Deep-rooted political turbulence, along with the present hybrid regime, have resulted in an undesirable social, economic and political milieu in Serbia. Such an atmosphere is a fertile ground for a grey economy, corruption, nepotism and restrictions to media freedoms. These?unconventional? means of social functioning, have caused a decline in trust towards state institutions and proportionally, increase of citizen participation in non-institutional models of engagement. The aim of this paper is to analyse one such model of non-institutional engagement: the local activist (...) group Za nas Kej, operating in the area Savski blokovi in New Belgrade. The authors analysed local residents? perception of the activist group Za nas Kej in comparison to the group?s narratives and actions. By using a grounded theory approach authors explained the role of groups such as Za Nas Kej in the development of participatory and deliberative democracy within the local community. Our data indicates that Za nas kej, despite its local character, does not have a strong foothold in the community, and thus receives only passive support. Citizens perceive Za nas kej as mediator between local institutions and residents of the Sava apartment blocks. Despite the failure to mobilise a wider group of citizens for their cause, this activist group continues to be a relevant actor within the local community. (shrink)

Given the urgency of global crises, interest abounds in alternative organizational forms (e.g., multistakeholder social enterprises, MSEs), promising structural solutions to engage diverse stakeholders in the creation of joint social, economic, and democratic values. Yet, studies of the who, how, and why of stakeholder engagement are predominantly rooted in for-profit contexts, assuming objective boundaries between insider/outsider stakeholders and engagement as a means to an end. The context of MSEs challenges both of these assumptions. Based on interviews with leaders of 28 (...) French MSEs, I show how the latter made sense of their expectations versus the reality of stakeholder engagement. Leader sensemaking strategies informed the enactment of (revised) stakeholder engagement strategies to maintain coherence, or address misalignment, between expectations and reality. The article contributes to the literature by challenging assumptions of stakeholder engagement in for-profit firms. It also cautions against an overreliance on designated organizational forms to enable substantive stakeholder engagement. (shrink)

This paper offers a critical insight into the present moment of Croatian literary and cultural theory by combining an overview of the main actors and interests with a problem-specific approach to the underlying tension or quarrel that is defining and shaping the field of Theory in the Croatian context. The paper depicts a cross-generational debate on the fictionality and reification of/by Theory. Deconstructive operations and the broad historicizing of Theory itself are used along with the specificities of the Eastern gaze: (...) “othering,” interstitiality and the traces of previous conjunctures that strongly influence the Croatian theoretical scene. (shrink)

The ability to communicate intentionally begins when infants start referring to external objects. Although social gaze has specific communicative functions, it remains unclear what they are. Beyond dyadic—infant-parent—emotional sharing, infant social gaze within the infant-parent-object triad becomes an increasingly complex communicative modality. We argue that the communicative function of infant social gaze is driven by the knowledge shared between the infant and the parent on the referent of the social gaze, namely the object. Although objects have affordances, they are used (...) in conventional ways shared between users (i.e. common ground). Parents transmit to infants the conventional use of objects, which infants progressively learn and master. Accordingly, we hypothesize that within triadic interactions, the communicative function of infant’s gaze toward the parent is shaped by the degree of common ground shared between the two communicative partners on the conventional use of the object. Based on three prototypical vignettes of mother-infant joint toy play sessions of one 8 month-old child and of two 16 month-old children, we provide a qualitative analysis of the function of infant gaze based on 1) infant’s mastery of the conventional use of the toy, and 2) the parental response to the infant’s gaze. Analyses of gaze patterns reveal that when infants do not master object’s conventional use, parents do not interpret infant’s gaze as meaningful. Conversely, when the infant masters object’s conventional use and thus shares with the parent common ground about the object, parents more likely interpret infant’s gaze as meaningful. Our findings highlight the key role that socio-materiality plays in early communicative development. Namely, when referring to objects for which the infant and the parent share common ground, the function of infant’s social gaze becomes communicatively meaningful for the parent. The knowledge on the communicative referent (i.e. the object) shared between the infant and the parent shapes the course of communicative behavior, constitutes and reflects the interactive function of gaze, and cues parents into tailoring their communicative response according to infant’s developmental needs, which in turns feeds back into infant’s learning and development. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to map the reconfiguration and displacement of the emerging trauma of the Holocaust in the cinematic narratives of SFR Yugoslavia. The analysis of three nearly forgotten Yugoslav films of the 1960s - Killer on Leave, Witness Out of Hell and Smoke - follows Kansteiner?s thesis about the changes of Holocaust memorial narratives in the films shown on German television in the 1970s. Accordingly, I claim that the analyzed films position the trauma of the Holocaust (...) as a crime committed by others, over there, and then in the past. Further, they broaden the trauma to accommodate the diversified roles of victims, perpetrators, witnesses and bystanders, and help the Germans come to terms with the Nazi criminal legacy and their own role. The co-productional terms allow the films to balance the memory of the Holocaust as both anti-fascist and cosmopolitan, multidirectional within the real Yugoslav/German symbolic narrative space and its intrinsic poetics. (shrink)

