Countries Of Former Yugoslavia Research Articles

The Memoirs of Arbih Generals: The Scope of Memoir Literature for Understanding the Military History of Sarajevo Between 1992-1995

This article delves into the abundant war memoir literature originating from the countries of former Yugoslavia, which has been driven by various wars and the inclination of soldiers, officers, and generals to extol their wartime accomplishments. The prevalence of this literature is especially noteworthy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the most represented memoirs hailing from World War II, followed closely by those concerning the Yugoslav Wars. These memoirs offer diverse perspectives, reflecting the authors’ personal experiences and thoughts during war. While these memoirs do provide rich insights, a critical approach is essential given the inherently political nature of these works. As a valuable source for understanding military history, memoirs play a crucial role in shaping the comprehension of the past. The article underscores that, despite potential biases, the memoir literature presents opportunities for further research and for expanding knowledge about the war in Sarajevo, particularly when complemented by other military sources and archives.

Recent Academic Research on Esotericism in the Balkans

Abstract In this paper I offer a concise analysis of contemporary scholarship on esotericism in the countries of former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. After a brief historical contextualization, I examine the development and principal features of this scholarship over the last three decades. My main argument is that, due to various historical reasons, there is a stark discrepancy between the abundant presence of esoteric ideas and practices in these countries and the extent of specialized scholarship dealing with them. I also suggest that there is an uneven development of esotericism studies across the region, but that these studies are gradually finding their place in South Slavic academia.

Assessing the Quality of Migration Statistics in Former Yugoslavia—Lot of Strategies but Less Implementation

This research aims to examine the quality of migration statistics in the countries of former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro) including Kosovo and Metohija as well. The comparative aspect of the research study provides an analysis on assessing the quality of migration statistics in terms of sources and data of migration statistics. The research results show that the region of the former Yugoslavia, except for Slovenia has ineffective migration statistics registration and serious limitations in this part. Furthermore, in a situation of absence of population registers almost within the whole region of former Yugoslavia, the population census and the administrative data serve as the only source for migration statistics. Moreover, almost all of the former Yugoslav republics have some existing problems in implementation of censuses regarding estimates of the usual resident population. Therefore, the migration statistics in the former Yugoslavia region provided by its national institutions should be considered as questionable.

The main motives for buying organic food in people of the former Yugoslavia

PurposeThe main purpose of this research is to examine the basic motives in making a decision to buy an organic food. The preferences in the type of food – conventional, organic and GMO between people from different countries in former Yugoslavia region, as well as the main motives for buying an organic food, are also determined. Differences in the main motives for buying organic food depending on the gender and age of the respondents are also examined.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consisted of 571 respondents from 6 countries of former Yugoslavia, which makes this paper unique and original. Questionnaire, which was specially constructed for the needs of the main purpose of this research, is to examine the basic motives in making a decision to buy an organic food. The preferences in the type of food – conventional, organic and GMO between people from different countries in former Yugoslavia region, as well as the main motives for buying an organic food, are also determinated. Differences in the main motives for buying organic food depending on the gender and age of the respondents are also examined. The sample consisted of 571 respondents from 6 countries of former Yugoslavia, which makes this paper unique and original. Questionnaire, which was specially constructed for the needs of the research, was applied (Cronbach α = 0.77). The research was conducted online, via the Google Forms questionnaire. Data were processed by the SPSS program. Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis test were used to determine the significance of the obtained differences in scores between groups of subjects. The results show that the conventional food is still the most common type of nutrition in people from these areas. The main reason for buying organic food is health, while there are no differences in scores between respondents of different gender, age and country they live in. Mandatory of this paper refers to show relevant information of main motives in purchasing organic food from people, which itself has broader social (raising awareness of the importance and significance an organic nutrition), as well as practical implications, which may be important for organic food producers and traders. The results of the research have a satisfactory level of reliability (Cronbach α = 0.77). The research was conducted online, via the Google Forms questionnaire. Data were processed by the SPSS program. Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis test were used to determine the significance of the obtained differences in scores between groups of subjects.FindingsThe results show that the conventional food is still the most common type of nutrition in people from these areas. The main reason for buying organic food is health, while there are no differences in scores between respondents of different gender, age and country they live in.Research limitations/implicationsAn unequal number of male and female respondents, as well as respondents from different countries.Practical implicationsMandatory of this paper refers to show relevant information of main motives in purchasing organic food from people, which may be important for organic food producers and traders.Social implicationsSocial implications refers to raise an awareness of the importance and significance an organic nutrition for people health.Originality/valueThe sample consisted of 571 respondents from 6 countries of former Yugoslavia, which makes this paper unique and original.

