Suchergebnisse

Small and medium-sized enterprises are more efficient, more adaptable, contribute more to employment and are more resistant to the economic crisis compared to large enterprises. The Croatian economy, like the economies of most other countries, consists mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, the overall state of these enterprises has a strong impact on the whole economy and the well-being of its members. It is in the interest of the economy that small and medium-sized enterprises grow. How they grow, what affects their growth, and whether it is possible to predict that growth has become a popular research topic. Early studies assumed that it was primarily the characteristics of the owner or manager that influenced enterprise growth. Today, characteristics of the enterprise are gaining more attention, while the characteristics of the environment are very unduly underrepresented. The aim of this study is to build a predictive model for growth, measured by sales, that considers enterprise and environment characteristics as predictors. The enterprise characteristics include innovation, export, financial ratios, and firmographic characteristics. Environment characteristics include the global crisis of 2008, membership in the European Union, and macroeconomic indicators - gross domestic product, inflation, and unemployment rate. To obtain the growth model, two datasets were used. The first was a balanced panel dataset of 13808 Croatian small and medium-sized enterprises over the period between 2001 and 2015. The second dataset included macroeconomic indicators and variables related to EU membership and the global crisis. Panel modelling techniques were used to build the models. A total of 7 models is presented, 6 of which are static models and one dynamic model. Out of the 6 static models three are fixed effects models, and three are random effects models.The models confirmed that sales growth can be predicted by using enterprise and environment characteristics. Increasing values of innovation, ...

Small and medium-sized enterprises are more efficient, more adaptable, contribute more to employment and are more resistant to the economic crisis compared to large enterprises. The Croatian economy, like the economies of most other countries, consists mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, the overall state of these enterprises has a strong impact on the whole economy and the well-being of its members. It is in the interest of the economy that small and medium-sized enterprises grow. How they grow, what affects their growth, and whether it is possible to predict that growth has become a popular research topic. Early studies assumed that it was primarily the characteristics of the owner or manager that influenced enterprise growth. Today, characteristics of the enterprise are gaining more attention, while the characteristics of the environment are very unduly underrepresented. The aim of this study is to build a predictive model for growth, measured by sales, that considers enterprise and environment characteristics as predictors. The enterprise characteristics include innovation, export, financial ratios, and firmographic characteristics. Environment characteristics include the global crisis of 2008, membership in the European Union, and macroeconomic indicators - gross domestic product, inflation, and unemployment rate. To obtain the growth model, two datasets were used. The first was a balanced panel dataset of 13808 Croatian small and medium-sized enterprises over the period between 2001 and 2015. The second dataset included macroeconomic indicators and variables related to EU membership and the global crisis. Panel modelling techniques were used to build the models. A total of 7 models is presented, 6 of which are static models and one dynamic model. Out of the 6 static models three are fixed effects models, and three are random effects models.The models confirmed that sales growth can be predicted by using enterprise and environment characteristics. Increasing values of innovation, ...

Poor reporting of biomedical research has been a persistent and prominent problem throughout modern history. In many different scientific fields, study results have failed to be reproduced and replicated, oftentimes due to incomplete reporting. When information is missing about how a study was designed, conducted, and analyzed, researchers and clinicians are unable to use results to inform health policies and clinical care. To address this issue, reporting guidelines (RG) were created to establish the minimum criteria that authors need to disclose when discussing study results. A reporting guideline for observational studies was published in 2007 which contains 22-items and guidance for authors of case-control, cohort, and cross-sectional studies. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement is supported by many journals and editorial groups, however, at quite low rates. Lack of awareness is widespread and it is unclear what authors think about STROBE. Furthermore, while STROBE been expanded upon for specific fields and methodologies through the creation of "extensions" – little is known about perceptions towards these documents, their content, or usefulness. In order to better implement STROBE and reporting guidelines like it, research is needed into current processes by authors and how their environment affects their work. The work in this dissertation was guided by the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) knowledge translation strategy. This approach looks at the 1) evidence, 2) context, and 3) facilitators in order to implement research successfully. Transforming STROBE from simply a reporting guideline into an educational tool required investigation into these three facets. I began by investigating the content in the STROBE extensions to identify strengths and weaknesses in the checklist items. Results found that the content in the STROBE extensions is problematic as it is sometimes redundant – potentially indicating a poor understanding of the concepts within STROBE or issues with its content. Concurrently, I determined the endorsement rates of the extensions to establish the publishing context in which authors are working. I found that journals are largely not endorsing STROBE and the language that they use is ambiguous and vague. The STROBE extensions are endorsed at extremely low rates or not at all. Next, I assessed researcher's awareness of, experiences with, and attitudes towards the STROBE checklist. This established the facilitators, timing and motivators (context), and perceptions (evidence) of use. The second project found that there is a large disagreement regarding the level of specificity desired in STROBE and its usefulness. Generally, authors are not opposed to using it but there is often no strong motivating force. Their coauthors do not use it and journals are not requiring it. Authors also hold some internal views that are detrimental to the promotion of STROBE, such as the over-confidence in one's abilities. The work from the first two projects provided the content and support for an educational intervention that is integrated within the writing process, accessible by a worldwide audience, and open-source and editable. It is built using R and is open-source and editable via GitHub and the repository is publicly launched alongside this dissertation. ; Les publications dans le domaine de la recherche biomédicale qui rapportent les méthodes et les résultats de façon incomplète sont un problème connu qui persiste tout au long de l'histoire moderne. Dans de nombreux domaines scientifiques les résultats des études n'ont pas pu être reproduits et répliqués, souvent en raison de rapports incomplets. Lorsqu'il n'y a pas suffisamment d'information sur la façon dont une étude a été conçue, réalisée et analysée, les chercheurs et les cliniciens sont incapables d'utiliser les résultats pour informer les politiques de santé et les soins cliniques. Pour faire face à ce problème, des lignes directrices pour la rédaction des rapports ont été élaborées afin d'établir les éléments essentiels que les auteurs doivent rapporter lors de la discussion des résultats d'une étude. La ligne directrice pour la rédaction des rapports d'études observationnelles a été crée en 2007 : STROBE (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology), qui contient 22 éléments et des lignes directrices à l'intention des auteurs d'études cas-témoin, de cohortes et d'études transversales, est soutenue par de nombreuses revues et de nombreux groupes éditoriaux, mais à des taux assez faibles. Le manque de sensibilisation est répandu et on ne sait pas très bien ce que les auteurs pensent de STROBE. En outre, bien que STROBE ait été développé pour des domaines et des méthodologies spécifiques par la création de "extensions", on ne connait pas bien les perceptions de ces documents, leur contenu ou leur utilité. Afin de mieux mettre en oeuvre STROBE ses lignes directrices, il est nécessaire de mener des recherches sur la façon de faire des auteurs et sur la façon dont leur environnement affecte leur travail. Le travail de cette thèse a été guidé par la stratégie d'application des connaissances de Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS). Cette approche tient compte 1) des données probantes, 2) du contexte et 3) des facilitateurs afin de mener à bien la recherche. La transformation de STROBE, qui n'était qu'une simple ligne directrice, en un outil éducatif a nécessité de recherches sur ces trois axes. J'ai commencé par examiner le contenu des extensions STROBE pour identifier les forces et les faiblesses des éléments de la liste de contrôle. Les résultats ont révélé que le contenu des extensions STROBE est problématique, car il est parfois redondant, ce qui pourrait indiquer une mauvaise compréhension des concepts au sein de STROBE ou des problèmes liés à son contenu. Parallèlement, j'ai déterminé les taux d'approbation de ces extensions afin d'établir le contexte de publication dans lequel les auteurs travaillent. J'ai constaté que les revues ne promeuvent généralement pas STROBE et que le langage qu'elles utilisent est ambigu et vague. Les extensions STROBE sont approuvées à des taux extrêmement bas, ou ne sont pas approuvé du tout. Ensuite, j'ai évalué la connaissance, les expériences et les attitudes des chercheurs à l'égard de la liste de vérification STROBE. Cela a permis d'établir les facilitateurs, le timing et les facteurs de motivation (contexte) et les perceptions (preuves) de son utilisation. Le deuxième projet a révélé qu'il existe un grand désaccord quant au niveau de spécificité souhaité du STROBE et à son utilité. En général, les auteurs ne s'opposent pas à son utilisation, mais souvent il n'y a pas une forte motivation. Leurs coauteurs ne l'utilisent pas et les journaux n'en ont pas besoin. Les auteurs peuvent également avoir des perceptions qui nuisent à la promotion du STROBE, comme la confiance excessive dans leurs capacités. Les travaux des deux premiers projets ont fourni le contenu et le soutien à la creéation d'une intervention éducative intégrée dans le processus d'écriture, accessible à un public mondial, open-source et éditable.

