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67. SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF THE BUSINESS CRISIS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Project Purpose
The research builds on the assumption that an overview and analysis of the situation (setting the diagnosis) as part of the process where all crisis symptoms and causes are noticed clearly and timely is the management basis for improving business in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Only after we have precisely defined the situation and its causes can we begin developing a plan for future action and work on resolving and overcoming problems in business. It is extremely important to become aware of signs of a crisis in a company in a timely manner. Professional and responsible, that is, capable managements react to the first symptoms of crisis. Recognising crisis symptoms (signs) enables more successful business in the short and long term. Every company with negative manifestations in its business should answer the following questions: Are we approaching crisis? Are we in a crisis? What is the crisis scope and intensity? How did the crisis come about? Who is responsible? Apart from recognising crisis symptoms, it is equally important to precisely determine all the causes of the crisis. Eliminating these causes creates the preconditions for returning to a normal running business.
Questions Raised by the Project
The main aim of the research is to define and identify the key symptoms (signs) of crises, on the one hand, and it causes in general and in particular companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, based on the research, the aim is to analyse trends in business and management in BiH companies. The phenomenon of symptoms and causes of a business crisis will be researched by analysing a sample of 30 companies over a longer time period. The companies differ in terms of type of activity, size, ownership structure, etc. The aim is to obtain a relatively large number of different, detailed, comprehensive and relevant information and data. The value of this research lies in the fact that based on an analysis of crises in business, i.e. the symptoms and causes of crises in various companies, we can arrive at certain general conclusions and patterns. It will then be possible to define ways of overcoming the crises and, in general, improving business in BiH companies. The conceptual approach to the overall issue of crisis in companies includes the following basic phases: company in crisis, crisis signs/symptoms, real (internal and external) crisis causes, possible crisis solutions and their implementation. The 30 companies included in the research of crisis symptoms and causes in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be proportionally representative in terms of territory, which means that the companies will be from both entities (FBiH and RS) and from all of the cantons and regions. The suggestion is for the companies (groups of three) to be from the following regions:
Combining the above methods of research will facilitate understanding the phenomenon being researched (business crisis – symptoms and causes), which appears in a multitude of forms and in various companies. From the multitude of situations (companies) where the researched phenomenon is present, a logical analysis seeks to explain its symptoms (signs) and causes, its nature, dynamics and manifest forms. By studying the phenomena of business crisis symptoms and causes in more cases (companies), the researchers will strive to confirm the theoretical determinants of crisis management and business crises, and especially the crisis symptoms and causes that will be elaborated in the first part of the paper, while citing the specificities of each business crisis in BiH companies and thus indicating the ways and measures for overcoming crisis situations and improving business.
Main Researcher:
Senad Softić,
Trampina 10,
Sarajevo
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 30 June 2005
Institution:
Institute of Economics in Sarajevo
Research Team:
Aleksandar Eskić,
Zijada Rahimić,
Senada Keserović,
Almir Peštek.
Food is a necessary precondition for life, and its absence precludes biological existence. It is necessary for work and all other activities. Lack of food for a large proportion of humanity is one of the main economic and political problems in the world today. Food shortages are often causes of unrest, conflict and war. There cannot be peace in the world while more than a billion people are suffering from famine. At the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002, its was concluded that freedom from famine is a basic and primary human right. OECD countries subsidise their agriculture in the amount of a billion US dollars per day. That is six times more than the total sum allocated for development. Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina produced barely a third of the food necessary to feed its population. The rest must be imported, which costs us close to two billion convertible marks per year, making food the main import and considerably burdening our foreign trade balance. Bosnia and Herzegovina has the potential for far greater food production. This potential is not used for a number of reasons that this project aims to study. The project will also propose solutions to double food production in the short term. Our hypothesis is that with knowledge and investment in agriculture, food production in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be doubled in five years. After studying the current situation in agriculture, we will propose a system of short-term and long-term measures to radically change food production and improve the quantity and quality of produced food. The population would have better nutrition and health, while food producers-farmers who are the poorest population category today and make up 40% of the entire population would have considerable greater income. Reducing poverty would not increase only the material position of the producers, but also their social status. They would be able to spend more on the education of themselves and their children, which would in turn improve the social position of villages and reduce the traditional differences between villages and cities. We must adopt a new system of measures in line with scientific and technological developments in the world in order to reach the pre-war level of food production and then to surpass it.
Questions Raised by the Project
This project seeks to propose which measures in which part of the country and in which period should be undertaken to achieve the above aims. According to our current hypothesis, this would include some of the following measures:
The first part entails removing war damages and bringing food production to the pre-war level. For a large portion of arable land, it is necessary to first create the preconditions for production (removal of land mines, return of refugees, etc.).
The other group of measures entails a more rational exploitation of arable land.
The third entails improved agricultural technology and assortment of crops.
The fourth group of measures is improving livestock composition and feed.
Realising the above aims would stimulate greater employment in the villages.
One of the difficult consequences is high unemployment. Employment in the villages will increase by employing farmers in agricultural production. All the measures proposed by this project aim to increase employment in the villages (in direct production), and in the placement and processing of agricultural products. Greater employment opportunities in the villages will reduce the pressure on jobs, accommodation and social funds in the cities.
Main Researcher:
Semina Hadžiabulić,
Akademika Ivana Zovke 5,
Mostar
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 30 June 2005
Institution:
Agronomic Faculty in Mostar
Research Team:
Elvedin Hanić,
Taib Šarić,
Olga Vidačić
Bosnia and Herzegovina imports all the necessary quantities of edible oil and protein components for the production of livestock feed. The protein components are by-products of processing oil plants (soy, sunflower and rapeseed). Despite customs controls, importing oil and protein components runs the risk of introducing genetically modified products that could endanger people's health. This problem can be solved by ceasing to import oil plants, oil and protein components from abroad, mostly from the US and Argentina where the production of genetically modified oil plants is completely legal. We have all the necessary preconditions for domestic production of soy, sunflower and rapeseed, as well as oil and protein components: favourable land and climate conditions, domestic, not genetically modified assortment, all the technology, modern processing capacities of oil plants at "Bimal" in Brčko, as well as the necessary expert and professional staff. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a realistic possibility to produce enough soy, sunflower and rapeseed on its own land and from domestic, not genetically modified sorts, and it can then also produce the necessary quantities of oil and protein component. The main aim of this project is domestic production and protection of the population from the harmful effects of using genetically modified oil and protein components in food for people and livestock.
Questions Raised by the Project
This project would conduct research on:
Maintaining the existing domestic assortment of soy,
Introducing rapeseed and sunflower sorts and hybrids from countries where the production of genetically modified plants is prohibited.
Shortly, Bosnia and Herzegovina can be expected to provide the necessary domestic production of soy, sunflower and rapeseed (about 40,000 ha), and thus the necessary quantity of oil and protein components from its own land, which will protect the population from possible consumption of genetically modified food. This project will be a complete contribution to the technology of producing oil plants by introducing new technological solutions arrived at through domestic scientific and research work.
Main Researcher:
Jovan Kondić,
Petra Rađenovića 19,
Banja Luka
Duration:
1 December 2004 to 31 March 2005
Institution:
Agricultural Institute in Banja Luka
Research Team:
Krstan Milojević,
Dragan Škorić
In line with the understanding that local municipal authorities entails the sovereign decision-making of citizens about the most important local questions, citizens are accorded an important role that they should safeguard and struggle to strengthen and expand. This struggle begins with raising awareness about the rights and mechanisms provided by local self-governance. Citizens still do not participate in communication with local government representatives and thus have no opportunity to develop their initiatives. Active communication between citizens and local government representatives is very underdeveloped. This form of communication would give citizens an important role in decision-making, because they would be able to give proposals, opinions, and advice, and the final decision would not be solely up to government bodies. Certain preconditions must be met in order to raise citizens' awareness about participation in political decision making on the municipal level: : time and resources; balance and relationship of accountability, develop a process of informing and consulting, education of citizens to provide them with information tools, knowledge of rules and obligations of local municipal government and the citizens. The process of raising citizens' awareness about participation in political decision making on the municipal level is not simple or easily achievable even in developed democracies, and can be particularly problematic in countries in transition where citizens are faced for the first time with the need to actively participate in processes of political decision making. Developing this process with features of participation (forms of two-way communication between citizens and local government representatives) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country in transition, entails breaking with traditional attitudes towards government and the existing political culture of passive observation that reduces the role of citizens to that of turning out for the elections and giving their votes to parties and candidates.
Questions Raised by the Project
The problem with local municipal government in Bosnia and Herzegovina is its isolation from the public, which results in a lack of understanding for citizen's demands and fosters a spirit of distrust and suspicion. Overcoming these barriers entails a long-term process of informing citizens, introducing them to the workings of local municipal government and the problems they encounter, as well as involving citizens in resolving problems that affect them directly. Also, representatives of local municipal government do not have a developed system to convince citizens that their initiatives are welcome and needed for efficient and permanent solutions of problems in the community. On the other hand, citizens are not informed about their rights and obligations, primarily with the legal procedures for realising their rights. That is why every attempt to develop a relationship between the citizens and the local government will stop at the very beginning and turn into a pointless criticism of the current situation. There are a number of approaches and mechanisms used to promote and increase the role of citizens in political decision making on the local municipal level, the most frequent of which are: workshops, public assemblies, internet information, internet forums, web portal, involving citizens in the planning process, citizens advisory boards, joint work on projects.
The problem of forms of information – communication – consultation in municipalities (cities) aimed at involving citizens in the decision making process on the local level can be defined in line with the aforementioned guidelines: Finally, it is necessary to identify all the available information – communication – consultation channels through GIEC that can help citizens participate and influence decision making on the local level.
Main Researcher:
Adnan Salkić,
Devetak 9,
Tuzla
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 30 June 2005
Institution:
Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Tuzla
Research Team:
Jasmin Mušanović,
Emir Mašić,
Slađana Pejić
Culture must fundamentally answer the question how a community should survive, that is how it should unite the spatial and temporal dimensions of its self-existence. The answer is usually economic. Pragmatically coming face to face with the real situation not only test the community's survival ability, but also the extent to which it is integrated. Integration mobilises forces that resolve the basic problem of the community, in our case – the repercussions of transition changes. On the institutional level, transition consequences are resolved by harmonising legislation and reducing the administrative costs of the organised risk of transition. This enables the creation of strategies that rely on domestic skills and an economy of knowledge and reduces dependence on international institutions and banks. The applicability of a development strategy depends on the dominant values and experiences, but also on powerful and influential groups and lobbies in the society. The main traits of most development strategies are flexibility and adaptability independent of the dictates of capitalist coercion. It has been noted that through cooperation and doing business together, small and medium enterprises (SME) establish a collective learning system, which once in place, starts distributing the local knowledge, experience and innovation base and helps the regional and local community survive the complexity of an unpredictable and unstable environment. Hernand de Soto, for example, in his "The Mystery of Capital" treats capital as a synthesis of its physical manifestation and the essence of social function. Today, capital cannot be treated only as a physical manifestation. In contrast to Marx, who described capital as an independent substance in constant transformation between its manifest forms of currency and goods concentrated in the hands of the capitalists, de Soto believes that capital has the opposite natural tendency of not concentrating in the hands of the few, but rather a tendency to be dispersed. So, capitalism is not the cause of poverty, the guilty party is the state apparatus derived from a despotic and feudal political organisation culture of certain religions. These cultures, when translated into the state apparatus, introduce organisational dimensions of uncertainty and distrust ultimately driving up the costs of investment and stifling entrepreneurship. Our idea is that an appropriate strategy for the Bosnian-Herzegovinian economy must be derived from so-called social capital, primarily defined as the perception of capital in the form of human resources, which is the foundation of an economy of knowledge and the prevailing paradigm of development throughout the world.
Questions Raised by the Project
In an analysis of the social and economic status of transition changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, drastic changes can be seen with respect to social capital. They are inspired by the neo-liberal ideas of global capitalism. An important dimension of these recipes is limiting budget spending, a free market, dismantling non-solvent companies, creating a surplus of labour, etc.
It is justified to assume that the process of transition has induced deep contradictions in Bosnian-Herzegovinian society and that the newly created problems are partly derived from earlier economic experiences. A number of relatively independent facts of the transition process have come to the forefront:
- failed privatisation of large companies that had played an important integrative and cohesive role in society. The consequences of this failure include the inability to maintain this level of integration.
- privatisation could not have been carried out by the management class formed on the basis of loyalty to the Yugoslav Communist Union, that is, the party definition of a successful director and manager. These corporate and managing abilities could not have been applied in an environment of transition changes. Instead, these experiences, since they were the only experiences available, were revived within national parties.
- Bosnian-Herzegovinian society is constantly falling into the traps of party definitions of what it is supposed to be and is therefore susceptible to abuse and corruption. The consequence of this, as defined by national parties, are disintegration and disorganisation as a way of life (formalism, institutionalisation of selfish interests, over-emphasis on rights and freedoms, representative hedonism, semantic difficulties, institutionalisation of distrust between groups and nations, intensive migrations).
- The culture of poverty has become the dominant culture due to transition and the institutions that grew out of social risks (disorderly and unreliable administrative-political organisation of society). This is manifested through high unemployment, a population neglected in all segments of everyday life and distrust towards institutions claiming to be the instruments of resolving current problems.
Main Researcher:
Alisabri Šabani,
Trg heroja 30/13,
Sarajevo
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 31 March 2006
Institution:
Faculty of Criminology in Sarajevo
Research Team:
Mirsad Ajeti
They vowed that science would find new ways, that engineers would find new processes. However, science and technology have discovered the following: Every production activity takes place at the expense of limited natural resources and at the expense of exchanges within a rigid system of multiple balances. It is not a matter of elevating nature to the status of deity, it is not a matter of returning to nature. Human activity is limited by nature and must be controlled, because: hope in life is declining, physical revenue and economic profitability are declining, the quality of life is declining, although the level of consumption is on the rise. Ecology as a specific discipline is not applicable to communities and nations whose manner of production has no permanent or irreparable consequences on the environment: natural resources seem limitless, but caring for nature is like taking care to live a healthy life. Ecology appears as a separate discipline only when economic activity starts permanently destroying or changing the environment and thus brings into question its very survival or significantly changes the conditions for its continuation. Ecology deals with the conditions that an economic activity must meet and the external limitations it must adhere to in order not to produce effects contrary to its aims or even contrary to its survival. Just as economics deals with the external circumstances that arise when individual activities lead to undesirable joint results, so ecology deals with the external circumstances that arise when economic activities create changes in the environment that significantly disturb its balance. Just as economics lie outside the sphere of mutual and voluntary cooperation, ecology is outside the sphere of economic activity and economic projections. It does not include them.
Questions Raised by the Project
The aim of this paper is to indicate the influence of science on the creation of a sustainable development strategy for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Research of foreign and domestic texts and public debates on the topic will try to answer the following questions: Is ecology a superior rationale? Does it indicate the limits of efficiency of economic activity and its extra-economic conditions? Do environmental studies indicate a special economic effort to arrive at the relevant scarcities beyond a certain limit and elicit scarcities that are absolute and insurmountable? Does revenue become negative, because what is destroyed through production becomes greater than what is created? This inversion arises when economic activity disturbs the balance of elementary cycles and/or destroys resources it is unable to restore.
Main Researcher:
Samir Bekto,
Bistrik 17,
Sarajevo
Duration:
1 December 2004 to 31 March 2006
Research Team:
Suno Kovačević,
Željko Mirjanić
The problem of this research is the influence of the forms and contents of democracy and human rights education on young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In line with the aim and tasks of this education, its influence is expressed in three components: cognitive-educational, pedagogic and practical. Knowledge and education as a result of an organised educational and pedagogic process and the effect of many other sources of knowledge are a set of consciously acquired facts, notions, conclusions, and generalisation connected into a unique whole. This leads to the tendency not to view educational and pedagogic criteria separately or in parallel, but to mutually connect them.
Questions Raised by the Project
The cognitive-educational component relates to understanding the essence of social and political phenomena and relations in democracy and human rights in 3 years of secondary school. An indicator of this educational component is the scope, level and quality of knowledge, that is, progress made between two measurements. The following qualitative elements of education are taken into account: knowledge of data, facts, notions, processes and relations; understanding of basic categories from democracy and human rights. As indicators in this research, the pedagogical component of the influence of the forms and contents of democracy and human rights education includes the views of respondents about some important values of the democracy and human rights system. The pedagogic component also pertains to many other personal traits, but the views in this research will be taken as the most important characteristics. They can also be an indicator of probable respondent behaviour, so they also serve and an element to predict behaviour in future situations. To determine the direction and intensity of views, we will use disputes on a scale of views for the initial and final survey. Apart from direction and intensity, this will allow us to see whether these views were changed through education. The educational and pedagogic dimension of influence provide and insight into the relation and possible connection between knowledge and opinion. The practical component of the influence of contents and forms of democracy and human rights education pertains to engaging respondents at faculties, schools, socio-political organisations, political parties, non-governmental organisation, cultural institutions, etc. Making the practical component operational is very complex and almost always leads to a narrowing, partitioning and simplification of the essence of a phenomenon. If it were to be surveyed as a separate subject, it would be best to view the reactions of the respondents through actual activities, its results in real changes that take place at faculties, in local communities and schools.
