WorldWideScience

Sample records for eastern european democracies

  1. (PostMaterialism, Satisfaction with Democracy and Support for Democracy in Eastern Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavlović, Zoran

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The materialist-postmaterialist value dimension, understood as assigning priority to self-expression and quality of life as opposed to physical and economic security, has been one of the most important heuristic tools in the analysis of the changes of predominant values in cross-cultural and comparative studies in past decades. In recent elaboration of self-expression and emancipative values (in both cases, with postmaterialism as the most important component, postmaterialist values have been viewed as an essence of democratic political culture and a cultural precondition of effective democracy. This study was aimed at analysing the relation between postmaterialist values (understood as a political/thick culture variable, satisfaction with country’s democracy (institutional/thin culture variable and support for democracy. The data from the European Values Survey (EVS, conducted on the nationally representative samples in twenty East European countries on the total of twenty countries and 30,393 respondents, were used. It is shown that postmaterialism is an important aspect of democratic political culture in Eastern Europe; in general, the most supportive of democracy are postmaterialists. On the other hand, there is a mixed pattern between the postmaterialist values and satisfaction with democracy – in some countries, citizens satisfied with democracy are more prone to choose postmaterialist items compared to the dissatisfied ones, while in some other countries the reverse is true. Both are, however, important predictors of the support for democracy as well as the country’s level of democracy development (measured by the EIU Democracy index. The relevance of postmaterialist values for the promotion of democratic political culture in Eastern Europe, possible alternative mechanisms of value change as well as the materialist-postmaterialist conception are discussed.

  2. Freedom of Expression: Importing European & US Constitutional Models in Transitional Democracies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Belavusau, U.

    2013-01-01

    This book considers the issue of free speech in transitional democracies focusing on the socio-legal developments in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. In showing how these Central and Eastern European countries have engaged with free speech models imported from the Council of Europe / EU and

  3. Conceptions of "Nordic Democracy" and European Integration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jakobsen, Uffe

    Reluctance towards European integration in the Nordic countries is doubtlessly more connected to ideas on democracy than elsewhere. This goes not only for the (empirical) practicability of democracy but also for the (normative) desirability of democracy in the EU. After the Second World War, when...... and reborn after the Second World War as genuine democracy. However, a third narrative developed in which democracy was seen as having its roots in the Nordic countries dating back to the Viking Age or earlier. In the period from the 1940s to the 1980s, a number of Nordic anthologies contained articles...... the process of contemporary European integration was approaching, and the concept of democracy at the same time was heavily contested in public debates and among academics, two conceptions of democracy were struggling: On one hand, democracy was recognized as a European value developing in the form...

  4. Eastern European Political Socialization Modeling Research: A Literature Review

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    Camelia Florela Voinea

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents empirical modeling research on political socialization of the citizens in the new Eastern European democracies. The political socialization issue offers a comparative perspective over the modeling methodologies in analytical paradigms. Eastern European political culture research has revealed features of the electoral behavior and political participation which can be identified in different degrees in all the new democracies in the area: passivity with respect to political activity of parties, elites and institutions, political apathy or lack of reaction to anti-democratic actions, skepticism or distrust in institutions, scarce participation to social movements. Several authors explain the actual political behavior of the Eastern European citizens’ and their low social and political involvement by the (political culture heritage of the communist regimes in which they lived for a long time, and which keeps shaping their political attitudes towards the state, civil society, government and institutions. Research issues in the analysis of political participation are traditionally based on statistics analyses of empirical evidence coming from public surveys. However, scarcity ofempirical data from the communist periode with regard to (political socialization, values and beliefs represent a major obstacle towards a better understanding of the historical roots of current behaviors and attitudes. Scarcity of observational data might be overcome by computational and simulation modeling.

  5. The European Citizens’ Initiative: Transnational Democracy in the EU at last?

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    Maximilian Conrad

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The European Union’s Lisbon Treaty, in force since December 2009, introduced the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI as a means of strengthening citizen involvement in EU decision making. A minimum of one million citizens from at least seven of the EU’s current 27 member states can request that the European Commission submit a legislative proposal on the issue of the initiative. But the ECI is not only a means of strengthening participatory democracy in the EU. It also bears the potential for a more fundamental transformation of democracy, namely in the direction of transnational participatory democracy. Starting with a short introduction to how the ECI will work in practice as well as a brief history of participatory democracy in the EU, this article therefore examines the ECI from the perspective of democratic theory. How profound an impact will the ECI have on democracy in the European Union?