Promjenom paradigme visokoga obrazovanja (VO) u globalnom kontekstu javna se sveučilišta sve više okreću razvoju internacionalnih aktivnosti. Internacionalizacija može predstavljati komparativnu prednost sveučilišta, koja razvijena kroz specifičnu inovativnu stratešku odrednicu (nišu), može postati osnova sveučilišne politike koja se provodi i implementira u različitim policy arenama. Što je sveučilište inovativnije u izboru i razvijanju ove specifične niše, ono ima veće razvojne mogućnosti te postaje kompetitivnije. Cilj je ovoga doktorskoga rada istražiti utjecaj globalizacije na internacionalizaciju javnih europskih sveučilišta. Pritom se u glavnoj tezi rada tvrdi da se promjenom paradigme visokoga obrazovanja u globalnom kontekstu javna sveučilišta sve više okreću razvoju internacionalnih aktivnosti (npr. Knight, 2008; Teichler, 2009; Kehm, 2003; Van der Wende, 2001) ali pritom odabiru različite specifične strategije (niše) internacionalizacije, dok se u postavljenoj hipotezi kaže da razlike između nacionalnih konteksta i načina na koji države upravljaju financijskom i ekonomskom krizom utječu na razlike u strategijama internacionalizacije pojedinih javnih europskih sveučilišta. Nacionalni kontekst pritom obuhvaća različitosti u tradiciji, kulturi i povijesnoj ulozi države u kojoj sveučilište djeluje, što sve utječe na razlike u nacionalnim strategijama internacionalizacije i strategijama koje u ovom području razvijaju javna sveučilišta. Budući da u literaturi ne postoji opće prihvaćena definicija globalizacije, internacionalizacije i europeizacije u području visokoga obrazovanja, niti suglasje o njihovom međusobnom odnosu te indikatorima koji ih determiniraju, provođenju komparativne analize triju studija slučaja u svrhu istraživanja utjecaja globalizacije na internacionalizaciju javnih europskih sveučilišta u ovom je doktorskom radu prethodilo empirijsko istraživanje putem delfi metode među stručnjacima širom svijeta. Minimalne definicije triju pojmova i indikatori globalizacije i internacionalizacije u području VO-a, dobiveni empirijskim istraživanjem provedenim putem delfi metode na temelju konsenzusa među ekspertima, poslužili su kao osnova komparativne analize triju studija slučaja (tri sveučilišta – Beč, Lausanne, Granada; u trima državama – Austrija, Švicarska, Španjolska), koja je provedena na temelju istraživačkog modela posebno osmišljenog za potrebe ovoga doktorskoga rada. Na temelju uvida dobivenih komparacijom triju studija slučaja u radu je utvrđen utjecaj globalizacije na internacionalizaciju javnih europskih sveučilišta, čime je potvrđena glavna teza ovoga doktorskoga rada. Također, analizom je utvrđeno i da su različiti nacionalni sustavi VO-a i specifične VO institucije na različit način odgovorili na promjene nastale djelovanjem faktora s globalne i međunarodne razine, koje se vezuju uz zadnji val globalizacije. Sukladno tome, moguće je reći i da su različitosti u prilagodbi ovim promjenama utjecale i na različitost sveučilišnih politika internacionalizacije te na različitost strateških dokumenata koje su u ovom području razvila tri analizirana sveučilišta. S obzirom na činjenicu da se nacionalni kontekst u hipotezi vezivao uz različitosti u tradiciji, kulturi i povijesnoj ulozi države, zbog čega je u analizi trebalo provjeriti je li moguće utvrditi poveznice između specifičnih strateških odrednica (niša) internacionalizacije u ovom području na Sveučilištu u Beču s tradicijom i politikom Austro-Ugarske Monarhije, na Sveučilištu u Lausanni s politikom neutralnosti, a na Sveučilištu u Granadi sa španjolskom kolonijalnom politikom prema Sjevernoj Africi, na temelju analize ovakva izravna poveznica u službenim dokumentima nije utvrđena. Ipak, kroz intervjue i boravak u trima sveučilišnim sredinama, utvrđeno je da je specifične strateške odrednice internacionalizacije moguće vezivati uz pojedine karakteristike koje se mogu smatrati povijesnim, kulturalnim i tradicijskim 'ostacima' ili tekovinama spomenutih koncepata, koji su danas, pretvoreni u nova, suvremena obilježja, ipak prisutni u samoj srži triju sveučilišta. Zaključno, kroz uvide dobivene komparativnim istraživanjem putem istraživačkog modela utvrđen je utjecaj financijske i ekonomske krize na sveučilišta u Španjolskoj, što je onda bilo moguće povezati i s provedbom sveučilišne politike u području internacionalizacije te aktivnostima i inicijativama Sveučilišta u Granadi u okviru strategije internacionalizacije, što se posebno očituje kroz izrazitu okrenutost programima za koje postoji osigurano financiranje na EU razini (npr. Erasmus+ program). Suprotno tome, uvidima nije utvrđeno postojanje utjecaja financijske i ekonomske krize na strategije internacionalizacije Sveučilišta u Beču i Sveučilišta u Lausanni te na njihovo djelovanje u ovom području. ; Although according to the opinion of many researchers universities have been among the most globalised institutions (Marginson and Considine, 2000: 8) historically, in last decades universities have had to adapt to many changes under the pressure of the last wave of globalisation (e.g. increased competitiveness, high importance of rankings, new forms of international activities, use of new communication technologies in teaching and learning, etc.). The processes that universities use to adapt to the pressure of globalisation tend to include: new strategic determinants and policies, new organisational and governance models in order to achieve greater competitiveness and better rankings results, the search for alternative and additional sources of financing due to the decrease in public funding allocation, the development of new concepts and activities with an international dimension, the establishment of new partnerships, the development of various models for international collaboration, etc. (for example, see publications by Frølich, Gornitzka, Kehm, Knight, Maassen, Neave, Stensaker, Teichler, Van der Wende, etc.). The aim of this PhD thesis is to explore the impact of globalisation on the internationalisation of European public universities. This primarily includes verifying the main thesis that by changing the paradigm of higher education (HE) in the global context, public universities are increasingly turning to the development of international activities (eg. Knight, 2008; Teichler, 2009; Kehm, 2003; Van der Wende, 2001), but they choose different internationalisation strategies. Internationalisation can be a comparative advantage of the university which, developed through specific innovative strategic orientation (niche), becomes the framework for the official university policy implemented in different political arenas and communicated to stakeholders at all levels. This niche can be based on tradition, culture and the historical role of the state in which the university operates. More the university becomes innovative in the selection and development of this niche, it gets better development opportunities and it can achieve greater global competitiveness. Therefore, this project is secondly oriented on verifying the hypothesis that differences between national contexts xi (tradition, culture and historical role of the state) and the ways in which countries manage the economic and financial crisis, affect the different selection of internationalisation strategies of European public universities. Since scientific understanding of internationalisation have changed over time, this term is today widely understood as a broad umbrella term that covers many dimensions, components, approaches and activities (de Wit and Hunter, 2015: 45). However, in the literature there is no specific answer what is exactly globalisation in HE, what are the pressures of globalisation in HE field, what do we mean by the internationalisation of universities and where and how does Europeanisation fit in. Literature has offered various definitions of these three terms and their mutual relations (for example, see publications by Altbach, de Wit, Knight, Marginson, Rhodes, Robertson, Scott, Stromquist, Sawir, Teichler, Van der Wende), and the researchers in the field of HE adopted various approaches to its operationalisation (see Knight, 2008; Teichler, 2004, 2009; Marginson i Van der Wende, 2007; de Wit, 2010, etc.) Although this PhD project is dealing with the impact of globalisation on the internationalisation of European public universities, a theoretical concept of Europeanisation is also included in the theoretical framework. The Bologna process, which highly promotes internationalisation policies and efforts, as well as other European initiatives in HE, some researchers consider to be linked with the Europeanisation in HE and therefore all three terms are analysed and discussed in this project. There are two gaps in literature that this PhD project addresses: the problem with the lack of generally accepted definitions of globalisation, internationalisation and Europeanisation and their mutual relations in HE, as well as their indicators; and the lack of projects which use analysis of the role of the context in HE field in order to explore differences between individual national (and subnational) policies. This PhD thesis had three main objectives: (1) to explore the impact of globalisation on the internationalisation of European public universities; (2) to analyse the factors that determine and redefine the characteristics of internationalisation of universities and factors that indicate the degree of policy change in strategies of HE institutions and national HE policies; (3) to explore the differences in national contexts and ways in which countries 'filter' globalisation pressures and the impact of financial and economic crisis, which affects the characteristics of national HE policies and university strategies in the field of internationalisation. In order to fulfil these goals, triangulation of literature review and empirical research was used. Therefore, in this PhD project, two empirical researches were conducted: a Delphi method research and a comparison of three case studies.

Vlada demokratskog jedinstva nastala je u početcima otvorene velikosrpske agresije na Hrvatsku, ali i usred krize strateško-obrambene koncepcije. Tuđmanova politika čekanja i kupovanja vremena te izbjegavanja frontalnog i općeg sukoba s JNA, doveli su do javnog kritiziranja njegove obrambene politike od strane oporbe i dijela HDZ-a. U okolnostima sveobuhvatne agresije i, prema nekim navodima, očekivanja raskola u hrvatskoj politici, sredinom srpnja počela je rekonstrukcija postojeće Vlade. Novi mandatar Franjo Gregurić okupljao je kadrove za sastavljanje Vlade, a u tom razdoblju javila se ideja o potrebi proširenja Vlade i nekim nestranačkim kandidatima pa i predstavnicima oporbe. U samo dva-tri dana pregovora postignut je nacionalni konsenzus i potpisan Sporazum saborskih stranaka, čime je stvorena Vlada demokratskog jedinstva. Vlada se sastojala od devet parlamentarnih stranaka, od kojih je osam imalo svoje predstavnike u Vladi. Unatoč činjenici da je 1990-ih godina u Hrvatskoj na snazi bio polupredsjednički sustav koji je predsjedniku Republike davao prilično široke ovlasti, Vlada je na području obrambene i vanjske politike pokazivala određeni stupanj samostalnosti. Prema nekim tvrdnjama Vrhovno državno vijeće je ograničavalo slobodu djelovanja Vlade tako da se za svog jednogodišnjeg mandata Vlada trebala često boriti za veću samostalnost i slobodu djelovanja. S druge strane, Vlada je imala potpunu slobodu u unutarnjim poslovima, primjerice u njezinoj politici prema prognanicima i izbjeglicama, kao i u gospodarskoj politici. Unatoč tvrdnjama o "nestanku" oporbe u vrijeme te višestranačke vlade, s obzirom na to da su potpisivanjem Sporazuma o Vladi demokratskog jedinstva saborske stranke od oporbenih formalno postale koalicijske, dostupni izvori navode na drukčiji zaključak. Naime, predstavnici pojedinih oporbenih i ujedno koalicijskih stranaka od listopada 1991. godine često su kritizirali neke odluke vlasti, koje su se posebno odnosile na vanjsku politiku. Predmet njihovih kritika bile su ujedno Vladine i ...

