Central and Eastern Europe at the beginning of the ’90s. The Romanian case
December 1, 2013 Author: Marcela Salagean & Doru Todorescu
The end of the ninth decade of the 20th century brought a change of actors and the change of the balance of power in Central and Eastern Europe. In this complicated context, in which internal crises could not be controlled any longer through reform attempts made by the representatives of the communist regime, the decisive impulse came from East Germany. Soon afterwards, the events followed the “domino principle” and the totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe collapsed within the interval of June-December 1989. A political system was replaced by another that brought with it profound changes in all sectors of political, economic, social and cultural life. And postcommunism transition was supposed to be a process of liberation towards a set of free chosen alternative futures. Regarding Romania’s, the country’s evolution was dramatically influenced by the ideas of democracy and modernity of its leader and by the systematic attempts of the representatives of the old regime to keep their dominant positions. And, for this reason, the transition was more difficult in Romania than in other former communist states of Central Europe. Even though Romania underwent a difficult period in the early years after the fall of the communism, it is certain that the country has embarked on a new road, aiming the modernization and europenization,
La Gouvernance multi niveau, la Démocratie et le Séparatisme en Espagne
December 29, 2009 Author: Barbara LOYER
Abstract: Spain was a point of reference for the Eastern countries after the fall of the iron curtain. Aiming to avoid anothercivil war, the system implemented there is one of the most decentralized in Europe. In part, citizens believe that theautonomy experienced by the elected officials of their autonomous community derives from historical rights which do notemanate from the 1978 Constitution but from previous times. The Constitution is not seen by them as the source of Spanishdemocracy. It is the case in Catalonia, in Galicia and in the Basque country where nationalist parties defend the idea thattheir “peoples” are different from the Spanish people. This conviction is fuelling the actions by ETA against democracy in thename of the democratic rights of the Basque people. Transborder policies are important elements of the political strategiesof the Catalan and Basque nationalists. In Navarre, autonomy is rooted in a very ancient history but doesn’t build upon therepresentation of Navarre’s people being different from the Spanish people. The majority of the Spanish citizens, though,believe that the 1978 constitution represents a guarantee of democracy without having recourse to historical rights.
Keywords: Spain, Europe, E.T.A., democracy, nationalism
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