This article argues that eighteenth-century theatrical reviews and biographical descriptions equate the physical decline of the aging actress with the loss of her identity. It analyses disappearing selfhood through an investigation of the intersection of gender and age in William Hazlitt’s essays on retiring players: namely, “Miss O’Neill’s Retirement,” “Mr. Kemble’s Retirement,” and “Mrs. Siddons’ Lady Macbeth.” In these essays, Hazlitt suggests that the actress only maintains her public identity through an early departure from the stage. This is enforced by (...) societal understandings of normative and desirable femininity as youthful. To emphasize the feminine loss that accompanied aging, Hazlitt and his contemporaries would often juxtapose a player’s physical body with those of younger players, as well as with the memory—or ghost—of its own younger form. (shrink)

This article argues that eighteenth-century theatrical reviews and biographical descriptions equate the physical decline of the aging actress with the loss of her identity. It analyses disappearing selfhood through an investigation of the intersection of gender and age in William Hazlitt’s essays on retiring players: namely, “Miss O’Neill’s Retirement,” “Mr. Kemble’s Retirement,” and “Mrs. Siddons’ Lady Macbeth.” In these essays, Hazlitt suggests that the actress only maintains her public identity through an early departure from the stage. This is enforced by (...) societal understandings of normative and desirable femininity as youthful. To emphasize the feminine loss that accompanied aging, Hazlitt and his contemporaries would often juxtapose a player’s physical body with those of younger players, as well as with the memory—or ghost—of its own younger form. (shrink)

So well established was the cliché which connected TB and creativity that at the end of the century one critic suggested that it was the progressive disappearance of TB which accounted for the current decline of literature and the arts'. Some biochemical evidence does indeed invite a hypothesis that M. tuberculosis originally joined the human holobiont as a brain evolution-enhancing endosymbiont, thus possibly contributing towards the development of human consciousness and creative potential. Exploring the complexity of mycobacteria's entanglements within human (...) corporeality leads us to questions that challenge anthropocentric conceptions of creativity in a twofold manner. As noted above, the tubercle bacillus forms machinic assemblages and operates as an endosymbiont with human bio-systems. It is possible that these endosymbiotic assemblages contribute towards human creativity and destabilize simple notions of its origin. In a double reflection, the concept of creativity itself could be revisited along alternative lines: it can no longer be considered only as the production of human cultural artefacts and experiences, but rather it can be understood as ubiquitous activity performed by heterogeneous highly dynamic machinic assemblages (comprising of human, animal, computational, social, molecular, bacterial, viral and other processes), which lead to the production of novel modes of existence. (shrink)

Art creates a specific relation to time and especially to the present moment. It opens the experience of the present towards its indeterminacy and emergence. On the contrary, AI does not know the present. It recognizes only the past and future. We could even say that artificial neural networks do not “know” time at all. Instead, they know only logical functions which process patterns of information. Yet, what makes time “time” is genuine transformation, which happens outside of the abstract realm (...) of logic. I support these observations by analysing two works of art: Bill Viola’s The Raft (2004) and Hito Steyerl’s This Is the Future (2019). While artistic creation opens up the intervals “in-between seconds” for an unpredictable and transformative event to occur (The Raft), AI closes these intervals and fastens the future into predictability calculated on the basis of past data (This Is the Future). Although this machinic operation makes the present even more unpredictable and prone to catastrophes, its potential for transformation seems to be withdrawn. (shrink)

Based on the notion of the world as a whole, as formulated by Kant and Hegel, it is possible to articulate a dynamic vision of the world in which the interrelationships between various factors are adequately represented. In this way, each side of the “calculus” would be problematised in the face of the problems of mainstream bioethics in a complex context of mutual conditionality. The dialectical idea of the world as a whole would help bioethics gain insight into the way (...) its principles are mediated with the principles of other orders of human action, an attempt to theoretically support bioethicists’ awareness of the need for a global approach to their subject. By formulating its principles in the light of a much-needed global approach, for example, concerning a global environmental catastrophe, it is more likely that it will be able to become one mechanism for radically changing our daily lives. (shrink)

This article discusses the ascetic–eschatological dimension of consecrated life through the lens of death. Death is not understood as an impenetrable border which separates the two worlds but as a fluid cell membrane which binds time and eternity. The phenomenon of death in consecrated life is perceived in three ritual events: baptism, religious consecration and physical death. These three moments make the so–called 3D transformation which is not only in these three events but through asceticism it is extended to the (...) whole existence of the consecrated person. Ascetic way of living is the membrane where eschaton transcends its own borders. The effort of asceticism and joy of eschaton in consecrated life are two sides of the same reality. Considering the relation between asceticism and eschaton, a convent could be named a heavenly embassy and consecrated people heavenly ambassadors. (shrink)

This book engages with the conceptual intersections of post-Yugoslav literature, focusing on analyses of postism and temporality.

