Governance through conformation: Case study regarding the mode of the reformation of the Central Public Administration from the Republic of Moldova
June 1, 2009 Author: Nicolae Toderaş
The article offers a case study regarding the conformation of the central authorities from Moldova to the previsions/conditions of the EU- Republic of Moldova Action Plan – EUMAP regarding the improvement of the administrative capacity. The study case enlightens the aspect that, giving the fact that the Action Plan does not impose a judicialconditioning, but guides itself after a set of voluntary conformations, the central public authorities from Moldova areconstrained to produce systemic and structural reforms with a view to the governance’s principles. The case studydemonstrates that the fault of the political volition, identifies through a viable path dependence in the domain of theaccession to the EU, facilitates a context of elusion from the utilization of the principles of governance in the consolidation ofthe internal administrative capacity and in the realization of the central public administration (CPA) reform.
Keywords: governance, Moldova, central public authorities, reform, EUMAP
L’état des lieux de la décentralisation en France: une décentralisation réussie?
June 1, 2009 Author: Béatrice Giblin
Decentralization process consists in the transfer of competences from the central level towards the sub-national levels.Regional decentralization represents one of the paths of involving the French subnational authorities and it isregarded as a fundamental strategy of transferring responsibilities from the central administration to the lower levels ofgovernance. The paper analyzes the decentralization process in the French state, emphasizing of the reforms promoted inthe timeframework 2003-2004, focusing on the competences granted to the regions and other administrative authorities,like the intercommunality which is considered to be one of the successes of this complex decentralization and consolidationprocess of the administrative capacity of the communal authorities. The reform advanced in 2008, which aims at removingthe departamental level, is also analyzed by evaluating its advantages and disadvantages and by highlighting the mainobstacles in front of the reform: institutional resistance and local identity
Keywords: democracy, decentralization, intercommunality, regional identity, regionalization process
Multi-level Governance- A theoretical Approach
June 1, 2009 Author: Petre Prisecaru
The main contribution to the concept of multilevel governance was brought by neoinstitutionalism. The advocates of multilevel governance which have similar views with the advocates of network governance concept identified two dimensions: a political one and a social one and also two major phenomena: a)the transfer of sovereignty or competences from national level to supranational level; b)the application of subsidiarity principle which involves the decentralization of decision making process. A lot of definitions, meanings and interpretations have been set for governance, but World Bank and European Commission definitions are maybe the most suitable ones for understanding and characterizing this concept.Multilevel governance represents a distinctive type of governance and can be characterized by three attributes: a) non-hierarchical institutional design b) non-majoritarian mode of decision making, c) dynamic dispersion of authority. Bob Jessophas identified three major phenomena specific to the evolution of national states which are members of EuropeanCommunity: a) the de-nationalization of territorial statehood; b) de-statalization of political system; c) internationalizationof policy regimes. Postwar Keynesian welfare national state which was more interventionist and used demand side policieswas replaced in the 80’s by Schumpeterian workfare post-national regime, which is more liberal and less interventionist, andfocuses on supply side policies. The three governance methods – Community method, Open Method of Coordination and Enhanced Cooperation – reflect how different policies are elaborated and implemented at EU level and at national level based on different institutional arrangements and multilevel governance and its fundamental principle: subsidiarity.
Key words: multi-level governance, jurisdictions, European Union, decentralization, suprantionalism
Civil society Representatives in the EU decision-making processInterest groups- Transparency interests
June 1, 2009 Author: Maria-Cristina Olt
A new form of governance at the European Union level is represented by the social dialogue and the democratic participation. By trying to regulate and consolidate the partnership between the European Union’s institutions and therepresentatives of the interest groups,the European leaders acknowledge the mutual contact and support need. The paperpresents a general overview, as well as the Community documents that try to regulate this filed and the reactions and opinions of the different interested parties.