Vlada demokratskog jedinstva nastala je u početcima otvorene velikosrpske agresije na Hrvatsku, ali i usred krize strateško-obrambene koncepcije. Tuđmanova politika čekanja i kupovanja vremena te izbjegavanja frontalnog i općeg sukoba s JNA, doveli su do javnog kritiziranja njegove obrambene politike od strane oporbe i dijela HDZ-a. U okolnostima sveobuhvatne agresije i, prema nekim navodima, očekivanja raskola u hrvatskoj politici, sredinom srpnja počela je rekonstrukcija postojeće Vlade. Novi mandatar Franjo Gregurić okupljao je kadrove za sastavljanje Vlade, a u tom razdoblju javila se ideja o potrebi proširenja Vlade i nekim nestranačkim kandidatima pa i predstavnicima oporbe. U samo dva-tri dana pregovora postignut je nacionalni konsenzus i potpisan Sporazum saborskih stranaka, čime je stvorena Vlada demokratskog jedinstva. Vlada se sastojala od devet parlamentarnih stranaka, od kojih je osam imalo svoje predstavnike u Vladi. Unatoč činjenici da je 1990-ih godina u Hrvatskoj na snazi bio polupredsjednički sustav koji je predsjedniku Republike davao prilično široke ovlasti, Vlada je na području obrambene i vanjske politike pokazivala određeni stupanj samostalnosti. Prema nekim tvrdnjama Vrhovno državno vijeće je ograničavalo slobodu djelovanja Vlade tako da se za svog jednogodišnjeg mandata Vlada trebala često boriti za veću samostalnost i slobodu djelovanja. S druge strane, Vlada je imala potpunu slobodu u unutarnjim poslovima, primjerice u njezinoj politici prema prognanicima i izbjeglicama, kao i u gospodarskoj politici. Unatoč tvrdnjama o "nestanku" oporbe u vrijeme te višestranačke vlade, s obzirom na to da su potpisivanjem Sporazuma o Vladi demokratskog jedinstva saborske stranke od oporbenih formalno postale koalicijske, dostupni izvori navode na drukčiji zaključak. Naime, predstavnici pojedinih oporbenih i ujedno koalicijskih stranaka od listopada 1991. godine često su kritizirali neke odluke vlasti, koje su se posebno odnosile na vanjsku politiku. Predmet njihovih kritika bile su ujedno Vladine i Tuđmanove uredbe sa zakonskom snagom. Vlada je posljednjih šest mjeseci svog mandata bila izložena pritiscima oporbe i dijela HDZ-a. Međunarodno priznanje Hrvatske i priprema za nove parlamentarne i predsjedničke izbore uzrokovali su pritiske na Vladu demokratskog jedinstva, što se prije svega očitovalo u odlascima određenih nestranačkih i oporbenih ministara, a kasnije dovelo i do velike travanjske rekonstrukcije Vlade u kojoj je u znatnoj mjeri promijenjen njezin sastav u korist HDZ-a. Vlada demokratskog jedinstva nastavila je djelovati do kolovoza, kad je nakon novih parlamentarnih izbora formirana nova, jednostranačka HDZ-ova vlada. ; After the democratic elections in Croatia in the spring of 1990 and the victory of Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the new Croatian Government faced the Serbian insurgency which expressed approval for the Milošević's Greater-Serbian policy. The insurgency was supported by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) that had disarmed Croatia just after the elections in May 1990. In the summer of 1991, the Yugoslav crisis aggravated. Previous occasional and sporadic conflicts between Croatian police forces and the Serbian insurgents escalated into the open aggression of Serbia, Montenegro and JNA against Croatia. In such conditions, Croatian leadership was conflicted about the defense policy. The disagreement caused the appearance of some fractions in the parliament parties, especially in HDZ. Some participants of Croatian politics in the early 1990s today assert that there were at least two main fractions in HDZ – the "moderate" one that supported Tuđman's policy based on avoiding head-on conflict with JNA, and the "radical" one that wanted to declare JNA and Serbia the aggressors on Croatia and to fight back. Some claim that the "radical" fraction even wanted to bring down Tuđman and replace him with someone else. There isn't enough evidence to verify such statements. It probably was the case of dissatisfaction with the situation on the battlefield. Some write about wide discontent and criticism of Tuđman regarding his defense policy, which was evident at the meetings of the main Board of HDZ in the middle of July, Supreme State Council in the end of July and parliamentary session in the beginning of August 1991. Regarding the attitude towards Tuđman, there is a widespread and simplified opinion that his party turned its back on him and that the opposition expressed him support. Exactly the opposite, the opposition, especially heads of the parties Croatian Social-Liberal Party (HSLS), Croatian democratic party (HDS), and Croatian People's party (HNS) expressed equal, or even more severe, criticism of Tuđman's defense policy. In that kind of atmosphere, the reconstruction of the Government resulted in the national consensus – Democratic Unity Government was formed. It was the third democratic Government and the first multiparty Government after the democratic elections. It is an example of a Grand coalition formed during the war in many countries. The main goal of the new Government was to create more effective defense policy that would gather all the necessary political and military structures and establish the unified command structure. That resulted in entering of the Crisis Staff into the Government and forming of the General Staff of the Croatian Army. In the first two months of its mandate, the Government proposed and adopted measures for emergency readiness in order to organize life in the crisis areas. One of those measures included the blockade of the JNA barracks which Tuđman approved September 13 1991. With the blockade, the previous measured and careful attitude of the Croatian leadership towards JNA shifted from passive to active. One part of the research discussed the role of the Government in defense of the cities of Vukovar and Dubrovnik. Regarding Vukovar, there are some controversies embodied in widespread claims that Croatian leadership "betrayed" and "sacrificed" Vukovar by not sending enough weaponry and ammunition. However, available sources, primarily transcripts and records of the Government sessions, suggest that Vukovar was the priority in the supply of weaponry and ammunition. Furthermore, some members of the Government and other representatives of the Croatian leadership visited Vukovar and Eastern-Slavonian battlefield. In the context of all the crisis areas on the Croatian battlefield, Vukovar was the most dominant topic at the Government sessions. At the session held November 17, the Government adopted a series of decisions pertaining to the protection of Vukovar civilians. In the appeals to the international organizations, Vukovar and Dubrovnik were the two most mentioned cities. As was the case with Vukovar, the Government sent weaponry and other military equipment, transported humanitarian aid to Dubrovnik and appealed for help. It is worth mentioning convoy "Libertas" which supplied humanitarian aid to the surrounded Dubrovnik and broke the naval blockade. Also, some Government members came by the convoy to Dubrovnik to show their support. At the end of November 1991, Government sent three of its ministers to Dubrovnik where they had to represent the Government and facilitate its operation in Southern Dalmatia, maintain contacts with the international organizations, negotiate with the JNA representatives and maintain communication with the Croatian Army. The three ministers Davorin Rudolf, Petar Kriste and Ivan Cifrić were situated in Dubrovnik during its heaviest attack and the day after they agreed to a truce with the JNA representatives. The Government supported the negotiations between the city military and civil representatives and JNA because it wanted to procrastinate with the attacks and buy some time to strengthen the military and international position of Croatia. On the other hand, the Government and Tuđman strongly opposed to intentions of "demilitarization" of Dubrovnik which would surrender its arms to the JNA under the supervision of representatives of the international community, i.e. surrender of the city to the aggressor. Second most important task of the Government was the struggle for international recognition. The establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed all the problems of the political structures that young democratic state had to face. Such problems refer to lack of experience as well as technical and financial resources. The Government cooperated with the European Community and the United Nations. Although, Tuđman was the designer of the Forreign Affairs and the Government often had to put into action his decisions, during the Conference of peace in Hague it showed some differentiation, such as declaring it would abort the attending of the Conference unless JNA left Croatia. After the arms embargo in September 1991, the Croatian Government deprived of the right of representation of Croatia in the UN Budimir Lončar and Darko Šilović, due to their role in instigating the decision of the UN regarding embargo. The Government Memorandum, addressed to ministerial Council of the EC in November 22, stated that economic sanctions of the Roman declaration of November 8 would affect mostly Croatia. Such view showed a certain degree of independence of the Democratic Unity Government. The Government accepted the Vance plan but argued the methods of its implementation. The activity of the Government in Forreign Affairs reflects in numerous official and unofficial meetings and encounters with various politicians and statesmen. The main task of the Government members was to appeal to stop the war and recognize Croatia, but they also had to struggle against Serbian propaganda which spread lies about rehabilitation of Ustasha and Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and portrayed president Tuđman and the Croatian Government as anti-Semitic. In that context, some think that the Croatian Government and leadership in general, provided insufficient to the international public. In this research, I also analyzed social politics of the Democratic Unity Government, that is, politics towards Croatian displaced persons and refugees as well as Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees during 1991 and 1992. At the very beginning of the aggression against Croatia, new Croatian Government had to face refugee crisis. Forcible relocations of the Croatian civilians, among which some moved into safe areas in Croatia, while others left the country, induced Government to, with the term "refugee", which refers to those persons who had to emigrate their own country, introduce another one – "displaced persons", which referred to those civilians who hadn't left Croatia, only were displaced to some other territory within the country. Government also adopted some measures to secure accommodation for the displaced persons and refugees by emptying hotels and resorts and founding of the Office for the displaced persons and refugees in November 1991. Funds for the displaced persons and refugees Government secured mostly from the state budget, while all requests for financial help from the international community were unsuccessful. Consequently, in that period Croatia funded also Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees from its budget, while the international community helped only with humanitarian help. In this chapter the Government activity in prevention of persecution of the civilian population was discussed through several examples. In that aspect, its activities were mostly limited to addressing the international community. In the case of Ilok, from where in October 1991 approximately 10.000 people were banished, Government founded the Commission of the Parliament and Government to try to stop the persecution, but it failed to achieve its goal, since the persecution had already begun. After the fall and occupation of Vukovar in November 1991, the Government organized evacuation of approximately 15.000 people, but it was carried out only partially. The Government didn't have control over the war zone, which means that its opportunities for safe and efficient evacuation were highly limited. One of the main plans for the displaced persons and refugees was Government's Return Program, which began its realization only after the end of the war and peaceful reintegration of Podunavlje in 1998. Economic politics of the Democratic Unity Government was reflected in its independence from Serbia. Following measures and decisions of the previous Croatian Government, on the day of its establishment, Democratic Unity Government broke off economic relations with Serbia, however only partially. Those companies with strong business ties with some companies in Serbia, had liberty to continue their cooperation. The export to Serbia and Montenegro was limited only to some "strategic" raw materials and products, such as petroleum. The Government also introduced its own currency, hrvatski dinar (HRD). One of the main achievements of the Government was that it avoided the transit to "war economy", in spite of the increased military spending. Since priority of the Croatian Government was determined by war, its activities gravitated towards repair of the enormous war damage in transport, utility and residential infrastructure. In the end of 1991 the Government established the Ministry of Reconstruction, while in the first half of 1992 the Government composed the Reconstruction Program and its Financial Plan that was adopted by the Croatian Parliament in June 1992. Nevertheless, because of the status quo imposed by the UNPROFOR, located on the occupied territories in Croatia, the reconstruction of the country began after the war had ended in 1995. Analyzed activities of the Government in the Defense policy, Foreign Affairs, as well as its Social and Economic policy raise the question of the Government's independence regarding Tuđman and Croatian Parliament. Considering the semi-presidential system, the Government was the executive authority of the president of the Republic and Croatian Parliament. Government also had legislative powers authorized by the Parliament, because in the wartime a great number of important decisions had to be made in a very short amount of time. The Government was not only the executive body of the President, but it also functioned as his close associate. That manifests mostly through the measures for emergency readiness in August and September 1991. Sometimes, the Government had to step out of its Constitutional powers if developments on the battlefield required it to, for example regarding the decisions about Vukovar, November 17 1991. Regarding activities of the Government in the researched areas, it can be concluded that Democratic Unity Government had a high level of autonomy, taking into account the existing semi-presidential system. Nevertheless, the powers of the Government were limited in the Defense policy and Forregin Affairs, while on the other hand, it had complete autonomy in Internal Affairs, in this case, in its Social and Economic politics. An issue that requires special consideration in this research regards the opposition in Croatia during the mandate of the Democratic Unity Government. Some claim that with forming of the multiparty Government, the opposition in Croatia "disappeared". The remark is understandable considering that all the parliament parties signed the Agreement of Democratic Unity Government, which marked their transition from the opposition to coalition partners. But, did the opposition really "disappeared" form Croatian political life? Numerous public appearances of various representatives of opposition parties and parties in general, indicate otherwise. Activity of the opposition at the Parliament sessions from October 1991 to May and June 1992 shows agility of the opposition life in Croatia. From the beginning of the Democratic Unity Government in August till October, the opposition parties didn't raise any questions in public about some decisions of the Croatian leadership, but from October began severe criticism towards Tuđman and the Government. Discontent was expressed primarily to the acceptance of the Carrington's arrangement in Hague. Criticism of Foreign Affairs arose also after the acceptance of the Vance plan. In the last six months of its mandate, the Government was exposed to various pressures from the opposition and from one part of the HDZ, which reinforced especially after the international recognition at the beginning of 1992. Some opposition and nonpartisan ministers left the Government, whereas in April 1992 there was the reconstruction of the Government which changed significantly the personnel composition of the Government, resulting in the increase of the HDZ members. It was obvious that it was not the exact same Government from the beginning of August 1991 and that its end was near. In the new elections held August 2 1992, the HDZ defeated its opponents and ten days later, new, One-party Government was formed. Establishment and presented activities of the Democratic Unity Government is the proof of the democratic system in Republic of Croatia at the beginning of 1990s and counter-argument for theses about Tuđman's authoritarian style of rule. A multiparty Government, whose prominent members were opposition representatives, couldn't have been formed in an undemocratic or authoritarian system. Forming of the Grand Coalition merely one year after HDZ had won the elections, provides a valuable contribution to the study of Tuđman's policy, shows larger picture of the Croatian leadership and opens the door for further research of Croatian political life in the early 1990s.