  6. The Crisis of Democracy in Europe: Between National State and European Governance

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    Damir Grubiša

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available In this article the symptoms of the crises of democracy are analyzed. The author concentrates on three sets of symptoms: fi rst, on the symptoms emerged in transition, post-communist countries that joined the EU within the Fifth enlargement. One of the main indicators of such crises is the low turnout in the European Parliament elections in 2004, only one month after their joining the EU. The reasons for such a bad turnout are the disappointment in democracy and in transition, as well as the formal fulfi llment of the Copenhagen criteria for accession. The second symptom of the crises is the negative result of the European Constitutional referenda in France and in the Netherlands, which triggered the chain reaction of rejection in other European countries and a stalemate in the ratifi cation process. The third element of the crises is the democratic defi cit in the EU and the diff erent views on how to overcome it, either by strengthening federalist elements or by the domination of intergovernmentalist procedures. In conclusion, the author agrees with Larry Siedentop that three appeals of democracy exist in today’s Europe: democracy simpliciter, democratic government appeal and the appeal of a democratic society. However, most European countries are still on the fi rst or second step, and therefore the crisis of democracy is still potentially dangerous for the future development of European societies. The victory over communism did not bring about the expected triumph of democracy, and today democracy is exposed to diff erent forms of political pathology that corroborate the delusions and failed expectations of democratization.

  7. National constitutional courts in the European Constitutional Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Komárek, Jan

    2014-01-01

    This article critically assesses the transformation of national constitutional courts’ place in the law and politics of the EU and its member states. This process eliminates the difference between constitutional and ordinary national courts, which is crucial for the institutional implementation...... of the discourse theory of law and democracy. It also disrupts the symbiotic relationship between national constitutional democracies established after World War II and European integration. The article argues that maintaining the special place of national constitutional courts is in the vital interest of both...... the EU and its member states, understood together as the European Constitutional Democracy—the central notion developed in this article in order to support an argument that should speak to both EU lawyers and national constitutionalists....

  8. Understanding the role of nationalism in "new democracies".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matić, D

    1999-06-01

    The transition from communism to democracy has raised numerous discussions regarding the nature of postcommunism in Eastern Europe. According to the author, the two main approaches used to explain the collapse of communism--one that claims that resurrected civil society triumphed over totalitarianism, and, the other that avers Eastern Europe's propensity for irrationalism and a political behaviour based on ethnic exclusion and hatred--overlook the unique nature of postcommunism. In order to properly grasp the nature of this phenomena, the author argues that one must first understand the intrinsic nature of Eastern Europe's transformation. To do this requires an analysis of the social structures that drive political change and identifying the social group that is the main bearer of transformation. The author believes that though her analysis focuses primarily on the case of former Yugoslavia, and Croatia in particular, the conclusions she draws from it are also valid for other East European countries: that the nation is regarded as the principal catalyst for political change and that nationalism is the main legitimizing principle of emerging states. This analysis rejects the common view according to which nationalism is casually discounted as an irrational political movement that is fundamentally hostile to democracy and freedom. Quite the contrary. Throughout Eastern Europe nationalism has had a positive role in bringing down communism and creating a space for democracy to take root. Still, tension exists between nationalism and the democracy it spawned. To understand this paradox requires an extensive sociological and historical study of the particular conditions within which a particular community defines the goals of nationalism and the specific content of its main undergirding concepts like nation and state. Identifying the circumstances within which nationalism begins to act as an obstacle to the establishment of full-fledge democracy is key to understanding

  9. Against Any Theory: Rapid Consolidation of Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe

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    Wolggang Merkel

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available The author polemises with once infl uential theories of transformation – whose greats are Jon Elster and Claus Off e – which were based on the theorem that a simultaneous successful economic and political – and, somewhere, state – transformation in Eastern Europe is not possible. Contrary to these theories, in most post-communist countries of Eastern Europe democracy has consolidated rather quickly. The author demonstrates this proposition by measuring the consolidation of new democracies according to Bertelsmann’s transformation index (BTI at four levels: the constitutional and representative level, and the levels of behaviour of actors and political culture. Failures in the analysis of transformation processes are blamed on the theories of action that simply transplanted the ‘transitional paradigm’ from Southern Europe and Latin America into Eastern Europe. Theories of actors seek to deduce highly complex changes of systems in this region from highly formalised and oversimplifi ed constellations of actors, ignoring the very diff erent democratisation potentials of individual countries. Thus, three variables are left in ‘theoretical obscurity’ – modernity, statehood and external actors – which are placed in the focus of modernisation theories, system theories and structuralist theories, and which prove to be extremely important for the understanding of transformation processes in Eastern Europe.