HIV-1 subtype B spread through cross-border clusters in the Balkans: a molecular analysis in view of incidence trends.

To analyze phylogenetic relations and assess the role of cross-border clusters in the spread of HIV-1 subtype B across the Balkans, given the general trends of new HIV diagnoses in seven Balkan countries. Retrospective phylogenetic and trend analysis. In-depth phylogenetic, phylodynamic and phylogeographic analysis performed on 2415 HIV-1 subtype B sequences from 1999 to 2019 using maximal likelihood and Bayesian methods. The joinpoint regression analysis of new HIV diagnoses by country and modes of transmission using 2004-2019 ECDC data. Ninety-three HIV-1 Subtype B transmission clusters (68% of studied sequences) were detected of which four cross-border clusters (11% of studied sequences). Phylodynamic analysis showed activity of cross-border clusters up until the mid-2000s, with a subsequent stationary growth phase. Phylogeography analyses revealed reciprocal spread patterns between Serbia, Slovenia and Montenegro and several introductions to Romania from these countries and Croatia. The joinpoint analysis revealed a reduction in new HIV diagnoses in Romania, Greece and Slovenia, whereas an increase in Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Montenegro, predominantly among MSM. Differing trends of new HIV diagnoses in the Balkans mirror differences in preventive policies implemented in participating countries. Regional spread of HIV within the countries of former Yugoslavia has continued to play an important role even after country break-up, whereas the spread of subtype B through multiple introductions to Romania suggested the changing pattern of travel and migration linked to European integration of Balkan countries in the early 2000s.

Class Analysis as Systemic Critique

This article focuses on the role of class analysis in envisioning a better world, in both the past and the present. It critically reflects on class research conducted in the second half of the 20th century in Yugoslavia, and contemporary class research from selected countries of former Yugoslavia, in order to explore the place that class analysis as systemic critique occupied and occupies in a socialist and capitalist context. This approach is informed by Wright’s (2015) evaluation of different forms of class analysis through the game metaphor. According to Wright, whereas Marxist class analysis questions “what game to play,” Weberian class analysis engages with “the rules of the game” and Durkheimian class analysis examines “moves in the game.” Our historical case study of Yugoslav scholarship on class during state socialism illustrates that, despite its role in sanctifying the status quo, class analysis also drew on both Marxism and Weberian inspired life-chances research as tools for systemic critique. On the other hand, our review of post-Yugoslav class research suggests that, currently, class analysis as an instrument for the critique of capitalism is not prominent. Indeed, in contrast to the late Yugoslav period in which sociology engaged class analysis in order to question what game should be played, the post-socialist 1990s and 2000s brought a silencing of Marxist left critique, while sociologists transformed their research into what Wright (2015) would describe as struggles over the rule of the game: problematizing the variety of capitalism that emerged in post-socialism rather than capitalism itself.

Poslušno telo posmatrano sa aspekta postjugoslovenske umetničke prakse u srpskom filmu

The object of institutional discipline: docile body as a primary goal of shaping, is defined by Michel Foucault in relation to the position of the centre of power at a certain historical moment. Post-Yugoslav artistic cinematography praxis, realised in collaboration of the countries of former Yugoslavia, provides a space for analysing of the mechanisms of power in the period of challenging potential for manipulation. On the example of militarism and its structures, it is possible to extrapolate a docile body subordinate to the indoctrination system by using Foucault's study of discipline and punishment, and to analyse the causality of control enforcement. From the historical and outdated punishment systems, public delivery of physical punishments popularised at war times - as depicted in the film Krugovi (Circles) (2013, Srdan Golubović) as well as the consequences rising from manifestations of restrictions, through systemic presence of repressive messages/instruction bearers and unavoidability of the institution as a bastion of alienated centre of power - as depicted in the film Ničije dete (Nobody's Child) (2014, Vuk Ršumović), through description of the process of assimilation of a non-controlled individual into a defined system of subordinates, to the hierarchic dynamics within military units and acting out of one's own volition - as in the film Karaula (The Border Post) (2006, Rajkot Garlic) - the docile body, in terms of military mobilisation, provides an insight into how discipline/control functions, what consequences it raises and how it influences all members of the society, insisting on its stagnation.