In recent years, several national and European strategic documents have recognized the need for closer cooperation among education, businesses and other stakeholders in order to ensure better graduate employability. In this context, it is important to consider not only the quality of study programmes, but also an integrated system for providing support to students within higher education institutions (HEIs). The main goal of this research was to explore how different elements of student support systems are currently organized at European universities and to develop a strategic framework for supporting higher education graduates' early careers within HEIs, as well as to propose a maturity model focused on study programmes in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT). The research was carried out in several steps involving predominantly qualitative and, to a lesser extent, quantitative research methods, following a five-step methodology for maturity model development based on the design science research paradigm. The final scientific contribution of this thesis is a comprehensive and reliable maturity model for supporting graduates' early careers within HEIs, based on the strategic framework which fulfils the requirements for both relevance and rigor in design science research. This final maturity model was tested at four HEIs in Croatia and demonstrates significant social contributions in the form of guidelines and recommendations for enhancing the maturity of the HEIs in Croatia for study programmes in the field of ICT. In a broad sense, the results of this research affect relevant stakeholders, including students, alumni, employers and HEIs, which can use the research results not only as tools for the problem-solving of issues related to graduates' employment, but also as guidelines for creating stimulating policies on the individual, institutional and national levels. ; Posljednjih godina nekoliko europskih i nacionalnih strateških dokumenata ističe potrebu za boljim povezivanjem obrazovnog sustava s gospodarskim sektorom i ostalim interesnim dionicima, kako bi se osigurala bolja zapošljivost diplomanata. U tom kontekstu važno je uzeti u obzir, ne samo kvalitetu studijskih programa, već cjelokupan integrirani sustav pružanja podrške studentima u okviru visokih učilišta (VU). Glavni cilj ovog istraživanja bio je istražiti način na koji su različiti elementi sustava pružanja podrške studentima u ranom razvoju karijera organizirani na europskim sveučilištima te razviti strateški okvir za pružanje podrške diplomantima u ranom razvoju karijera u okviru VU, uz prijedlog pripadajućeg model zrelosti usmjerenog na studijske programe u području informacijsko-komunikacijskih tehnologija (IKT). Istraživanje je provedeno kroz nekoliko koraka koji uključuju prvenstveno kvalitativne istraživačke metode te u manjoj mjeri kvantitativne metode, a slijede metodologiju za izgradnju modela zrelosti u pet koraka temeljenu na principima istraživačke paradigme znanosti o dizajniranju. Konačan znanstveni doprinos ove disertacije je sveobuhvatan i pouzdan model zrelosti za pružanje podrške diplomantima u ranom razvoju karijera u okviru VU temeljen na strateškom okviru koji zadovoljava zahtjeve relevantnosti i rigoroznosti znanosti o dizajniranju. Konačan model zrelosti testiran na četiri VU u Republici Hrvatskoj (RH) te pokazuje značajan društveni doprinos u obliku smjernica i preporuka za povećanje razine zrelosti VU u RH, za studijske programe u području IKT-a. U širem kontekstu ovo istraživanje ima utjecaj na relevantne dionike, uključujući studente, alumnije, poslodavce i VU koji mogu koristiti rezultate istraživanja kao alat za djelomično rješavanje problema zapošljivosti diplomanata, ali također i kao smjernice za kreiranje poticajnih politika na individualnoj, institucionalnoj i nacionalnoj razini.

The aim of this dissertation is to describe and explain the variation in the reform of implementation management in Croatia by looking at various social services. While the reform was based on principles of effectiveness, efficiency and participation in one segment of those services, in the other segment it was used for development of partisan patronage networks. While combining comparative strategy with the process tracing method, the dissertation focuses on six social services and relies on interviews with policy actors, official documents and statistical data to map and explain different reform outcomes. By using comparable case strategy, dissertation identifies two factors that led to differences in implementation of reformed social services and affected the capacity of political parties to use social policy reform as an instrument of patronage. Sufficiently institutionalized setting in which services were provided prior to the reform, with both dense working procedures and professional standards, reduces the ability of political parties to integrate political patronage into implementation management. In the case of a minimal or non-existent institutional setting, the involvement of service beneficiaries or actors advocating their interests constrains possibilities for party patronage. While employing the process-tracing method, the dissertation uses the notion of political metagovernance as a conceptual starting point and crafts a causal mechanism that can account for the distortive impact of partisan patronage on the reform of service provision. By analysing the case in which comparative analysis indicated distortions in the service provision, it reveals how the patronage-driven political executive inspired by network-based forms of governance failed to move traditional service provision into novel implementation mode but overly politicized the role of metagovernors instead while using the reform for the selective distribution of public funding and employment of party supporters as service providers. ; Svrha ovog doktorskog rada je analizirati ishode reforme javnog menadžmenta u Hrvatskoj razmatrajući implementaciju socijalne politike. Dok se u jednom segmentu socijalnih usluga reforma temeljila na principima djelotvornosti, štedljivosti i sudjelovanja građana, u drugom segmentu se iskoristila za omogućavanje stranačkog pokroviteljstva. Doktorat uspoređuje šest socijalnih usluga koje su bile obuhvaćene reformom, a jednu dodatno istražuje analizom procesa. Obje analize temelje se na intervjuima s akterima uključenima u dizajn i provedbu izabranih usluga, službenim dokumentima te na dokumentima i službenim podacima vezanima za provedbu izabranih socijalnih usluga. Komparativom analizom izabranih usluga, doktorat pokazuje da je uslijed reforme došlo do različitih oblika implementacijskog menadžmenta te identificira dva činitelja koji su doveli do razlika u implementacijskom menadžmentu izabranih usluga i koji su utjecali na mogućnost političkih stanaka da koriste reformu upravljanja za pružanje socijalnih usluga u svrhu političkog pokroviteljstva. Razvijen institucionalni okvir u kojem su usluge bile pružane prije reforme, karakteriziran gustim procedurama i profesionalnim standardima, pokazao se kao činitelj koji umanjuje mogućnost političkih stanaka da političko pokroviteljstvo ugrade u menadžment pružanjem javnih usluga. U uslugama u kojima je taj okvir bio nedostatno razvijen, uključenost samih korisnika u dizajn i pružanje usluge i/ili postojanje aktera koji zagovaraju i/ili štite interese korisnika pokazao se kao ograničavajući činitelj za stranačko pokroviteljstvo. Uz primjenu metode analize procesa, doktorski rad iskoristio je koncept političkog meta-upravljanja kao temelj za izgradnju kauzalnog mehanizma kojim se može objasniti način na koji je stranačko pokroviteljstvo negativno utjecalo na reformu upravljanja pružanjem usluga i pervertiralo je. Analizirajući slučaj u kojem je komparativna analiza ukazala na prisutnost "pervertiranog", politički opterećenog upravljanja pružanjem usluge, doktorat pokazuje mehanizam kojim je izvršna vlast politizirala reformski proces i iskoristila ga za favorizirajuću alokaciju javnih sredstava te zapošljavanje članova i podražavatelja stranke na vlasti.