Main Researcher:
Izdudin Hasanović,
Mitra Trifunovića Uče 123/21,
Tuzla
Duration:
1 December 2004 to 31 March 2006
Institution:
Faculty of Philosophy in Tuzla
Research Team:
Edin Muftić, Nadir Šadić
The school system can be improved only through a systemic, multidisciplinary approach of competent experts in theory and practice, who would actively participate in creating curricula based on research. One of the aims of this project is, therefore, to show the education of defectologists in Bosnia and Herzegovina today and the models of their education in the West (Italy and Croatia). This subject resulted from an overview of the education of these specialists in Bosnia and Herzegovina today and the realistic demand for defectologists, as well as from a comparison of curricula between local and foreign faculties, the number of institutions charged with rehabilitating and educating children and youth with development disabilities and the number of defectologists employed at these types of institutions.
Questions Raised by the Project
In the current education reforms, we see that defectologists educated in Tuzla are not present in places where their employment is advocated – regular educational institutions. This was the origin of our initial idea. Through research, we arrived at a better quality and methodology in perceiving the teaching process in line with world trends and practices in countries where integration is absolute. At the same time, we have a humane situation and relationship towards children with special needs who will go to school with their peers and not be taken out of the macro and micro social environment and stigmatised. The findings will be presented to the public through seminars and public debates aimed at influencing public opinion and bodies working on the education reform strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The concrete recommendations from the reports will contribute to education reform in this area.
Main Researcher:
Selma Hodžić- Mešanović,
Armije Bosne i Hercegovine 21,
Tuzla
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 30 June 2005
Institution:
Mental Health School in Tuzla
Research Team:
Đana Hukić,
Munevera Osmanbegović,
Jasmina Jovanović,
Ervin Matović
Project Purpose
The contemporary world is characterised by numerous changes evident in almost all areas including education. Development decision makers as well as individuals in an increasing number of countries in the world feel intensified pressure from global changes and challenges that can be summed up as follows: exponential growth of available information and knowledge, widely accepted care for establishing freedom and general quality of life. We bring you part of the essay by Ralph Epperson published in the magazine "The Humanist": "I am convinced that the battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the school classrooms by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytisers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognises and respects the spark of what the theologians call divinity in every human being." Development goals are no longer limited only to a narrow understanding of economic growth. The UN Millennium Declaration adopted by the General Assembly in September 2000 defines development goals in much broader terms: reduction of poverty, improvement of health and education, preservation of the environment. Two conclusions are particularly interesting for small countries: Global pressures and demands for more comprehensive and better quality education that come from the knowledge that adequate education is essential to economic growth, human prosperity, the progress of society as a whole and the preservation of the environment; Very rapid, numerous and fundamental technological innovations, primarily in information and communications technology. Apart from in the exchange and access to information in general, modern technologies have a fundamental role in changing the formal modes of organising educational processes and activities, as well as the essence of the process of learning and acquiring knowledge, where ICT becomes a sound basis for the practical understanding of structuralism as the dominant cognitive function.
Questions Raised by the Project
The above lead to a proposal of project goals, which are as follows: overview of the problem of environmental pollution that is becoming more pronounced in our everyday life. The whole project will be realised in two phases:
Analysis of changes in the teaching process on all levels regarding ecology and environmental protection;
The effects of the NGO sector and its activities and representation in Bosnia and Herzegovina as regards ecology, based on research, public advocacy and concrete proposals.
Furthermore, research the extent to which ecology is taught at schools and faculties, whether it is a separate subject or part of other disciplines. Methodological approaches to ecology as an independent subject, through world trends, e.g. Greece. These goals should provide answers to questions and direct participation in education reform, as well as improving the current situation in terms of education and environmental protection – ecology.
Main Researcher:
Amir Hadžić,
Fadila Jahića Španca 23,
Tuzla
Duration:
1 December 2005 to 31 March 2006
Institution:
Electrical Engineering School Tuzla
Research Team:
Mirza Mehanović,
Alija Šehović,
Lejla Osmić,
Merima Gegić,
Alma Spahić
The territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina abounds in natural resources for the production of healthy food. Today's agriculture has transformed many fields into a certain form of industrial production, whose only goal is quantity, not quality. This approach is based on using fossil energy and chemicals and has lead to environmental hazards and a depletion of non-renewable natural resources. Many plant and animal species have become exterminated, and the number of village households has decreased drastically. Apart from that, conventional agriculture is the greatest pollutant of the environment, drinking water and air. Ecological production is, therefore, an imperative if we wish to preserve the earth for future generations. Classical conventional agriculture is marked by excessive and irrational use of non-renewable natural resources, as well as various measures permanently detrimental to the whole of nature and natural processes, which disrupt the balance of nature established over billions of years. Modern science has determined that a large number of illnesses is directly linked to the quality of food we eat and the various residues left in plants following the use of various chemicals in agro-technology. Agricultural production was also devastated by the past war that left behind a degradation of land (mine fields) and destroyed villages. Due to difficult economic conditions, villages are not rehabilitating and their populations still flock to urban centres. We are becoming aware once again that cooperating with nature produces far better results than systematically destroying it. The production of healthy food fits into the concept of sustainable development because a series of measures encompassing all of agriculture strives for ecologically clean, economically viable, ethically acceptable and socially fair agricultural production. Also, by educating the population about the production of healthy food, this project will contribute to better use of natural resources and building capacities for the production of healthy food as the basic precondition of survival in rural areas and an improvement of ecological environmental awareness, which is one of the requirements for the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European Union.
Questions Raised by the Project
The basic concepts of the project are:
Underused natural resources for the production of healthy food;
Need to appeal to the government to give incentives for the production of healthy food in order to foster economically viable survival of village populations;
The need to educate the population to produce healthy food and raise environmental awareness;
The need to connect institutions and associates from Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to work together on solving the problem so as to provide a better life for the citizens of this country.
The research conducted through the project is aimed at surveying the following issues:
What is the situation in rural areas in terms of population, living standard and the state of the environment;
What is the current state of natural resources for the production of healthy food in rural areas;
What type and scope of production of healthy food is present in rural areas;
What is the usage potential of existing resources for the production of healthy food in rural areas;
What measures and methods should be proposed to the population in order to increase healthy food production and provide young people with a livelihood in rural areas;
What economic effects can be expected with improving the existing and initiating new healthy food sorts and capacities;
What effect can be expected from the education of the population in healthy food production, use of chemical and environmental preservation;
What is the role of municipal, entity and state authorities in the sustainable development of rural areas and the survival of their populations.
A special issues that the project will focus on is determining the state of natural resources for the production of healthy food, as well as proposals of measures for better use of these resources and building capacities for healthy food production, which is the main precondition for the survival and livelihoods of rural populations.
Project Leader:
Milena Todorović,
Donja Brijesnica,
Lukavac
Duration:
1 December 2004 to 31 March 2006
Institution:
Doboj Hospital
Research Team:
Sabina Begić, Zoran Petrović, Hajdina Hasanović, Milenko Smiljanić
How did Europeans, and here we mean primarily Western Europeans, construct their identity in the modern age? This is an important question today when we have become aware of the process of globalisation. The main issue at hand is: what was the European attitude towards others, towards foreigners? Did Europeans negate the other on the individual level and did they negate the other on the global-historical level? In the second volume of Spheres, the German philosopher P. Sloterdijk shows that globalisation began 2500 years ago with the Ancient Greeks who portrayed the world as a sphere. Sloterdijk thus reveals the philosophical basis of European political history. With the discovery of America in 1492, the sphere is replaced by the globe. This second globalisation that started in 1492 is now being replaced by a third globalisation where the general virtual nature of all relations leads not only to a crisis of the sphere, but a crisis of space in general. M. Heidegger is right to mark the beginning of the modern age with the advent of images. The modern age is when the whole of the world is portrayed by an image. In the modern age, images and maps push out the globe and open up new possibilities of conquering the world: "Imperialism is applied planimetry, the art of transforming a sphere into plane surfaces. Only that which can be reduced to one dimension can be conquered." (P. Sloterdijk). It is interesting that in 1492 Spain expels its Jews, negating the foreigner from within and that same year also negates the foreigner from without in America. What was started in the 16th century reached perfection in the 20th century. Today, the "globalised world is synchronised, and its standard of time is a manufactured present." In both his volumes entitled Spheres, Sloterdijk shows that Europe has so far repressed and negated the other. In the first volume, he talks about repressing and negating the other on the individual plane, i.e. in the micro-sphere, while in the second volume he speaks about repressing and negating the other on the collective and historical plane, i.e. in the macro-sphere. The first volume shows that the individual is, despite everything, directed towards the other and includes the other, while in the second volume, he implies the same is true for the political sphere. The Project of European Identity in the Modern Age seeks to show how negating the other within and without oneself leads to general destruction and self-destruction. Only the Other is absolute. Negating the otherness within and without is based on negating the absolute Other.
Questions Raised by the Project
The new European identity in its future development based on the traditional values of "old" Europe, but also the new values of liberal democracy, tolerance and human rights, as well as the overreaching legacies of the Enlightenment as the topography of a new modern Europe, this new identity must include in its development a continuous relationship towards the Other, the different, the contradictory and the antagonistic. The new discourse about a new European identity must clearly distinguish Us Europeans and those Others, non-Europeans. This distinction will be one of the clear parameters to determine, among other things, the future boundaries of the European Union. It does not take much guessing that the role of the Other, apart from being attributed to Islam, is also to include Russia and the Balkans.
However, in order to avoid difficulties and unpleasantness concerning future member states of the European Union and in order to put up an insurmountable barrier against the entrance of Islam into Europe as a component of the future European identity, Alexandre Del Valle proposes a religious parameter as basic and crucial in defining the future European identity. He does not imagine a possibility of including Islam as a component in the future European identity, but rather sets the foundations for a purely puritanical parameter as the exclusive and best parameter for defining the new European identity. This parameter is reflected in a clear division between orthodox and non-orthodox Christianity. He recommends that the future Europe should and must be a Catholic Europe, a Catholic Europe with the "culture of the United States". In his opinion, this new Catholicism of Europe will be a type of "healthy nationalism" that is to preserve Europe from Islam and maintain its loyalty and commitment to "old Christian values" (Del Valle).
The researchers on the project will consider the topic of European identity in the Modern Age from a philosophical and theoretical, practical-philosophical and legal-philosophical aspect, and will critically assess various European cultural models within inclusion and exclusion matrices: the model of Europe as a common heritage and cultural identity, the model of Europe as a totality of 'national cultures', the model of Europe as a totality of 'cultures', the model of Europe as a modern culture in the making, the model of Europe as 'cultural
Project Leader:
Jasna Bakšić-Muftić,
M. Kantardžića 1,
Sarajevo
Duration:
1 December 2004 to 31 March 2006
Institution:
Law Faculty in Sarajevo
Research Team:
Jasminka Babić-Avdispahić,
Mile Babić,
Rešid Hafizović
Project Purpose
The goals of this project are:
Questions Raised by the Project
Aleksandar Milašinović,
Srđe Zlopogleđe 41,
Banja Luka
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 30 June 2005
Institution:
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Banja Luka
Research Team:
Darko Knežević,
Milan Tica
The project will include the following basic research segments given here in the form of an abstract:
Main development and business factors of the "new economy" on the company level, with a view to their mutual complementarities, as well as other complex changes in production and business systems. Special attention would be given to the range of ICT use, a new model of company organisation and management, the quality and role of the human factor would be considered, as well as the company's production and business strategy in relation to the importance of a scientific approach and the development of scientific units for continuous innovation in constructing and running the business process. A brief overview of other company activities would also be given, including the company's relationship to its surroundings. In order to provide a rounded picture of these issues, an integral analysis with a view to the contrasts with classical company organisation models will be provided and special attention will be given to the newest experience and results in the EU and the US. Developing human resources and their adapting to the demands of information and communication technologies and a new way of doing business, including educating new staff for new expertise and skills and prequalification and training of existing employees through various courses so that they can take on new jobs, with a view to the need for various levels of knowledge and skills for the various categories in the personnel structure and with an analysis of new key occupations. Special attention will be given to knowledge management on the company level and the organisational changes such management requires. The study will also consider the problem of the potential effect of ITC on rapid changes in job descriptions and labour mobility, as well as the role of labour market and working hours flexibility, etc. It should give an overview of managing human resources, particularly from the perspective of using ICT and what that requires, as well as adapting human resources to modern technology and new transformations of the main factors of business.
Questions Raised by the Project
The research will focus on applying new knowledge and new technological achievements and their impact on the efficiency and profit potential of companies in the financial and non-financial sector. In the financial sector, new technologies have enabled creating mega-financial conglomerates whose main aim is financial servicing of all economic sectors: from households, through companies to government agencies and lower levels of government, to state governments and supra-national conglomerates. Applying educational achievements, using these technologies and their application in creating computer networks to multiply new liquid resources, enables large financial conglomerates to overcome barriers in national economies. In the non-financial sector, the use of information technology significantly changes the approach to consumer needs analysis, the possibility to provide adequate supply channels for production inputs by combining basic production factors and ultimately changes the target function of the company. Two production companies with considerable use of computer and internet technology will be analysed. Results will be compiled on the basis of specially designed thesis that will provide an overview of available information and communications technology. The findings from companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be compared with data and achievements from developed countries and this will be used to formulate recommendations. They will serve as a contribution to finding adequate solutions in applying modern technologies in domestic practice.
Main Researcher:
Kasim Tatić,
Safvet bega Bašagića 61,
Sarajevo
Duration:
1 April 2004 – 30 June 2005
Institution:
Economics Faculty in Sarajevo
Research Team
Fikret Čaušević,
Vlaho Bubica,
Božidar Tasovac
The project aims to survey, that is, determine the quality of the educational and pedagogical aspect of secondary schooling in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From year to year, parameters of success in secondary schools have a decreasing tendency. The trend of decreasing achievement of students is accompanied by an increase in absences from school. Dissatisfaction with the final results is apparent in both the case of students as well as their teachers and parents. Students have an increasingly hard time coping with the information foreseen by the curriculum, which brings constant tension to the classroom. But one thing is certain. It is up to the school to inform the students and also to form values. In forming values, it is best to teach students lessons from life than something they will later be unable to recognise and use. Curricula should be adapted to life and practice in order to foster student understanding and adoption. Adolescents have the need to investigate new fields in science and to learn about contemporary scientific approaches, and not listen to information that is obsolete and difficult to apply. However, most curricula in our schools are full of precisely such information – obsolete and redundant, which fosters resistance and does not motivate learning. Aware of these circumstances, teachers are appealing for an urgent reform of the educational and pedagogical work in the schooling system.
Questions Raised by the Project
Reform is necessary not only in the field of creating curricula for various subjects, but also in terms of innovative methodologies whereby students would be more active in acquiring and applying knowledge. It is also necessary in the field of interpersonal relationships to foster and affirm the teacher-student relationship as one based on equality with an accent of the teacher's authority in guiding the student through the learning process. The general climate in the life of a school would be directed towards respect and mutual acceptance of teachers and students and more active participation of parents in school matters. Parents are another important segment of the pedagogical-educational process, so their views are equally relevant.
Main Researcher:
Slavica Ivošević – Nježić, Krajiških brigada 13, Banja Luka
Duration:
1October 2002 – 30 June 2004
Institution:
Banja Luka Gymnasium
Research Team:
Arnautović Aida,
Jakovljević Radmila,
Kararić Fatima,
Smailović Nedim,
Tutnjević Ranka
The project "Linguistic Changes in the Mass Media after Dayton in the Service of Multicultural Communication" seeks to answer a series of questions.
Questions Raised by the Project
First, have there been linguistic changes in BiH mass media following the Dayton Peace Agreement? Second, to what extent are these changes the result of spontaneous (natural) processes as opposed to targeted tendencies related to political changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region?
Third, what is the functioning of linguistic innovations, what is the nature of their semantics and to what extent are they linguistic changes as opposed to changes in language?
