KULTURA POLISA

SECURITY DIMENSION OF OPEN BALKANS: CONTEMPORARY SECURITY CHALLENGES AS A CHANCE FOR REGIONAL SECURITY PLATFORM

Marjan Gjurovski — 2024-06-30

The Open Balkans initiative primarily is focused on the cooperation within the economic framework between participating actors. But, bearing in mind reached declarations between Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia related to the cooperation in the fields of security, there are no doubts that this initiative also could provide a contribution in the regional security infrastructure, at this moment between participating states, but later also within the whole Western Balkans region. Leading research question of this paper is whether Open Balkans, as an initiative with pre-dominant economic sign, could also contribute in the process of creation regional security sustainability from the contemporary security threats angle. From the theoretical point of view, contribution of this paper is foreseen in the context of analysis how much regional cooperation in the field of security could contribute in wider security infrastructure. Primarily the research would be focused on the so-called soft-threats, which do not include "traditional" security threats such as territorial integrity, possibilities of foreign aggression, as well as traditional ways of war.

UNDERSTANDING IDENTITY THEFT AND FRAUD

Boro Merdović — 2024-06-30

Identity theft and identity fraud represent the fastest-growing forms of computer crime, having significant consequences for individuals, corporations, and financial institutions. The advancement of science and technology has endangered personal security and created opportunities for criminals to easily and deceitfully obtain financial benefits or jeopardize the security of corporations and major financial institutions. As a relatively new form of computer crime, identity theft has necessitated the alignment of criminal legislation with the emerging situation. The goal of this paper is to clarify the terminological ambiguities present in this field and highlight the current relevance of the issues related to identity theft and fraud associated with identity theft. By reviewing relevant scientific literature and applying quantitative and qualitative content analysis, comparative analysis, and comparative and historical methods, we will emphasize the importance of clear and precise definitions of identity theft and its legal incrimination. We will point out the different forms of identity theft, the most common ways it occurs, the consequences it causes, and the possibilities for prevention. Research results have shown that identity theft is expanding and that there is a need for harmonizing joint measures at an international level. Also, based on the obtained results, we can conclude that it is necessary to undertake educational measures for vulnerable categories of the population to minimize the consequences of this form of crime. Practical implications of this research indicate the need for developing a greater number of studies in this field, with particular focus on specific forms of identity theft and identity fraud.

THE CONCEPT OF CRIMINAL PROFILING IN CONTEMPORARY CRIME SUPPRESSION POLICIES

Željko Bjelajac — 2024-06-30

Crime, as a constant accompanying phenomenon in the development of every society, is increasingly becoming more serious in today's world. The rise in violent and severe crimes is contributing to growing insecurity and concern within the international community. Current crime trends, beyond their transnational nature, indicate increasing mobility, inventiveness, sophistication, and a certain level of unscrupulousness. This negative social phenomenon, besides hindering the social, economic, political, and cultural development of the community, represents one of the greatest threats to human security. Therefore, modern crime prevention policies must offer effective responses to the dynamic nature of crime, primarily by setting high standards for the selection of police officers, criminal investigators, judges, and prosecutors, along with mandatory periodic education and evaluation. This process includes understanding and enhancing the concept of criminal profiling, which is an essential component of criminal investigation and is inseparably and functionally linked to crime prevention policies. This alignment reflects the goal of this paper.

CHARACTERISTICS OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IN SERBIA WITH THE OVERVIEW OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AUTHORITY