Baski, manjinski narod sa svojim zasebnim jezikom i kulturom, stoljećima je podijeljen između Španjolske i Francuske. U Francuskoj Baski nemaju status manjine ni institucionalnu autonomiju. U Španjolskoj, međutim, nakon teškog razdoblja Francove diktature i preustrojstva Španjolske 1978. na kvazifederalnom načelu, španjolski Baski dobivaju priznanje nacionalne posebnosti te znatnu institucionalnu autonomiju kroz tzv. Autonomnu zajednicu (AZ) Baskiju. Unatoč zadovoljavanju većine aspiracija Baska u Španjolskoj, u španjolskoj Baskiji i dalje je prisutan secesionizam, dok taj fenomen u francuskom dijelu Baskije gotovo da i ne postoji. Cilj disertacije bio je, binarnom studijom i dizajnom najsličnijih slučajeva, koristeći se kvalitativno-kvantitativnom metodom, istražiti je li autonomija, umjesto zadovoljavanja španjolskih Baska statusom u okviru Španjolske, pridonijela jačanju njihova nacionalizma i secesionizma. Ovi fenomeni obrađeni su kroz tri prizme: izgradnju subdržavnih institucija, izgradnju subdržavnih identiteta i izgradnju lokalnih elita. Uočeno je da je autonomija u španjolskoj Baskiji pridonijela izgradnji protodržave, od demokratski izabranog Parlamenta, preko izvršne vlasti, do djelomično izgrađenog sigurnosnog aparata. Iako usporen rascjepima u baskijskom društvu uslijed demografske heterogenosti, na djelu je proces izgradnje subdržavne baskijske nacije. Autonomija je omogućila i izgradnju lokalnih elita, dolazak baskijskih nacionalista na vlast, kao i stranačko nadmetanje u baskijskom nacionalizmu. Sve to omogućilo je i da AZ Baskija krene izrazito "baskijskim" smjerom. Ona je potencijalno samo korak do pune neovisnosti, kojoj nedostaje još "prozor mogućnosti", koji se dogodio npr. raspadom bivših komunističkih federacija. U francuskoj Baskiji ne postoji teritorijalna, odnosno institucionalna autonomija. Ne dajući im "prozor mogućnosti" za razvoj i jačanje, građanska i unitarna država u Francuskoj odigrale su značajnu ulogu u ublažavanju baskijskog nacionalizma i secesionizma. Slučajevi španjolske i francuske Baskije pokazali su kako (ne)postojanje autonomije znatno utječe na periferni nacionalizam i secesionizam, kao i na potencijal za secesiju. ; In the last couple of years, the rise of secessionism in several democratic, Western European countries - from the United Kingdom (Scotland) and Belgium (Flanders) to Spain (Catalonia and the Basque Country) has been noted. All of them have something in common. In addition to having a heterogeneous ethnic structure, that is, the existence of distinct historical ethnic communities, all of these states have also, in the last couple of decades, gone through dramatic administrative and structural changes. From unitary states they had once been, they have transformed in a way which resulted in the introduction of either a certain degree of devolution or even in federalization. Consequently, historical ethnic communities have achieved a certain degree of autonomy, ranging from a partial and asymmetric decentralization ("devolution") as in the case of Scotland, to an extensive autonomy of the so-called autonomous communities of Spain. The intention of the central state and the legislator has been, inter alia, to safeguard the state unity and strengthen the state by accommodating the grievances of ethnic communities and their elites. The final outcome, however, has often been adverse to initial intentions. In the newly formed administrative units, "proto-states" of the ethnic minorities, there has been a rise in nationalism and secessionism. The purpose of this dissertation is to tackle this phenomenon and explore the causal relationship of autonomy and nationalism/secessionism. That is, the idea whether the autonomy itself strengthened nationalism and secessionism in the autonomous territories, thus acting as "subversive institutions" towards the central State, has been examined. In order to test the hypothesis and the arguments of the theory of subversive institutions, a dual comparison of two cases, Spanish and French Basque Country, and the most similar systems design have been used. The most similar systems design holds that the two cases share many common features and differ in only one. For instance, French and Spanish Basque Country are situated in the same region, share common language and ethnic origins; they are both parts of wider nation-states, face situation of diglossia etc. A differing feature, in this case, autonomy in the Spanish Basque Country – Autonomous Community of the Basque Country –Euskadi, is held responsible for the different outcome (stronger peripheral nationalism and secessionism). The choice of these two cases has been prompted by the fact that they may be considered the most similar cases in extremis, given that it is the same people on the two sides of the state border.The Basques, minority group with their own language and culture, for centuries have been divided among Spain and France. In France of today the Basques enjoy neither status of a national minority nor an institutional autonomy. In Spain, however, after a difficult period of Franco's dictatorship and the country's restructuring in 1978 on a quasi-federal principle, the Spanish Basques got acknowledgement of their national uniqueness (through a status of a nationality), and the Basque Country gained a significant institutional autonomy through so-called Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. In spite of the accommodation of most of the Spanish Basques' grievances, both on a tangible level (economic, political and cultural) and on a symbolic level (national and state symbols), the Spanish Basque Country still faces secessionism, while that phenomenon is hardly visible in its French counterpart. The dissertation explores whether the autonomy, instead of accommodating the Spanish Basques in the framework of the Spanish State, has contributed to the growth of their nationalism and secessionism. Conversely, the dissertation explores also whether the French civic state has contributed to attenuation of the peripheral, in this case, Basque nationalism. In France there are no "autonomic" institutions, but as a result of political and societal changes in France and external pressure from the South, i.e. from the Spanish Basque Country (spill over effect or Galton's problem), a "new governance" with specially designed institutions has been developed to partially accommodate the Basque grievances. Deprived of any substantial competences, executive or financial, they are a pale shadow of their Spanish counterparts. However, precisely for that, they serve as a good example to make comparative research in order to show the immense difference the autonomy per se can make. The research relies on the Valerie Bunce' s theory of "subversive institutions", which she tested on the cases of the former communist federations Soviet Union (USSR), Czechoslovakia (CSFR) and Yugoslavia (SFRY). Valerie Bunce (1999), explaining the collapse of former communist federations USSR, CSFR and SFRY, put forward a thesis that their design created preconditions for creating states within state. Consequently, the structure itself brought about the collapse of the communist bloc, and within it, of the federations USSR, CSFR and SFRY. Therefore, Bunce holds that the federalism created nations at the republican level or, if they had already been "defined", the federalism strengthened them. In other words, federal structure where the autonomous/federal units enjoyed relatively wide autonomy, in the long term acted centrifugally and finally led to the collapse of states (federations). With the advent of Gorbatchev and perestroika, consequent abandoning of the Brezhnev doctrine, and array of events that brought upon the collapse of communism and of federations, federal units – new "nations-in-the-making", took advantage of the situation ("window of opportunity") and proclaimed their independence.Bunce's theory and arguments have been applied on the situation in Spain. In the second case of the French Basque Country, and especially in the following comparative analysis, the situation in Spain can be/ is compared with the situation in France. It is thus possible to test the hypothesis on subversive institutions and to note the differences produced by the existence of autonomy in Spain. Bunce's theory has been tested on Spain (Spanish Basque Country) particularly for its quasi-federal structure of so-called autonomous communities (comunidades autónomas), or in Spanish jargon, Autonomías. Spanish autonomías provide a certain framework of a proto-state, nation-state, "state-in-waiting", and strengthen the centrifugal forces and local nationalism in a way, maybe to a lesser extent, but similarly as former republics of the ex-socialist federations. There comes the idea to test the theory of subversive institutions on Spain, i.e. Spanish Basque Country. In the introductory chapters of the dissertation, the phenomena of identity and nationalism have been tackled, followed by the theory of subversive institutions, as well as other supportive theories of the official nationalism (Anderson, 1990), path dependency (Krasner, 1984) and logic of appropriateness (March and Olsen, 2009). Finally, the three main arguments of the theory of subversive institutions have been elaborated, as well as the fourth, "counter argument". The two case studies follow, of the Spanish and the French Basque Country, structured in the same or very similar way. Firstly, the phenomenon of the Basque identity, its formation and its specifics for each of the two cases, has been elaborated. Secondly, the relation of the State towards the Basques and their identity has been examined in more depth. Within that framework, process of state building and other "counter-subversive action" of the state, with the aim of diminishing the peripheral nationalism and secessionism, has been tackled. Separate chapters have been dedicated to the transition to autonomy in the Spanish Basque Country (and to the Spanish Estado de las Autonomías /State of Autonomies) Bunce's theory and arguments have been applied on the situation in Spain. In the second case of the French Basque Country, and especially in the following comparative analysis, the situation in Spain can be/ is compared with the situation in France. It is thus possible to test the hypothesis on subversive institutions and to note the differences produced by the existence of autonomy in Spain. Bunce's theory has been tested on Spain (Spanish Basque Country) particularly for its quasi-federal structure of so-called autonomous communities (comunidades autónomas), or in Spanish jargon, Autonomías. Spanish autonomías provide a certain framework of a proto-state, nation-state, "state-in-waiting", and strengthen the centrifugal forces and local nationalism in a way, maybe to a lesser extent, but similarly as former republics of the ex-socialist federations. There comes the idea to test the theory of subversive institutions on Spain, i.e. Spanish Basque Country. In the introductory chapters of the dissertation, the phenomena of identity and nationalism have been tackled, followed by the theory of subversive institutions, as well as other supportive theories of the official nationalism (Anderson, 1990), path dependency (Krasner, 1984) and logic of appropriateness (March and Olsen, 2009). Finally, the three main arguments of the theory of subversive institutions have been elaborated, as well as the fourth, "counter argument". The two case studies follow, of the Spanish and the French Basque Country, structured in the same or very similar way. Firstly, the phenomenon of the Basque identity, its formation and its specifics for each of the two cases, has been elaborated. Secondly, the relation of the State towards the Basques and their identity has been examined in more depth. Within that framework, process of state building and other "counter-subversive action" of the state, with the aim of diminishing the peripheral nationalism and secessionism, has been tackled. Separate chapters have been dedicated to the transition to autonomy in the Spanish Basque Country (and to the Spanish Estado de las Autonomías /State of Autonomies) after the 1978 Constitution, possess almost the entire state administration. One of the 17 autonomous communities, Autonomous Community of the Basque Country - Euskadi has a clearly defined territory, a democratically elected Parliament (officially called the Basque Parliament), a Government, officially called the Basque Government, ministries (called departamentos, departments, headed by consejeros, counselors), a Prime Minister, Lehendakari, with some prerogatives of a President, including state honours and palace. His office includes a mini Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Acción Exterior – External Action), with its delegations abroad. Thus, the Basque Government can project its image abroad. The autonomous administration has some 60 000 employees, to which one has to add the 30 000 employees of the provincial and communal administration, and disposes of a 10.6 billion € budget. At the same time, the central state administration in the Basque Country counts only 15 000 employees. Euskadi disposes of its own police forces Ertzaintza. As mentioned before, several authors argue that with such a developed administrative apparatus, a "segment-state", in our case the Spanish Autonomous Community of the Basque Country- Euskadi, has been in power for most of the post-1978 Constitution period. Its institutions are consequently able to act as centrifugal ("subversive") institutions, transmitting nationalist messages through media, education system, and regional institutions. But their nationalist message is not of Spanish, but of peripheral, in this case, Basque nationalism. Given the specific, unfavourable linguistic situation of diglossia, and the importance of language for national (and Basque) identity, the Basque Governments took it as a mission to restore to the Basque language a status of a full-fledged official and education language, in a sense of Gellner's "language of high culture" (1998). (Re)Introducing the Basque language, not only in schools and universities, but literary everywhere, rebasquisating Euskadi, a Basque identity has been (re)enforced. Nowadays almost all institutions under the competence of local, autonomous institutions in the Spanish Basque Country are obliged to adopt Action plans or Five-year plans on the language normalization, that is, reinforced use of the Basque language. The Basque Government, in that way projects certain ideology and builds up and strengthens the Basque national identity. A new, Basque nation is being built.The statistics speak for themselves. Before the autonomy, that is, before 1978/1980, education language was 100% Spanish. Nowadays, only a tiny 0.5% of students study exclusively in Spanish (so called Model X), and 15.3% in Model A, with education in Spanish, and Basque language as one of the subjects. 18.9% study in bilingual schools (Model B) and the high 65.3% study in Basque schools (Model D), with Spanish language as one of the subjects. The presence of the Basque language is enforced in other areas as well. For instance, in public administration the targeted percentage of Basque speakers should be 48.46% and it should increase with the rise of knowledge of the Basque language in general population. Moreover, the presence of the Basque language is checked regularly in yearly evaluation reports. In the Parliament, in 2005-2009 legislature, 56% of deputies spoke Basque, while in 2013 the percentage rose to 68,5%. At the University of the Basque Country, in Academic year 1995/1996, 27.2% of the students studied in Basque, while in 2013/2014 the percentage rose to 64.3%. The number of bilingual professors (Basque and Spanish) rose from 35.1% in 2006 to 47.8% in 2013. Similar processes can be followed everywhere.As far as identity is concerned, the 35% of the interviewees in the opinion polls conducted by the University of the Basque Country declare themselves as "only Basques", 21% as "more Basque than Spanish", 35% "equally Basque and Spanish", 3% "more Spanish" and 3% "only Spanish". As it can be noted, Basque identity prevails, with a significant percentage of dual identity. Spanish identity (more or exclusively Spanish) is quite low. Opinion polls also testify of the presence of a strong local (Basque) patriotism, and at the same time, mistrust in Spanish State institutions. For example, 62% of the interviewees show trust in the Basque Government, 61% in the Basque Parliament and Basque police Ertzaintza, while only 39% in the King, 15% in the Spanish Cortes and 11% in the Spanish Government. Trust in the Basque Prime Minister is 56%, while in the Spanish Prime Minister it is only 7%. Regarding the attitude towards secessionism, 35% of interviewees support the present autonomous status, 29% favour federation (which understands a more autonomy), 7% favour more centralization and 25% favour secession. Although the latter percentage alone seems low as to provide proof of secessionism in stricto senso, the sum of the all percentages, except for 7% for centralization, should be taken into consideration if secessionism were to be regarded in a wider sense (as peripheral nationalism; autonomism and secessionism; Horowitz, 1985). From the data above, the conclusion can be drawn that the process of Basque nation-building maybe has not finished yet, but is well under way and that there is a "Basque direction" of the Euskadi. As for the Basque language in the French Basque Country, though it is increasingly present in its schools, public institutions and society, it still does not enjoy an official status. The improvement of linguistic situation is only partially due to the incitement on the part of the authorities. There is an immense difference from Spain. The French state after 1980-s allowed more freedom and space for "regional languages" to be taught, but did not impose it, force it by "dictate", as has been in the case of Euskadi. The main credit for the improvement of status of the Basque language is due to the efforts of the civil society, associations and citizens themselves. The results, comparing the Spanish and the French Basque Country, vary accordingly. Only 36,6% of school children attend some Basque language classes, while in Spanish Basque Country it is 99,5%. There is the Public Office of the Basque Language (OPLB), that helps and promotes teaching Basque language in the French Basque Country, but it has no authority to impose the Basque language in education as the Viceconsejería de Política Lingüística of the Gobierno Vasco and the Gobierno Vasco in the Spanish Basque Country. Only 11% of the interviewees feel "only Basques", 5% "more Basques", 24% "equally Basques and French", 16% "more French and 36% "only French". In the French Basque Country, the French identity and the French language in both education and society prevail. There is no "Basque direction" or Basque nation-building process. The third argument of the theory of subversive institutions is about elites' building. In Euskadi, there is the local (Basque) Parliament, where the Basque nationalists have dominated since the first elections after the establishment of autonomy (1980), with an average of 60% of votes/seats, except for the period 2009-2012 (due to a ban of the Basque radicals before the elections). In the current legislature, 2012-2016, the nationalists (moderate PNV-EAJ and radical EH Bildu) have 48 out of 75 seats. That means that they have been able to impose a "Basque direction", e.g. policies of rebasquization (termed language normalization), or vote the Ibarretxe Plan. There are also numerous examples of party competition in nationalism and local patriotism, e.g. the issue of Basque language use, flag, coat of arms or anthem. In the French Basque Country, due to non-existence of a local Parliament or self-rule, there are no such phenomena. There have been since decades Basque nationalist parties, and they score up to 10% of the votes. Nowadays, there is also a Basque nationalist party, AB (Abertzaleen Batasuna), which is relatively successful at the lower, communal level, having around 100 councillors. However, the non-existence of a Basque administrative unit,département, and centralist French electoral and administrative system, result in a situation where only two Basque nationalist councillors managed to enter the General Council of the Département Pyrénées-Atlantiques, of which French Basque Country is a part. And there they are only two of the 54 councillors. Therefore, even if at the lower, communal level, Basques nationalists can enter the local communes and be part of ruling coalitions, or form associations of local councillors and mayors, they cannot impose a more "Basque direction" of the whole French Basque Country, like their Spanish Basque counterparts. The autonomy, embodied in the Euskadi's Basque parliament, enabled Basque nationalists in the Spanish Basque Country (Autonomous Community of the Basque Country – Euskadi) to come to power at the local level and to direct the (Spanish) Basque Country towards a "Basque direction". In addition, it helped also to build up their own elites – party elites and leaders, Government and Parliament dignitaries, above all the Prime Minister- Lehendakari, local public company managers, University, Academy, institutes' directors etc. If a potential future new country needs the infrastructure (i.e. state administration, the framework), it also needs identity/ideology and leaders (the contents and experts). And here they are! Not only are they in place, but they are in power! Finally, having their own Basque University will help to reproduce new Basque elites. In contrast, the French Basque Country does not possess almost any of the above. Indeed, the difference produced by autonomy is immense. A special attention has been given to the Ibarretxe Plan which represents at the same time a peak of the autonomy, but also shows its limits. Juan Jose Ibarretxe, Euskadi's Prime Minister (Lehendakari) from 1999 to 2009, put forward in 2003 his Proposal for Reform of the Political Statute of Community of Euskadi, popularly known as Ibarretxe Plan. It was actually a proposal for a confederation between the Basque Country and Spain. The relations between them would be based on a "free association"(Art.1). Without going into details of the Proposal, suffice it to say that, had it been enacted, even without a completely independent Basque Country, it would mean the end of Spain as we know it today. The Plan was approved by the Basque Government in 2003, and a year later, by the Basque Parliament, although with a narrow majority of 39 out of 75 votes. However, in order to be enacted, the Proposal should have passed in the Spanish Parliament. It was not surprising that the Spanish Parliament had rejected any discussion about it. Today a Spanish "carte blanche" for an independent Basque Country seems completely unimaginable. Nevertheless, remembering the "velvet divorce" of Czech and Slovak Republics and bearing in mind as well the development of situation in Catalonia, one cannot exclude, under different circumstances and leadership in Madrid and Euskadi, a possibility of a "new Ibarretxe Plan" leading to a "velvet divorce" and eventually to an independent Basque Country. To conclude, the autonomy enabled institutions (Parliament/Argument 1), nurtured Basque identity (Argument 2), enabled Basque nationalists to come to power, created a space for Basque elites and leaders and created space or even incentives for party competition in Basque nationalism (Argument 3). The thing the autonomy has not produced, and that lacks for secessionists, is a "window of opportunity" (Bunce, 1999). But if the "window" opens, as in the case of e.g. Czechoslovak "velvet divorce", an opportunity for a potential sovereign Basque state could be created. The comparative analysis has showed more sharply the differences between the two cases resulting from the existence of the autonomy in the Spanish Basque Country (Autonomous Community of the Basque Country- Euskadi) and its absence in the French Basque Country. While in Euskadi the nationalists have since 1980 scored around 60% of the votes in the Basque Parliament and dominated local politics for most of the time, in the French Pays Basque they never score more than 10% and have always been quite irrelevant at the regional local level (except for the lower local level of municipalities). The Basque identity prevailed in Euskadi and French in the Pays Basque. The Basque nationalists have been able to impose a "Basque direction" and an intensive "basquization" within the language normalization policy in Euskadi, which has not been the case in Pays Basque. Finally, a serious sovereignist/secessionist attemps – Ibarretxe Plan occurred, materialized, and was voted in the Basque Parliament of Euskadi, while in the Pays Basque anything of a kind is beyond imagination. There is no French Basque Government to conceive such a plan, no French Basque Parliament as a forum where such a Plan could be voted and no prevalence of Basque nationalists to vote such a plan…All of these phenomena are direct or indirect results of the autonomy or were allowed and fostered by the autonomic institutions in the Spanish Basque Country. Conversely, they are missing in the French Basque Country due to lack of autonomy. The two cases confirmed the hypothesis that the autonomy in ethno-federal arrangements fosters peripheral nationalism and secessionism and a potential for secession, while civic State attenuates them. Interestingly enough, even the consultative institutions of the French "new governance", initially quite powerless, managed to acquire some of the features of the "subversive institutions". They have become increasingly "Basque" and have taken a "Basque direction". However, the civic, centralised and unitary State prevented these institutions stripped of a real power from taking a lead in the Basque nationalism, to gain any significant power, or to direct the French Basque Country in any "Basque direction". The civic State in France indeed acted in attenuating peripheral, Basque nationalism by not providing it a "window of opportunity" to grow.