Fourth, how do linguistic changes in the mass media affect the possibility and necessity of establishing multicultural communication in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a precondition for permanent military and political stabilisation of the region, that is, the establishment of self-sustainable peace?
The authors will research the impact of linguistic changes in the media: among reporters, readers, and the general public, and will conduct a journalism analysis and assessment of surveyed media from the perspective of linguistic-stylistic and professional standards.
The survey includes media from both entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In order to obtain an authentic snapshot, the authors have devised a special questionnaire insisting on both journalistic and linguistic responses.
Main Researcher:
Ahmet Kasumović, M. Keroševića,Tuzla
Duration:
1 March 2002 – 30 April 2004
Institution:
Faculty of Philosophy, University in Tuzla
Research Team:
Baotić Josip
The economy of our country is in such a state that it does not attract foreign investors. In order for our country to be economically attractive to foreign investors, many preconditions must be fulfilled. The preconditions are many, but our country must fulfil at least those elementary preconditions required by foreign capital. Primarily this pertains to organising and setting up a lawful state, i.e. removing legal inconsistencies and doing away with the legal chaos. Also, a business environment needs to be created to be pragmatic and legally simplified for potential foreign investors. Otherwise, the possibility of our country every joining world economic trends will be lost. However, realistically our country is not one that can develop in the short terms relying only on its own strengths and potentials, but must seek its opportunities through the above forms of business. This research starts from the main hypothesis that will be our guide and that we seek to confirm as a possible solution:
Main Researcher:
Safet Kurtović, Pastrma 7, Sarajevo
Duration:
1 March 2002. - 30.4.2004.
Institution:
Džemal Bijedić University in Mostar
Research Team:
Rovčanin Adnan,
Trivun Veljko,
Veselinović Tihomir
This project aims to study the modes of using land for living space and to propose a rationalisation of its use and protection from degradation and destruction. We have a Law on Agricultural Land that protects this greatest treasure, but unfortunately it is poorly implemented.
Questions Raised by the Project
Three ecological factors or natural resources are of vital importance for the survival of humans and other beings on Earth. They are: water, air (oxygen) and land. The first two resources are renewable, but the third is non-renewable. Humankind consumes (and pollutes) vast quantities of water and oxygen, but these two resources are renewed through natural cycles. Water is renewed by new precipitation (rain and snow). Oxygen is renewed through photosynthesis in green plants.
Only land is non-renewable: when it is covered by concrete, asphalt, artificial lakes, etc. or when it is eroded, it is lost forever. That is why rational use of land is one of the greatest challenges and tasks set before modern civilisation. Rational use of land can significantly reduce not only its loss, but its degradation in terms of its fertility and pollution. Urbanisation, industrialisation and the development of other human activities can be harmonised with developing the needs of agriculture and forestry when it comes to the use of land.
Main Researcher:
Elma Tabaković,
Kralja Petra Krešimira IV 22a,
Mostar
Duration:
1 October 2002 – 30 June 2004
Institution:
Agronomics Faculty, University in Mostar
Research Team:
Hercegovac-Pašić Vesna,
Stupar Milan,
Živanović Dragica
The problem imposed in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian reality is the existence of many differences and the lack of common elements in life. The goal of this project is an analysis of the current state of affairs and a way to overcome current tendencies. Although religion is an important factor causing rifts in this region, it has the extraordinary potential to contribute to reducing tensions between the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to facilitate a normal life.
Questions Raised by the Project
That is why the subject of this seminar has a vast cultural and general importance for the peoples of this region. because a proper understanding and representation of this concept can change the current situation. It is easy to find religious elements that lead to a lack of understanding and intolerance, but the authors aim to research factors of cohesion and mutual tolerance between the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dealing with these issues strikes at the heart of the divisions between fraternal peoples and seeks a universally acceptable solution. Ignorance, rooted prejudice and misrepresentation of religious differences have brought Bosnia and Herzegovina to the edge of a precipice. This topic opens up the possibility of speaking about similarities and a common origin – from one Creator, which is the basis of all three religions.
Main Researcher:
Branislav Mihajlović,
Koste Majkića 1a,
Banja Luka
Duration:
1 October 2002 – 30 June 2004
Institution:
Medical Faculty Banja Luka
Research Team:
Veselinović Zoran Vranić Senad Jovičić Željko
One of the requirements for prayer in Islam is cleaning the space where one prays. This requirement determines one’s attitude towards the place for prayer. In the Muslim tradition, the attitude towards the space where one is closest to Almighty God has developed to include an adornment of this space, giving it a special meaning. These spaces were adorned by decorating the entire building and especially decorating the walls with verses from the Holy Quran. Such an attitude towards the mosque will be passed on to our descendants, together with faith in Islam. The inside of the mosque was decorated by its most talented visitors with the special concentration and love that such a place demands. This kind of attitude to the mosque is actually an attitude to ourselves and is directly related to our internal faith. With the passage of time, for a variety of reasons, our faith became weaker and so our attitude towards the mosque suffered the consequences of this and began to change. This change has been most apparent in the past one hundred years. The result is that highly valuable works of calligraphic art have been replaced with works that, apart from their message, have no other artistic value and talented masters have been replaced by ordinary house painters. The outside of the mosque is, more or less, still preserved and its destruction is prohibited by institutions in charge of preserving cultural heritage. However, the inside of the mosque is almost completely destroyed and those same institutions are turning a blind eye on this problem. In order to stop this process it is necessary to discover what has survived the destruction and to exhibit its value. This would be the main purpose of the project, which would also yield other results.
Questions Raised by the Project
In its first phase research will be directed to a few towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina where we assume that the largest number of such artefacts can be found. These towns are: Sarajevo, Travnik, Fojnica, Tešanj, Mostar, Konjic and Zenica. In these towns we would locate mosques, tekis, madrasas and other institutions where we could find these works of art dating back to the Ottoman period. With the assistance of the mosque mutevelli and older members of the congregation, these works will be documented and photographed. We would document the verses that are written out and the name of the calligrapher who wrote them, if this information is available. We would determine which alphabet was used to write them and the period that they belong to so that we could make a final categorisation of these works on the following grounds: the message (is it from the Holy Quran, a hadith, a wise saying, poetry etc.); the alphabet (type of writing: sulus, naskh, ta’liq, divani etc.); age; the calligrapher and the value of the work.
If it is possible, partially damaged works would be restored given that the restoration does not demand too many resources.
Main Researcher:
Hazim Numanagić,
Sepetarevac 16,
Sarajevo
Project Duration:
1 April 2002 – 31 December 2003
Institution:
"HUSNI HATT” Calligraphy Workshop
Research Team:
Bašdalić Esad, Milivojević Dragan, Mulaomerović Jasminko, Numanagić Šahza
Solid waste is an everyday by-product of life. The quantity of solid waste is directly related to the standard of life and other habits of people. Solid waste, which is exceedingly various, is created in the household, the catering industry, public institutions, schools, during agricultural work etc. Solid waste is made up of heterogeneous materials such as plastic, paper, metal, wood, rubber, textile, various organic materials etc. Some of these materials are biodegradable, others have a long stability period. Solid waste is the burden of contemporary times and various solutions have been proposed. In large urban areas, where solid waste is produced on a relatively small area and organised collection and further treatment exists, this problem has been, more or less, successfully solved. However, in non-urban rural areas and in smaller towns, where the production of solid waste is diffused, this problem demands a different approach and more material resources (expressed per citizen or per kilogram of collected waste) in order to be solved. Rural areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina have not solved the problem of the production and treatment (disposal) of solid waste. Apart from the usual solid waste from households, rural areas also produce a significant amount of waste from agricultural work. Also, in rural areas households are located at a greater distance from each other, creating an even larger problem for the collection of solid waste. In practice, solid waste is disposed of in an inadequate way on a large number of unhygienic garbage dumps and in clean rivers. This not only endangers the environment and people’s health but also creates an aesthetically displeasing sight. Therefore, it is necessary to solve this problem and to ascertain the most acceptable and economically and ecologically best solutions for all rural and urban areas that do not gravitate towards an existing disposal site for solid waste.
Questions Raised by the Project
a survey of the production, amount and nature of solid waste in smaller urban and rural areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina
a survey of ways to treat (dispose of) existing solid waste and its effects on the environment and possible effects on the health of citizens
a survey of solutions for this problem that are employed in places where conditions are similar to those in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Main Researcher:
Zoran Petrović, Svetosavska 86, Srebrenica
Project Duration:
1 October 2001 – 30 June 2003
Institution:
Faculty of Technology, Zvornik
Research Team:
Begić Sabit,
Đuković Jovan,
Lazić Dragica,
Marsenić Milivoje
The geographic position of Bosnia and Herzegovina encouraged various forms of mutual cooperation between Bosnia and Dalmatia. This cooperation has a longstanding historic background. This project aims to create a historic overview of events across this space, taking into consideration everything from cooperation that was mutually beneficial to open conflict. Trade ties between Bosnia and Dalmatia, set up very early on in the Middle Ages, did not diminish in importance during the Ottoman period when Bosnia and Dalmatia were a common political space. During the Ottoman period, the already strong economic ties were further strengthened by cultural cooperation, adding to the relationship. Time wise, this was limited to the period of stable Ottoman rule and with the weakening of this rule came the weakening of mutual influences. Despite these changes, earlier ties resulted in an important set of trade ties, migration processes and strong cultural influences.
Questions Raised by the Project
In an attempt to shed more light on this subject, a group of researches carried out a study in which special attention was paid to cultural influences, that is, the role of Islam in Dalmatia and the remains of Muslim influence in Dalmatian heritage. The focal point of the research was work in archives making possible the direct observation of a phenomenon, the results of which we wish to present at this seminar.
Main Researcher:
Josip Vrandečić, Dražanac 6, 21000 Split
Project Duration:
1 March 2001 – 30 June 2003
Institution:
Faculty of Philosophy, Zadar
Research Team:
Gušić Sejdalija,
Husić Aladin
This project has been conceived as an articulation of a feminist and gender theory view point in the fields of law, philosophy, linguistics, literary theory and art theory, which would, for the first time in Bosnia and Herzegovina, be employed for a democratisation of academic practices. Feminist theory is systematically excluded from education and so the joint forces of Knowledge and Power have been applied in the fields of law, philosophy, literary studies and linguistics as an androcentric strategy of ignoring "sexual/textual politics” (T. Moi).
Questions Raised by the Project
As well as being a positive project for the transformation and construction of alternative models, methods and procedures of discourse, this is an anti-sexist project and includes a deconstruction of phallocentric discourse. The struggle for autonomy, as we would characterise the essence of feminist theory and practice, implies a struggle for the right to different paradigms, theoretic tools, and even to a reconceptualisation of the entire system of knowledge and of acceptable theoretic models. The project aims to contribute to the building of a Bosnian-Herzegovinian society based on trust and dialogue and the removal of various forms of oppression, cultural marginalization and exclusion.
Main Researcher:
Jasminka Babić – Avdispahić,
Soukbunar do br. 10,
Sarajevo
Project Duration:
1 January 2002 – 30 June 2003
Institution:
Faculty of Philosophy, Sarajevo
Research Team:
Bakšić-Muftić Jasna,
Bamburać-Moranjak Nirman,
Katnić-Bakaršić Marina
To date, the study of the population as a subject in the sustainable development of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a geographic community and a state has been more than inadequate for a number of reasons. Particularly, there has been no thorough socio-geographic approach from the standpoint of five types of needs that come into being and are satisfied within regions as natural geographic communities: 1. reproduction of the population (simple and complex, marriage, planned parenthood, childbirth, spaces and conditions for family residence);
2. satisfying basic human needs (food, education and health services, social welfare, public utilities);
3. work training (in accordance with potential and actual possibilities for employment and development);
4. employment and possibility of promotion (depending on competitiveness on the product and services market and as part of the regional and wider market);
5. leisure needs (spaces for rest, recreation and personal development and the development of personal and family ties, friendship and cooperation).
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 20% of the population is living below the poverty line, that is they earn less than 1 800 KM per annum. Of the 20% most indigent – 25% are from the Republic of Srpska and 15.6% are from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among them, 25% have completed only primary school, 10% have completed secondary school and none have completed university. The governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina spend 64% of what they earn. This is the highest percentage of expenditure in Europe, since in Eastern European countries state expenditure is from 42% to 46% and in Western Europe it is 28%.
According to the statistics from the 2000 almanac, in the Sarajevo Canton there were 17 000 personal automobiles.
Of the total number of secondary school students, 65% are enrolled in vocational schools and 35% are enrolled in gymnasiums. Vocational schools train students for approximately 500 different trades. Of these different trades, only 32% can find employment in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian market. According to the 2000 statistics almanac, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, only 16% of students attended technical or biotechnical faculties. Faculties for the humanities (law, economy and criminology) accounted for 42% of students. This is the best evidence for the hyper-production of useless university degrees.
Questions Raised by the Project
This topic is thematically complex and raises difficult and pressing problems. Also, it is important for development and increasingly crucial in the process of creating an open humanist society in general and in Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular. Therefore, the topic demands a plural and many layered approach in five fields of studiously organised influences:
1. information: scientific – expert – popular and available, punctual and adequate – activist
2. research: scientific – applicable, developmental and operative on four levels: Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities, regions and local;
3. education: school, extracurricular and social education;
4. punctual and content regulated preparation, adoption and implementation of a model for problem solving and bettering the standard of life – work and development;
5. monitoring, consulting and training activities during the implementation
This is only one project among many and so the following questions are raised:
a) creating a joint long-term program for five subsystems within a unified social system:
- the state, its bodies and institutions;
- public institutions;
- education, health, culture
- the economy – its territorial associations and societies
- non-governmental organisations – classified according to types of activity;
- organisation of consumers and direct users of services
b) forming and training research and development teams for establishing and leading an organised, mutually harmonised activity on all five levels of an open civil society.
Main Researcher:
Safet Krkić,
Cernica bb,
Mostar
Project Duration:
1 March 2002 – 30 December 2003
Institution:
Faculty of Information Technology, Mostar
Research Team:
Bekto Samir,
Gajić Predrag,
Prašo Murat,
Radivojac Goran,
Rizvanović Edin,
Roljić Lazo,
Trninić Veselin
Through the study of contemporary world research in the field, this project aims to provide an overview and establish the importance of the most recent scientific and technological advancements, particularly in the area of information and communication technology (ICT). The project also provides an overview of the experience of developed countries using ICT and the accompanying economic results, as well as an overview of the fundamental changes in economy and society in the twenty-first century.
Questions Raised by the Project
First and foremost, an understanding of three key factors, that is science, education and financial and goods markets. For all three of these areas we will examine worldwide accomplishments and experience, paying particular attention to the use of ICT in their development and functioning. We will also provide an basic overview of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning each of these areas. Again, particular attention will be paid to the use of ICT to date and suggestions will be offered for further development. Secondly, based on existing factual data, we will give an approximate assessment of the situation and the basic problems for the implementation and use of ICT. Particularly, the focus will be on a critical overview and the importance and necessity for faster training and the inclusion of Bosnia and Herzegovina in those processes. Also, suggestions for basic measures to achieve this will be provided.
Main Researcher:
Kasim Tatić,
Safet Bega Bašagića 61,
Sarajevo
Project Duration:
1 October 2001 – 30 June 2003
Institution:
Faculty of Economy, Sarajevo
Research Team:
Bubica Vlaho,
Čaušević Fikret,
Zaimović Tarik
Are all libraries equipped with a computer network and connected into one system? Once this is achieved, visitors have the possibility to better communicate using books and contemporary technology, to communicate with the world, thus efficiently constructing their identity.
Questions Raised by the Project
To what extent is the library part of the education system reform (analysis, possibilities, obstacles)
What are the prospects facing Bosnian-Herzegovinian education in the present decentralized system given the results of applying the new standards in other regions?
Studying the standards in similarly small countries in transition (Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary)
Familiarisation with the drafts of standards drawn up by the cantonal and federal ministries of education
Researching the ties between libraries at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina. How and in what ways does correspondence flow between them (a very important aspect of library work)?
Main Researcher:
Vesna Nezirović,
Musala 5,
Sarajevo
Project Duration:
1 November 2003 – 30 April 2005
Institution:
Grbavica Primary School, Sarajevo
Research Team:
Dedić Ibrahim,
Hodžić Mehmed,
Lukač Hedija
The purpose of this research project is to give an overview of the preconditions for the integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina first into the "Partnership for Peace” Project and then into the NATO allegiance. This integration is of the utmost importance for Bosnia and Herzegovina since, once it has been part of NATO for some time, it will be able to better respond to frequent irrational internal demands for fragmentation and division. That is, such integration would hit at the root of the sources of instability and would make impossible a renewal of the war-mongering projects of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s neighbours.