Milan Rapajić — 2024-06-30

Local self-government represents a form of territorial decentralization. It exists in the states where local self-governments have been given the right to make autonomous decisions on local matters, without the interference of state power, through their local bodies which are chosen by the citizens or in which the citizens have direct vote. The elements which are constituent to the concept of local self-government in Serbia, as well as in the majority of states worldwide are: 1) it is guaranteed and regulated by the Constitution and more closely by law, 2) it is implemented in local communities where the citizens live and meet their everyday needs, 3) it is based on autonomous and original competences which are exercised without state interference, 4) citizens participate in making decisions on local matters directly, or indirectly via local bodies chosen in free elections and the state cannot interfere in their appointment. Self-government authority has been structured towards an assembly model which makes it different from the model of a rationalized parliamentarism at the state/republic level. This model asserts the election of the president of municipality or mayor, in case of cities. The solution from the previous Law on self-government from 2002 has been presented in this paper. It foresaw the direct election of municipality presidents and city mayors which entailed problems in local political practice. The legal framework of the present Law on selfgovernment from 2007 has also been discussed. It provides that municipality presidents and city mayors are elected by local representative bodies. This indirect election of municipality and city leaders in political practice may have the character of direct voting, which is the fact that should not be neglected.

PHENOMENOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF VIDEO GAME

Aleksandar Filipović — 2024-06-30

In the era of digitalization, globalization, and the fourth industrial revolution, human knowledge is rapidly increasing every day, and the amount of information and data being generated is growing at unimaginable scales, transcending all barriers and becoming crucial in almost all spheres of life. Digital technologies and computers are increasingly permeating culture and everyday life, transforming traditional cultural forms and practices and creating space for profound anthropological changes. This process reaches its peak in the phenomenon of video games, which, although initially conceived as a means of entertainment, have evolved into a dominant form of virtual culture. Video games have quickly surpassed their original purpose, becoming a ubiquitous phenomenon that contributes to the creation of new sociocultural practices and the expansion of anthropological identity. With their unique virtual-interactive tools, video games open up space for a new understanding of creativity, life, freedom, art, and aesthetic values, while carrying significant political and ethical implications. Like any new phenomenon, video games are a field with insufficiently developed and systematized scientific theory, interpretation, and understanding of basic concepts. Science needs to focus on the ontology and epistemology of video games to better understand their essence and place in the contemporary world, providing answers that only the philosophy of video games, with its metaphysics as a way of understanding and describing the era of video games, can offer. This work is an attempt to identify and understand certain phenomenological and noumenal aspects of video games, thus making an additional step towards the systematic philosophical study and deconstruction of video games, one of the most important phenomena of the modern world.

CONTEMPORARY CONCEPTS OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT OF BANJA LUKA IN THE POST-SOCIALIST HERITAGE

Ranka Perić Romić — 2024-06-30

The post-socialist development of Banja Luka, the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is characterised by several important features that are noticeable through the transitional processes of establishing a capitalist, democratic society. The reurbanisation of the urban centre, the conversion of the social standard facility, the gentrification of certain parts and zones of the city, as well as the increase of social segregation and redistribution of the population, leave permanent consequences on the urban development of Banja Luka. Construction of a business urban centre will cause the most obvious changes in the urban space, while the use of available public facilities of the socialist period is institutionally transformed into facilities of new content and purpose, whose further use is unquestionable, but functionally changed. Such facilities show that they had, and still have, the same symbolism of meaning, but in two different social systems. This paper sets up a hypothesis that new development patterns based on market development and private ownership do not necessarily give the expected outcomes of urban development modelled after Western cities. Comparing the two periods of development of Banja Luka from the middle of the 20th century to the fall of socialism in 1989, and the period from 1990 to the present, the paper analyses the diversification of urban functions and urban contents, which, on one side lead to spatial redistribution of population, loss of public space and content, but also to the growth of consumption space as a typical feature of the consumer society. Through these processes, the quality of life of urban residents of Banja Luka changes, which leads to the formation of new urban habits and a specific way of life.

