<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

Deliberative polling has emerged as a promising method for promoting democratic reform and citizen engagement in various contexts, however, its potential and limitations in hybrid regimes, where democratic governance is challenged by a mix of democratic and authoritarian features, remain relatively unexplored. This paper focuses on the case of North Macedonia, as a country that has undergone significant political and societal transformation especially in the recent years. Despite efforts to promote democratic reforms, the country continues to face challenges in terms of ensuring democratic governance and citizen participation. In a hybrid regime, like North Macedonia’s, political leaders might not be inclined to value citizens’ input, and the media environment might not be free from influence, which limits access to varied and reliable sources of information. Civil society organizations may also encounter limitations on their operations, and institutional assistance may be insufficient. Additionally, the population’s diversity could make it difficult to reach and build trust with citizens. In this context, deliberative polling represents an opportunity to engage citizens in meaningful political dialogue and institutional reform. This paper examines the potential of deliberative polling as a tool for promoting governance in North Macedonia and highlights the challenges and limitations faced in this process.
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Deliberating in the Gray Zone: North Macedonia’s Hybrid Regime and Deliberative Democracy Exercise

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Online marketplaces’ expansion has completely transformed the way in which products and services are traded, benefiting both consumers and companies in a variety of ways. However, the decentralized nature of online markets, the problem of market domination, and the growing use of big data in digital marketplaces, has brought many difficulties related to competition law. Further complicating matters is the growth of platform-to-business (P2B) partnerships. This manuscript discusses recent competition cases involving online platforms and offers an outline of the difficulties faced by competition authorities in dealing with competition concerns in digital markets. The specific applicability of Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to concerns involving digital platforms will be thoroughly examined. There will also be discussion of potential fixes for the concerns mentioned. The study outlines the raised concerns and offers potential solutions. Thus, it will provide a glimpse into a potential future strategy that the European Union competition authorities, including the Commission and National Competition Authorities, may adopt about online platforms.
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RETRACTED: Digital Markets in EU Competition law

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While the situation of crime victims is analyzed by law enforcement officers, victims of human rights violations deserve special attention due to the very fact that these violations were ‘performed’ by the state, through its official employee or a person who acts in the capacity of an official. This fact does not in any way change the right of the victims to be treated with kindness and respect, nor does it affect their right to benefit from justice mechanisms and to have immediate solutions.
It should be understood that such a violation of individual rights committed by or with the consent of a state official, can seriously damage the relationship between citizens and the State. The outcome of law enforcement, in terms of the current condition of law and order, depends on the existence of good relations with the public. When law enforcement officers carry out practices that contradict the rights and freedoms of the individual, the very link between the organism as a whole and the community is endangered.
Trust and security are two conditions for fruitful communication and cooperation between the community and the law enforcement body. When trust and security are weakened due to the illegal and arbitrary behavior of law enforcement officers, the quality of cooperation and communication is also weakened. Special care should be taken for the victims of such violations so that the occasional incidents do not have devastating consequences on the image and work of the entire law enforcement organization.
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Victims of criminal offenses: Their needs, rights and respect in practice

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The bootstrap proposed by Efron (1979) resulted a useful method in estimating the distribution of an estimator or a test statistic by resampling the data in the case of independent and identically distributed observations. Although it was not as effective in the case of dependent data as in the case of independent and identically distributed data, an adaptation was obtained using the block bootstrap. The block bootstrap consists in dividing the data into blocks of observations and then resampling these blocks with replacement. When resampling periodic data, we must take in consideration the periodicity present.
Periodically correlated time series and in particular those related with PAR processes have been object of many recent studies due to numerous applications in real data problems. The aim of this paper is to use a block bootstrap procedure proposed, Block Bootstrap of the Residuals, in the case of PAR (Periodic Autoregressive) models. The results obtained in the case of estimating the coefficients in a PAR model studied are very good and are characterized by small values of Bias, Mean Squared Error and Standard Deviation. Also the bootstrap estimations obtained are closer to the true values than the usual classic point estimations.
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Some empirical results using block bootstrap in estimating the coefficients of a periodic autoregressive model

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The evolution of international regulation in the field of protection of children’s rights has its first beginnings as early as 1924, with the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Children. Ordinance for the benefit of children, also known as the Declaration of Geneva. “The delinquent child must be saved” is the rule from this document which emphasizes the need for special treatment, care and assistance of the child who has crossed the limits of legal and social norms as well as behavioral rules. It is clear that the violation of children’s rights is the most serious form of violation of human rights, and that a state cannot be called democratic if it does not proclaim and guarantee these rights.
The norms provided for in international conventions are in the spirit of special care and protection, assistance and containment of minors. International conventions have imperative importance for the states that have signed them, and the international community develops a permanent activity in order to adequately implement the norms of international conventions by the signatory states. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize, through descriptive and normative legal methods, the importance of international legal acts in the advancement of children’s rights at the national and international level.
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International norms and standards for juvenile justice