Questions Raised by the Project
Southeast Europe is an area with a troubled past. As part of the Yugoslav federation, Bosnia and Herzegovina was a peaceful and neutral territory, sandwiched for almost fifty years between the two ruling blocks (the NATO allegiance and the Warsaw Pact). Ideologically, the population is adverse to joining any type of allegiance. However, after the tragic war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the dissolution of the former common state, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s defence from aggressors and given the fall of the Berlin Wall which ended the Cold War and its division of the contemporary world, all newly formed states must align themselves. Their integration into NATO has become an undisputed process, even in the case of Serbia. Of the former Yugoslav republics, Slovenia has already become a NATO member, and Croatia and Macedonia are already on the waiting list for the Partnership for Peace. On the other hand, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where NATO carried out its first military operation, with this "case” establishing its new position as the only remaining respectable military power in the twenty-first century world, has remained on the periphery of the integration process. It is precisely this fact, the historical role played by Bosnia and Herzegovina in profiling a new role for NATO in preventing conflicts and enforcing peace in fault line areas and the uncertainty of Bosnia-Herzegovina's inclusion in this military association and its programs that is the motivation to inspect the reasons behind the given situation.
Main Researcher:
Dželal Ibraković,
Sedma ulica M-5/9,
Maglaj
Project Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
FMO BiH Hamdije Kreševljakovića 98, Sarajevo
Research Team:
Grbavac Miro,
Smajić Muhamed,
Šijaković Ivan
This projects aims to discover the extent to which signing free trade agreements eases the breakthrough onto international markets and placement of domestic products. The project also aims to discover possible problems and difficulties faced in the export of domestic products using the aforementioned preferences. The purpose of the project is to give an overview of the economy and to find facts, to discover the results of the implementation of the free trade agreements that Bosnia and Herzegovina has signed with countries in South East Europe (Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia and Turkey).
Questions Raised by the Project
The project aims to answer the question whether Bosnian-Herzegovinian businesses engaged in foreign trade are well informed of the advantages and benefits that free trade agreements offer them for the placement of domestic produces on foreign markets (media, expert journals, roundtables, expert research projects etc.). Also, the purpose of the project is the education of domestic businesses to ease the implementation of the free trade agreement provisions and to aid in the interpretation of the very complicated European preferential rules of origin necessary for the implementation of the aforementioned Agreement.
Main Researcher:
Nermin Jusić,
Branilaca Banovića 53,
Banovići
Project Duration:
1 November 2003 – 30 April 2005
Institution:
Tuzla Custom House
Research Team:
Begić Hidajeta,
Huremović Eldin,
Mujić Nermina,
Osmanbegović Muhamed,
Poljaković Sadeta
Project Purpose
Recently economy has transitioned from the planned business system to the market business system (capitalism). The rules of market economy have been put in place but consciousness, the relationship to work, the philosophy of life and business have not wholly caught up with these changes. The machine construction and metal refining complex shares the fate of the economy in transition and is searching for ways to recover, consolidate etc. Creating a positive atmosphere, transferring of technology, conquering the market and struggling to hold onto the market are slow processes. By having an overview of the situation, accepting good ideas, training staff and improving the overall work atmosphere, we can create the necessary preconditions for investment and embark upon a prosperous development of the metal refining complex at our desired rate.
Questions Raised by the Project
This project aims to show how the creation of a information technology centre for the Herzegovina region would ensure a faster pace of development and would increase cooperation with other areas. The Faculty for Mechanical Engineering cooperated for many years with businesses in the development of products and the transmission of technologies and knowledge in the field of machine construction. The success of small businesses, along with the existence of larger businesses, is an indicator of development. Today, the large business is Aluminij ltd. Mostar. Aluminij ltd. Mostar has the added quality of being ready to assist and invests in humanitarian actions, culture and science. Taking into consideration previous experience in assigned production, available facilities, educated (uneducated for the market) work force, professional experience and the research organisation in developing products and transferring technologies, the goal of the metal refining complex can be production for export. For export to the internal EU market it is necessary to prove that products are in accordance with the appropriate EU legislature concerning product safety.
Main Researcher:
Ante Mišković,
Akademika Zovke 10,
Mostar
Project Duration:
1 November 2003 – 30 April 2005
Institution:
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Mostar
Research Team:
Duvnjak Milenka,
Haznadarević Lutvo
The subject of research is the market orientation of companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a determinant of the economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Varying levels of market orientation lead to greater or lesser dynamics in development and affect the competitive capabilities of companies. The research focuses on investigating factors that determine the dynamics of development of economic subjects and the economy as a whole. Market orientation will be taken as a determinant of economic development and factors determining market orientation will be analysed. Bosnia and Herzegovina is defining a new paradigm of development based on: openness, competitiveness and stability. The starting point for such progress hinges on the improvement of market democracy.
Questions Raised by the Project
Bringing market relations to the level of democratic standards is the basis for the effective inclusion of Bosnia and Herzegovina into integration, business globalisation and sustainable development. The process of adapting to the above conditions, i.e. the postulates of a free market economy, effects continuous changes in society and the economy and imposes an imperative need for seeking solutions that secure progress. Like other countries in the region (Croatia and Slovenia), Bosnia and Herzegovina faces the challenges of transforming the market system, that is adapting its market infrastructure and economic subjects to the dynamics of its surroundings. These challenges are also emphasised by the fact that successful development in the newly established circumstances is based on the criteria of the new economy founded on knowledge – a resource that enables competitive advantages and progress. The goal of the research is to determine the level of market orientation in a company that ensures rapid and continuous development of that company and the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to identify and investigate factors determining that development. It is also necessary to determine the action policy that encourages a greater level of market orientation of economic subjects, as well as introducing new knowledge in theory and practice.
Main Researcher:
Muris Čičić, Odobašina 45/IV, Sarajevo
Duration:
1 November 2003 – 30 April 2005
Institution:
Economics Faculty in Sarajevo
Research Team:
Brkić Nenad,
Kraljević Sandra,
Kurtović Emir
The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992 – 1995) resulted in losses of the young male population (estimated at 5%), which changed the position of women in Bosnian-Herzegovinian society. Bosnian-Herzegovinian women took on not only the role of mother, wife, defender, head of household, family provider, but also more social responsibility. Women became members of organised human communities and participated as soldiers in the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they took on the responsibility of providing for their families and joined women's organisations that cropped up spontaneously in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Questions Raised by the Project
Apart from her informal tasks (raising and educating children, nutrition, providing for her family), the Bosnian-Herzegovinian woman was also active in formal activities aimed at survival at the homestead and preserving the identity of peoples in the region. Women became an important factor in society, in terms of economics, defence and rule of law. The territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina has thus been the site of spontaneous self-organisation of women into over 50 different NGOs whose activities were brought to perfection. Where women have taken on the leading role in the family, research the functioning of families of prominent women, or women's organisations, especially those successful during the defence of 1992 – 1995, especially in view of the strategic goal of the enemy to destroy the Bosnian-Herzegovinian family because of its extraordinary traditional values and strong social connections.
Main Researcher:
Azrija Pašalić, Hasana Aganovića 48, Brčko
Duration:
1 November 2003 – 30 April 2005
Institution:
Hospital, Brčko District
Research Team:
Begić Selma,
Džubur Amela,
Kudumović Mensura,
Obradović Zarema,
Omanić Ajnija,
Ovčina Amer,
Serdarević Mevlida
The research aimed to shed stereotypes and speak publicly about discrimination against women in BiH society. Only through open discussion can this unfortunately still pressing problem be resolved through raising awareness, removing misconceptions and the stereotypical approach to these issues. Research was conducted across Bosnia and Herzegovina. This project examined both the direct and the indirect aspects of discrimination and investigates the visibility and public nature of discrimination against women in everyday life and in the media. The authors sought to observe the public nature of discrimination against women across Bosnian-Herzegovinian society through two aspects of viewing discrimination against women: the first from the point of view of direct and indirect inequality of women in Bosnian-Herzegovinian society and the second from the point of view of the public manifestation of that discrimination in Bosnian-Herzegovinian society and in general, the public nature and visibility of discrimination against women.
Questions Raised by the Project
The authors believe that their findings will answer the following questions:
What do citizens think about discrimination against women?
What is the nature and how frequent is discriminatory public speaking by politicians and public figures?
What are the direct and indirect forms of discrimination and what is their representation in the media?
Main Researcher:
Meliha Sendić, Odmot 7/c, Zenica
Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
"Centre for Legal Aid for Women in Zenica”,
Mehmeda Tarabara 15,
Zenica
Research Team:
Mališević Enida,
Mujagić Hasan,
Šišić - Radoš Senada
The general socio-psychological destruction of the population in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the result of immeasurable repercussions of the war and aggression against our country. A whole social environment was destroyed and replaced by another. This other environment is marked by large and unpredictable migration, many casualties, family breakdowns, a large number of children who lost one or both parents, an increased rate of divorce, unemployment, poverty, social depression and a series of other factors with harmful effects on all spheres of life.
Questions Raised by the Project
The role of secondary schools and their pedagogy are crucial for the socialisation of young people and their preparation to either enter the workforce or continue on to higher education.
The aims and hypotheses of the project are based on the assumption that despite the unfavourable social circumstances, there is unused potential that must be surveyed and proposed as a model for approaching reforms and developing the system of education and pedagogy in general.
In brief: "Only knowledge, honesty and perseverance of young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be the basis for constructing and sustaining the future of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina."
The system of education and pedagogy should, therefore, creatively enable and guide these young generations.
Main Researcher:
Bahrija Savarymoto, Reisa Čauševića 7, Zenica
Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
PI "Healthcare Centre” , Fra Ivana Jukića 2, Zenica
Research Team:
Bojčić Suada,
Hadžikapetanović Halima,
Miskin Sabiha
The project aims to define the role and obligations of government bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina as the signatory of international conventions and declarations about environmental protection in processes of resolving environmental issues in basic economic branches, as well as the role of companies in this process and its activities. The research aims to provide guidelines for companies in the basic branches of the economy in order to subordinate their survival to the universal benefit of the state and the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a special focus on sustainability and environmental efficiency.
Questions Raised by the Project
Specifying and clarifying the legal regulations of environmental security with a special focus on environmental requirements defined in the White Paper provided by the EU for our more rapid inclusion into the legal framework of the EU.
Defining and working on initiating cleaner production of basic economic capacities.
Proposing next steps and development, as well as continuous improvement of the implementation of international standards in the basic economy in order to achieve sustainable development of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian economy.
Main Researcher:
Senad Oprašić, I. Cankara 41, Zenica
Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
FMO BiH Hamdije Kreševljakovića 98, Sarajevo
Research Team:
Debeljak Zvonko,
Omanović Mustafa,
Pašalić Ismet,
Sredojević Jovan
Project Purpose
The idea of Bosnian-Herzegovinian perspectives in important for the developmental endeavour and emphasis on Bosnia and Herzegovina's recovery. It is, therefore, necessary to analyse the situation and potentials of Bosnia and Herzegovina in comparison to countries in transition (overview of economic results to date: strategic guidelines, defined economic goals, establishment of privatisation process, technological inferiority, debt).
Questions Raised by the Project
Extrapolate the importance of perspectives (increase in GDP, expansion of production and economic activity, increasing the quality of economic growth, increasing business competitiveness) and the support of relevant international factors (profit-driven economic investment, normative legal regulations).
Setting up clear viewpoints about Bosnian-Herzegovinian perspectives in terms of the support of relevant international factors is verifiable an applicable method that recognises good relations and ensures the beginning of their reviving effect.
They form the precondition for personal and general progress.
Main Researcher:
Vesna Ivanović, Kralja Zvonimira 20, Mostar
Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
Direction for Displaced Persons,
Returnees and Refugees,
Ministry of Public Works,
Reconstruction and Construction,
Radnička 22,
Zagreb Croatia
Research Team:
Beridan Izet,
Filipović Amer,
Ibrahimefendić Ričard,
Skoko Iko,
Šehovac Duško
Project Purpose
The project purpose is to provide an overview of the position of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina today, the central place and role of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina's sustainable development through decades of obstacles, suffering and destruction, and the available and expected potentials of establishing and realising conditions for sustainable development with special emphasis on the past 10 years.
Questions Raised by the Project
Starting from these complex issues, especially in terms of the sociology of needs and social security (educational, healthcare, employment, psycho-social protection, etc.), the project seeks to establish the position and role of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina's sustainable development.
Research aspects are limited to the socio-geographic needs of citizens, for women in the total population as subjects in the specific circumstances of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The project seeks to examine how the events of war and changes in the social environment have affected women as the nuclei of families and their role in safeguarding the integrity of families.
Main Researcher:
Vesna Hadžić, Fadila Jahića- Španca 10, Tuzla
Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
DD Metalotehna,
Husinskih rudara 138,
Tuzla
Research Team:
Dabić Marija,
Jovanović Jasmina,
Jusić Elvira,
Mehanović Mirsada,
Mujezinović Mirza,
Osmanbegović Alden
Project Purpose
The development of industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina is and will continue to be one of the foundations of overall development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Business systems, the bearers of this development, can generally be divided into old business systems (established prior to 1992) and new business systems from the period of post-war reconstruction and development. Most business systems established before 1992 were state-owned firms. Some of them have already been privatised, some are undergoing privatisation, while for others this process has not even started yet. At the same time, many new private firms are being established in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Questions Raised by the Project
The central hypothesis of this research is that successful business systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina are those where the top management approaches strategic management activities in a thought-out way. In that sense, we plan to analyse the effect of strategic management on the success of business systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We will analyse the performance of firms in transition as well as new firms and will compare them in the context of methods used in their approaches to strategic management. The final part of the research will define the role of strategic management in business systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina as they pertain to shaping performance. Top-level managers perform a wide range of business activities in managing business processes. Similar activities are grouped into so-called management functions. This grouping is aimed at understating the special contents of management functions. The paper will examine in detail aspects of the effect of strategic management on the performance of business systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In that context, strategic management and top-level managers as the bearers of the strategic management process will be treated as an independent variable, while performance will be treated as a dependant variable.
Main Researcher:
Aziz Šunje, Trg oslobođenja 1, Sarajevo
Duration:
01 February 2003 – 01 August 2004
Institution:
Economics Faculty in Sarajevo
Research Team:
Karić Ensad Pašić Mugdim Rajković Boro
The research builds on the assumption that an overview and analysis of the situation (setting the diagnosis) as part of the process where all crisis symptoms and causes are noticed clearly and timely is the management basis for improving business in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Only after we have precisely defined the situation and its causes can we begin developing a plan for future action and work on resolving and overcoming problems in business. It is extremely important to become aware of signs of a crisis in a company in a timely manner. Professional and responsible, that is, capable managements react to the first symptoms of crisis. Recognising crisis symptoms (signs) enables more successful business in the short and long term. Every company with negative manifestations in its business should answer the following questions: Are we approaching crisis? Are we in a crisis? What is the crisis scope and intensity? How did the crisis come about? Who is responsible? Apart from recognising crisis symptoms, it is equally important to precisely determine all the causes of the crisis. Eliminating these causes creates the preconditions for returning to a normal running business.
Questions Raised by the Project
The main aim of the research is to define and identify the key symptoms (signs) of crises, on the one hand, and it causes in general and in particular companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, based on the research, the aim is to analyse trends in business and management in BiH companies. The phenomenon of symptoms and causes of a business crisis will be researched by analysing a sample of 30 companies over a longer time period. The companies differ in terms of type of activity, size, ownership structure, etc. The aim is to obtain a relatively large number of different, detailed, comprehensive and relevant information and data. The value of this research lies in the fact that based on an analysis of crises in business, i.e. the symptoms and causes of crises in various companies, we can arrive at certain general conclusions and patterns. It will then be possible to define ways of overcoming the crises and, in general, improving business in BiH companies. The conceptual approach to the overall issue of crisis in companies includes the following basic phases: company in crisis, crisis signs/symptoms, real (internal and external) crisis causes, possible crisis solutions and their implementation. The 30 companies included in the research of crisis symptoms and causes in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be proportionally representative in terms of territory, which means that the companies will be from both entities (FBiH and RS) and from all of the cantons and regions. The suggestion is for the companies (groups of three) to be from the following regions:
Combining the above methods of research will facilitate understanding the phenomenon being researched (business crisis – symptoms and causes), which appears in a multitude of forms and in various companies. From the multitude of situations (companies) where the researched phenomenon is present, a logical analysis seeks to explain its symptoms (signs) and causes, its nature, dynamics and manifest forms. By studying the phenomena of business crisis symptoms and causes in more cases (companies), the researchers will strive to confirm the theoretical determinants of crisis management and business crises, and especially the crisis symptoms and causes that will be elaborated in the first part of the paper, while citing the specificities of each business crisis in BiH companies and thus indicating the ways and measures for overcoming crisis situations and improving business.
