Croatia, which is something B.R. generally believes.

Dr. Aleksandar Štulhofer, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb
Globalization of Sexuality? Sex trafficking in Croatia

Trafficking in human beings is widely recognized as a major international problem. The most frequent form of this new form of crime is the trafficking of women for the purpose of sexual exploitation, which represents an alarming problem that has increased in the last 10 years within Europe. Sex industry recruiters target the most economically depressed areas, mostly in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc.

There has been no systematic research on the patterns, scale and dimensions of sex trafficking (ST) in Croatia. According to official estimates, Croatia is mainly a transit country; the percentage of trafficked women and children is very small when compared to other types of criminal activity. Unfortunately, the official statistics on trafficking are fragmentary at best and unreliable.

The presentation will focus on the results of the first study on ST in Croatia designed to provide an insight into the scope of the problem, transit details, living and working conditions of trafficked women, traffickers and the mechanisms of their trade, the public perception of ST, official recognition of the problem, and law enforcement behavior. The study employed a multi-method approach including a content analysis of the media (newspapers and weekly magazines) coverage of ST, a review of the current legal framework and interventions, a public opinion survey, and in-depth interviews with those involved in ST.

Dr. Antun Šundalić, Faculty of Economy, Osijek
Globalizational Leveling -- in Favor or Against?

The phenomenon of globalization has a long history, and in the past two centuries at least two attitudes toward globalization have emerged. While, for example, the 19th century experienced globalization as a socio-cultural phenomenon where the focus was on human beings as a labor force, on migrations instigated by industrialization and material resources, globalization at the end of the 20th century is a technical-technological phenomenon determined by technological capabilities and resulting needs to weave the world into political, economic, military and cultural networks.

Today's world lives according to this latter attitude. Internationalized politics, corporate management, “McDonaldized” culture - are the key characteristics of modern capitalism that are subsumed under the globalizing processes of constructing a New World. There exist, however, ''builders'' and ''built-in ones''. Among the “built-in ones” there is the fear of disappearance and leveling -- especially fear of national and cultural leveling.

Croatian society is not unfamiliar with this theme. Some people fear that Croatian integration with Europe and the world will be delayed, while others worry how to preserve national and local specificities (culture and traditions, but also political sovereignty). Can discussions between Croatian ''globalists'' and ''skeptics'' help find functional equivalents to protecting the national cultural sphere or do they necessarily end up with the petty political labeling of one as Europeans and the other as tribalists? This article aims to contribute to the search for an answer, but without the intention of taking sides, but rather to justify the existence of this clash of views.

Marcus Leaning, University of Luton, UK
Inga Tomić-Koludrović, Faculty of Philosophy, Zadar
Mirko Petrić, Academy of Arts, Split
New Media and New Political Space in Croatia

Majority of contemporary accounts of new media imply an opportunity for users to participate in democratic activity. Such media are envisaged as a new democratic forum and are seen to offer the opportunity to enable new forms of political communication. This paper seeks to test the validity of such concepts in the context of the transition society of Croatia. First, the concept of political space is critically evaluated and defined. Second, the potential of new media to enable such space is examined with specific reference to a post-socialist society with rudimentary civic form. Old media were found to offer far greater opportunity for effective anti-systemic action in this particular situation. Such findings counter the dominant narrative of technology enabling civil society. Instead, It is argued that the potential for development of new political space needs to be discussed within a local political, social and economic context.

Mirko Petrić, Academy of Arts, Split
Inga Tomić-Koludrović, Faculty of Philosophy, Zadar
Ivica Mitrović, Academy of Arts, Split
Identites On The Net: Gender And National Stereotypes On Croatian Internet Portals

This article combines content analysis and semiotic analysis to discuss various ways of creating identity in the new media products in Croatia, as well as the way they relate to the representational paradigm specific to Croatian society in the late 1990s and at the beginning of the 21st century. The results of the analysis of this paradigm, as represented on the web-sites of the major Croatian ISPs (Hinet and Iskon, Klik) and other mainstream portals (Monitor, Hej), are then put into the context of a wider discussion of the influence new technologies bear upon the structuring of political discourse. At the same time, the article is a contribution to the analysis of the media representations of gender and national stereotypes in Croatia. This is a relatively unexplored field, and those analyses that have been made thus far take up old media content as their subject-matter.