Key words: civil society, EU decision-making, lobby, European Parliament, participation
Autour d’une Impasse Structurelle:La Representation Politique des Romes en Rumanie
June 1, 2009 Author: Sergiu Mişcoiu
In this article we propose to analyze the political structuring and representation of the Roma communities in Romania. To this end, we will give an account of the theories of ethnic minorities’ representation. Then, we are going to analyze the social, economic and cultural premises for the political representation of the Roma minority in Romania. Finally,we intend to prove that the pattern which most expresses the political representation of the Roma population in Romania isthe pattern of political precariousness resulting from both the under-representation and false representation of this community.
Keywords: electoral composition, non-territorial distribution, ethnic minorities, political representation, pluralist society
Citizenship, the Road towards the European Union
June 1, 2009 Author: Luigi Moccia
The concept of European citizenship grew in importance as a research topic in the academic and public debates, especially after the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty. The paper seeks to analyze the featuresof the European citizenship in close relation with core values like dignity, freedom, equality, solidarity andjustice. The European citizenship is also approached from the perspective of its functions within the Europeanintegration process : 1) to operate as a framework legitimising the united Europe; 2) to ensure that private individuals have full legal status; 3) to motivate and reinforce the formation of a European cultural identity; 4)to postulate and justify a capacity to participate in decision-making processes in a European framework on thepart of (groups of) individual citizens, i.e. civil society. From a more technical angle (and not just in terms ofvalue), the benefit of having Union citizenship as a basic reference framework legitimizing the jurisdiction ofCommunity institutions to intervene, through measures of standardization and harmonization above all in thefield of private law, is provided by its nature – as we explained earlier – as a “complement” to nationalcitizenship
Keywords: cultural identity, European citizenship, European Union, fundamental rights, national citizenship
The Policies and the Governance in the European Union
June 1, 2009 Author: Grigore Silaşi, Ioana Vădăşan
The European Union is a governance model, in today’s more and more opened world, and will have an increasingly important role on the international stage, in order to achieve world-wide efficient governance. In this paper, authors approach the governance concept, and the European Union as a multi-level system of governance. We present the different actors that can influence the European governance system, and study the way different major events had influenced the European governance. The authors will also link the policies to the European Union governance and instruments, in the attempt of showing that the EU is governed through the policy-making process. The governance in the EU is all the time-associated to the intergovernmental conferences model, where the states keep their prerogatives, as well as to the supranational model, where a part of the states sovereignty is delegated to the EU. The EU governance model is one of the stakes of influence fights among different European institutions: the Parliament, the Commission and the Council of Ministers. The Parliament, the only direct elected body by the citizens, has obtained, during the EU history, an increased importance in the EU governance. From a simple consultative body, at the beginning, it has obtained a real co-decision power, on a par with the Council of Ministers, in many issues.
Keywords:decision-making process,European Union,governance,institutions, policies
Le Parlement Européen et la Démocratisation du Processus Décisionnel Européen
June 1, 2009 Author: Cristina Dogot, Ioan Horga
At the dawn of the process of European integration the novelty of the approach was visible across the small
number of fields taking part in the progressive move of functional integration and equally the small number of the
institutions along with their quality and competences. The evolution of the process of European integration has stirred several debates pertaining to inter-institutional democracy and the general democratic deficit in the Community space. This study is aiming to argue in a descriptive manner the increasing importance of the European Parliament in the Community institutional system and at the same time, to insist on the decrease of the democratic deficit related to the decision-making process in this institution.
Keywords: Community democracy, European parliament, decision-making process, European institutional system, Treaty of Lisbon
How much of federalism in the European Union?
June 1, 2009 Author: František Turnovec
The European Union (EU) is not de jure a federation, but after 50 years of institutional evolution it possesses attributes of a federal state. One can conclude that EU is “something between” federation and intergovernmental organization. If we measure “something between” by interval [0, 1], where 0 means fully intergovernmental organization and 1 means de facto federation, the questions are: What is the location of recent EU on this interval? What tendency of development of this location can be observed in time? In this paper we propose such a measure based on game-theoretical model of European Union decision making system.