Academicus International Scientific Journal

14-27

Authors: Michele Marsonet

It has often been claimed in contemporary philosophy that the scientific world-view will necessarily replace the view of the world provided by common sense. It may be argued, however, that common sense holds a sort of methodological primacy over the aforementioned scientific world-view. For example, the thesis of the indeterminacy of radical translation entails the impossibility of establishing what a scientific theory is talking about. We can say what a scientific theory deals with only by having recourse to our ordinary language, i.e., by assuming that we know and understand in advance what we are talking about normally, in our daily life. It follows that science cannot be conceived of as a form of knowledge which is totally independent of ordinary language and, therefore, alternative to it. According to such a stance, even scientific theories stem from the universe of meanings that belong to common language. On his part Davidson, in challenging the scheme-content dualism, mentions both “a dualism of total scheme (or language) and uninterpreted content”, and “a dualism of conceptual scheme and empirical content”.1 What we have here is a real dichotomy between these two elements, in the sense that the (conceptual) scheme is “other than” the (non-conceptual) content that is opposed to it. Now, Davidson’s rejection of the scheme-content distinction is supported by a set of arguments purporting to reject, first of all, the thesis that totally different conceptual schemes can actually exist. To put things in a very sketchy manner, he equates having a conceptual scheme with having a language, so that we face the following elements: (1) language as the organizing force; (2) what is organized, referred to as “experience”, “the stream of sensory experience”, and “physical evidence”; and, finally, (3) the failure of intertranslatability. It follows that “It is essential to this idea that there be something neutral and common that lies outside all schemes”.2 If this is the situation, he goes on, then we could say that conceptual schemes that are different in a radical way from each other correspond to languages that are not intertranslatable. How can we, however, make sense of a total failure of intertranslatability among languages? For sure “we could not be in a position to judge that others had concepts or beliefs radically different from our own”.3 Davidson’s conclusion is that if one gives up the dualism of scheme and world,he will not give up the world, but will instead be able to “re-establish unmediated touch with the familiar objects whose antics make our sentences and opinions true”.4 Davidson’s solution is radical, but we are bound to ask at this point what the expressions “reality” and “world” mean for him. They seem to coincide with the world of common sense which is formed by the familiar objects whose antics - as he says - make our sentences and opinions true or false. These familiar objects are tables, chairs, houses, stars, etc., just as we perceive them in our daily life. One is not entitled to ignore, however, that the current discussions on the problem of scientific realism arise because there appears to be a strong asymmetry between the commonsense view of the world and the scientific one. For instance, the table that we see with our eyes is not the same table that we “see” through the mediation of scientific instruments, and this fact is not trivial. It is rather easy to reach a high level of inter-subjective agreement among the individuals present in a room about the color, size and weight of a table, and it can also be granted that we form our beliefs in this regard by triangulating with our interlocutors and the surrounding environment. Such an agreement, however, may turn out to be problematic when we try to reconcile this vision of the world with what today science tells us about it. So, being in touch with such familiar objects as tables, chairs and stars “all the time” - as Richard Rorty adds - has a fundamental bearing only on the ontology of common sense, since our actual science shows that quite a different representation of reality can actually be provided (or, even better, it shows that those objects might not exist as men perceive them). Naturally, one can always resort to an objection of the following kind: Why should we deem the table viewed as a collection of subatomic particles more important than the table that our eyes see in daily life? After all, we can conduct our life well enough even ignoring what science claims (just like men did for many thousand years). This, however, may be judged as a serious underevaluation of the scientific enterprise. As a matter of fact, in the last centuries we are confronted not by one world-view, but by two complex images, each of which means to be a complete picture of man in the world. Wilfrid Sellars called these two perspectives, respectively, the manifest and the scientific image of man in the world.5 They are both intersubjective and non arbitrary. What are, however, these two images, and are they really alternative? Let us note, from the onset, that the two images we just mentioned are both idealizations in the same sense of Max Weber’s “ideal types”. This means that, in order to discover their actual presence, we need having recourse to a good deal of philosophical abstraction. In other words, they are not disclosed by mere empirical recognition. For instance, we live in the commonsense view of the world, and only a complex process of reflection makes us understand that we, as human beings, share a common view of the world, which is in turn determined by the fact that our physical structure bounds us to conceive of reality in a certain way rather than in another. Think about the importance that light, for example, has not only in daily life, but even in our philosophical conceptualization of the world. The story is complicated by the fact that each image has a history, and while the manifest image dates back to pre-history, the scientific image is constantly changing shape.