  10. FINANCING DEMOCRACY OR CORRUPTION? POLITICAL PARTY FINANCING IN THE EU’ S SOUTHEASTERN AND EASTERN MEMBER STATES

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    Ada-Iuliana POPESCU

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Fighting public-sector corruption has become a priority for most governments and international organizations. The public sector is the source of many benefits. Realizing improper private gains from these benefits has long been the core definition of corruption. As the public sector grows and expands its activities, the complexity of its activities also increases. The opportunities for improper private gains grow, too. Therefore, not surprisingly, the EU admits that the public sector, including political parties and public administrations, are especially vulnerable to corruption. Political parties, for instance, depend on the funding destined for their capability to win elections and otherwise to influence public policies. In turn, this dependency creates opportunities for a variety of corrupt activities. Ensuring that campaign funding promotes democracy and not corruption requires well-crafted, vigorously enforced laws. This article analyzes the legal framework of political party financing in the Eastern and South-eastern European EU member states, in order to assess how well it works in preventing political party corruption.

  11. Cambodia’s Façade Democracy and European Assistance

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    Markus Karbaum

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Although Cambodia adopted a modern democratic constitution in 1993, Prime Minister Hun Sen has consolidated an autocratic regime in which elections are the only way political competition plays out, and even that competition is limited. Freedom of expression, horizontal and vertical control mechanisms, and civil participation have been reduced to almost zero by the Royal Government of Cambodia. Irrespective of the deinstitutionalization of liberal principles, the European Commission and some EU member states still perceive Cambodia as moving toward democratization. In the case of Cambodia, the difficulty of external democracy promotion is compounded by the limited impact of formal state institutions, which are completely undermined by kinship relations, personal networks, clientelism and nepotism. However, one can observe not only non-effective efforts toward European democracy promotion, but also increasing human rights violations due to trade facilitations, namely the EU’s “Everything But Arms” initiative.

  12. Transitional Democracy, Legitimacy and the European Union

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    Patricia Kaplánová

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays the ongoing global crisis has triggered an issue how to set up a theoretical framework of global governance. The integration to a supranational level of governance has been a contemporary process of democratization in recent decades. To analyze the institutionalization of global governance means to recognize a normative idea of democracy. The theory of international relations demonstrates that there are four normative models of democracy at the supranational level of governance. In my opinion, a crucial difference of the institutionalization is a concept of legitimacy of global democratic regime. Because of a divided understanding of legitimacy at the transnational level of governance is difficult to find a consensus in which way should be a transnational democracy framed. A dual legitimacy in a supranational organization like the European Union also triggers a specific democratic deficit. My point of view corresponds with the division of transnational orders in normative way and its correspondence to legitimacy. Cla rifying the duality of legitimacy can help us not only to solve all globalizing problems but of course to decide in which way we want to make the supranational organizations work.

  13. Eastern European retailers and wholesalers' buying behaviour

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Esbjerg, Lars; Stacey, Julia

    1999-01-01

    During the last ten years, retailing in Eastern Europe has undergone considerable changes. The entry of Western European retail chains into Eastern Europe has helped accelerate the distributive trade of Eastern Europe. But what does it take to sell fish and cheese to retailers and wholesalers...... in Eastern Europe compared to Western Europe? Eastern European buyers attach great importance to other aspects when they list new suppliers and products than does Western European retailing. These are the results of a MAPP study of Eastern European retail and wholesale buying behaviour for fish and cheese....... Low prices and favourable terms of payment are most important when retailers in Eastern Europe buy fish and cheese. Then follows the supplier's range of products, trustworthiness of the supplier and product quality. Eastern European wholesalers also rank price and financial conditions as most...

  14. Transnational deliberative democracy in the context of the European Union: The institutionalisation of the European Integration Forum

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Agustin, Oscar Garcia

    2012-01-01

    Deliberative democracy is increasingly discussed in relation to the transnational sphere in terms of promoting democratic mechanisms of representation and participation. The establishment of the European Integration Forum (EIF) represents an effort to apply deliberation to the field of integration...

  15. Eastern Dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy: Europeanization Mutual Trap

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    V. A. Latkina

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article analyses the Europeanization policy of the European Union towards the Eastern Partnership participant countries. Suffering from the lack of clear strategy and ultimate goal in the European Neighbourhood Policy the European Union enhances external democratization and its governance in post soviet states without immediate Union's membership perspective. Underestimation of common neighbourhood geopolitical duality in the context of growing rivalry between European (EU and Eurasian (Custom Union/Eurasian Economic Union integration gravitation centers presents the Eastern partners of the EU with a fierce dilemma of externally forced immediate geopolitical and civilizational choice while not all of them are well prepared to such a choice. The mutual Europeanization trap here to be studied both for the EU and its Eastern partners (involving Russia is a deficiency of regulating cooperation mechanism in the situation of European and Eurasian free trades zones overlapping. Vilnius Summit 2013 results test the "European aspirations" of the New Independent States and upset the ongoing process of the European Neighbourhood Policy in the context of growing economic interdependence in Wider Europe. Besides, the Ukrainian crisis escalation during 2014 as a new seat of tension provokes unbalance of the whole European security system and creates new dividing lines in Europe from Vancouver to Vladivostok.