Assessing Socioeconomic Inequality in Self-Rated Health in Four ex-Yugoslav Countries

There has been a growing academic interest in explaining the well-established association between socioeconomic status and health. Among the various proposed mechanisms and pathways, social capital has been recognised as a potentially important antecedent of socioeconomic inequalities in health. However, these interrelationships remain relatively unexplored within the countries of former Yugoslavia. Therefore, this article aims to fill the gap in the literature by exploring the role of individual-level social capital in the relationship between socioeconomic status and self-rated health in four ex-Yugoslav countries. The present study is based on the data from the ninth round of the European Social Survey (2018). The author analysed the data of participants aged 25 and over from Croatia (N = 1534), Montenegro (N = 1002), Serbia (N = 1720) and Slovenia (N = 1149). In order to test the target associations, sequential multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed. The results show that occupational social class and several social capital indicators are associated with self-rated health, although independently of each other. Across all countries, unskilled and skilled manual workers and long-term unemployed individuals were more likely to report poor health compared to non-manual workers, with the exception of Montenegrin skilled manual workers and the long-term unemployed participants from Slovenia. Moreover, despite some cross-country differences in the relationship between individual levels of social capital and self-rated health, social participation was associated with self-rated health across all countries. These findings highlight the importance of encouraging social participation within these countries, which can lead to health benefits through behavioural and psychosocial mechanisms.

Redefining of “EPSG” and “PROJ” for current State Coordinate Reference System of the Republic of North Macedonia

Abstract. The state Coordinate Reference System (CRS) of the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM) has been established a century ago, by the Military Geographic Institute of the Yugoslavia Kingdom. It is in official usage entire period up to day. In international public EPSG registry of geodetic datums, spatial reference systems, Earth ellipsoids, coordinate transformations and related units of measurement, CRS for RNM is recognizable within 3 EPSG codes 6204, 6316 and 8679.First code EPSG 6204 represents current state CRS for the entire country area, based on current law, however unfortunately this CRS is official by the law but it is not used for developing the official spatial data published in geoportals of Agency for Real Estate Cadastre (AREC) and NSDI geoportal of RNM. The second code EPSG 6316 is defined to be used for 6 countries of former Yugoslavia that covers area between 19.5°E up to 22.5°E longitude, which does not correspond with the practical and official usage of CRS for working with spatial data in RNM and CRS law definition in RNM. Third code EPSG 8679 has never been used in RNM, which covers eastern part of RNM and Serbia beginning from 22.5°E.Beside of problems with EPSG codes, default transformation parameters of EPSG 6316 have low accuracy and can not be used for data overlapping with open layers. Therefore, redefined new EPSG codes for state CRS of RNM are proposed in this paper.

Barriers to Transnational Passenger Rail Services in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina – A Qualitative Perspective

Railway infrastructures and services in the countries of former Yugoslavia have been in a downward spiral since the early 1990s. There have been scattered investments to lift services up to appealing levels after the war, but a continuous downward trend persists in all important performance indicators. After war-attributed abandonment, numerous lines lost services permanently, numbers of services dwindled, especially across borders, and service speeds decreased. This research takes Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina specifically as survey objects. It aims to identify the barriers in these two countries that withheld passenger rail from a positive development as in other European countries during the same period. For this purpose we carried out 11 interviews with stakeholders in various railway-related institutions. The transcripts are analysed qualitatively with thematic analysis to gain an overview of organisational and institutional barriers for development of railways. This is followed by a cause-effect analysis with Causal Loop Diagramming. The result: ad-hoc decision-making is clearly connected to the insignificance of railways. As immediate measures to counter the downward spiral by means of strategic long term planning, we identify (1) service benchmarking, (2) a clear vision for improvement of service quality, and (3) empowerment of ministries in a long term.