42-58

Authors: Bejtush Gashi

Security is a fundamental prerequisite for the existence and development of humans and their society. Its scientific research and understanding is focused both on the State as a single entity, and on the international politics, as a System of States. At the current level of social development, security policy is implemented through various security systems, which analyze the possibilities and degrees of organization to perform security function in contemporary society. It is part of the Comprehensive State Policy as a whole, and implemented through a host of National Security Goals. This means that, in order to formulate and develop a security concept, any state, must take under consideration both internal and external factors, both traditional and non-traditional factors. Contemporary concept of the security policy is seen as a combination of objectives, interests, and actions in economy on one hand, and of the Strategy of the Armed Forces, on the other hand, including international cooperation and coordination. Kosova has fallen behind in this field, because it still misses some documents of crucial importance, i.e. “Comprehensive Security Strategy”, a Comprehensive document defining the National Critical Infrastructure. These two documents are supposed to define the basic national interests of Kosova, as crucial elements of the National Being, and define institutions and actions for their preservation and development. To make the situation even more difficult, Kosova is still missing a clear definition of its security environment, whereas the entire security policy is based on the capability of KFOR, EULEX and other international presence, to provide their support. The presence of parallel structures, and even criminal groups, sponsored, or instigated, by the official Government of Serbia, have a serious impact on the situation. Those structures and groups are a constant challenge against legal institutions of Kosova, in their efforts to execute the sovereignty throughout its territory.

69-93

Authors: Marţian Iovan, Maria Oprea

Based on empiric investigations and the study of documents from specialized public institutions, the authors analyse in this article the extent, manifestations, causes and consequences of single-parent families in Arad County. As social entities with a high risk of social exclusion, the authors identify practical measures for intervention by public authorities in the sense of optimizing socialization, social work and balancing these families, especially their children, by taking into account both Romanian and European legislation in this field. Preventing the reproduction/increase in the number of single-parent families must rely on the complete knowledge of this social phenomenon, with the need to establish databases and map the dispersion of single-parent families within administrative-territorial units. The decrease in the number of families with a high social risk over time is the result of correlated and harmonized public policies, aimed at fighting poverty, discrimination, unemployment, lack of access to education, while ensuring the general background for economic development and prosperity. The study is determined by the fact that many times the parents and the children of single parent families find themselves in the situation of not being able to make ends meet, the lack of finances, education and proper housing making it impossible for them to live a decent life. By identifying, through specific scientific methods such as document analysis, interviews, case studies, the particular types of problems facing single parent families, we consider we will succeed in offering a strong basis to motivate decision makers to establish additional social protection measures that will contribute to the reduction of the causes that maintain this social category among vulnerable groups.

107-117

Authors: Murat Jashari, Behar Selimi

The topic of this comparative study is the republican character of the system of governance in Kosovo. In the public discourse and political communication, as well as in academic discourse Kosovo is considered a Parliamentary Republic, based on the principle “of the separation of powers and checks and balances between them.” Although the constitutional definition of the relationship between the executive and legislative favors parliamentary republicanism, the constitutional powers of the president, the government and especially the constitutional and political power of the prime minister, significantly weaken the parliamentary character, in favor of a semi-presidential system. However, neither the current theories of government, nor constitutional provisions can rank Kosovo among semi-presidential systems, or pure parliamentary systems. Comparisons of competence powers relations in Kosovo, with similar relations and competences of the countries of the region and beyond, testify to the specific nature of parliamentary democracy in Kosovo. It is precisely the comparison of the Kosovo constitutional-legal system of governance with similar systems and theoretical analysis of parliamentary models facing Kosovo model which will be the basis of support of the hypothesis that Kosovo is not a typical parliamentary republic.