  16. The Press and Democracy Building: Journalism Education and Training in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe during Transition

    OpenAIRE

    Foley, Michael

    2010-01-01

    Media assistance to the former communist countries of Eastern Europe from 1989 became an important part of the transformation of that part of Europe from a socialist command economy to a democratic, liberal market economy. The media was seen as an important ideological weapon of the previous regimes and so was to be transformed in order to change society. The exact amount of media aid is unknown, so much of it was hidden under such headings as aid to civil society and democracy building, but ...

  17. How do European democracies compare when it comes to the length of ministerial careers?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bright, Jonathan; Doring, Holger; Little, Conor

    2015-01-01

    Ministerial careers can be notoriously nasty, brutish, and short, with the doctrine of ministerial accountability leading to numerous prematurely ended political careers. But how do European democracies compare? Looking at evidence from seven countries, Jonathan Bright, Holger Doring, and Conor...

  18. Is There Muslim Exceptionalism in Democracy Research?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hariri, Jacob Gerner

    to and between the 16th and 18th centuries are relatively less democratic today. The negative effect of early statehood on current levels of democracy is mediated by European colonization and settlement: Europeans were less likely to colonize and settle in territories with more developed state institutions......, also, to alternative theories of the causes and correlates of democracy. This paper presents evidence against the notion of Muslim exceptionalism in democracy research. Thus, outside the European continent, territories that were governed earlier and more consistently by state organizations up...... and were therefore less likely to bring nascent legalistic and representative institutions to these territories. When we remove the autocratic legacy of early statehood and the influence of European settlement, there is nothing signicantly negative about the degree of democracy in Muslim-majority countries....

  19. Analysis of Fertility in Ten Central And Eastern European Countries After 1989

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    Dănuţ-Vasile JEMNA

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The establishment of democracy in the communist countries, which generated profound social and economic transformation, was accompanied by a decline in fertility. We attempt to provide an overall survey on fertility since 1989 in ten Central and Eastern European Countries, members of the European Union, and to identify the variables which explain the fertility decline. We will use univariate and multivariate statistical analysis to identify disparities between the ten countries, and the variables which explain these differences. Also, we developed a panel econometric model to confirm the hypothesis of a similar pattern of evolution for fertility in these countries and that the decline in fertility can be explained both through demographic and economic variables. The decline in fertility can be explained by economic growth, marriage, divorce, abortion, and migration. The empirical evidence presented in this paper supports the view that the decline in fertility over the 1989s represents the continuation of a longstanding trend of the previous period, according to the demographic transition theory, but its speed and magnitude has been influenced by the new social and economic landscape. These results can be useful for public authorities of the CEE countries to rethinking demographic policies and to ensure the sustainability of demographic growth.

  20. Talking about European Democracy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Besselink, L.; Reestman, J.H.

    This editorial comment asserts that, instead of merely conceiving of the challenges to the foundational values common to the Union and member states in terms of the Rule of Law, it is necessary to address democracy as the political founding quality of Union and member states. In doing so, we must

  1. The contradictions of democracy globalization

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    Avramović Zoran

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available The author deals with the problem of European (global democratization and not with its goals. The author defines the first group of problems as internal contradictions of modern democratic states. In addition to the existing historical-political criticisms of democratic rule, the author refers to critical analysis of democracy in John Keane’s works. According to Keane, modern democratic state gets involved in several ways in the field of free circulation of public opinion. Based on this and other analyses (Bobio, Dahl, the author concludes that in contemporary European democratic societies there also exist profound contradictions that are transferred to globalization of democracy, too. The author identifies the second problem concerning European democratization in its anthropological assumptions. With reference to Tocqueville’s book Democracy in America, the author states that American democracy man develops personality characteristics oriented to the acquisition of material goods (enrichment. The expansion of Euro-American picture of man to other democracies creates the tension between universal institutions and national cultural anthropology. The third problem concerning democracy is defined from the viewpoint of political relativism. The history of the world is the history of cultural differences. The short-term experience in European democratization proves that political relativism is not respected and that tendency to imposing Euro-American model is gaining in strength. This process endangers political identity of a nation, which becomes the source of confrontation and conflicts inside and between the states. In summary, the author suggests the solution of the problem in the spirit of political liberalism. States (or groups of states do not have the right to prescribe for other states how to define their public good, except in case they endanger other states (or in case they conduct massive killing of their own citizens.

