Publications

Youth is not a universal human condition. A number of scholars have previously argued that

childhood and youth cannot be comprehended as a unique period (Aries, 1962); nor can youth be

considered as a special, homogeneous social group. Nevertheless, studies of youth, both as group and a concept were first articulated in the 19th century, predominantly in urban centers of the countries at the forefront of industrialization and modernization.

Since 1990, following decades of government control over media, the Albanian media faced horizons of freedom. The advent of independent media, quite naturally, was duly characterised by the mounting political pressure on them and a severe lack of professionalism among the journalists. These phenomena, to a considerable extent, were due to the absence of a regulatory framework. The first legislative interventions that attempted to regulate the conduct of media professionals were carried out in 1993 when Law no. 7756 »On Press« was adopted. The Albanian law was modelled after the law of the German state of Westphalia and was hardly adjusted to the Albanian context. The views of the most affected persons by this law, the media community, were…

For social democrats the welfare state is not a side issue, but a requirement of democracy. It ensures equal freedom – full freedom. It is in the welfare state that social democratic ideas about freedom are made real. It encompasses not only protection against the arbitrary intrusion of the state or society – for example, freedom of conscience and opinion. Full freedom also means freedom from need and fear, the material conditions of a self-determined life. Equal freedom: that is the constant standard that social democratic social policy sets itself. The goal and the direction are clear. Concrete measures need to be re-evaluated as times change and the traditional social democratic approach must be reaffirmed. This Reader is intended to…

The present comparative volume of case studies provides a snapshot and analysis of the existing normative regulation, practices, and public debates regarding the openness and transparency of parliaments in the Balkans. On the basis of in-depth research, the volume identifies a set of good practices, and elaborates recommendations for the improvement of the public knowledge and understanding of parliamentary work. The volume is the result of a project initiated by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Office Bulgaria (FES) and the Regional Secretariat for Parliamentary Cooperation in South-East Europe (RSPC). Its implementation was tasked to the Centre for Liberal Strategies (CLS) in Sofia. The empirical research for the project, entitled…

With the end of socialism, South East European societies experienced a most dramatic increase in poverty and socio-economic inequality. Some might have hoped that the transition from the generalised inefficiency of bureaucratic socialism to Western-style capitalist market economies would bring Western-style mass prosperity to South Eastern Europe, but the actual experience of social polarisation proves the opposite. It is much less clear how social inclusion can be re-established in economies that have pro-ductive employment only for a reduced part of the country’s work force and in states that no longer are able to appropriate and redistribute much of the national product. On the other hand, the protracted existence of large-scale social…

Already a while ago, the idea was developed - in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation – to conduct a youth study in the countries of former Yugoslavia, following the model of the Shell youth study which is renowned and widely read in Germany. From interviewing members of the young generation in a country, it is possible to derive valuable information on the teenagers’ and young adults’ interests and wishes in the respective state. But there is more to it: The attitudes and value orientation of the young people can be considered an early indicator which ultimately reveals the future tendencies prevalent in an entire society. The young generation, as our analyses in Germany have repeatedly demonstrated, can be considered a…

The financial and economic crisis was a turning point. The problems that con- front us go beyond mere coping with the particular consequences of the crisis, and concern the very foundations of our society. We have to decide today how we want to live and work, not just over the next few years, but over the coming decades. What would a fair and solidarity-based economic order look like? What kind of balance must be found between state and market? How can a modern, value-oriented social democratic economic policy prevail?

The media are of outstanding importance for our European democracies – and certainly also beyond them. They are considered to be of the highest relevance for the formation of opinion, both individually and collectively, and a basis on which the citizens rely when gathering information and, subsequently, when exercising their role in the democratic process, mainly through voting in elections and referenda.Because the potential influence of the media hence can hardly be underestimated, it is necessary to continue efforts to bring a con-siderable level of transparency into the con-ditions under which the media, foremost the press, broadcasting, online services and film, function – entailing both the media law and policy framework as well as…