Main Researcher:
Senad Softić,
Trampina 10,
Sarajevo
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 30 June 2005
Institution:
Institute of Economics in Sarajevo
Research Team:
Aleksandar Eskić,
Zijada Rahimić,
Senada Keserović,
Almir Peštek.
66. INCREASING FOOD PRODUCTION IN ORDER TO REDUCE POVERTY
Project PurposeFood is a necessary precondition for life, and its absence precludes biological existence. It is necessary for work and all other activities. Lack of food for a large proportion of humanity is one of the main economic and political problems in the world today. Food shortages are often causes of unrest, conflict and war. There cannot be peace in the world while more than a billion people are suffering from famine. At the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002, its was concluded that freedom from famine is a basic and primary human right. OECD countries subsidise their agriculture in the amount of a billion US dollars per day. That is six times more than the total sum allocated for development. Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina produced barely a third of the food necessary to feed its population. The rest must be imported, which costs us close to two billion convertible marks per year, making food the main import and considerably burdening our foreign trade balance. Bosnia and Herzegovina has the potential for far greater food production. This potential is not used for a number of reasons that this project aims to study. The project will also propose solutions to double food production in the short term. Our hypothesis is that with knowledge and investment in agriculture, food production in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be doubled in five years. After studying the current situation in agriculture, we will propose a system of short-term and long-term measures to radically change food production and improve the quantity and quality of produced food. The population would have better nutrition and health, while food producers-farmers who are the poorest population category today and make up 40% of the entire population would have considerable greater income. Reducing poverty would not increase only the material position of the producers, but also their social status. They would be able to spend more on the education of themselves and their children, which would in turn improve the social position of villages and reduce the traditional differences between villages and cities. We must adopt a new system of measures in line with scientific and technological developments in the world in order to reach the pre-war level of food production and then to surpass it.
Questions Raised by the Project
This project seeks to propose which measures in which part of the country and in which period should be undertaken to achieve the above aims. According to our current hypothesis, this would include some of the following measures:
The first part entails removing war damages and bringing food production to the pre-war level. For a large portion of arable land, it is necessary to first create the preconditions for production (removal of land mines, return of refugees, etc.).
The other group of measures entails a more rational exploitation of arable land.
The third entails improved agricultural technology and assortment of crops.
The fourth group of measures is improving livestock composition and feed.
Realising the above aims would stimulate greater employment in the villages.
One of the difficult consequences is high unemployment. Employment in the villages will increase by employing farmers in agricultural production. All the measures proposed by this project aim to increase employment in the villages (in direct production), and in the placement and processing of agricultural products. Greater employment opportunities in the villages will reduce the pressure on jobs, accommodation and social funds in the cities.
Main Researcher:
Semina Hadžiabulić,
Akademika Ivana Zovke 5,
Mostar
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 30 June 2005
Institution:
Agronomic Faculty in Mostar
Research Team:
Elvedin Hanić,
Taib Šarić,
Olga Vidačić
65. OIL CULTURES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEALTHY FOOD AND A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT
Project PurposeBosnia and Herzegovina imports all the necessary quantities of edible oil and protein components for the production of livestock feed. The protein components are by-products of processing oil plants (soy, sunflower and rapeseed). Despite customs controls, importing oil and protein components runs the risk of introducing genetically modified products that could endanger people's health. This problem can be solved by ceasing to import oil plants, oil and protein components from abroad, mostly from the US and Argentina where the production of genetically modified oil plants is completely legal. We have all the necessary preconditions for domestic production of soy, sunflower and rapeseed, as well as oil and protein components: favourable land and climate conditions, domestic, not genetically modified assortment, all the technology, modern processing capacities of oil plants at "Bimal" in Brčko, as well as the necessary expert and professional staff. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a realistic possibility to produce enough soy, sunflower and rapeseed on its own land and from domestic, not genetically modified sorts, and it can then also produce the necessary quantities of oil and protein component. The main aim of this project is domestic production and protection of the population from the harmful effects of using genetically modified oil and protein components in food for people and livestock.
Questions Raised by the Project
This project would conduct research on:
Maintaining the existing domestic assortment of soy,
Introducing rapeseed and sunflower sorts and hybrids from countries where the production of genetically modified plants is prohibited.
Shortly, Bosnia and Herzegovina can be expected to provide the necessary domestic production of soy, sunflower and rapeseed (about 40,000 ha), and thus the necessary quantity of oil and protein components from its own land, which will protect the population from possible consumption of genetically modified food. This project will be a complete contribution to the technology of producing oil plants by introducing new technological solutions arrived at through domestic scientific and research work.
Main Researcher:
Jovan Kondić,
Petra Rađenovića 19,
Banja Luka
Duration:
1 December 2004 to 31 March 2005
Institution:
Agricultural Institute in Banja Luka
Research Team:
Krstan Milojević,
Dragan Škorić
64. YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL SELF-GOVERNANCE
Project PurposeIn line with the understanding that local municipal authorities entails the sovereign decision-making of citizens about the most important local questions, citizens are accorded an important role that they should safeguard and struggle to strengthen and expand. This struggle begins with raising awareness about the rights and mechanisms provided by local self-governance. Citizens still do not participate in communication with local government representatives and thus have no opportunity to develop their initiatives. Active communication between citizens and local government representatives is very underdeveloped. This form of communication would give citizens an important role in decision-making, because they would be able to give proposals, opinions, and advice, and the final decision would not be solely up to government bodies. Certain preconditions must be met in order to raise citizens' awareness about participation in political decision making on the municipal level: : time and resources; balance and relationship of accountability, develop a process of informing and consulting, education of citizens to provide them with information tools, knowledge of rules and obligations of local municipal government and the citizens. The process of raising citizens' awareness about participation in political decision making on the municipal level is not simple or easily achievable even in developed democracies, and can be particularly problematic in countries in transition where citizens are faced for the first time with the need to actively participate in processes of political decision making. Developing this process with features of participation (forms of two-way communication between citizens and local government representatives) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country in transition, entails breaking with traditional attitudes towards government and the existing political culture of passive observation that reduces the role of citizens to that of turning out for the elections and giving their votes to parties and candidates.
Questions Raised by the Project
The problem with local municipal government in Bosnia and Herzegovina is its isolation from the public, which results in a lack of understanding for citizen's demands and fosters a spirit of distrust and suspicion. Overcoming these barriers entails a long-term process of informing citizens, introducing them to the workings of local municipal government and the problems they encounter, as well as involving citizens in resolving problems that affect them directly. Also, representatives of local municipal government do not have a developed system to convince citizens that their initiatives are welcome and needed for efficient and permanent solutions of problems in the community. On the other hand, citizens are not informed about their rights and obligations, primarily with the legal procedures for realising their rights. That is why every attempt to develop a relationship between the citizens and the local government will stop at the very beginning and turn into a pointless criticism of the current situation. There are a number of approaches and mechanisms used to promote and increase the role of citizens in political decision making on the local municipal level, the most frequent of which are: workshops, public assemblies, internet information, internet forums, web portal, involving citizens in the planning process, citizens advisory boards, joint work on projects.
The problem of forms of information – communication – consultation in municipalities (cities) aimed at involving citizens in the decision making process on the local level can be defined in line with the aforementioned guidelines: Finally, it is necessary to identify all the available information – communication – consultation channels through GIEC that can help citizens participate and influence decision making on the local level.
Main Researcher:
Adnan Salkić,
Devetak 9,
Tuzla
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 30 June 2005
Institution:
Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Tuzla
Research Team:
Jasmin Mušanović,
Emir Mašić,
Slađana Pejić
63. THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE TRANSITION PROCESS OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Project PurposeCulture must fundamentally answer the question how a community should survive, that is how it should unite the spatial and temporal dimensions of its self-existence. The answer is usually economic. Pragmatically coming face to face with the real situation not only test the community's survival ability, but also the extent to which it is integrated. Integration mobilises forces that resolve the basic problem of the community, in our case – the repercussions of transition changes. On the institutional level, transition consequences are resolved by harmonising legislation and reducing the administrative costs of the organised risk of transition. This enables the creation of strategies that rely on domestic skills and an economy of knowledge and reduces dependence on international institutions and banks. The applicability of a development strategy depends on the dominant values and experiences, but also on powerful and influential groups and lobbies in the society. The main traits of most development strategies are flexibility and adaptability independent of the dictates of capitalist coercion. It has been noted that through cooperation and doing business together, small and medium enterprises (SME) establish a collective learning system, which once in place, starts distributing the local knowledge, experience and innovation base and helps the regional and local community survive the complexity of an unpredictable and unstable environment. Hernand de Soto, for example, in his "The Mystery of Capital" treats capital as a synthesis of its physical manifestation and the essence of social function. Today, capital cannot be treated only as a physical manifestation. In contrast to Marx, who described capital as an independent substance in constant transformation between its manifest forms of currency and goods concentrated in the hands of the capitalists, de Soto believes that capital has the opposite natural tendency of not concentrating in the hands of the few, but rather a tendency to be dispersed. So, capitalism is not the cause of poverty, the guilty party is the state apparatus derived from a despotic and feudal political organisation culture of certain religions. These cultures, when translated into the state apparatus, introduce organisational dimensions of uncertainty and distrust ultimately driving up the costs of investment and stifling entrepreneurship. Our idea is that an appropriate strategy for the Bosnian-Herzegovinian economy must be derived from so-called social capital, primarily defined as the perception of capital in the form of human resources, which is the foundation of an economy of knowledge and the prevailing paradigm of development throughout the world.
Questions Raised by the Project
In an analysis of the social and economic status of transition changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, drastic changes can be seen with respect to social capital. They are inspired by the neo-liberal ideas of global capitalism. An important dimension of these recipes is limiting budget spending, a free market, dismantling non-solvent companies, creating a surplus of labour, etc.
It is justified to assume that the process of transition has induced deep contradictions in Bosnian-Herzegovinian society and that the newly created problems are partly derived from earlier economic experiences. A number of relatively independent facts of the transition process have come to the forefront:
- failed privatisation of large companies that had played an important integrative and cohesive role in society. The consequences of this failure include the inability to maintain this level of integration.
- privatisation could not have been carried out by the management class formed on the basis of loyalty to the Yugoslav Communist Union, that is, the party definition of a successful director and manager. These corporate and managing abilities could not have been applied in an environment of transition changes. Instead, these experiences, since they were the only experiences available, were revived within national parties.
- Bosnian-Herzegovinian society is constantly falling into the traps of party definitions of what it is supposed to be and is therefore susceptible to abuse and corruption. The consequence of this, as defined by national parties, are disintegration and disorganisation as a way of life (formalism, institutionalisation of selfish interests, over-emphasis on rights and freedoms, representative hedonism, semantic difficulties, institutionalisation of distrust between groups and nations, intensive migrations).
- The culture of poverty has become the dominant culture due to transition and the institutions that grew out of social risks (disorderly and unreliable administrative-political organisation of society). This is manifested through high unemployment, a population neglected in all segments of everyday life and distrust towards institutions claiming to be the instruments of resolving current problems.
Main Researcher:
Alisabri Šabani,
Trg heroja 30/13,
Sarajevo
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 31 March 2006
Institution:
Faculty of Criminology in Sarajevo
Research Team:
Mirsad Ajeti
62. THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN PREPARING AND IMPLEMENTING THE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Project PurposeThey vowed that science would find new ways, that engineers would find new processes. However, science and technology have discovered the following: Every production activity takes place at the expense of limited natural resources and at the expense of exchanges within a rigid system of multiple balances. It is not a matter of elevating nature to the status of deity, it is not a matter of returning to nature. Human activity is limited by nature and must be controlled, because: hope in life is declining, physical revenue and economic profitability are declining, the quality of life is declining, although the level of consumption is on the rise. Ecology as a specific discipline is not applicable to communities and nations whose manner of production has no permanent or irreparable consequences on the environment: natural resources seem limitless, but caring for nature is like taking care to live a healthy life. Ecology appears as a separate discipline only when economic activity starts permanently destroying or changing the environment and thus brings into question its very survival or significantly changes the conditions for its continuation. Ecology deals with the conditions that an economic activity must meet and the external limitations it must adhere to in order not to produce effects contrary to its aims or even contrary to its survival. Just as economics deals with the external circumstances that arise when individual activities lead to undesirable joint results, so ecology deals with the external circumstances that arise when economic activities create changes in the environment that significantly disturb its balance. Just as economics lie outside the sphere of mutual and voluntary cooperation, ecology is outside the sphere of economic activity and economic projections. It does not include them.
Questions Raised by the Project
The aim of this paper is to indicate the influence of science on the creation of a sustainable development strategy for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Research of foreign and domestic texts and public debates on the topic will try to answer the following questions: Is ecology a superior rationale? Does it indicate the limits of efficiency of economic activity and its extra-economic conditions? Do environmental studies indicate a special economic effort to arrive at the relevant scarcities beyond a certain limit and elicit scarcities that are absolute and insurmountable? Does revenue become negative, because what is destroyed through production becomes greater than what is created? This inversion arises when economic activity disturbs the balance of elementary cycles and/or destroys resources it is unable to restore.
Main Researcher:
Samir Bekto,
Bistrik 17,
Sarajevo
Duration:
1 December 2004 to 31 March 2006
Research Team:
Suno Kovačević,
Željko Mirjanić
61. THE INFLUENCE OF FORMS AND CONTENTS OF DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION ON YOUNG PEOPLE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Project PurposeThe problem of this research is the influence of the forms and contents of democracy and human rights education on young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In line with the aim and tasks of this education, its influence is expressed in three components: cognitive-educational, pedagogic and practical. Knowledge and education as a result of an organised educational and pedagogic process and the effect of many other sources of knowledge are a set of consciously acquired facts, notions, conclusions, and generalisation connected into a unique whole. This leads to the tendency not to view educational and pedagogic criteria separately or in parallel, but to mutually connect them.
Questions Raised by the Project
The cognitive-educational component relates to understanding the essence of social and political phenomena and relations in democracy and human rights in 3 years of secondary school. An indicator of this educational component is the scope, level and quality of knowledge, that is, progress made between two measurements. The following qualitative elements of education are taken into account: knowledge of data, facts, notions, processes and relations; understanding of basic categories from democracy and human rights. As indicators in this research, the pedagogical component of the influence of the forms and contents of democracy and human rights education includes the views of respondents about some important values of the democracy and human rights system. The pedagogic component also pertains to many other personal traits, but the views in this research will be taken as the most important characteristics. They can also be an indicator of probable respondent behaviour, so they also serve and an element to predict behaviour in future situations. To determine the direction and intensity of views, we will use disputes on a scale of views for the initial and final survey. Apart from direction and intensity, this will allow us to see whether these views were changed through education. The educational and pedagogic dimension of influence provide and insight into the relation and possible connection between knowledge and opinion. The practical component of the influence of contents and forms of democracy and human rights education pertains to engaging respondents at faculties, schools, socio-political organisations, political parties, non-governmental organisation, cultural institutions, etc. Making the practical component operational is very complex and almost always leads to a narrowing, partitioning and simplification of the essence of a phenomenon. If it were to be surveyed as a separate subject, it would be best to view the reactions of the respondents through actual activities, its results in real changes that take place at faculties, in local communities and schools.
Main Researcher:
Izdudin Hasanović,
Mitra Trifunovića Uče 123/21,
Tuzla
Duration:
1 December 2004 to 31 March 2006
Institution:
Faculty of Philosophy in Tuzla
Research Team:
Edin Muftić, Nadir Šadić
60. INCLUSION AND INTEGRATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH THROUGH EDUCATION REFORMS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Project PurposeThe school system can be improved only through a systemic, multidisciplinary approach of competent experts in theory and practice, who would actively participate in creating curricula based on research. One of the aims of this project is, therefore, to show the education of defectologists in Bosnia and Herzegovina today and the models of their education in the West (Italy and Croatia). This subject resulted from an overview of the education of these specialists in Bosnia and Herzegovina today and the realistic demand for defectologists, as well as from a comparison of curricula between local and foreign faculties, the number of institutions charged with rehabilitating and educating children and youth with development disabilities and the number of defectologists employed at these types of institutions.