The aim of this dissertation is to describe and explain the variation in the reform of implementation management in Croatia by looking at various social services. While the reform was based on principles of effectiveness, efficiency and participation in one segment of those services, in the other segment it was used for development of partisan patronage networks. While combining comparative strategy with the process tracing method, the dissertation focuses on six social services and relies on interviews with policy actors, official documents and statistical data to map and explain different reform outcomes. By using comparable case strategy, dissertation identifies two factors that led to differences in implementation of reformed social services and affected the capacity of political parties to use social policy reform as an instrument of patronage. Sufficiently institutionalized setting in which services were provided prior to the reform, with both dense working procedures and professional standards, reduces the ability of political parties to integrate political patronage into implementation management. In the case of a minimal or non-existent institutional setting, the involvement of service beneficiaries or actors advocating their interests constrains possibilities for party patronage. While employing the process-tracing method, the dissertation uses the notion of political metagovernance as a conceptual starting point and crafts a causal mechanism that can account for the distortive impact of partisan patronage on the reform of service provision. By analysing the case in which comparative analysis indicated distortions in the service provision, it reveals how the patronage-driven political executive inspired by network-based forms of governance failed to move traditional service provision into novel implementation mode but overly politicized the role of metagovernors instead while using the reform for the selective distribution of public funding and employment of party supporters as service providers. ...