135-147

Authors: Vladimir Skënder

The judicial power in Albania is considered today as the greatest sinner in the Albanian society. But is it the only sinner? Is it treated with respect and dignity by the Albanian society? In the opinion of the writer of this article, the politicians of this country are also accomplices in this situation of the judiciary. These latter ones, when they need to purify their reputation, declare that they were pronounced not guilty by the courts. When a non-guilty decision is given to their political opponent, they hurry to curse the courts as corrupt, etc. In our opinion, the judiciary is not treated by the state equally when compared to the employees of the other sectors of the state. The Judiciary in Albanian, apart from being attacked en bloc by the politics and the media, is also paid badly and humiliated. This situation is of no service to the Albanian society and it should be changed rapidly.

158-167

Authors: Muhamet Racaj

The migrant crisis is an imposed problem that requires a thorough solution. The complete understanding of the reasons for migration, as well as the situation in the Mediterranean basin and in the Middle East is a precondition for finding appropriate solutions. Eradication of poverty and disparity, the fight against terrorism and the ISIS extremism as well as the fight against other similar groups are just a fraction of the necessary preconditions for a successful dealing with the current challenges. The solution to the drama with the infinite wave of migrants from Syria and the Middle East, to which we are sad observers, seems is not to be seen soon1 . First of all, if we look at the European political elite and the general lack of a reliable and clear strategy for solving this problem, all we will see is helplessness and mutual accusations. The migrant or the refugee crisis is followed by a large number of incidents or series of events. The massive arrival of refugees in the European Union, usually illegal migrants from Asia, Africa and parts of Southeastern Europe, started in the mid of 2010 and escalated in 2015. The reasons for the mass arrival are traditionally associated with the chronic unemployment and poverty in these countries, but lately, are also result of the war, especially in Syria, where the civil war caused massive exodus of the population. The situation is similar in Libya, where the fall of Moamer Gaddafi’s regime led to anarchy, used by the well-organized networks of human traffickers. By mid-2015, the refugee crisis mainly took place on the Mediterranean coast of Italy, where refugees were arriving by ships and boats. In many cases, such attempts were futile and led to mass deaths. Lately, there has been a massive influx of refugees and migrants in the Balkans, using Greece and Croatia, EU member countries on the periphery of the Union, as entry point. But also, The Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Serbia, candidate countries for the EU, are not bypassed. Although the European political establishment met the refugees with sympathy and as victims of the horrors of war that EU needs to provide shelter for, in time, the attitude toward the refugees became subject to fierce criticism by part of the European public. Concerns about the additional burdening of the social services, worsening of the security situation or the possible disappearance of the Christian identity of Europe due to the massive influx of Muslims from war areas in the Middle East arose. Recently, the attitude toward the migrants became the subject of a heated debate - dispute between some European countries, especially between Germany, which insists on “open door” policy and Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, which claim that their countries will suffer consequences due to such policy. The refugee-migrant crisis is a threat in several aspects and already has influence on the economic and social stability as well as internal security in the countries through which the migrants transit or remain, including the Republic of Macedonia. The busiest western – Balkan route used for arrival in the Schengen zone, especially in Germany, Sweden and other western and Nordic countries, brings negative influence visible in the social aspect, genuine threat to the national identity (culture, language, religion) and such endangerment inevitably will lead to an increased incidence of xenophobia, nationalism and racism. At the end, conditions for emergence of social disintegration will be created in the countries through which the migrants transit or remain, including the Republic of Macedonia. The economic stability, being crucial for a social stability, but also, for internal security, will be affected due to the use of additional resources and capacities (accommodation, health, communal services, transport and education) that the affected countries, including the Republic of Macedonia, should provide and set in function due to the newly arisen situation.

181-190

Authors: Camelia Grădinaru

The reception of Benedict Anderson’s ideas was very fruitful in many disciplines, and his work provided key concepts that can now throw a clarifying light in some blurry matters. The expression “imagined community” has known a remarkable proliferation, a situation that led to both the formation of a research direction and to the perpetuation of a cliché. In this respect, my article pointed out some suggestive characteristics of virtual communities, explaining why the imagined community is a valuable subject for the theorists of new media. The impossibility to know in person all the members of a big community is just one factor that determines its imagined face. Moreover, the set of values and inner presuppositions that guide the members are important bricks in the construction of community. In my opinion, the virtual community is imagined as a multi-layered experience (technological, conversational, relational etc.). The dynamic of a virtual community contains the tension amongst these layers and the degree of its imagined side depends on multiple factors. In order to illustrate these aspects, I gave a brief example by analysing a Romanian virtual community, using the triad common language – temporality – high centers. In spite of its limitations, the perspectives offered by this concept are still useful for understanding the nature of online communities. Thus, the imagined community is a valuable set of beliefs and practices that underlie and bolster the effective meaning and functioning of the virtual communities.