Questions Raised by the Project
In the current education reforms, we see that defectologists educated in Tuzla are not present in places where their employment is advocated – regular educational institutions. This was the origin of our initial idea. Through research, we arrived at a better quality and methodology in perceiving the teaching process in line with world trends and practices in countries where integration is absolute. At the same time, we have a humane situation and relationship towards children with special needs who will go to school with their peers and not be taken out of the macro and micro social environment and stigmatised. The findings will be presented to the public through seminars and public debates aimed at influencing public opinion and bodies working on the education reform strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The concrete recommendations from the reports will contribute to education reform in this area.
Main Researcher:
Selma Hodžić- Mešanović,
Armije Bosne i Hercegovine 21,
Tuzla
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 30 June 2005
Institution:
Mental Health School in Tuzla
Research Team:
Đana Hukić,
Munevera Osmanbegović,
Jasmina Jovanović,
Ervin Matović
59. EFFECT OF ECOLOGY TEACHING ON THE EFFICIENCY OF DEVELOPMENTAL PROJECTS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
The contemporary world is characterised by numerous changes evident in almost all areas including education. Development decision makers as well as individuals in an increasing number of countries in the world feel intensified pressure from global changes and challenges that can be summed up as follows: exponential growth of available information and knowledge, widely accepted care for establishing freedom and general quality of life. We bring you part of the essay by Ralph Epperson published in the magazine "The Humanist": "I am convinced that the battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the school classrooms by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytisers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognises and respects the spark of what the theologians call divinity in every human being." Development goals are no longer limited only to a narrow understanding of economic growth. The UN Millennium Declaration adopted by the General Assembly in September 2000 defines development goals in much broader terms: reduction of poverty, improvement of health and education, preservation of the environment. Two conclusions are particularly interesting for small countries: Global pressures and demands for more comprehensive and better quality education that come from the knowledge that adequate education is essential to economic growth, human prosperity, the progress of society as a whole and the preservation of the environment; Very rapid, numerous and fundamental technological innovations, primarily in information and communications technology. Apart from in the exchange and access to information in general, modern technologies have a fundamental role in changing the formal modes of organising educational processes and activities, as well as the essence of the process of learning and acquiring knowledge, where ICT becomes a sound basis for the practical understanding of structuralism as the dominant cognitive function.
Questions Raised by the Project
The above lead to a proposal of project goals, which are as follows: overview of the problem of environmental pollution that is becoming more pronounced in our everyday life. The whole project will be realised in two phases:
Analysis of changes in the teaching process on all levels regarding ecology and environmental protection;
The effects of the NGO sector and its activities and representation in Bosnia and Herzegovina as regards ecology, based on research, public advocacy and concrete proposals.
Furthermore, research the extent to which ecology is taught at schools and faculties, whether it is a separate subject or part of other disciplines. Methodological approaches to ecology as an independent subject, through world trends, e.g. Greece. These goals should provide answers to questions and direct participation in education reform, as well as improving the current situation in terms of education and environmental protection – ecology.
Main Researcher:
Amir Hadžić,
Fadila Jahića Španca 23,
Tuzla
Duration:
1 December 2005 to 31 March 2006
Institution:
Electrical Engineering School Tuzla
Research Team:
Mirza Mehanović,
Alija Šehović,
Lejla Osmić,
Merima Gegić,
Alma Spahić
58. DEVELOPING THE BOSNIAN VILLAGE IN TERMS OF USING NATURAL RESOURCES TO PRODUCE HEALTHY FOOD
Project PurposeThe territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina abounds in natural resources for the production of healthy food. Today's agriculture has transformed many fields into a certain form of industrial production, whose only goal is quantity, not quality. This approach is based on using fossil energy and chemicals and has lead to environmental hazards and a depletion of non-renewable natural resources. Many plant and animal species have become exterminated, and the number of village households has decreased drastically. Apart from that, conventional agriculture is the greatest pollutant of the environment, drinking water and air. Ecological production is, therefore, an imperative if we wish to preserve the earth for future generations. Classical conventional agriculture is marked by excessive and irrational use of non-renewable natural resources, as well as various measures permanently detrimental to the whole of nature and natural processes, which disrupt the balance of nature established over billions of years. Modern science has determined that a large number of illnesses is directly linked to the quality of food we eat and the various residues left in plants following the use of various chemicals in agro-technology. Agricultural production was also devastated by the past war that left behind a degradation of land (mine fields) and destroyed villages. Due to difficult economic conditions, villages are not rehabilitating and their populations still flock to urban centres. We are becoming aware once again that cooperating with nature produces far better results than systematically destroying it. The production of healthy food fits into the concept of sustainable development because a series of measures encompassing all of agriculture strives for ecologically clean, economically viable, ethically acceptable and socially fair agricultural production. Also, by educating the population about the production of healthy food, this project will contribute to better use of natural resources and building capacities for the production of healthy food as the basic precondition of survival in rural areas and an improvement of ecological environmental awareness, which is one of the requirements for the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European Union.
Questions Raised by the Project
The basic concepts of the project are:
Underused natural resources for the production of healthy food;
Need to appeal to the government to give incentives for the production of healthy food in order to foster economically viable survival of village populations;
The need to educate the population to produce healthy food and raise environmental awareness;
The need to connect institutions and associates from Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to work together on solving the problem so as to provide a better life for the citizens of this country.
The research conducted through the project is aimed at surveying the following issues:
What is the situation in rural areas in terms of population, living standard and the state of the environment;
What is the current state of natural resources for the production of healthy food in rural areas;
What type and scope of production of healthy food is present in rural areas;
What is the usage potential of existing resources for the production of healthy food in rural areas;
What measures and methods should be proposed to the population in order to increase healthy food production and provide young people with a livelihood in rural areas;
What economic effects can be expected with improving the existing and initiating new healthy food sorts and capacities;
What effect can be expected from the education of the population in healthy food production, use of chemical and environmental preservation;
What is the role of municipal, entity and state authorities in the sustainable development of rural areas and the survival of their populations.
A special issues that the project will focus on is determining the state of natural resources for the production of healthy food, as well as proposals of measures for better use of these resources and building capacities for healthy food production, which is the main precondition for the survival and livelihoods of rural populations.
Project Leader:
Milena Todorović,
Donja Brijesnica,
Lukavac
Duration:
1 December 2004 to 31 March 2006
Institution:
Doboj Hospital
Research Team:
Sabina Begić, Zoran Petrović, Hajdina Hasanović, Milenko Smiljanić
57. EUROPEAN IDENTITY IN THE MODERN AGE
Project PurposeHow did Europeans, and here we mean primarily Western Europeans, construct their identity in the modern age? This is an important question today when we have become aware of the process of globalisation. The main issue at hand is: what was the European attitude towards others, towards foreigners? Did Europeans negate the other on the individual level and did they negate the other on the global-historical level? In the second volume of Spheres, the German philosopher P. Sloterdijk shows that globalisation began 2500 years ago with the Ancient Greeks who portrayed the world as a sphere. Sloterdijk thus reveals the philosophical basis of European political history. With the discovery of America in 1492, the sphere is replaced by the globe. This second globalisation that started in 1492 is now being replaced by a third globalisation where the general virtual nature of all relations leads not only to a crisis of the sphere, but a crisis of space in general. M. Heidegger is right to mark the beginning of the modern age with the advent of images. The modern age is when the whole of the world is portrayed by an image. In the modern age, images and maps push out the globe and open up new possibilities of conquering the world: "Imperialism is applied planimetry, the art of transforming a sphere into plane surfaces. Only that which can be reduced to one dimension can be conquered." (P. Sloterdijk). It is interesting that in 1492 Spain expels its Jews, negating the foreigner from within and that same year also negates the foreigner from without in America. What was started in the 16th century reached perfection in the 20th century. Today, the "globalised world is synchronised, and its standard of time is a manufactured present." In both his volumes entitled Spheres, Sloterdijk shows that Europe has so far repressed and negated the other. In the first volume, he talks about repressing and negating the other on the individual plane, i.e. in the micro-sphere, while in the second volume he speaks about repressing and negating the other on the collective and historical plane, i.e. in the macro-sphere. The first volume shows that the individual is, despite everything, directed towards the other and includes the other, while in the second volume, he implies the same is true for the political sphere. The Project of European Identity in the Modern Age seeks to show how negating the other within and without oneself leads to general destruction and self-destruction. Only the Other is absolute. Negating the otherness within and without is based on negating the absolute Other.
Questions Raised by the Project
The new European identity in its future development based on the traditional values of "old" Europe, but also the new values of liberal democracy, tolerance and human rights, as well as the overreaching legacies of the Enlightenment as the topography of a new modern Europe, this new identity must include in its development a continuous relationship towards the Other, the different, the contradictory and the antagonistic. The new discourse about a new European identity must clearly distinguish Us Europeans and those Others, non-Europeans. This distinction will be one of the clear parameters to determine, among other things, the future boundaries of the European Union. It does not take much guessing that the role of the Other, apart from being attributed to Islam, is also to include Russia and the Balkans.
However, in order to avoid difficulties and unpleasantness concerning future member states of the European Union and in order to put up an insurmountable barrier against the entrance of Islam into Europe as a component of the future European identity, Alexandre Del Valle proposes a religious parameter as basic and crucial in defining the future European identity. He does not imagine a possibility of including Islam as a component in the future European identity, but rather sets the foundations for a purely puritanical parameter as the exclusive and best parameter for defining the new European identity. This parameter is reflected in a clear division between orthodox and non-orthodox Christianity. He recommends that the future Europe should and must be a Catholic Europe, a Catholic Europe with the "culture of the United States". In his opinion, this new Catholicism of Europe will be a type of "healthy nationalism" that is to preserve Europe from Islam and maintain its loyalty and commitment to "old Christian values" (Del Valle).
The researchers on the project will consider the topic of European identity in the Modern Age from a philosophical and theoretical, practical-philosophical and legal-philosophical aspect, and will critically assess various European cultural models within inclusion and exclusion matrices: the model of Europe as a common heritage and cultural identity, the model of Europe as a totality of 'national cultures', the model of Europe as a totality of 'cultures', the model of Europe as a modern culture in the making, the model of Europe as 'cultural
Project Leader:
Jasna Bakšić-Muftić,
M. Kantardžića 1,
Sarajevo
Duration:
1 December 2004 to 31 March 2006
Institution:
Law Faculty in Sarajevo
Research Team:
Jasminka Babić-Avdispahić,
Mile Babić,
Rešid Hafizović
56. ANALYSIS OF PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF USED OILS: ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS
The goals of this project are:
- measuring and analysing the physical and chemical properties of oils in various phases of their exploitation,
- determining system contamination where industrial oils are used as working fluids (determining the content of solid particles in oil and comparing results of measurements with regulations prescribing the allowed content of solid particles),
- the possibility of using ecologically acceptable fluids instead of conventional fluids.
- they are used as energy transfer mediums
- they are used for lubrication to prolong the lifespan of machine elements.
Questions Raised by the Project
- Studying texts relevant to the subject matter of the project.
- Studiying regualtions (ISO, SAE, API standard) that define the necessary quality of oil in use in industrial systems and vehicles.
- Experimental investigations including researching the affect of additives on the quality and lifespan of oils (research conducted in the company laboratory of Tehnosint Banjaluka which produces automotive and hydrolic oils and lubricants).
Aleksandar Milašinović,
Srđe Zlopogleđe 41,
Banja Luka
Duration:
1 April 2004 to 30 June 2005
Institution:
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Banja Luka
Research Team:
Darko Knežević,
Milan Tica
55. MAIN DEVELOPMENT AND BUSINESS FACTORS IN MODERN COMPANIES
Project PurposeThe project will include the following basic research segments given here in the form of an abstract:
Main development and business factors of the "new economy" on the company level, with a view to their mutual complementarities, as well as other complex changes in production and business systems. Special attention would be given to the range of ICT use, a new model of company organisation and management, the quality and role of the human factor would be considered, as well as the company's production and business strategy in relation to the importance of a scientific approach and the development of scientific units for continuous innovation in constructing and running the business process. A brief overview of other company activities would also be given, including the company's relationship to its surroundings. In order to provide a rounded picture of these issues, an integral analysis with a view to the contrasts with classical company organisation models will be provided and special attention will be given to the newest experience and results in the EU and the US. Developing human resources and their adapting to the demands of information and communication technologies and a new way of doing business, including educating new staff for new expertise and skills and prequalification and training of existing employees through various courses so that they can take on new jobs, with a view to the need for various levels of knowledge and skills for the various categories in the personnel structure and with an analysis of new key occupations. Special attention will be given to knowledge management on the company level and the organisational changes such management requires. The study will also consider the problem of the potential effect of ITC on rapid changes in job descriptions and labour mobility, as well as the role of labour market and working hours flexibility, etc. It should give an overview of managing human resources, particularly from the perspective of using ICT and what that requires, as well as adapting human resources to modern technology and new transformations of the main factors of business.
Questions Raised by the Project
The research will focus on applying new knowledge and new technological achievements and their impact on the efficiency and profit potential of companies in the financial and non-financial sector. In the financial sector, new technologies have enabled creating mega-financial conglomerates whose main aim is financial servicing of all economic sectors: from households, through companies to government agencies and lower levels of government, to state governments and supra-national conglomerates. Applying educational achievements, using these technologies and their application in creating computer networks to multiply new liquid resources, enables large financial conglomerates to overcome barriers in national economies. In the non-financial sector, the use of information technology significantly changes the approach to consumer needs analysis, the possibility to provide adequate supply channels for production inputs by combining basic production factors and ultimately changes the target function of the company. Two production companies with considerable use of computer and internet technology will be analysed. Results will be compiled on the basis of specially designed thesis that will provide an overview of available information and communications technology. The findings from companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be compared with data and achievements from developed countries and this will be used to formulate recommendations. They will serve as a contribution to finding adequate solutions in applying modern technologies in domestic practice.
Main Researcher:
Kasim Tatić,
Safvet bega Bašagića 61,
Sarajevo
Duration:
1 April 2004 – 30 June 2005
Institution:
Economics Faculty in Sarajevo
Research Team
Fikret Čaušević,
Vlaho Bubica,
Božidar Tasovac
54. PEDAGOGICAL AND EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLING IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Project PurposeThe project aims to survey, that is, determine the quality of the educational and pedagogical aspect of secondary schooling in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From year to year, parameters of success in secondary schools have a decreasing tendency. The trend of decreasing achievement of students is accompanied by an increase in absences from school. Dissatisfaction with the final results is apparent in both the case of students as well as their teachers and parents. Students have an increasingly hard time coping with the information foreseen by the curriculum, which brings constant tension to the classroom. But one thing is certain. It is up to the school to inform the students and also to form values. In forming values, it is best to teach students lessons from life than something they will later be unable to recognise and use. Curricula should be adapted to life and practice in order to foster student understanding and adoption. Adolescents have the need to investigate new fields in science and to learn about contemporary scientific approaches, and not listen to information that is obsolete and difficult to apply. However, most curricula in our schools are full of precisely such information – obsolete and redundant, which fosters resistance and does not motivate learning. Aware of these circumstances, teachers are appealing for an urgent reform of the educational and pedagogical work in the schooling system.
Questions Raised by the Project
Reform is necessary not only in the field of creating curricula for various subjects, but also in terms of innovative methodologies whereby students would be more active in acquiring and applying knowledge. It is also necessary in the field of interpersonal relationships to foster and affirm the teacher-student relationship as one based on equality with an accent of the teacher's authority in guiding the student through the learning process. The general climate in the life of a school would be directed towards respect and mutual acceptance of teachers and students and more active participation of parents in school matters. Parents are another important segment of the pedagogical-educational process, so their views are equally relevant.
Main Researcher:
Slavica Ivošević – Nježić, Krajiških brigada 13, Banja Luka
Duration:
1October 2002 – 30 June 2004
Institution:
Banja Luka Gymnasium
Research Team:
Arnautović Aida,
Jakovljević Radmila,
Kararić Fatima,
Smailović Nedim,
Tutnjević Ranka
53. LINGUISTIC CHANGES IN THE MASS MEDIA AFTER DAYTON IN THE SERVICE OF MULTICULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Project PurposeThe project "Linguistic Changes in the Mass Media after Dayton in the Service of Multicultural Communication" seeks to answer a series of questions.
Questions Raised by the Project
First, have there been linguistic changes in BiH mass media following the Dayton Peace Agreement? Second, to what extent are these changes the result of spontaneous (natural) processes as opposed to targeted tendencies related to political changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region?
Third, what is the functioning of linguistic innovations, what is the nature of their semantics and to what extent are they linguistic changes as opposed to changes in language?
Fourth, how do linguistic changes in the mass media affect the possibility and necessity of establishing multicultural communication in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a precondition for permanent military and political stabilisation of the region, that is, the establishment of self-sustainable peace?