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Introduction: When learning outcomes are written, it is important that they are written in a way that they can be assessed. Clearly, it is necessary to have some form of assessment tool or technique to determine the extent to which learning outcomes have been achieved. The challenge for teachers is to ensure that there is alignment between teaching methods, assessment techniques, assessment criteria and learning outcomes. This link between teaching, assessment and learning outcomes helps to make the overall learning experience more transparent.
Purpose: To describe assessment techniques and see if there is an alignment between teaching methods, assessment techniques, assessment criteria and learning outcomes.
Materials and methods: Analysis of assessment techniques used by teachers at “Isa Boletini” secondary school, Tirana. Two aspects were used to carry out the research: student survey and teacher survey (interview). These surveys aimed to see if students are helped to understand how they should achieve learning outcomes and how clearly the assessment techniques and assessment criteria are defined by the teacher.
Results: From the analysis of gender data, (45%) were male and (55%) were female. The age group surveyed is 16-18 years old. 100 students participated in the study. The analysis of the students’ survey shows that the answers given by them state that teachers use diverse methods during teaching and do not stick strictly to traditional teaching. The analysis of the teachers’ survey shows that they find it difficult to coordinate or align teaching methods, assessment techniques, assessment criteria and learning outcomes, since most students are not interested during the lesson, they do not have cooperation with each other, or the spirit of group work, thus making it difficult to increase the performance of the students and their maximum involvement during the teaching process.
Conclusion: The use of appropriate teaching and assessment strategies leads to more accurate and clear learning outcomes. The quality of teaching increases when students can interact with teachers and teachers show genuine interest in solving their problems.
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Curriculum Specialist, Rectors, University of Tirana

The connection between assessment and learning outcomes

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In verb system of different languages there is a distinction of finite and nonfinite form of verbs. Finite verbs have morphological categories of tense, mood, person and number. These categories cannot be found in nonfinite form of the verbs (Bech, 1955). Nonfinite form of verbs do not give evidence for mood, person and number (Hentchel &amp; Weydt, 1994).
Comparing nonfinite form of verbs has been the object of different studies. The purpose of these studies is identifying the differences and similarities of nonfinite form of verbs in different languages.
In one language a nonfinite form might be missing, whereas in another language a nonfinite verb is present. These changes make a big difference in morphology and syntax. Every language has its own feature based on grammatical rules.
The purpose of this study is an analysis of syntactical functions of Participle II in German language and participle in standard Albanian language by finding the difference and similarities between them. Participle II of German language or as it is different named past participle coincide with nonfinite form participle of Albanian language. The participle of Albanian language and Participle II of German language have many similar uses in terms of verbs and adjective features. Participles have similar syntactical functions but there are also a lot of differences.
</abstract>

A comparison between syntactical functions of Participle II in the German language and participle in standard Albanian language

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The regulations stated in Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) define that it is prohibited for companies to engage in agreements that are anticompetitive in nature with one another. E-commerce platforms have emerged as significant commercial channels in the virtual realm. The antitrust scrutiny has been drawn towards the limitations imposed by both suppliers and marketplaces on selling through such platforms. There exists a perception among certain individuals that there is a degree of conflict between the two approaches, wherein competition authorities are accused of endorsing marketplace platforms by prohibiting platform bans in distribution contracts, while simultaneously scrutinizing the business practices of these platforms (Colomo, 2018). Notwithstanding, it is imperative to note that this does not inherently denote an inconsistency. Although it is crucial for retailers to retain their autonomy in terms of vending their products through diverse sales channels, it is incumbent upon marketplace platforms to adhere to the regulations governing antitrust. In this sense main purpose of this manuscript is the analysis of anti-competitive behavior in digital markets.
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RETRACTED: Anti-competitive behavior in digital markets

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For more than 45 years, Albania was ruled by one of the harshest dictatorial regimes that Europe has experienced during the 20-th century. The communist regime in Albania had several special features, starting from its origins and establishment, and continuing further with its special characteristics, the society and the economic-social system it built. These features set it apart from other communist regimes in Eastern Europe. But what remains as the primary feature of the communist regime in Albania is its loyalty and steadfastness in following and further developing the Stalinist model, a model that was finally abandoned in Eastern Europe and the USSR in the mid-1950s, and further in China after the death of Mao Zedong (1978). This study aims to investigate the special characteristics underlying the Stalinist model and the causes that enabled its implementation, adaptation and development in the conditions of the rule of the dictatorial regime in Albania.
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Stalinism and the Stalinist model: Comparative study on its origins and characteristics in the communist regime in Albania

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The migration is a form of mobility that is carried out in many ways, in different times and different distances. In the migration process, apart from the motives, the distance and the place are important. Today, thanks to traffic systems, the migration flows tend to become more and more massive and global. Also, the culture and economy in the globalization process is distributed widely, motivating even more international migration. On the other hand, human migration can contribute to economic and cultural globalization. The migratory movements have traditionally played a very important role in developing and distributing the population all over the world. But what are the causes, consequences and strategies of Albanian migration after 1990? The used methodology consists of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The migration of Albanians has played an important role in demographic developments in Albania after 1990 and is one of the biggest problems of the country. In these conditions, it is imperative that in all the projects and strategies that were developed for Albania, to take into account the changes and effects that the migration process brings in different spatial ranges.
</abstract>

Global migration strategies: Albanian migration after 1990

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 10 (2024): Issue 1 (May 2024)

Volume 9 (2023): Issue 3 (December 2023)

Volume 9 (2023): Issue 2 (September 2023)

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research is a professional, double-blind, peer-reviewed, open-access journal. BJIR is published in English three times a year and provides a forum for disseminating and enhancing theoretical, empirical and/or pragmatic research across the social sciences and related disciplines. In this sense, we welcome papers that are interdisciplinary or focused on particular disciplines (e.g. economics, politics, geography, sociology, health, international relations, law etc), with an expectation that all work is accessible to readers across the social sciences. Acceptance for publication is subject to a double-blind peer-reviewing process. The journal expects authors to write clearly and accessibly for an international audience. No particular theories are favoured.  We invite researchers to submit their original papers via email at: bjir.journal@gmail.com   Archiving Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections. Plagiarism Policy The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 