Bibliometric analysis of water footprint research in countries of former Yugoslavia

Sustainable development of water resources requires new tools and research in these fields of study. A systematic overview of water footprint research in countries of former Yugoslavia is presented through bibliometric analysis and publication review. The Scopus database was used as the data source. Among the countries of former Yugoslavia, only researchers from Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Hercegovina published papers focused on water footprint research before March 2021. Research on water footprint in these countries was found to be insufficient in scope and intensity. The contribution of authors from the countries of former Yugoslavia is small compared to research in other countries all over the world but is not insignificant. Almost 2/3 of articles have already been cited by other authors. Two main centers of water footprint research are at the University of Maribor in Slovenia and at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia, respectively. The research is focused on the so-called volumetric water footprint, while the LCA water footprint stands outside the interest of the scientific community in countries of former Yugoslavia.

The impact of changing economic conditions in the context of postponement of parenthood in three countries of former Yugoslavia: application of the LASSO model

The impact of changing economic conditions in the context of postponement of parenthood in three countries of former Yugoslavia: application of the LASSO model

Political Complexities of Ethnochoreological Research: The Facets of Scholarly Work on Dance in the Countries of Former Yugoslavia

As independent scholarly discipline grounded in folkloristics, ethnochoreology was predominantly founded within the state institutions of the socialist regime of former Yugoslavia after World War II and was consequently molded theoretically and methodologically in accordance with the prevailing ideology of the ruling socialist political system. In post-socialist regimes established in former Yugoslavian republics after the 1990s, which led to emerging market economies and caused huge modifications in the official social and educational policies of each country, ethnochoreology continued to be linked with state institutions. At the same time, however, it has been subject to extensive remodeling which included changes within the discipline itself along with its repositioning in the academic and educational system. This article examines political facets of ethnochoreological research in former Yugoslavian republics, comparing the experiences of many individual dance scholars. Based on interviews with colleagues from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro, the study will explore the general position of ethnochoreologists as well as their attitudes toward the relationships between dance research and the concrete political situations in each of their countries. Questions discussed encompass standpoints about how the political realities we are living in influence the remodeling of ethnochoreology in epistemological and methodological terms, but also its position in academic, educational and research contexts.

Challenges in developing the academic profession in the Western Balkans

AbstractIn this paper, we explore the developmental challenges facing the academic profession in Europe and especially in some Western Balkan countries, Croatia and Slovenia. First, we look at how the higher education environment determines key changes to the academic profession: expectations to demonstrate professional expertise, internationalisation, segmentation, and precarity. While these processes are mainly considered from the above perspective, we also examine the work of academics from within. Second, we discuss aspects of academic tasks, challenges of synchronising academic work with performance measures, intensification of work and expansion of bureaucratic tasks. Building on these perspectives, we introduce a qualitative pilot study that tests how these general trends described in the literature may be applied to given situations in five countries of former Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo. Although these countries cover a relatively small geographical area, the differences among them with respect to the economy, society and politics are important. Our findings suggest that problems accumulating in academic work in Slovenia and Croatia were in almost all of the surveyed aspects less problematic than in the three other observed countries.

The Factor of the Arab-Muslim World in the Development of the Countries of Former Yugoslavia and Albania

The Factor of the Arab-Muslim World in the Development of the Countries of Former Yugoslavia and Albania

Radnici u post-socijalizmu - između klasnog i nacionalnog identiteta

Social transformation and transition from socialist to liberal market economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries of former Yugoslavia, followed by war atrocities, initiated a series of economic and social challenges: deindustrialization, high unemployment, dubious privatizations, impoverishment, ethnic rivalries and structural changes. In this paper, we observe the mentioned social processes focusing on identity politics resulting in transformation of class identity into workers' national identity. The main presumption is that certain critical social moments serve as a trigger for "shift" in primacy of class compared to national identity and vice versa. To address this, we are using cases of workers' resistance/strikes/ protests during the social transformation from socialist into market economy, and after the completed privatization and reign of ethno-national policies in former Yugoslavia countries.