13-25

Authors: Maria Immacolata Macioti

The article recalls how in 2015, the year of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, important publications emerged, shedding a light on the incident that will be difficult to ignore. In particular, it was the archives of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the Vatican Secret Archives and the Historical Archive of the Secretariat of State which offered up precious material for the knowledge of what was happening to Armenians in Turkey to Georges-Henri Ruyssen SJ. To the latter is owed a valuable and significant work of reconstruction undertaken over many years, and consisting of eight volumes. These contain letters written in Turkey by those in contact with the people, who with their own eyes saw what was happening, and who followed what was occurring with dismay. Their relationship with the territory and their direct experience are fundamental. The correspondences begin in the years 1894-1896, of which volume IV, ranging from 1908 to 1925, is drawn precisely from the Secret Vatican Archives(ASV) as well as the Historic Archives of the Secretariat of State, the Section for Relations with Territories (SS.RR.SS). The author also points out a small valuable contribution by Jewish intellectuals of the time, translated into Italian with the title Pro Armenia. She underlines how, immediately, some Jews tried to intervene, to stop the genocide, and to assist Armenians in various ways. Today, it is difficult to ignore what happened, to ignore and to reduce what historically is the first genocide of the twentieth century in Europe. An event which has been minimized and denied: whose effects are still being felt today, and which has left a trail at individual, family and social levels. Armenian terrorism, which has resulted in attacks and deaths in Turkey and elsewhere, derives from these negations. The same is the case for a strong nationalism still prevalent today in the Republic of Armenia, which is constrained by circumstances to adopt a defensive political stance and – out of necessity – to maintain good relations with Russia. We have to wish that, after those resounding acknowledgement of the genocide, Armenia will be able to look forward to a more serene future.

40-53

Authors: BigBen Chukwuma Ogbonna

This paper analyses the post SAP persistence of inflation in Nigeria for the period, 1960-2008 with exchange rate, money supply and trade balance as preferred influential variables. To investigate the effect of policy switch from the period of direct instrument to the period of deregulation occasioned by SAP of 1986, we proceed to bifurcate the sample period into two, comprising the period of direct instruments of monetary policy, 1960 – 1985 and the period of indirect instruments of monetary policy, 1986 – 2008. Estimates from a vector auto regression model (VAR) of key macroeconomic variables demonstrate the weak link between money supply and inflation in the both time horizons, which suggests that the hypothesis that money supply is not an effective policy instrument for management of inflationary developments cannot be rejected for Nigeria. The results further suggest that in both time horizons, exchange rate has been identified as a singular most promising macroeconomic fundamental for both internal and external sectors adjustments. However, the deregulation of the domestic economy as occasioned by SAP has significantly diluted the efficacy of exchange rate as a monetary policy instrument for the management of Nigeria’s aggregate money stock and trade balance developments. These notwithstanding, the Central Bank of Nigeria can continue to play a stabilizing role in the economy through the continuation of prudent monetary policies and frequent interventions in exchange rate management to smooth out shocks.

66-88

Authors: Florent Muçaj, Përparim Gruda

Scientific research paper entitled “Judicial control of administrative activity and advantages of reorganization of the judicial system in the Republic of Kosovo” is treated with standard writing, including the introductory part and corresponding chapters. In the introductory part of the paper is emphasized the importance of the topic which is treated, with particular emphasis on the importance of judicial control in the Republic of Kosovo. This paper aims to achieve three main goals: Firstly, highlighting the importance and ways of functioning of judicial control in general, secondly, explication the method of treatment and the importance of the application of judicial control in the Republic of Kosovo and thirdly, highlighting the challenges of judicial control in the Republic of Kosovo, especially after the reorganization of the judicial system. The paper is structured as follows: introduction, general views on judicial control, including the importance of judicial control. Within the structure, important theses constitute those theses dedicated to administrative justice in the Republic of Kosovo, the legislative framework and judicial system reform in the Republic of Kosovo, including its impact on the functioning of the administrative judiciary. In the last part of the paper there are clear and consistent conclusions and significant recommendations relating to general views about judicial control, with particular emphasis on their practical implementation in the Republic of Kosovo and the way of adjustment with the reforms in the field of administrative justice which are at the beginnings of the implementation.