Since the latest political changes, the FRY faces a choice of a transition strategy and privatization model whithin it. After ten years of transition in East Europen countries, well established patterns in marked oriented reforms and subsequent results are observed and could serve as policy lessons for the FRY. Regarding the significant impact that initial conditions have on efforts and results of transition macroeconomic policy and structural reform implementation, the paper presents the prevailing institutional setting of the Yugoslav economy inherited (...) from the communist regime. Also, the ten years of Yugoslav privatization experience is reported to have weak results due to the poor concept. Debates on privatization, as well on structural reforms and macroeconomic policy, have again become lively in the FRY.Depuis les derniers changements politiques, la République Fédérale de Yougoslavie fait face à un choix de stratégies de transition et de modèles de privatisation. Après dix années de transition dans les pays de l’Europe de l’Est, des schémas bien établis de réformes menant à l’économie de marché et les résultats qui en découlent sont observés et pourraient servir de leçon pour la République Fédérale de Yougoslavie sur le plan politique. Eu égard à l’impact significatif qu’ont les conditions initiales sur les efforts et les résultats de la politique macroéconomique de transition et d’instauration de la réforme structurelle, l’article souligne que l’environnement institutionnel de l’économie yougoslave est un héritage du régime communiste. Aussi, les dix années de privatisation en Yougoslavie ont donné lieu à des résultats peu significatifs, précisément à cause de l’héritage évoqué. Les débats autour de la privatisation, des réformes structurelles et de la politique macroéconomique sont à nouveau d’actualité en République Fédérale de Yougoslavie. (shrink)

In this article, our aim is to examine the difference between the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice of the multinational companies (MNCs) and of the domestic companies operating in Serbia, as well as the influence of internal self-regulations such as statements of corporate values and codes of conduct, and external self-regulations such as the implementation of the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards on CSR practice. The CSR practice is observed in five CSR areas: employee relations, customer relations, environmental practice, (...) community and social involvement, and transparency in business activity. The findings indicate that the CSR practice of the MNCs is significantly different in comparison to domestic companies only in the area of employee relations. Furthermore, the overall results suggest that internal self-regulations have more influence on CSR practice than the implementation of generic management system standards. However, the existence of transparent corporate values, codes of conduct and implemented management systems according to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards does not prove to be strong predictors of CSR performance. (shrink)

Trafficking in human body parts is one of the most severe form of crime in modern times. The topicality of this phenomenon reinforces the fact that it is intertwined with organised crime and human despair. The resulting repercussions are dangerous for the “donor”, prosperous for the “intermediaries”, and vital for the “recipient”. The paper analyses the phenomenon of trafficking in human body parts, which is directly related to the development of transplant medicine and surgery. Human organ transplantation is moving toward (...) indicative ethics, as ethics of responsibility, and is gradually moving beyond imperative ethics, emphasising duty. Human organ donation is an act of self-sacrifice. Therefore, from an ethical and moral perspective, the commercialization or trafficking of human organs is unacceptable because it violates human dignity. In addition to the ethical implications, the paper analyses international documents on this topic and the Croatian normative regulations on this issue. Finally, bioethical and criminal law answers to this question are given. (shrink)

The objective of Working Group 4 of the COST Action NET4Age-Friendly is to examine existing policies, advocacy, and funding opportunities and to build up relations with policy makers and funding organisations. Also, to synthesize and improve existing knowledge and models to develop from effective business and evaluation models, as well as to guarantee quality and education, proper dissemination and ensure the future of the Action. The Working Group further aims to enable capacity building to improve interdisciplinary participation, to promote knowledge (...) exchange and to foster a cross-European interdisciplinary research capacity, to improve cooperation and co-creation with cross-sectors stakeholders and to introduce and educate students SHAFE implementation and sustainability. To enable the achievement of the objectives of Working Group 4, the Leader of the Working Group, the Chair and Vice-Chair, in close cooperation with the Science Communication Coordinator, developed a template to map the current state of SHAFE policies, funding opportunities and networking in the COST member countries of the Action. On invitation, the Working Group lead received contributions from 37 countries, in a total of 85 Action members. The contributions provide an overview of the diversity of SHAFE policies and opportunities in Europe and beyond. These were not edited or revised and are a result of the main areas of expertise and knowledge of the contributors; thus, gaps in areas or content are possible and these shall be further explored in the following works and reports of this WG. But this preliminary mapping is of huge importance to proceed with the WG activities. In the following chapters, an introduction on the need of SHAFE policies is presented, followed by a summary of the main approaches to be pursued for the next period of work. The deliverable finishes with the opportunities of capacity building, networking and funding that will be relevant to undertake within the frame of Working Group 4 and the total COST Action. The total of country contributions is presented in the annex of this deliverable. (shrink)