EDITOR’S NOTE

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IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY

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IDENTITIES IN THE MAKING

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CULTURE AND VIOLENCE: SELF-DESCRIPTION OF THE CORE OF THE SEMIOSPHERE AND SOCIABLE OPPRESSION

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The topic of this paper spans different aspects of sociable violence in the bordering prose of Ivo Andrić. Such phenomena have been considered in a semiotic key, from the angle of theory on semiosphere with the dominance of inelastic semiospheric cores of cultures. The emphasis has been place on the investigation of violence as a form of self-security mechanism of cultural systems. Thus the torture over the individual and the collective, and its different psycho-physical forms – modus procedendi i.e. the practice of such cultures is, more or less, manifested in all cultural segments. Violence is a significant ruling mechanism in an inelastic semiospheric core and it is performed up the entire hierarchy of social ladder. By analysis of Andrić’s historical prose, and on the topic of suffering in Bosnia in a hiatus of three kingdoms, significant differences have been noticed in self-describing of cultures of the East and the West, as well as their different attitudes towards the nature of violence, torture, harassment and humiliation of the subjects, or those who break the codes of self-description of semiospheric core. When speaking about violence, some indicators have been noticed that modernized Europe has somewhat changed standards of self-description in relation to cultural tradition of the Porta. Namely, even though Europe from the times of the Middle Ages and later, all the way to crucial reforms of the codes of self-description (originated under the influence of a wide wave of enlightenment and later the French bourgeois revolution) had known the cruelty of violence even during legal execution of a legal norm, its significantly changed standards in favour of humanization of legal norm and war ethics in the 19th century – contributed to the fact that remaining practice of cruel violence of the Turkish system in Europe in recent times sees it as a barbarian act and incivility and strives to eliminate this brutal violence from legitimate standards of self-description of the European culture. Just moral opinion, founded on contemporary understanding of the respect for personality, which assumes avoiding of suffering – was the crucial parameter which contributed to humanization of the then legitimate brutal violence, typical of the inelastic semiospheric cores such as those of the Ottoman empire.

BRANDING OF COUNTRIES AND NATIONS

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A growing number of countries are beginning to understand the importance and the necessity for country branding and taking care of their global image and reputation. Having realized that a good name and a positive image affect not only the number of tourist arrivals but also the investments, products, award of various sports and cultural events etc, as of lately countries have started addressing these issues more seriously. Special agencies and institutes have been established which use the latest marketing methods and integrated marketing channels for promotion. Governments which strive to rebrand their countries, remodel the image or build a new positive identity of their nation must have a clear vision of what they want to achieve, where the country stands now, where they want it to stand, and must try to integrate all efforts, policies and communications towards the rest of the world. It is with considerable delay that Serbia has understood the real impact of lobbying and engaging lobbyist firms in preparing and passing decisions of significance to the international political scene, and partially due to the delay, it has suffered great economic and political damage over the last decade and a half of its history.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT STRATEGY AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVING THE MODERN MARKETING CONCEPT

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Previous marketing practices have caused much criticism of this concept, which is why the necessity for its overcoming is emphasized in academic and professional debates. Therefore, the basic task of the modern marketing concept becomes building good relationships both with the market participants and the wider social public. This paper aims to show that creation of good relations with key participants in the market is one of the possibilities for improving overall business in the global environment. The starting point of this issue is consideration of the marketing criticism from a wider perspective and highlighting its solving potentials in the direction of building good relationships with marketing participants. In this process, it is important to emphasize the potential of marketing relations as the concept that we promote within the contemporary marketing. The concept of marketing relations will be considered through the 4 Os model. Reaching these complex but legitimate demands sets difficult task before the participants in today’s market, but trends show that only by developing good relations it is possible to achieve a long-term sustainable position.

PUBLIC RELATIONS IN CULTURAL CENTRES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH

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This paper has been written to systematize theoretical and practical knowledge in the analysis, planning, defining and implementing the development strategies of public relations in cultural institutions, namely in the cultural centers for children and youth. The first part of the paper examines the phenomenon of the need to build successful public relations in the field of culture as well as designing special communication strategies in cultural institutions for children and youth. Definitions of public relations in culture and the importance of communication skills with different target groups in children’s cultural centers are emphasized in terms of internal and external public relations. For successful positioning in the public and creation of a long-term reputation, cultural institutions must have communications strategies in order to create wider (national and international) support for their programmes. Strategic planning of public relations in the nonprofit sector and culture leads to the development of specific communication strategies for each target group, whose significance is discussed in the second part of the paper. For cultural institutions for children, the important target segment are the children themselves as a target group with very specific characteristics, and therefore it is necessary to develop specific communication strategies for them, which, in addition to entertainment and attractiveness, should also have a pedagogical dimension. A public relations manager in a cultural and/or educational area differs from a PR manager in other areas because animation activities are aimed at children and youth. Educational public relations and animation activities aim to create a new audience and arouse interest in a specific work of art and activities of an institution, but also fulfill a higher purpose: they encourage development of cultural needs and gaining of cultural habits.