The paper discusses the COVID-19 mortality in Slovenia and Croatia in 2020 and 2021. The aim of the paper is to determine similarities and differences in mortality trends during COVID-19 period and ...to discuss the underlying causes and consequences. It is hypothesised that the unfavourable age structure of both countries was a catalyst of the excess mortality differentials, and that the different paths of post-socialist transitions significantly contributed to differential mortality in 2020. The analyses confirmed a biased effect of the excess mortality indicator, which is applicable only if supported with sufficient attributive data. Moreover, findings confirmed the hypothesis that COVID-19 mortality largely contributed to overall mortality in Slovenia in 2020, particularly due to the increased mortality in long-term care facilities (LTCF) which was about 70% higher compared to that of Croatia.
A qualitative, mixed and partly covert research of the locally specific characteristics of deinstitutionalisation was carried out in Slovenia in 2015. The research showed that more than 20,000 adults ...with different disabilities still live in different long stay institutions and that there are not sufficient NGOs that would support community-based living. Deinstitutionalisation is viewed as a change for the worse and is therefore reduced to minor transformations of the existent long stay institutions, described in the study. The state worries that deinstitutionalisation would demand a more costly welfare system and the relatives of disabled people worry that deinstitutionalisation will increase privatisation of welfare and that the burden of care will fall on them, as is the case in many other post-socialist countries. Within the locally specific context of post-socialism, deinstitutionalisation needs to be a top-down social policy decision that will influence professional education in different areas of care work and will provide a re-training of the existing staff. The experiences of people who survived long stay institutions or still live in them need to become public knowledge, as learning from the lived experience might make the process of deinstitutionalisation more vibrant, efficient and useful for everyone. The study captured some of their experiences.
Makedonsko glavno mesto je tako kot številna druga mesta v sosednjih državah doživelo radikalne spremembe, ki so v zadnjih dvajsetih letih in že prej vplivale na urbanistične procese. V zadnjem ...stoletju se je prebivalstvo Skopja povečalo za več kot desetkrat, družbene spremembe v tem obdobju pa niso vplivale samo na načrtovalske procese, temveč tudi na grajeno tkivo mesta. Posledično so mesto preoblikovale najrazličnejše dinamike. V zadnjih dvajsetih letih je razvoj Skopja zaznamoval dolg in boleč prehod – proces, med katerim se je mesto moralo prilagoditi novim kompleksnim razmeram. Kriza, ki je zajela Skopje, je povzročila slabšo kakovost grajenega okolja in ustvarila plodna tla za špekulativno gradnjo. Postalo je jasno, da urbanistično načrtovanje ne more več delovati kot orodje nadzora in razvoja, katerega glavni cilj je varovati in spodbujati javne interese. V članku so analizirane načrtovalske pobude, sprejete pred 90. leti 20. stoletja in pozneje, pri čemer so opredeljene glavne faze preobrazbe od 90. let naprej, in sicer v skladu s ključno zakonodajo, političnimi dejavniki in z upravnimi odločitvami, ki so prispevali k urbani preobrazbi mesta.