  2. Our 9/11 of hope: Short essays on European democracy since 1989

    OpenAIRE

    Tassinari, Fabrizio

    2010-01-01

    This collection of short essays proceeds from an international conference organized by DIIS on 9th November 2009, the day of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The volume centers on the political, social, and economic implications of the revolutions of 1989 on European democracy. The authors of these essays come from very different backgrounds and interests: ranging from academics and public intellectuals that have written extensively on post-Cold War Europe, to practit...

  3. Double Taxation Conventions in Central and Eastern European Countries

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    Dumiter Florin

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available In this article we provide a qualitative overview regarding the panacea of double taxation conventions in Central and Eastern European Countries. Double taxation paradigm highlights some serious problems arising from multiple taxation of the same income or capital. In the European Union these problems suggest that there is a strong need of a “best practice” construction of an optimal fiscal space in order to eliminate or reduce this problem. Central and Eastern European Countries have some special features: on one hand these countries have been influenced by the communist and postcommunism era, and on the other hand there are specific particularities for each country which must be economically and judicially understood and explained. This article highlights the structure, construction and appliance of the double taxation conventions in the Central and Eastern European Countries. The conclusions of this article enact the solutions of the potential problems of double taxation, especially in these former communist countries, with respect to the strengthening of the new fiscal space in the European Union.

  4. Conceptualizing and Measuring the Quality of Democracy: The Citizens’ Perspective

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    Dieter Fuchs

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, several measurements of the quality of democracy have been developed (e.g. Democracy Barometer, Varieties of Democracy Project. These objective measurements focus on institutional and procedural characteristics of democracy. This article starts from the premise that in order to fully understand the quality of democracy such objective measurements have to be complemented by subjective measurements based on the perspective of citizens. The aim of the article is to conceptualize and measure the subjective quality of democracy. First, a conceptualization of the subjective quality of democracy is developed consisting of citizens’ support for three normative models of democracy (electoral, liberal, and direct democracy. Second, based on the World Values Survey 2005–2007, an instrument measuring these different dimensions of the subjective quality of democracy is suggested. Third, distributions for different models of democracy are presented for some European and non-European liberal democracies. They reveal significant differences regarding the subjective quality of democracies. Fourth, the subjective quality of democracy of these countries is compared with the objective quality of democracy based on three indices (electoral democracy, liberal democracy and direct popular vote developed by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem Project. Finally, further research questions are discussed.

  5. THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP

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    Loredana JITARU

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The Eastern Partnership (EaP launched in 2009 as the Eastern dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy introduced the civil society as a new strategic actor in the EU's relations with Eastern Partnership countries. The civil society‟s role is to participate in policy making, to suggest new initiatives and to promote shared values of partnership, such as: democracy, promoting better governance, state law, sustainable development, respect for human rights and for the fundamental freedoms. The paper is divided into two parts. In the first part, we analyse the role of the civil society in the EaP and we ask whether the increasing role of the civil society in the EaP will lead to the success of this project. In the second part, we analyse the perceptions and the attitudes of civil society towards European integration.

  6. Who is populist in Central and Eastern Europe? A comparative analysis of prime ministers' populist discourse

    OpenAIRE

    Kocijan, Bojana

    2015-01-01

    This article measures populist discourse among prime ministers in new Central and Eastern European democracies using holistic grading as a specific type of textual analysis. The article first offers a definition of populism and then measures political discourse by grading political speeches of contemporary prime ministers in Central and Eastern Europe. Next, it presents descriptive data about prime ministers’ political discourse and discusses positive cases of populism in re...

  7. An empirical application of regional security complex theory on eastern partnership region

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    Ludmila STUPARU

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Eastern Partnership (EaP is a very dynamic region. If a year ago the EaP was seen as an authentic and vibrant „laboratory” of democracy building, overcoming the remains of the totalitarian state and putting the basis of a free and pluralist society, nowadays the Eastern Partnership is seen as an „out-dated” approach of the EU. However, Eastern Partnership is visible on European political arena and the big powers (USA, Russia and the EU pay attention more and more to the evolution of EaP countries. Moreover, it seems to be a confrontation between Russia and Western powers regarding the political and geopolitical orientation of EaP countries. Kremlin tries actively to stop the efforts of the EaP to close to the EU and on the other side, the EU as well as the USA encourage EaP countries to implement reforms in order to build their democracy. This paper aims to analyse the Eastern Partnership in terms of security complex, trying to argue that Eastern Partnership countries at this phase don’t form a Regional Security Complex and the EU and USA should rethink its approach towards this region.

