Volume 72, Issue 4

This article demonstrates that, during the year 1990, the process of democratization in Bosnia-Herzegovina was intentionally decelerated and stifled by the ruling Communist Party due to the ideological conservatism of its leadership. This process directly contributed to the party’s ultimate loss of power. Archival documentation, extensive newspaper coverage from this period, and testimonies of key participants are used to recreate the contextual circumstances under which the crucial events unfolded. The critical importance of strategic decisions made by the ruling political elites under extreme time pressure proved to be a key factor in determining their ability to retain power. The case of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1990 demonstrates that slow, indecisive, and gradual policymaking during the transformational period from communism to democracy could have disastrous consequences for the electoral chances of the incumbent communist parties.

The pandemic and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine have resulted in adjustments to the organisation of working hours in various areas of society, and not only in Ukraine. Employees look for remote work opportunities, while employers strive to control employees’ work by increasingly offering hybrid work models in addition to traditional work formats. Such hybrid work models comprise a combination of remote work and work at the employer’s premises. However, the authors argue that the legal regulation of this work format should be reconsidered in terms of its impact on work-life balance. Hybrid work formats should still provide an employee with the ability to separate work and personal life in order to avoid burnout and to genuinely be more effective. The purpose of this article is to analyse the legal regulation of “non-traditional” forms of labour organisation and develop recommendations for further improvement.

The article examines the interplay between the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), digital democracy, and open government in Ukraine in 2018 and 2020. The authors employ a mixed methods exploratory approach combining desk research with expert interviews. The study finds that during public consultations in Ukraine, the SDGs served as discussion themes, while the Open Government Partnership provided an executable platform. These e-consultations helped collect policy ideas, e-discussions facilitated policy drafting, and non-binding internet voting assisted in prioritising open government draft policies. The Agenda for Sustainable Development framework introduced policies with an education, youth, inclusion, and gender focus to open government. Public consultations increased awareness about the SDGs in Ukrainian civil society and prompted authorities to implement them. The combination of real-life, online, and hybrid consultation formats enabled elements of participatory, direct, and consensus democracy in post-revolutionary and pre-full-scale invasion Ukraine.

This article examines the linguistic and cultural influence of German bread culture in Kosovo, where bread holds significant meaning as a symbol of hospitality and community. The introduction of German bread products, driven by migration and economic changes, has transformed Kosovar “bread habits”. The Buka and Premium bakeries have played a crucial role in promoting German bread names and products, capitalising on their perceived prestige and association with healthy eating trends. The article researches German–Albanian relations and shows that there is intensive interaction especially in the area of food. This connection, along with the legacy of its former status as part of Yugoslavia, migration, and the presence of German-speaking institutions in Kosovo, highlights the role of bread as a culinary, language, and cultural link. Using the methodological lens of language and cultural transfer, the study demonstrates the significant influence of German bread culture on Kosovo’s bread-making practices and food culture.

The essay comments on Kosta Nikolić’s voluminous study Krajina 1991–1995 , jointly published in November 2023 by the Serb National Council in Croatia and the Fraktura publishing house. Nikolić delves into the ideologically charged story of the failed separatist proto-state of the Republic of Serbian Krajina which existed on the territory of Croatia in the first half of the 1990s. The book was written by a Belgrade-based historian and published by two Croatian publishers, one of which is the national coordinating body of the Serbs in Croatia and the other the country’s leading progressive publisher. This combination unsurprisingly sparked public interest and debate, which the author covers in this review essay, along with an assessment of the book as such. While largely forgotten beyond Croatia and Yugoslavia’s other successor states, the book’s topic is of relevance and provides salient lessons for contemporary separatist and territorial conflicts globally.