Powracające ludobójstwo w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej i Rosji (1894-1995)

There have been numerous publications on genocide, which provides evidence that this topic is up-to-date, important and still insufficiently researched. The author of the legal concept of "genocide " is Rafał Lemkin, a Polish scholar of Jewish nationality: "Father of Genocide Convention". In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a convention on the prevention and punishment of genocide crime. During the hundred years (1894-1995), genocide repeatedly occurred in Central and Eastern Europe. The greatest genocide in human history is the extermination of the Jews (the Holocaust). The author also recalls the genocide of the Armenians (1894-1915) in the Ottoman Empire (although it goes beyond Central and Eastern Europe and Russia). There were numerous genocide cases in the Soviet Union, and it is only about them that it is possible to accumulate substantial literature. Namely, the author reminds: the Cossacks genocide following the Bolshevik revolution; genocide in the countryside in connection with the collectivization process; Great Famine in Ukraine; the extermination of entire national minorities (so-called national operations 1937-1938); the most massive such operation was the "Polish operation." The author also recalls genocide in the countries of former Yugoslavia: especially in the fascist so-called Independent Croatian State [Nezavisna Država Hrvatska - NDH). The genocide of Ukrainian nationalists on Poles (1943-1946) closes the text. The article describes the largest genocidal operations carried out in Central and Eastern Europe over the course of a century and outlines their historical and political background, the manner in which they were carried out and their relationship with the international law and individual national regulations in force at the time.

Tax evasion in the countries of Former Yugoslavia

This article presents estimates of tax evasion in all Former Yugoslavian countries for various years and taxes during the last two decades. The scarcely available fiscal and national accounts data only allow us to provide approximate estimates. Nevertheless, they are a useful contribution to the existing literature in a unique sense since tax evasion is estimated for the very first time for some of the countries. The main aggregate assessment of tax evasion is based on data for shadow economy and tax burden. In addition, this research finding provides more specific measures of evasion for some single taxes that are based on data discrepancies from different sources. Lastly, we derive implications for the controls of tax evasion and the observed tax collections.

The last twenty-five years of Polish humanities related to the history of the nations and countries of former Yugoslavia, their political and cultural relations with Poles, and unionism ideas in the second half of the 19th century

The last twenty-five years of Polish humanities related to the history of the nations and countries of former Yugoslavia, their political and cultural relations with Poles, and unionism ideas in the second half of the 19th centuryThis paper presents an overview of the research topics that have appeared in Polish humanities since 1989 concerning the second half of the 19th c. history of the nations and countries which went on to create the Yugoslavian state after 1918. The period we chose is 1848 to 1908. Polska humanistyka ostatniego ćwierćwiecza dotycząca historii narodów i krajów byłej Jugosławii, ich związków polityczno-kulturalnych z Polakami oraz idei wspólnotowych w drugiej połowie XIX wiekuW niniejszym artykule zostanie przeprowadzony przegląd tematów badawczych dotyczących historii narodów oraz krajów, które po 1918 roku utworzyły państwo jugosłowiańskie, w drugiej połowie XIX, w polskiej humanistyce po 1989 roku. Jako orientacyjną cezurę czasową przyjęto lata 1848–1908.

The DNA of the domestic value added (DVA) in exports: Firm‐level analysis of DVA in exports

AbstractThis paper sheds light on the relationship between domestic value added in exports (DVA) and the different ways firms participate in GVCs by exploiting a detailed firm‐level data set for the whole population of Slovenian exporting firms for the period 2002–14. The paper draws attention to those firm characteristics that allow a greater share of DVA to be captured. Although reliance on industry‐level data from input–output tables is the most common way of doing this in the literature, this paper develops a method for estimating DVA in exports using firm‐level data by adapting the approach taken by Kee and Tang (2016). The paper finds that in terms of DVA, domestic‐owned exporting firms outperform more productive foreign‐owned firms and that firms not affiliated with permanent suppliers from abroad capture higher DVA in exports. Positive outcomes of DVA in exports can be observed, all else being equal, for firms with a larger share of intangible capital per worker and firms with a smaller share of exports based on imports of the same products. The results also show that when exporting more to less demanding markets, like the countries of former Yugoslavia, firms benefit more in terms of greater DVA gains in exports.