The unhindered operation of human rights, and, in this connection, democratic regulation of political and legal life, have become standard criteria of legitimating of modern states. Only with the presupposition of respect of human rights is the effective working of a true pluralist-parliamentary democracy possible. Otherwise, what we shall have is a formal legal simulation which irresponsible embarks upon permanent postponing of democracy. The subversive element of natural law which insisted on delimitation between society and the state ("freedom from the state") has nowadays given way to positive law, to the operation of human rights within the state's legal order ("through constitutional law"). As Habermas suggests, "the revolutionary moment of turning natural into positive law has been worn out during the long process of democratic integration of the basic rights". This change led to the creation of both political space and a legal framework for citizens' participation in democratic decision-making procedures. The international mechanism of codification and protection of human rights is binding states with increasing strictness to the creation of such decision-making mechanisms which will enable all particular interests to be effectively articulated within the "general will". Through its conventions, commissions and human rights courts, Europe has already established procedures which for the first time in history make it possible for the interest of the individual, of the citizen, to come out onto the international stage, into the field of international law, heretofore reserved solely for sovereign states. The tendency of internationalisation of human rights indicates the global community's willingness to increasingly take into account the sovereignty of the individual, or of minority groups, and not of states. Respect for human rights is no longer within the domain of a state's internal matters: care for these rights is progressively being taken over by the international community.

Regrettably, the former Yugoslavia (SFRY) was never a state in which international conventions on human rights were observed. In that respect, the situation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is even worse. It is, therefore, no surprise that the FRY is currently excluded from the European and global process of political and legal rationalisation of society. The question of the legal, political and social status of human rights in the FRY was opened only after the fall of real-socialism, and intensified under pressure from the international community. The matter gained additional currency against the background of the crumbling of a party and police state which did not succeed in evolving into a democratic state ruled by law. The crisis of implementation of human rights in the FRY was sharpened by the fact that this state has been excluded from nearly all international institutions. Systemic and massive violation of human rights in the FRY has turned out to be one of the principal obstacles to return into the international community and to possible future integration into the European Union. There are no signs which could indicate that the FRY authorities are ready to correct their position on human rights, even less that they are willing to expose themselves to the risk of international control of their implementation.

In the context of suspension by the state of legal regulation of social and political life, civic initiatives in connection with the implementation of human rights in the FRY acquire special weight and significance. A decisive request to the FRY Government to adhere to certain standards of behaviour towards its citizens has come directly from the Belgrade NGO scene. Especially strong pressure on the state - which must improve legal and constitutional protection of the individual - have come from the sector of civic organisations, associations and movements. These initiatives contain a potential threat to the legitimacy and sovereignty of a state which is indifferent and cynical to the question of human rights. The process of subversion of state sovereignty is also possible through human rights - although individual citizens of a country are not subjects of international law. Only in the courtroom and in the language of law are rights defended and represented as the achievable rights of individuals, which citizens may litigate. In that respect, realistic conditions still do not exist for an individual to win in court proceedings against his/he state in an international court.

This issue of the Belgrade Circle journal is intended to point out the main directions of the expansion of the idea of human rights. In this we have not succumbed to naive political euphoria which is increasingly spreading in connection with the formal legal legitimating of the modern state. The process of increasingly visible globalisation of human rights testifies convincingly to the advantages of the legalist model of legitimating. However, the "western" insistence on the universality of human rights can function virtually as a diplomatic and political alibi for post-colonial interventionism. In all cases, the diffusion of demands for general recognition of civic, human and political rights must take into account the social and economic, i.e. structural, limitations of their application. The politics of globalisation of human rights must take into account cultural priorities, regional specificities and local limitations. Otherwise, authoritarian regimes may respond using the geopolitical argument, claiming that the struggle for human rights is nothing but a post-colonial manoeuvre, a conspiracy of the new world order against regional or national interests. Naturally, the global process of adapting the state to the idea of human rights may also work from below, taking into account all cultural, regional or national differences. It is our belief that modern states may without hindrance follow the normative concept of social and political justice precisely by demonstrating international solidarity with individuals or groups whose basic human rights are jeopardised or completely denied.

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