  8. HTA Implementation Roadmap in Central and Eastern European Countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaló, Zoltán; Gheorghe, Adrian; Huic, Mirjana

    2016-01-01

    The opportunity cost of inappropriate health policy decisions is greater in Central and Eastern European (CEE) compared with Western European (WE) countries because of poorer population health and more limited healthcare resources. Application of health technology assessment (HTA) prior to health......The opportunity cost of inappropriate health policy decisions is greater in Central and Eastern European (CEE) compared with Western European (WE) countries because of poorer population health and more limited healthcare resources. Application of health technology assessment (HTA) prior......, use of local data, scope of mandatory HTA, decision criteria, and international collaboration in HTA. Although HTA implementation strategies from the region can be relevant examples for other CEE countries with similar cultural environment and economic status, HTA roadmaps are not still fully...

  9. A Contribution To The Understanding Of Middle Eastern and Muslim Exceptionalism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hariri, Jacob Gerner

    2015-01-01

    The democratic deficit in the Middle East and the Muslim world is well-established. No study has, however, identified what it is about being a Middle Eastern or Muslim-majority country that impedes democracy. The explanatory deficit has given rise to an idea of Middle Eastern....... If they were colonized, territories with more developed state structures were more likely to experience an indirect form of colonial rule. Such territories, including the Islamic heartland in the Middle East, experienced less European settlement and colonial rule through local intermediaries and were therefore...

  10. EASTERN EUROPE, A REGION OF INSECURITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION'S VICINITY

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    Bogdan – Lucian Cumpanasu

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available During Cold War, the region of Eastern Europe was formed by European states that were behind the Iron Curtain.Once the communism has fallen and former Warsaw's Pact members have joined EU in 2004 and 2007 along with the Baltic republics, a New Eastern Europe comprising Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and the Caucasian Republics emerged at the border of EU. The north, west and south maritime frontiers of European Union are opposite with Eastern territorial one that are more difficult to control and defend against asymmetrical threats as: organized crime, drugs traffic, arms proliferation and illegal immigration. this paper aims to demonstrate that EU's policies initiated in the framework of Eastern Partnership (EaP that wanted to bring peace in the Eastern neighborhood did not succeed to fulfill the desired goals. One explanation is that EU did not take in consideration the Russian dream of redesigning its sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. Another one is that the cultural, political and social differences between EU and its EaP partners led to the failure of the project. Thus, European Union's actions toward Eastern vicinity led to a clash between two civilizations: East and West as well as to a geopolitical competition between Russian Federation and EU over their shared neighborhood.

  11. Improved outcome of childhood acute myeloid leukemia in an Eastern European country: Lithuanian experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kairiene, Igne; Pasauliene, Ramune; Lipunova, Nadezda; Vaitkeviciene, Goda; Rageliene, Lina; Rascon, Jelena

    2017-10-01

    The reported treatment outcomes of children treated for cancer in Eastern European countries are inferior to those in Northern/Western Europe. We hypothesized that recent survival rates could be comparable to the current standards and performed a population-based analysis of treatment outcome of childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in Lithuania, a small Eastern European country. Children  80% in high-income countries. The difference in survival rates between Northern/Western and Eastern European countries as well as between high- and middle-/low-income countries is as much as 20%. Recently, the 5-year event-free survival rate of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has reached > 60% in high-income countries. The survival rates for myeloproliferative diseases were the lowest in Eastern European countries. • The reported inferior survival rates were calculated based on outcome data of patients treated until 2007. The recent survival rates in Eastern European countries are unknown. What is New: • Being a small Eastern European country, Lithuania has experienced good economic growth during the last decade. We hypothesized that economic growth and gain of experience could result in better survival rates of children treated for cancer in our country in recent years. • A population-based analysis of treatment outcome of childhood AML treated in Lithuania in the recent years was performed for the first time. The survival rates of childhood AML in Lithuania are comparable to those of other high-income countries. Current survival rates of children treated for cancer in Eastern European countries could be comparable to the best current standards contributing to better European survival rates of childhood cancer in general.

  12. Eastern European Transformation and Youth Attitudes toward Violence

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    Berit Haußmann

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available

    This cross-national examination of the motives behind adolescent approval of violence in major cities in Germany and four Eastern European transformation societies (Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Slovenia draws on Institutional Anomie Theory (IAT, which leads us to expect higher instrumental motivation for violence among adolescents in the transforming societies. Differences in institutional structure and cultural orientations between Germany and the Eastern European societies are assessed using data from ILO and ESS. Analysis of the different motives for violence is based on data collected by the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN in Kraków, Volgograd, Ljubljana, Plzen, and Hamburg. Comparability and cross-cultural interpretability of the violence
    attitude measure is assessed by applying confirmatory factor analyses in multi-group comparisons. A lack of sufficient data meant that specific assumed linkages as implied by IAT could not be established, but the results for a specific instrumental/utilitarian motive for violence and for institutional structure and cultural orientations point to the utility of applying insights from IAT to understanding the dynamics of violence within the Eastern European context of transformation.
    We find empirical indications that specific features of the family mediate the “Eastern effect” on the instrumental/utilitarian motive. Further research is needed to discover whether economic dominance affects motives for youth violence indirectly via the socialization provided by non-economic institutions rather than directly via cultural orientations.