The authors will research the impact of linguistic changes in the media: among reporters, readers, and the general public, and will conduct a journalism analysis and assessment of surveyed media from the perspective of linguistic-stylistic and professional standards.
The survey includes media from both entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In order to obtain an authentic snapshot, the authors have devised a special questionnaire insisting on both journalistic and linguistic responses.
Main Researcher:
Ahmet Kasumović, M. Keroševića,Tuzla
Duration:
1 March 2002 – 30 April 2004
Institution:
Faculty of Philosophy, University in Tuzla
Research Team:
Baotić Josip
52. POSSIBLE WAYS OF INTERNATIONALISING BUSINESS AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE BOSNIAN-HERZEGOVINIAN ECONOMY
Project PurposeThe economy of our country is in such a state that it does not attract foreign investors. In order for our country to be economically attractive to foreign investors, many preconditions must be fulfilled. The preconditions are many, but our country must fulfil at least those elementary preconditions required by foreign capital. Primarily this pertains to organising and setting up a lawful state, i.e. removing legal inconsistencies and doing away with the legal chaos. Also, a business environment needs to be created to be pragmatic and legally simplified for potential foreign investors. Otherwise, the possibility of our country every joining world economic trends will be lost. However, realistically our country is not one that can develop in the short terms relying only on its own strengths and potentials, but must seek its opportunities through the above forms of business. This research starts from the main hypothesis that will be our guide and that we seek to confirm as a possible solution:
Main Researcher:
Safet Kurtović, Pastrma 7, Sarajevo
Duration:
1 March 2002. - 30.4.2004.
Institution:
Džemal Bijedić University in Mostar
Research Team:
Rovčanin Adnan,
Trivun Veljko,
Veselinović Tihomir
51. RATIONAL USE OF LAND AND THE ROLE OF THE HUMAN FACTOR
Project PurposeThis project aims to study the modes of using land for living space and to propose a rationalisation of its use and protection from degradation and destruction. We have a Law on Agricultural Land that protects this greatest treasure, but unfortunately it is poorly implemented.
Questions Raised by the Project
Three ecological factors or natural resources are of vital importance for the survival of humans and other beings on Earth. They are: water, air (oxygen) and land. The first two resources are renewable, but the third is non-renewable. Humankind consumes (and pollutes) vast quantities of water and oxygen, but these two resources are renewed through natural cycles. Water is renewed by new precipitation (rain and snow). Oxygen is renewed through photosynthesis in green plants.
Only land is non-renewable: when it is covered by concrete, asphalt, artificial lakes, etc. or when it is eroded, it is lost forever. That is why rational use of land is one of the greatest challenges and tasks set before modern civilisation. Rational use of land can significantly reduce not only its loss, but its degradation in terms of its fertility and pollution. Urbanisation, industrialisation and the development of other human activities can be harmonised with developing the needs of agriculture and forestry when it comes to the use of land.
Main Researcher:
Elma Tabaković,
Kralja Petra Krešimira IV 22a,
Mostar
Duration:
1 October 2002 – 30 June 2004
Institution:
Agronomics Faculty, University in Mostar
Research Team:
Hercegovac-Pašić Vesna,
Stupar Milan,
Živanović Dragica
50. RELIGION AND SCIENCE AS INTEGRATIVE FACTORS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Project PurposeThe problem imposed in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian reality is the existence of many differences and the lack of common elements in life. The goal of this project is an analysis of the current state of affairs and a way to overcome current tendencies. Although religion is an important factor causing rifts in this region, it has the extraordinary potential to contribute to reducing tensions between the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to facilitate a normal life.
Questions Raised by the Project
That is why the subject of this seminar has a vast cultural and general importance for the peoples of this region. because a proper understanding and representation of this concept can change the current situation. It is easy to find religious elements that lead to a lack of understanding and intolerance, but the authors aim to research factors of cohesion and mutual tolerance between the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dealing with these issues strikes at the heart of the divisions between fraternal peoples and seeks a universally acceptable solution. Ignorance, rooted prejudice and misrepresentation of religious differences have brought Bosnia and Herzegovina to the edge of a precipice. This topic opens up the possibility of speaking about similarities and a common origin – from one Creator, which is the basis of all three religions.
Main Researcher:
Branislav Mihajlović,
Koste Majkića 1a,
Banja Luka
Duration:
1 October 2002 – 30 June 2004
Institution:
Medical Faculty Banja Luka
Research Team:
Veselinović Zoran Vranić Senad Jovičić Željko
49. CALLIGRAPHY AND ILLUMINATION IN BOSNIAN CULTURE
Project PurposeOne of the requirements for prayer in Islam is cleaning the space where one prays. This requirement determines one’s attitude towards the place for prayer. In the Muslim tradition, the attitude towards the space where one is closest to Almighty God has developed to include an adornment of this space, giving it a special meaning. These spaces were adorned by decorating the entire building and especially decorating the walls with verses from the Holy Quran. Such an attitude towards the mosque will be passed on to our descendants, together with faith in Islam. The inside of the mosque was decorated by its most talented visitors with the special concentration and love that such a place demands. This kind of attitude to the mosque is actually an attitude to ourselves and is directly related to our internal faith. With the passage of time, for a variety of reasons, our faith became weaker and so our attitude towards the mosque suffered the consequences of this and began to change. This change has been most apparent in the past one hundred years. The result is that highly valuable works of calligraphic art have been replaced with works that, apart from their message, have no other artistic value and talented masters have been replaced by ordinary house painters. The outside of the mosque is, more or less, still preserved and its destruction is prohibited by institutions in charge of preserving cultural heritage. However, the inside of the mosque is almost completely destroyed and those same institutions are turning a blind eye on this problem. In order to stop this process it is necessary to discover what has survived the destruction and to exhibit its value. This would be the main purpose of the project, which would also yield other results.
Questions Raised by the Project
In its first phase research will be directed to a few towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina where we assume that the largest number of such artefacts can be found. These towns are: Sarajevo, Travnik, Fojnica, Tešanj, Mostar, Konjic and Zenica. In these towns we would locate mosques, tekis, madrasas and other institutions where we could find these works of art dating back to the Ottoman period. With the assistance of the mosque mutevelli and older members of the congregation, these works will be documented and photographed. We would document the verses that are written out and the name of the calligrapher who wrote them, if this information is available. We would determine which alphabet was used to write them and the period that they belong to so that we could make a final categorisation of these works on the following grounds: the message (is it from the Holy Quran, a hadith, a wise saying, poetry etc.); the alphabet (type of writing: sulus, naskh, ta’liq, divani etc.); age; the calligrapher and the value of the work.
If it is possible, partially damaged works would be restored given that the restoration does not demand too many resources.
Main Researcher:
Hazim Numanagić,
Sepetarevac 16,
Sarajevo
Project Duration:
1 April 2002 – 31 December 2003
Institution:
"HUSNI HATT” Calligraphy Workshop
Research Team:
Bašdalić Esad, Milivojević Dragan, Mulaomerović Jasminko, Numanagić Šahza
48. SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS CREATED BY WASTE DISPOSAL IN RURAL AREAS OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Project PurposeSolid waste is an everyday by-product of life. The quantity of solid waste is directly related to the standard of life and other habits of people. Solid waste, which is exceedingly various, is created in the household, the catering industry, public institutions, schools, during agricultural work etc. Solid waste is made up of heterogeneous materials such as plastic, paper, metal, wood, rubber, textile, various organic materials etc. Some of these materials are biodegradable, others have a long stability period. Solid waste is the burden of contemporary times and various solutions have been proposed. In large urban areas, where solid waste is produced on a relatively small area and organised collection and further treatment exists, this problem has been, more or less, successfully solved. However, in non-urban rural areas and in smaller towns, where the production of solid waste is diffused, this problem demands a different approach and more material resources (expressed per citizen or per kilogram of collected waste) in order to be solved. Rural areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina have not solved the problem of the production and treatment (disposal) of solid waste. Apart from the usual solid waste from households, rural areas also produce a significant amount of waste from agricultural work. Also, in rural areas households are located at a greater distance from each other, creating an even larger problem for the collection of solid waste. In practice, solid waste is disposed of in an inadequate way on a large number of unhygienic garbage dumps and in clean rivers. This not only endangers the environment and people’s health but also creates an aesthetically displeasing sight. Therefore, it is necessary to solve this problem and to ascertain the most acceptable and economically and ecologically best solutions for all rural and urban areas that do not gravitate towards an existing disposal site for solid waste.
Questions Raised by the Project
a survey of the production, amount and nature of solid waste in smaller urban and rural areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina
a survey of ways to treat (dispose of) existing solid waste and its effects on the environment and possible effects on the health of citizens
a survey of solutions for this problem that are employed in places where conditions are similar to those in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Main Researcher:
Zoran Petrović, Svetosavska 86, Srebrenica
Project Duration:
1 October 2001 – 30 June 2003
Institution:
Faculty of Technology, Zvornik
Research Team:
Begić Sabit,
Đuković Jovan,
Lazić Dragica,
Marsenić Milivoje
47. TIES BETWEEN BOSNIA AND DALMATIA: THE ISLAMIC COMPONENT
Project PurposeThe geographic position of Bosnia and Herzegovina encouraged various forms of mutual cooperation between Bosnia and Dalmatia. This cooperation has a longstanding historic background. This project aims to create a historic overview of events across this space, taking into consideration everything from cooperation that was mutually beneficial to open conflict. Trade ties between Bosnia and Dalmatia, set up very early on in the Middle Ages, did not diminish in importance during the Ottoman period when Bosnia and Dalmatia were a common political space. During the Ottoman period, the already strong economic ties were further strengthened by cultural cooperation, adding to the relationship. Time wise, this was limited to the period of stable Ottoman rule and with the weakening of this rule came the weakening of mutual influences. Despite these changes, earlier ties resulted in an important set of trade ties, migration processes and strong cultural influences.
Questions Raised by the Project
In an attempt to shed more light on this subject, a group of researches carried out a study in which special attention was paid to cultural influences, that is, the role of Islam in Dalmatia and the remains of Muslim influence in Dalmatian heritage. The focal point of the research was work in archives making possible the direct observation of a phenomenon, the results of which we wish to present at this seminar.
Main Researcher:
Josip Vrandečić, Dražanac 6, 21000 Split
Project Duration:
1 March 2001 – 30 June 2003
Institution:
Faculty of Philosophy, Zadar
Research Team:
Gušić Sejdalija,
Husić Aladin
46. FEMINISM AND TRANSFORMATIVE CRITICAL THEORY
Project PurposeThis project has been conceived as an articulation of a feminist and gender theory view point in the fields of law, philosophy, linguistics, literary theory and art theory, which would, for the first time in Bosnia and Herzegovina, be employed for a democratisation of academic practices. Feminist theory is systematically excluded from education and so the joint forces of Knowledge and Power have been applied in the fields of law, philosophy, literary studies and linguistics as an androcentric strategy of ignoring "sexual/textual politics” (T. Moi).
Questions Raised by the Project
As well as being a positive project for the transformation and construction of alternative models, methods and procedures of discourse, this is an anti-sexist project and includes a deconstruction of phallocentric discourse. The struggle for autonomy, as we would characterise the essence of feminist theory and practice, implies a struggle for the right to different paradigms, theoretic tools, and even to a reconceptualisation of the entire system of knowledge and of acceptable theoretic models. The project aims to contribute to the building of a Bosnian-Herzegovinian society based on trust and dialogue and the removal of various forms of oppression, cultural marginalization and exclusion.
Main Researcher:
Jasminka Babić – Avdispahić,
Soukbunar do br. 10,
Sarajevo
Project Duration:
1 January 2002 – 30 June 2003
Institution:
Faculty of Philosophy, Sarajevo
Research Team:
Bakšić-Muftić Jasna,
Bamburać-Moranjak Nirman,
Katnić-Bakaršić Marina
45. POPULATION SURVIVAL AND STATE ORGANISATION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Project PurposeTo date, the study of the population as a subject in the sustainable development of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a geographic community and a state has been more than inadequate for a number of reasons. Particularly, there has been no thorough socio-geographic approach from the standpoint of five types of needs that come into being and are satisfied within regions as natural geographic communities: 1. reproduction of the population (simple and complex, marriage, planned parenthood, childbirth, spaces and conditions for family residence);
2. satisfying basic human needs (food, education and health services, social welfare, public utilities);
3. work training (in accordance with potential and actual possibilities for employment and development);
4. employment and possibility of promotion (depending on competitiveness on the product and services market and as part of the regional and wider market);
5. leisure needs (spaces for rest, recreation and personal development and the development of personal and family ties, friendship and cooperation).
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 20% of the population is living below the poverty line, that is they earn less than 1 800 KM per annum. Of the 20% most indigent – 25% are from the Republic of Srpska and 15.6% are from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among them, 25% have completed only primary school, 10% have completed secondary school and none have completed university. The governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina spend 64% of what they earn. This is the highest percentage of expenditure in Europe, since in Eastern European countries state expenditure is from 42% to 46% and in Western Europe it is 28%.
According to the statistics from the 2000 almanac, in the Sarajevo Canton there were 17 000 personal automobiles.
Of the total number of secondary school students, 65% are enrolled in vocational schools and 35% are enrolled in gymnasiums. Vocational schools train students for approximately 500 different trades. Of these different trades, only 32% can find employment in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian market. According to the 2000 statistics almanac, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, only 16% of students attended technical or biotechnical faculties. Faculties for the humanities (law, economy and criminology) accounted for 42% of students. This is the best evidence for the hyper-production of useless university degrees.
Questions Raised by the Project
This topic is thematically complex and raises difficult and pressing problems. Also, it is important for development and increasingly crucial in the process of creating an open humanist society in general and in Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular. Therefore, the topic demands a plural and many layered approach in five fields of studiously organised influences:
1. information: scientific – expert – popular and available, punctual and adequate – activist
2. research: scientific – applicable, developmental and operative on four levels: Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities, regions and local;
3. education: school, extracurricular and social education;
4. punctual and content regulated preparation, adoption and implementation of a model for problem solving and bettering the standard of life – work and development;
5. monitoring, consulting and training activities during the implementation
This is only one project among many and so the following questions are raised:
a) creating a joint long-term program for five subsystems within a unified social system:
- the state, its bodies and institutions;
- public institutions;
- education, health, culture
- the economy – its territorial associations and societies
- non-governmental organisations – classified according to types of activity;
- organisation of consumers and direct users of services
b) forming and training research and development teams for establishing and leading an organised, mutually harmonised activity on all five levels of an open civil society.
Main Researcher:
Safet Krkić,
Cernica bb,
Mostar
Project Duration:
1 March 2002 – 30 December 2003
Institution:
Faculty of Information Technology, Mostar
Research Team:
Bekto Samir,
Gajić Predrag,
Prašo Murat,
Radivojac Goran,
Rizvanović Edin,
Roljić Lazo,
Trninić Veselin
44. THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF THE MOST RECENT SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW ECONOMY
Project PurposeThrough the study of contemporary world research in the field, this project aims to provide an overview and establish the importance of the most recent scientific and technological advancements, particularly in the area of information and communication technology (ICT). The project also provides an overview of the experience of developed countries using ICT and the accompanying economic results, as well as an overview of the fundamental changes in economy and society in the twenty-first century.
Questions Raised by the Project
First and foremost, an understanding of three key factors, that is science, education and financial and goods markets. For all three of these areas we will examine worldwide accomplishments and experience, paying particular attention to the use of ICT in their development and functioning. We will also provide an basic overview of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning each of these areas. Again, particular attention will be paid to the use of ICT to date and suggestions will be offered for further development. Secondly, based on existing factual data, we will give an approximate assessment of the situation and the basic problems for the implementation and use of ICT. Particularly, the focus will be on a critical overview and the importance and necessity for faster training and the inclusion of Bosnia and Herzegovina in those processes. Also, suggestions for basic measures to achieve this will be provided.
Main Researcher:
Kasim Tatić,
Safet Bega Bašagića 61,
Sarajevo
Project Duration:
1 October 2001 – 30 June 2003
Institution:
Faculty of Economy, Sarajevo
Research Team:
Bubica Vlaho,
Čaušević Fikret,
Zaimović Tarik
43. RESEARCH APPROACH TO LIBRARY WORK FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS AND FOR THE DEEPENING OF INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL CONSCIENCE
Project PurposeAre all libraries equipped with a computer network and connected into one system? Once this is achieved, visitors have the possibility to better communicate using books and contemporary technology, to communicate with the world, thus efficiently constructing their identity.
Questions Raised by the Project
To what extent is the library part of the education system reform (analysis, possibilities, obstacles)
What are the prospects facing Bosnian-Herzegovinian education in the present decentralized system given the results of applying the new standards in other regions?