Rad se bavi istraživanjem učinaka personalizacije izbornog sustava prije svega na političke stranke i kandidate za zastupnike. Pod personalizacijom izbornog sustava smatra se uvođenje mehanizama u izborni sustav koji osiguravaju veću ulogu birača u izboru njihovih parlamentarnih zastupnika. U radu su predstavljene četiri gusto opisane studije slučaja koje su služile kao temelj za testiranje temeljne i pomoćnih hipoteza. Rad sadrži fokusiranu poredbenu analizu dometa personalizacije izbornog sustava u odnosu na tri ključna slučaja (Austrija, Nizozemska i Finska), kao i u odnosu na kontrolni slučaj Kosovo. U radu je dokazano da snažni personalizirani izborni sustavi, koji imaju najveće vrijednosti personalizacije, odnosno izmjerene vrijednosti utjecaja dva institucionalna potičuća mehanizma koji su predstavljali nezavisne varijable ovog istraživanja (a. preferencijsko glasovanje unutar razmjernog sustava stranačkih lista i b. procedura selekcije kandidata), dovode do personalizacije političkih stranaka na razini zastupnika. Kroz dokazivanje pomoćnih hipoteza ispraćeni su učinci personalizacije izbornog sustava na političke stranke, kandidate/zastupnike, birače odnosno stranački/politički sustav. U radu predstavljeni nalazi fokusirane poredbene analize potvrđuju da snažna personalizacija izbornog sustava vodi personalizaciji izborne kampanje te smanjenoj ulozi političkih stranaka u političkom životu. Smanjena uloga stranaka u kampanjama otvara prostor jačanju uloge konkretnih donatora. Poslanici postaju nezavisniji u odnosu na stranku, ali s druge strane otvoreni za utjecaje donatora svojih kampanja. Nemogućnost opoziva, odnosno tekovina da je zastupnik, a ne stranka vlasnik mandata, dodatno ojačava poziciju zastupnika, a slabi poziciju stranke. Pozicija zastupnika jača, kao i birača koji imaju u snažno personaliziranim izbornim sustavima mogućnost presudnog utjecanja na to tko će ih zastupati u parlamentu, odnosno na koga će privremeno prenijeti suverenitet kao njegovi nositelji. Finski primjer najbolje pokazuje utjecaj snažne personalizacije izbornog sustava na političke stranke, kandidate i birače u konsolidiranoj demokraciji. Slučaj Kosova kao kontrolni slučaj govori da ukoliko izostane prevlast osobnog u odnosu na stranačko u unutarstranačkim procesima, učinci snažnog preferencijskog sustava bit će umanjeni. Izostanak vladavine prava utječe na ravnopravnost kandidata u predizbornim kampanjama, ali snažno preferencijsko glasovanje umanjuje negativne efekte izostanka demokratskih procedura unutar stranke te potiče daljnju demokratsku konsolidaciju u nekonsolidiranim demokracijama. ; The doctoral dissertation deals with research into the effects of personalization of the electoral system primarily on political parties and candidates for deputies. The personalization of the electoral system means the introduction of mechanisms in the electoral system that ensure a greater role for voters in the election of their parliamentary representatives. I define the electoral system as a "set of laws and party rules governing electoral competition between and within the parties" (Cox 1997: 38). This wider definition of the electoral system gives us space to build a more complete picture of the electoral system's impact on political parties, candidates and voters as main actors in the electoral process. The focus of the research is the relationship between personal and party representation. In order to conduct a more comprehensive analysis of the effects of personalization on political parties, the research framework is narrowed down to list proportional electoral systems with preferential voting. Contemporary liberal democracy is characterized by a highly personalized politics. Governments are more recognizable by their leaders than by the parties that are the basis of their constitution. This personalization trend is not characteristic exclusively of presidential systems, but has become a feature of parliamentary political systems. In addition to personalization of the party at the leader level, there is also the personalization of politics at the level of members of parliament (MPs). In this paper, we only use the term 'personalization of a party' in reference to personalization at the level of the MP. We will not deal with the question of the presidentialization of political parties. Under the personalization of a political party at the level of MPs, we mean strengthening the position of deputies in the intra-party decision-making process. Thanks to the introduction of preferential voting in list proportional list systems, the group of electoral systems in which voters play an important role in the selection of their representatives has significantly expanded. Historically speaking, the representative position has been strengthened by the accepted attitude that the MP, not the party, is the 'owner of the mandate'; preferential voting supports this. This paper deals with the personalization of politics at the level of the representative—the political party. That is to say, it explores the question of to what degree personalization of the electoral system affects the political party, its intra- and its inter-party dimension. Moreover, the paper deals with personal and party representation, an area that is a new field of interest for political scientists. Through this relationship, I explore the effect of electoral systems on political parties, candidates and voters. in developing this work, I was guided by the results achieved by Katz (1980, 1986) and Marsh 9 (1985) who first dealt with this issue. In his book A Theory of Parties and Electoral Systems (1980), Katz took his first steps in the research of preferential systems. Five years later, Marsh (1985) was dealing with differences between the preferential systems in Europe. In their works, Katz and Marsh set forth the first hypotheses about the effects of preferential voting. Although there has been a growing interest in research in this area over the last decade, no significant progress has yet been made. Karvonen (2004) made a significant step in systematizing the hypotheses of Katz and Marsh, and he added some more points. In his last paper on this subject (2011), Karvonen was working within the same group of hypotheses, which were open to further research. They are the basis of this research, with additional contributions. A major impetus for this work was one of the most influential articles in this field, 'Incentives to Cultivate a Personal Vote: A Rank Ordering of Electoral Formulas' by Carey and Shugart (1995), which examines the question of the influence of electoral systems on the candidate's electoral strategies—that is, how electoral systems influence the pre-election roles of parties and their candidates. The authors developed three variables: (1) lack of party leadership control over access to and rank in ballots; (2) degree to which candidates are elected on individual votes independent of copartisans; and (3) whether voters cast a single intra-party vote instead of multiple votes or a party-level vote. By combining these three variables, there are up to thirteen combinations. This approach set me up to explore the impact that personalization creates when it comes to the relationship between the MP candidate and the party, or the MP and the party. Most authors agree that the introduction of personalization of the electoral system significantly affects interparty relations, which are sometimes reflected in a high degree of autonomy in campaigning and even in the collection and spending of funds for funding of their personal campaign. The bidding of candidates from the same party exercises a strong influence on intra-party relations, and it often happens that rival relations within the parties remain in the shadow of rival relations between the parties.