  13. Prevalence of 1691G>A FV mutation in Poland compared with that in other Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries

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    Grażyna Adler

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The 1691G>A FV variant has been described as a common genetic risk factor in venous thromboembolism. The purpose of this study was to provide a further frequency value for 1691G>A FV in Poland and to collate summary data from Central (Poland, Czech, Slovakia, Eastern (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and South-Eastern (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria European countries. For this purpose in 2007 the 1691G>A FV variant was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism from DNA collected in 2005-2006. We studied 650 subjects: 400 newborns and 250 older individuals (mean age 46.1 y from Poland and compared results with reports from other countries, as well as with the frequency trend of 845G>A HFE across South-Eastern European countries using centroid cities. From our 1691G>A FV study we identified 626 GG homozygotes, 23 GA heterozygotes, and i AA homozygote (n = 650, giving an A allele frequency of 1.9%, and a summed frequency value for Poland of 2.0% (n = 1588; the frequency in Central European countries was 3.9% (n = 4559, mostly due to the high value in the Czech Republic: 5.1% (n = 2819; the South-Eastern European countries had 2.5% (n = 2410. Among the Eastern European countries the 1691G>A FV allele frequency was 1.9% (n=791, between the South-Eastern and Eastern European countries there was no significant difference (p=0.17. We confirm that the 1691G>A FV allele frequency in Poland, as well as other countries compared, is significantly lower than that in Czech.

  14. Prevalence of 1691G>A FV mutation in Poland compared with that in other Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adler, Grażyna; Clark, Jeremy S C; Loniewska, Beata; Czerska, Ewa; Salkic, Nermin N; Ciechanowicz, Andrzej

    2012-05-01

    The 1691G>A FV variant has been described as a common genetic risk factor in venous thromboembolism. The purpose of this study was to provide a further frequency value for 1691G>A FV in Poland and to collate summary data from Central (Poland, Czech, Slovakia), Eastern (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine) and South-Eastern (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria) European countries. For this purpose in 2007 the 1691G>A FV variant was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism from DNA collected in 2005-2006. We studied 650 subjects: 400 newborns and 250 older individuals (mean age 46.1 y) from Poland and compared results with reports from other countries, as well as with the frequency trend of 845G>A HFE across South-Eastern European countries using centroid cities. From our 1691G>A FV study we identified 626 GG homozygotes, 23 GA heterozygotes, and 1 AA homozygote (n = 650), giving an A allele frequency of 1.9%, and a summed frequency value for Poland of 2.0% (n = 1588); the frequency in Central European countries was 3.9% (n = 4559), mostly due to the high value in the Czech Republic: 5.1% (n = 2819); the South-Eastern European countries had 2.5% (n = 2410). Among the Eastern European countries the 1691G>A FV allele frequency was 1.9% (n=791), between the South-Eastern and Eastern European countries there was no significant difference (p=0.17). We confirm that the 1691G>A FV allele frequency in Poland, as well as other countries compared, is significantly lower than that in Czech.

  15. The competitiveness through taxes in the Central and Eastern European countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela Pîrvu

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available In the last few years, many countries Central and Eastern European countrieshave reduced their corporate income tax rates with the purpose of attractingmultinational companies. Various studies indicate the fact that the level of the corporateincome tax represents an important advantage that drives the decisions to place foreigndirect investments. Many European Union member states have initiated corporateincome tax reforms, in order to generate the increase in the competitiveness of nationaleconomies. In the case of the Central and Eastern European countries, where thedecrease in the corporate income taxes was higher, these reforms brought profoundchanges in the economic environment.

  16. Financial market development in the Central and Eastern European countries

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Berglund, T.; Hanousek, Jan; Mramor, D.

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 7, č. 4 (2006), s. 280-282 ISSN 1566-0141. [ Financial market development in the Central and Eastern European countries. Prague, 26.05.2006-27.05.2006] Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : financial markets * Central and Eastern Europe Subject RIV: AH - Economics

  17. Social suffering and marginalisation among Eastern European students in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wilken, Lisanne; Dahlberg, Mette Ginnerskov

    2016-01-01

    Presenter: Lisanne Wilken, dr. phil. Global Studies, Aarhus University. ceklw@cas.au.dk Together with Mette Ginnerskov Hansen; phd-student, Global Studies, Aarhus University Theme 5: Reconsidering "Internationalisation" from peripheral perspectives Social suffering and marginalization among Eastern...... European students in Denmark In recent years Denmark has become a favoured destination for international students from the (South) Eastern Member States of the European Union. In 2013 Denmark was the 2nd most favoured destination for students from Latvia and Lithuania, the 6th most favoured destination...... for students from Romania and the 7th most favoured destination for students from Poland. Students from EU's Eastern member states are often attracted by the fee free access to highly ranked universities, and the possibilities for receiving economic student support, but also by the welfare society...