Studying the standards in similarly small countries in transition (Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary)
Familiarisation with the drafts of standards drawn up by the cantonal and federal ministries of education
Researching the ties between libraries at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina. How and in what ways does correspondence flow between them (a very important aspect of library work)?
Main Researcher:
Vesna Nezirović,
Musala 5,
Sarajevo
Project Duration:
1 November 2003 – 30 April 2005
Institution:
Grbavica Primary School, Sarajevo
Research Team:
Dedić Ibrahim,
Hodžić Mehmed,
Lukač Hedija
42. GLOBALIZATION AND INTEGRATION PROCESSES AND BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (SECURITY ASPECTS)
Project PurposeThe purpose of this research project is to give an overview of the preconditions for the integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina first into the "Partnership for Peace” Project and then into the NATO allegiance. This integration is of the utmost importance for Bosnia and Herzegovina since, once it has been part of NATO for some time, it will be able to better respond to frequent irrational internal demands for fragmentation and division. That is, such integration would hit at the root of the sources of instability and would make impossible a renewal of the war-mongering projects of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s neighbours.
Questions Raised by the Project
Southeast Europe is an area with a troubled past. As part of the Yugoslav federation, Bosnia and Herzegovina was a peaceful and neutral territory, sandwiched for almost fifty years between the two ruling blocks (the NATO allegiance and the Warsaw Pact). Ideologically, the population is adverse to joining any type of allegiance. However, after the tragic war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the dissolution of the former common state, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s defence from aggressors and given the fall of the Berlin Wall which ended the Cold War and its division of the contemporary world, all newly formed states must align themselves. Their integration into NATO has become an undisputed process, even in the case of Serbia. Of the former Yugoslav republics, Slovenia has already become a NATO member, and Croatia and Macedonia are already on the waiting list for the Partnership for Peace. On the other hand, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where NATO carried out its first military operation, with this "case” establishing its new position as the only remaining respectable military power in the twenty-first century world, has remained on the periphery of the integration process. It is precisely this fact, the historical role played by Bosnia and Herzegovina in profiling a new role for NATO in preventing conflicts and enforcing peace in fault line areas and the uncertainty of Bosnia-Herzegovina's inclusion in this military association and its programs that is the motivation to inspect the reasons behind the given situation.
Main Researcher:
Dželal Ibraković,
Sedma ulica M-5/9,
Maglaj
Project Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
FMO BiH Hamdije Kreševljakovića 98, Sarajevo
Research Team:
Grbavac Miro,
Smajić Muhamed,
Šijaković Ivan
41. FREE TRADE AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMIES OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA AND THE COUNTRIES OF SOUTHEAST EUROPE
Project PurposeThis projects aims to discover the extent to which signing free trade agreements eases the breakthrough onto international markets and placement of domestic products. The project also aims to discover possible problems and difficulties faced in the export of domestic products using the aforementioned preferences. The purpose of the project is to give an overview of the economy and to find facts, to discover the results of the implementation of the free trade agreements that Bosnia and Herzegovina has signed with countries in South East Europe (Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia and Turkey).
Questions Raised by the Project
The project aims to answer the question whether Bosnian-Herzegovinian businesses engaged in foreign trade are well informed of the advantages and benefits that free trade agreements offer them for the placement of domestic produces on foreign markets (media, expert journals, roundtables, expert research projects etc.). Also, the purpose of the project is the education of domestic businesses to ease the implementation of the free trade agreement provisions and to aid in the interpretation of the very complicated European preferential rules of origin necessary for the implementation of the aforementioned Agreement.
Main Researcher:
Nermin Jusić,
Branilaca Banovića 53,
Banovići
Project Duration:
1 November 2003 – 30 April 2005
Institution:
Tuzla Custom House
Research Team:
Begić Hidajeta,
Huremović Eldin,
Mujić Nermina,
Osmanbegović Muhamed,
Poljaković Sadeta
40. ESTABLISHING AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CENTRE FOR THE ECONOMIC NEEDS OF THE HERCEGOVAČKO-NERETVANSKI CANTON
Recently economy has transitioned from the planned business system to the market business system (capitalism). The rules of market economy have been put in place but consciousness, the relationship to work, the philosophy of life and business have not wholly caught up with these changes. The machine construction and metal refining complex shares the fate of the economy in transition and is searching for ways to recover, consolidate etc. Creating a positive atmosphere, transferring of technology, conquering the market and struggling to hold onto the market are slow processes. By having an overview of the situation, accepting good ideas, training staff and improving the overall work atmosphere, we can create the necessary preconditions for investment and embark upon a prosperous development of the metal refining complex at our desired rate.
Questions Raised by the Project
This project aims to show how the creation of a information technology centre for the Herzegovina region would ensure a faster pace of development and would increase cooperation with other areas. The Faculty for Mechanical Engineering cooperated for many years with businesses in the development of products and the transmission of technologies and knowledge in the field of machine construction. The success of small businesses, along with the existence of larger businesses, is an indicator of development. Today, the large business is Aluminij ltd. Mostar. Aluminij ltd. Mostar has the added quality of being ready to assist and invests in humanitarian actions, culture and science. Taking into consideration previous experience in assigned production, available facilities, educated (uneducated for the market) work force, professional experience and the research organisation in developing products and transferring technologies, the goal of the metal refining complex can be production for export. For export to the internal EU market it is necessary to prove that products are in accordance with the appropriate EU legislature concerning product safety.
Main Researcher:
Ante Mišković,
Akademika Zovke 10,
Mostar
Project Duration:
1 November 2003 – 30 April 2005
Institution:
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Mostar
Research Team:
Duvnjak Milenka,
Haznadarević Lutvo
39. MARKET ORIENTATION AND ITS EFFECT ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Project PurposeThe subject of research is the market orientation of companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a determinant of the economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Varying levels of market orientation lead to greater or lesser dynamics in development and affect the competitive capabilities of companies. The research focuses on investigating factors that determine the dynamics of development of economic subjects and the economy as a whole. Market orientation will be taken as a determinant of economic development and factors determining market orientation will be analysed. Bosnia and Herzegovina is defining a new paradigm of development based on: openness, competitiveness and stability. The starting point for such progress hinges on the improvement of market democracy.
Questions Raised by the Project
Bringing market relations to the level of democratic standards is the basis for the effective inclusion of Bosnia and Herzegovina into integration, business globalisation and sustainable development. The process of adapting to the above conditions, i.e. the postulates of a free market economy, effects continuous changes in society and the economy and imposes an imperative need for seeking solutions that secure progress. Like other countries in the region (Croatia and Slovenia), Bosnia and Herzegovina faces the challenges of transforming the market system, that is adapting its market infrastructure and economic subjects to the dynamics of its surroundings. These challenges are also emphasised by the fact that successful development in the newly established circumstances is based on the criteria of the new economy founded on knowledge – a resource that enables competitive advantages and progress. The goal of the research is to determine the level of market orientation in a company that ensures rapid and continuous development of that company and the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to identify and investigate factors determining that development. It is also necessary to determine the action policy that encourages a greater level of market orientation of economic subjects, as well as introducing new knowledge in theory and practice.
Main Researcher:
Muris Čičić, Odobašina 45/IV, Sarajevo
Duration:
1 November 2003 – 30 April 2005
Institution:
Economics Faculty in Sarajevo
Research Team:
Brkić Nenad,
Kraljević Sandra,
Kurtović Emir
38. RAISING AWARENESS ABOUT THE SOCIAL ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF BOSNIAN-HERZEGOVINIAN SOCIETY
Project PurposeThe war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992 – 1995) resulted in losses of the young male population (estimated at 5%), which changed the position of women in Bosnian-Herzegovinian society. Bosnian-Herzegovinian women took on not only the role of mother, wife, defender, head of household, family provider, but also more social responsibility. Women became members of organised human communities and participated as soldiers in the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they took on the responsibility of providing for their families and joined women's organisations that cropped up spontaneously in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Questions Raised by the Project
Apart from her informal tasks (raising and educating children, nutrition, providing for her family), the Bosnian-Herzegovinian woman was also active in formal activities aimed at survival at the homestead and preserving the identity of peoples in the region. Women became an important factor in society, in terms of economics, defence and rule of law. The territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina has thus been the site of spontaneous self-organisation of women into over 50 different NGOs whose activities were brought to perfection. Where women have taken on the leading role in the family, research the functioning of families of prominent women, or women's organisations, especially those successful during the defence of 1992 – 1995, especially in view of the strategic goal of the enemy to destroy the Bosnian-Herzegovinian family because of its extraordinary traditional values and strong social connections.
Main Researcher:
Azrija Pašalić, Hasana Aganovića 48, Brčko
Duration:
1 November 2003 – 30 April 2005
Institution:
Hospital, Brčko District
Research Team:
Begić Selma,
Džubur Amela,
Kudumović Mensura,
Obradović Zarema,
Omanić Ajnija,
Ovčina Amer,
Serdarević Mevlida
37. THE PUBLIC NATURE OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN IN BOSNIAN-HERZEGOVINIAN SOCIETY
Project PurposeThe research aimed to shed stereotypes and speak publicly about discrimination against women in BiH society. Only through open discussion can this unfortunately still pressing problem be resolved through raising awareness, removing misconceptions and the stereotypical approach to these issues. Research was conducted across Bosnia and Herzegovina. This project examined both the direct and the indirect aspects of discrimination and investigates the visibility and public nature of discrimination against women in everyday life and in the media. The authors sought to observe the public nature of discrimination against women across Bosnian-Herzegovinian society through two aspects of viewing discrimination against women: the first from the point of view of direct and indirect inequality of women in Bosnian-Herzegovinian society and the second from the point of view of the public manifestation of that discrimination in Bosnian-Herzegovinian society and in general, the public nature and visibility of discrimination against women.
Questions Raised by the Project
The authors believe that their findings will answer the following questions:
What do citizens think about discrimination against women?
What is the nature and how frequent is discriminatory public speaking by politicians and public figures?
What are the direct and indirect forms of discrimination and what is their representation in the media?
Main Researcher:
Meliha Sendić, Odmot 7/c, Zenica
Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
"Centre for Legal Aid for Women in Zenica”,
Mehmeda Tarabara 15,
Zenica
Research Team:
Mališević Enida,
Mujagić Hasan,
Šišić - Radoš Senada
36. PEDAGOGICAL AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SARAJEVO AND ZENICA
Project PurposeThe general socio-psychological destruction of the population in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the result of immeasurable repercussions of the war and aggression against our country. A whole social environment was destroyed and replaced by another. This other environment is marked by large and unpredictable migration, many casualties, family breakdowns, a large number of children who lost one or both parents, an increased rate of divorce, unemployment, poverty, social depression and a series of other factors with harmful effects on all spheres of life.
Questions Raised by the Project
The role of secondary schools and their pedagogy are crucial for the socialisation of young people and their preparation to either enter the workforce or continue on to higher education.
The aims and hypotheses of the project are based on the assumption that despite the unfavourable social circumstances, there is unused potential that must be surveyed and proposed as a model for approaching reforms and developing the system of education and pedagogy in general.
In brief: "Only knowledge, honesty and perseverance of young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be the basis for constructing and sustaining the future of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina."
The system of education and pedagogy should, therefore, creatively enable and guide these young generations.
Main Researcher:
Bahrija Savarymoto, Reisa Čauševića 7, Zenica
Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
PI "Healthcare Centre” , Fra Ivana Jukića 2, Zenica
Research Team:
Bojčić Suada,
Hadžikapetanović Halima,
Miskin Sabiha
35. ADAPTING BASIC ECONOMIC BRANCHES TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONDITIONS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Project PurposeThe project aims to define the role and obligations of government bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina as the signatory of international conventions and declarations about environmental protection in processes of resolving environmental issues in basic economic branches, as well as the role of companies in this process and its activities. The research aims to provide guidelines for companies in the basic branches of the economy in order to subordinate their survival to the universal benefit of the state and the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a special focus on sustainability and environmental efficiency.
Questions Raised by the Project
Specifying and clarifying the legal regulations of environmental security with a special focus on environmental requirements defined in the White Paper provided by the EU for our more rapid inclusion into the legal framework of the EU.
Defining and working on initiating cleaner production of basic economic capacities.
Proposing next steps and development, as well as continuous improvement of the implementation of international standards in the basic economy in order to achieve sustainable development of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian economy.
Main Researcher:
Senad Oprašić, I. Cankara 41, Zenica
Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
FMO BiH Hamdije Kreševljakovića 98, Sarajevo
Research Team:
Debeljak Zvonko,
Omanović Mustafa,
Pašalić Ismet,
Sredojević Jovan
34. BOSNIAN-HERZEGOVINIAN PERSPECTIVES ON SUPPORT FROM RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL FACTORS
The idea of Bosnian-Herzegovinian perspectives in important for the developmental endeavour and emphasis on Bosnia and Herzegovina's recovery. It is, therefore, necessary to analyse the situation and potentials of Bosnia and Herzegovina in comparison to countries in transition (overview of economic results to date: strategic guidelines, defined economic goals, establishment of privatisation process, technological inferiority, debt).
Questions Raised by the Project
Extrapolate the importance of perspectives (increase in GDP, expansion of production and economic activity, increasing the quality of economic growth, increasing business competitiveness) and the support of relevant international factors (profit-driven economic investment, normative legal regulations).
Setting up clear viewpoints about Bosnian-Herzegovinian perspectives in terms of the support of relevant international factors is verifiable an applicable method that recognises good relations and ensures the beginning of their reviving effect.
They form the precondition for personal and general progress.
Main Researcher:
Vesna Ivanović, Kralja Zvonimira 20, Mostar
Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
Direction for Displaced Persons,
Returnees and Refugees,
Ministry of Public Works,
Reconstruction and Construction,
Radnička 22,
Zagreb Croatia
Research Team:
Beridan Izet,
Filipović Amer,
Ibrahimefendić Ričard,
Skoko Iko,
Šehovac Duško
33. THE SOCIAL REALITY IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA AND ITS IMPACT ON THE PSYCHOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE AWARENESS OF WOMEN
The project purpose is to provide an overview of the position of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina today, the central place and role of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina's sustainable development through decades of obstacles, suffering and destruction, and the available and expected potentials of establishing and realising conditions for sustainable development with special emphasis on the past 10 years.
Questions Raised by the Project
Starting from these complex issues, especially in terms of the sociology of needs and social security (educational, healthcare, employment, psycho-social protection, etc.), the project seeks to establish the position and role of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina's sustainable development.
Research aspects are limited to the socio-geographic needs of citizens, for women in the total population as subjects in the specific circumstances of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The project seeks to examine how the events of war and changes in the social environment have affected women as the nuclei of families and their role in safeguarding the integrity of families.
Main Researcher:
Vesna Hadžić, Fadila Jahića- Španca 10, Tuzla
Duration:
1 April 2003 – 30 September 2003
Institution:
DD Metalotehna,
Husinskih rudara 138,
Tuzla
Research Team:
Dabić Marija,
Jovanović Jasmina,
Jusić Elvira,
Mehanović Mirsada,
Mujezinović Mirza,
Osmanbegović Alden
32. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AS A PRECONDITION FOR SUCCESS OF BUSINESS SYSTEMS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
The development of industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina is and will continue to be one of the foundations of overall development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Business systems, the bearers of this development, can generally be divided into old business systems (established prior to 1992) and new business systems from the period of post-war reconstruction and development. Most business systems established before 1992 were state-owned firms. Some of them have already been privatised, some are undergoing privatisation, while for others this process has not even started yet. At the same time, many new private firms are being established in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Questions Raised by the Project
The central hypothesis of this research is that successful business systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina are those where the top management approaches strategic management activities in a thought-out way. In that sense, we plan to analyse the effect of strategic management on the success of business systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We will analyse the performance of firms in transition as well as new firms and will compare them in the context of methods used in their approaches to strategic management. The final part of the research will define the role of strategic management in business systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina as they pertain to shaping performance. Top-level managers perform a wide range of business activities in managing business processes. Similar activities are grouped into so-called management functions. This grouping is aimed at understating the special contents of management functions. The paper will examine in detail aspects of the effect of strategic management on the performance of business systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In that context, strategic management and top-level managers as the bearers of the strategic management process will be treated as an independent variable, while performance will be treated as a dependant variable.
Main Researcher:
Aziz Šunje, Trg oslobođenja 1, Sarajevo
Duration:
01 February 2003 – 01 August 2004
Institution:
Economics Faculty in Sarajevo
Research Team:
Karić Ensad Pašić Mugdim Rajković Boro
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