103-111

Authors: Alkelina Gazidede

European Court of Human Rights states that the execution of final decisions is a compulsory provision for a fair hearing and a successful conlusion of a trial. The right to a court protected by Article 6 would be illusory if a Contracting State’s domestic legal system allowed a final, binding judicial decision to remain inoperative to the detriment of one party. Execution of a judgment given by any court, is considered to be an integral part of the “trial” for the purposes of Article 6. Based on the Article 1 of European Convention for Human Rights member states of European Council are obligated to implement the the decisions of ECHR in their domestic legislation in the context of building an efficient legal system. This paper aimes to analyze the legal system of member states regarding the reinforcment of decisions looking forword to identify issues, commonalities and diferences among states. What is the procedure followed in the process of execution? What do we understand with “Reasonable timeframe” and which are the legal requirements in which are based “Concrete deadlines” within a judicial decision should be executed? What is the significance of the enforcment agents in this process?

120-127

Authors: Eriona Katro, Vaeld Zhezha

Competition discipline in the European Union is a substantial component of the EU’s institutional framework. The Lisbon Treaty made the “internal market” a shared competence, while necessary competition rules for the internal market are an exclusive competence of the Union. This paper aims to analyse the sources of the competition discipline in the EU and in Albania focusing more on constitutional sources. From this analyses will emerge that sources of competition discipline are numerous and each of them plays an important role in the development of the competition policy. But arises the question if these sources are all equally important or not? This paper will focus also n the importance of each source in both levels: European Union and Albanian discipline of competition.

138-144

Authors: Diana Biba

Law No. 9901/2008 on “Entrepreneurs and Commercial Companies”, marked a milestone in the reform of the commercial law in Albanian. Among other novelties, the Law introduced a new approach in regard to the employees and their participation in co determination. Actually, the involvement of the employees were not that unfamiliar in the former Albanian Commercial Legislation thought the social responsibility was. The Law brought in a new approach which was widely inspired from the EU Law, by establishing the Council of the Employees for any commercial company having more than 50 employees. It is true that unlike the trade unions, it is the company that bears the costs of the establishment and functioning of these councils, but besides the costs, it would mean to grant importance to the employees, as stakeholders of the corporate, by being part of the decision making process with regard to the use of special funds or actives of the company or to the allocation of the divided that the General Assembly resolves to allocate to the employees. This article will explore the legal provisions of the Law in regard to the Council of the Employees, its establishment, functioning and entitlement and how these provisions are enforced in practice from the companies in Albania.

160-170

Authors: Elsa Toska Dobjani

ECHR, as an international treaty is part of the Albanian legal system. Among international law instruments, the ECHR enjoys a privileged status in the Albanian legal system by virtue of Article 17 paragraph 2 of the Constitution according to which restrictions to human rights and freedoms cannot infringe the substance of those rights and freedoms and in no case can exceed the restrictions provided for in the ECHR. Article 1 of the Convention requires States to secure the substance of the rights to those in their jurisdiction. The effect of Article 13 is thus to require the provision of a domestic remedy to deal with the substance of an arguable complaint under the Convention and to grant appropriate relief. The scope of this paper is to analyse the effectiveness of the complaint to the Constitutional Court with regard to length of proceedings as part of due process of law in terms of proceedings during the court trial and after the process has been finalized and the final decision should be executed.

184-204

Authors: Spiro Paço

The self-proclamation of Kosovo’s independence announced on February 17 invites us to some general considerations that may be linked to the specific event.1 The IL principle of Self-determination will be on the focus of this article to considering it as one of the way to archive the creation of new IL entity. Self-determination is a more recent principle then the others but its history, theory and practice is immense.2 The origin of the term and idea also is in discussion and debating among historian and lawyer. The term have been used simultaneously in the same period (end of WW I) by the US President Wilson and the USSR Premier Lenin referring to the right of the non self-governed territory like colony and occupied regions.3