SECURITY AND CREDIBILITY OF INFORMATION ABOUT WARTIME CONFLICTS ON THE INTERNET

Vesna Simović — 2024-06-30

The complex dynamics of information that is constantly being marketed in the modern digital age lead to an excessive amount of information of questionable accuracy and credibility. Fake news, misleading information, rumors and satire take precedence over instinctive information, especially in the domain of information about war conflicts, which are rapidly losing their credibility. This social phenomenon is labeled as an information disorder. War conflicts in the modern era are taking on a new form, we are introduced to the term hybrid war, which, in addition to physical battles, is also realized through the struggle for control over information systems. Information warfare is aimed at achieving control over the consciousness of the people of a country, especially through the distribution of false and misleading news, and as a countermeasure, the services of "factcheckers" organizations can be used. We look at information warfare and the distribution of fake news through the prism of the latest war conflicts between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

LEGAL REMEDIES AGAINST THE DETENTION DECISION WITH REFERENCE TO THE PRACTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT

Joko Dragojlović — 2024-06-30

Personal freedom represents one of the basic human rights in modern civilized and democratic societies, a value that is strongly protected by both national and supranational legal instruments, such as the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. This right is certainly not of an absolute nature, and international instruments, as well as domestic regulations, allow this right to be limited. It is precisely the order on pre-trial detention in criminal proceedings, as one of the measures to ensure the presence of the accused, that represents a limitation of this freedom. As it is about restricting one of the basic freedoms, strict conditions have been set that must be met in order for such a restriction to be socially and legally acceptable. Thus, the Code of Criminal Procedure defines the conditions for ordering detention, the purpose of which is to achieve a balance between the individual's right to freedom and the state's interest in the orderly conduct of criminal proceedings. In addition to those conditions, and based on the constitutional guarantees in the case of deprivation of liberty and the right to a legal remedy, the Code of Criminal Procedure provides for and ensures the right to appeal against the first-instance detention decision, which appeal is decided by the Chamber referred to in Article 21, paragraph 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, whose decision, as a second instance, is final and legally binding. This paper analyses the positive legal rules on the determination of detention and the right to appeal against such a decision, especially analysing the judgment of the Supreme Court, which, following a request for the protection of legality, had to take on the creative role of a legislator and resolve the issue unsettled by the positive law – the admissibility of a legal remedy against a second-instance decision on detention, and the consequences of this position of the Supreme Court.

THE QUESTION OF LEGAL SUBJECTIVITY OF A COOPERATIVE FOUNDER

Sonja Končar — 2024-06-30

The current aspiration towards development and improvement of the cooperative sector in Serbia, observed in the context of modern business conditions and imperative market demands regarding the establishment of sustainable development of business entities, provides at the same time an opportunity to evaluate the legislative solutions within this area. The paper shall first, through observing the elements of the cooperative identity, determine the general features of a cooperative and its importance in the modern economic environment, and then, by analyzing the legal regulations of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, using a comparative method, it shall critically enlighten our legal regulation as it pertains to the regulation of the establishment of cooperatives with an emphasis on the question of legal subjectivity of a cooperative founder. It is the aim of the research in this paper to: 1) examine whether the answer to the question of legal subjectivity of the cooperative founder as envisioned by our legislation, observed in the context of modern market conditions, contributes to the sustainable development of the cooperative and to the improvement of its economic potential, and 2) to propose de lege ferenda solutions that would create a more stimulating legislative framework within the area regulating the question of legal subjectivity of a cooperative founder.

DETECTION OF RISK FACTORS AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENT BEHAVIOR IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

Snezana Đorđević — 2024-06-30

Schools should be defined as social institutions that deal with education and the upbringing of children, places where these goals are achieved in a safe and secure environment. However, in the past ten years, schools have become stages for displaying different forms of violence, which have become increasingly common, and more serious in terms of analyzing the consequences. The purpose of this study is to indicate the risk factors which are the foundation of violent means of behavior of an adolescent, and which could be recognized before the externalization of violent behavior patterns in schoolenvironments. This study analyses the significance of individual personality characteristics, family dynamics and social interactions during the period of the formation of a personality while maturing, by comparing the results of the studies we have had so far, in order to find a method to determine the risk factors which are more probable to, relatively early in life of a person, indicate the greater probability for manifesting different forms of antisocial behavior in the social environment. This study signalizes the significance of educating family members and raising the level of professional awareness of school workers, as well as of those employed in other structures of social community for the sake of recognizing early signs that school children may be liable to committing violent acts, with the aim of making preventive intervention multisectoral, timely and effective.