Mirko Petrić, Academy of Arts, Split
Marcus Leaning, University of Luton, UK
Ivica Mitrović, Academy of Arts, Split
From Public Sphere to Foreign Monopoly: The Internet in Croatia in the 1990s

The emergence of the Internet in Croatia during the 1990's follows a pattern different from any other country in Europe. Connected as early as 1991 Croatia was the first country to secure widespread access to Internet technology during a period of conflict in which the civilian population was at risk. This paper chronicles the emergence of Internet development in Croatia and discusses its specificities from the standpoint of various sociological, politological and media theories. It pays particular attention to the ethos of social ownership of the telecommunications’ infrastructure inherited from the socialist system, the emergence of the Internet as part of the rhetoric of development of the public sphere, the emergence of an alternative provider (zamir.net) during the time of conflict, the role of the state in subsequently commercialising the market place and a reluctance to deregulate the telecommunications market leading to the commercial monopoly by a foreign investor.

Dr. Toshiya Ueno, Wako University, Tokyo, Japan
Globalization: 'Empire' or Translocal politics?

The aim of this paper is to (1) map out some major arguments on globalization in sociology and other studies, (2) introduce the notion of Empire by Negri and Heart, and explain its significance on recent world events, (3) make clear the paradox between Globalization and Nationalism or Regionalism under conditions of world wide Neoliberalism, (4) and set out my tentative notion of the Translocal in political as well as cultural scenes.

Dr. Božo Žepić, University of Mostar, B&H
Reflections of the Process of Globalization on the Unfavorable Position and Uncertain Prospects of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The sociological terms ''global society'' and ''globalization'' are relatively new and characteristic of modern sociology. There is no consensus between sociologists over their content. In view of their rising importance and usage, it would be good for a theory that can describe and begin using these terms as precisely as possible. This will not be easy, but it is not impossible.

It will be much more difficult to qualitatively determine attitudes toward globalization, in a sense of the costs or benefits it brings to certain societies and social groups, such as peoples and nations. What is certain today is the fact that it is mainly big countries and nations that support and lead the globalization process, naturally, maintaining that it is useful (although we witness the active resistance of certain groups toward globalization and its consequences in these societies as well). These big societies appear as the subjects, while small states and nations mainly act as objects of globalization. This is why the former, as a rule, have a positive attitude, while the latter mainly have a negative attitude toward globalization. However, this does not mean that there are no promoters and keen supporters of globalization in small societies. Such is the situation in Croatian society.

Globalization as a process mainly manifests itself by “emphasizing the domination of the global as opposed to the partial''. As such, it presupposes the construction of a new system of values that necessarily contain giving up the narrow, especially national, values and attributes. Its final consequence may be the fading out or even loss of identity. The globalization process is followed by forceful support of new and, frequently unclear, subprocesses and their values such as ''open society'', ''civil society'', ''multiethnic society'' and the like.

The catastrophic consequences of the recent war and introduction of a sort of protectorate of the international community over B&H, have put B&H Croats in an extremely difficult position, one of the most difficult in their history. This is why many scientists point out the gradual disappearance of these people. All this shows that the process of globalization and its accompanying processes further contribute to a gradual demographic weakening and political decomposition of Croats in B&H.

Dr. Dušan Žubrinić, University of Zagreb
Globalization and Croatia

The paper discusses the following subjects:

Domination of a neoliberal paradigm and domination of the USA; criminalization of the transnational financial system and the creation of narco-states.

Destruction of nature, ecological movements, biotechnics, sustainable social development, culture as singular and plural, ethnocentrism and culture.

The European Union and transition processes; a sovereign Croatia, social chaos and pariah state, civil society; Politicisation of the nation and religion; national culture with religion as the spiritual center in the public arena.

Culture and nature - yesterday, today, tomorrow.