Ova doktorska disertacija bavi se glasovanjem, najočitijim oblikom političke participacije građana u modernom demokratskom poretku. Većina istraživanja biračkog ponašanja usmjerena je na proučavanje uzroka glasovanja te na procese oblikovanja stranačkih preferencija (Šiber, 1998b). Međutim, glasovanju možemo pristupiti kao političkoj odluci, a u tom slučaju se javlja pitanje kako tu odluku evaluirati. Potencijalni kriterij za evaluaciju možemo naći u konceptu točnog glasovanja (Lau i Redlawsk, 1997). Ukoliko građanin glasuje za onu stranku kojoj bi dao glas i kada bi bio suočen sa svim relevantnim političkim informacijama, možemo reći da je on točno glasovao. Koristeći kriterij točnog glasovanja možemo evaluirati građansko odlučivanje, ali i kvalitetu demokracije. Ovaj rad ima dva cilja. Kao prvo, zbog niza konceptualnih i operacionalnih nedostataka, on nudi rekonstrukciju koncepta točnog glasovanja. Kroz detaljno povezivanje spoznaja o biračkom ponašanju i pretpostavki modela predstavničke demokracije, uvodi se nova definicija točnog glasovanja, kao onog koji je dan stranci koja je u najvećoj mjeri bliska glasačevim preferencijama. Uz to, problematizira se korisnost ovog koncepta te njegov utjecaj na empirijska istraživanja građanskih kompetencija i na evaluaciju demokratskog poretka. Drugi cilj ovog rada je empirijski – provjeriti koje individualne i situacijske karakteristike doprinose točnom glasovanju. Očekivalo se kako će točnije glasovati sudionici s boljom političkom ekspertizom (visoka politička sofisticiranost i informiranost, visoka motivacija za politiku, više obrazovanje i niža dob), ali i oni koji donose odluke u jednostavnijem okruženju (niže kognitivno opterećenje i lakša politička pitanja). U tu svrhu provedeno je eksperimentalno istraživanje na 210 sudionika koji su sudjelovali u izmišljenoj političkoj kampanji. Tijekom kampanje su prikupljali podatke o strankama i na kraju su glasovali za jednu od njih. Rezultati su pokazali kako točnije glasuju sudionici s višom razinom političke informiranosti, zatim sudionici koji su koristili kompleksnije strategije odlučivanja i sudionici koji su suočeni s nižom razinom kognitivnog opterećenja. Neočekivano, dobiven je i efekt spola – žene točnije glasuju od muškaraca. U radu su ponuđena objašnjenja za nepotvrđene hipoteze i neočekivane rezultate, kao i potencijalna primjena dobivenih rezultata u javnom životu. ; Elections are the main characteristic of modern democracies; as of September 2016., 82 national elections took place this year and almost 650 million people voted. Adult citizens experience elections and participate in voting roughly once every four years. Ever since the empirical research in political science focused on voting behaviour the main focus of inquiry was the understanding of antecedents of vote choice as well as the long-term shaping of political preferences (Šiber, 1998). The vote itself can be conceptualized in many ways, such as a statement of group membership (e.g. Berelson, Lazarsfeld & McPhee, 1954), identification with the party (Campbell et al., 1964), as a choice between parties etc. If we approach the vote from a decision-making perspective, a question comes to mind – can we say what is the quality of that choice? In other words, can we evaluate the process and the outcome of the voting decision? This are rather hard questions which is not adequately addressed by researchers, both theoretically and empirically. In order to answer them, Lau and Redlawsk (1997) put forward the concept of correct voting – a vote that is the same as the one that would be given if a voter had all the relevant information. This doctoral thesis is concerned with that concept. It had two broad goals. First, a critique of the concept was put forward, as well as a conceptual reconstruction of correct voting. The new approach to the concept is more clear and better connected to both citizens' competences and democratic theory. The second goal was to study empirically the antecedents of correct voting. For this goal a laboratory experiment was conducted in which participants (N=210) participated in a mock electoral campaign at the end of which they had to vote. Participants differed in various socio-demographic and political characteristics and within the experiment cognitive load and type of political questions in the campaign were manipulated. Results showed that those participants that had better political knowledge, were exposed to lower cognitive load and used complex strategies of decision. Also, an unexpected result was found – women voted more correctly than men. In order to think about the criteria for evaluating the process of voting, one must first understand the relationship between voters and election within democracy. This requires that one chooses a model of democracy. There is an array of these models, and each one focuses on different aspects of the political regime. For the concept of correct voting the most adequate model is that of representative democracy. In this model, democracy is though about as a political system in which the citizens are sovereign, and a smaller group of representatives execute citizens' will. Representatives are chosen via regular competitive elections, and citizens should choose hose representatives that represent their interest in the best way. Other than choosing a model of democracy, we must choose a theoretical approach for political behaviour. We can identify five approaches (those based on personality, sociological model, socio-psychological model, economic-rational model and cognitive model), and within this research a cognitive approach is taken for studying political behaviour and decision-making. This model focuses on cognitive processes, such as evaluation of political candidates, mental strategies, biases, memory etc. The main idea of the cognitive approach is that all thinking is constrained by both biological aspects of the brain as well as the situational pressures (such as the amount of information). As a consequence, citizens will be prone to using mental shortcuts to simplify the political environment. Lau and Redlawsk's (1997) concept of correct voting could be used as a norm of political decision-making. It focuses on cognitive processes and offers an ideal outcome of political thinking which at the same time has implications for the functioning of representative democracy. If citizens choose their representatives correctly than democracy should function better than if that is not the case. However, there are several issues with this concept - there are two distinct conceptualizations and operationalisations of correct voting; authors focus more on the level of information than on the cognitive processes; their norm has within itself several descriptive aspects etc. This thesis puts forward a definition of correct voting – a correct vote is the one which is given to a representative whose political preferences are in the highest concordance with the voter's. Keeping the cognitive approach in mind, several individual and situational characteristics are identified as having a probable impact on the probability for voting correctly. It is expected that citizens who are more politically sophisticated, informed and motivated, as well as those who are better educated and younger should vote more correctly. Considering situational characteristics, higher cognitive load should lower the probability of voting correctly. Also the content, or type of political information, should have an impact on that probability. Political issues can be divided into easy/symbolic/moral and hard/instrumental/public policy. As the percentage of easy issues within a campaign increases so should the probability of casting a correct vote. In order to test these hypotheses an experiment was conducted in which participants participated in a mock election. They collected information about four parties and in the end voted for one of these. Last part of the thesis offers a discussion about the results, their political implications as well as guidelines for future research.

Ovaj članak obrađuje tvorbenu problematiku s aspekta jezika u kontaktu i jezičnog posuđivanja općenito. Osnovni cilj kojem autor članka teži je sljedeći: — utvrditi engleske elemente u hrvatskom ili srpskom jeziku — analizirati ih prema pravilima tvorbe riječi jezika primaoca — vidjeti da li su engleski elementi uvjetovali ikakve promjene u tvorbenom sustavu hrvatskoga ili srpskog jezika. U analizu je uključena: a) prefiksacija b) sufiksacija c) slaganje ili kompozicija. Engleski i hrvatski ili srpski jezik su dovoljno različiti po svojoj strukturi i leksiku da mogu pružiti zanimljive primjere adaptacije posuđenica na tvorbenom nivou.

U članku se analizira kontekstno ekspresivan leksik odnosno figurativna
uporaba riječi. Radi se o uporabi stilskih figura i tropa za čije je prepoznavanje i analizu potreban kontekst u kojem se javljaju, a usto utječu
na ekspresivnost teksta. Za potrebe rada rabljeni su eseji (objavljeni u
zbirci Sadašnjost za vječnost) i feljtoni (objavljeni u zbirci En Passant)
Veselka Tenžere u kojima su, s obzirom na učestalost, obrađene sljedeće
stilske figure i tropi: elipsa, personifikacija, poredba, hiperbola, metonimija, oksimoron, ironija i sarkazam. Analizom je pokazano kako figurativna uporaba riječi doprinosi ekspresivnosti teksta jer se tako koriste
dodatne mogućnosti u jeziku kao sustavu kojima se stvaraju nove veze
među riječima. Posebnost tih tekstova čine i autorova kreativnost, individualnost te subjektivnost u stvaranju novih neobičnih jezičnih tvorevina čije su značenje i funkcija uvjetovani uglavnom kontekstom u koje
ih Tenžera smješta.
Ključne riječi: figure; figurativnost; tropi; kontekst; ekspresivnost; Veselko Tenžera; elipsa; personifikacija; poredba; hiperbola; metonimija;
oksimoron; ironija; sarkazam

O jeziku Mihovila Pavlinovića već sam pisao. Ovdje će se iznijeti daljnji rezultati rada na njegovu jeziku. Mihovilu Pavlinoviću pripada posebno mjesto među hrvatskim piscima XIX. stoljeća koji pobuđuju interes opće, kulturne i književne historiografije. Njegova knjiga Različiti spisi (670 strana) ekscerpirana je za Rječnik JAZU. Izbor je logična posljedica toga što je Pavlinović uživao veliki ugled kao stilist za života, a i sam je sabrao oko 4000 riječi za Rječnik JAZU i ostao do danas u studijama koje navode primjere iz Rječnika JAZU izvor od povjerenja i važnosti. Pavlinović je sakupljao riječi i narodno blago, bio je vatren borac za ugled i položaj hrvatskoga jezika (prvi je u Dalmatinskom saboru 1861. progovorio hrvatski) i uporno pisao o upotrebi njegovanja i poboljšavanja jezika u tadašnjim časopisima. Ali, ipak je više vjerovao u misiju književnosti za narod i u publicistički rad (u čemu je bio vrlo plodan) nego u filologiju, pa »slovničare« nije štedio nesmiljenih sudova. Ovdje se ne postavlja pitanje do koje mjere će se Pavlinoviću dati pravo ni krivo, ali su njegove zasluge i opće djelovanje takvi da o njemu možemo govoriti kao o filologu kojemu nije bilo stalo da to bude.