  18. Ethnographies of Grey Zones in Eastern Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Over the last two decades, Eastern Europe has experienced extensive changes in geo-political relocations and relations leading to everyday uncertainty. Attempts to establish liberal democracies, re-orientations from planned to market economics, and a desire to create ‘new states’ and internationa......Over the last two decades, Eastern Europe has experienced extensive changes in geo-political relocations and relations leading to everyday uncertainty. Attempts to establish liberal democracies, re-orientations from planned to market economics, and a desire to create ‘new states...... contemporary Eastern Europe....

  19. Ethnographies of Grey Zones in Eastern Europe:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Over the last two decades, Eastern Europe has experienced extensive changes in geo-political relocations and relations leading to everyday uncertainty. Attempts to establish liberal democracies, re-orientations from planned to market economics, and a desire to create ‘new states’ and internationa......Over the last two decades, Eastern Europe has experienced extensive changes in geo-political relocations and relations leading to everyday uncertainty. Attempts to establish liberal democracies, re-orientations from planned to market economics, and a desire to create ‘new states...... contemporary Eastern Europe....

  20. Membership of Eastern European countries of the European Union -environmental perspectives. Main report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-06-01

    Ten central and eastern European countries have made association agreements with the EU and submitted applications for EU membership. The countries are: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria. Accession to the EU by the central and eastern European countries requires that the countries accept the acquis communautaire (the rules of the EU) as well as the acquis politique (the political aims of the EU), including environmental issues. Accession to the EU is expected to result in substantial environmental improvements both in the central and eastern European countries and in the countries which are exposed to pollution originating from these countries. The extent of the environmental improvements when the 10 countries implement and use the rules laid down by the EU is an important issue. Another important approximation related problem is how the countries will secure the human and financial resources to meet the EU requirements. The purpose of this publication is to provide a first analysis of the tasks ahead in the environmental field during the current approximation process, including the environmental consequences/gains and the costs of accession of the 10 associated countries to the EU. This analysis deals both with general and sectoral problems, focusing on sectors with special adaptation problems which thus need targeted assistance. The analysed sectors are: air pollution, ozone depleting substances, waste, water pollution, agriculture, chemical substances, biodiversity, energy - including nuclear energy. (LN) 119 refs

  1. Bombing beyond Democracy. Remembering the Ruins of Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hoffmann, Birthe

    2013-01-01

    World War II is often seen as a victory for democracy, but at the same time represents the final bankruptcy of those humanistic ideas that seemed so deeply rooted in European tradition. This affected not only the self-perception of the Germans, as obvious, but also that of the winning democracies...

  2. Evolution of democracy in Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oberoi, Mukesh K.

    The emphasis of this thesis is to build an intuitive and robust GIS (Geographic Information systems) Tool which will give a survey on the evolution of democracy in European countries. The user can know about the evolution of the democratic histories of these countries by just clicking on them on the map. The information is provided in separate HTML pages which will give information about start of revolution, transition to democracy, current legislature, women's status in the country etc. There are two separate web pages for each country- one shows the detailed explanation on how democracy evolved in diff. countries and another page contains a timeline which holds key events of the evolution. The tool has been developed in JAVA. For the European map MOJO (Map Objects Java Objects) is used. MOJO is developed by ESRI. The major features shown on the European map were designed using MOJO. MOJO made it easy to incorporate the statistical data with these features. The user interface, as well as the language was intentionally kept simple and easy to use, to broaden the potential audience. To keep the user engaged, key aspects are explained using HTML pages. The idea is that users can view the timeline to get a quick overview and can go through the other html page to learn about things in more detail.

  3. Discussing the Prospects of European Democracy with Alexis de Tocqueville

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dalia Eidukienė

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available This article analyses the concept of democracy proposed by Alexis de Tocqueville, a famous French historian and sociologist. Special attention is paid to the definition of democracy, the dialectics of freedom and equality as well as the issues of relationship between democracy and centralization of power, democracy and individualism, and democracy and the tyranny of the majority. Tocqueville‘s liberal theory is an excellent example of the political project of the early modern period; it was in step with or, in many cases, ahead of France‘s political evolution, thereby contributing to the formation of the intellectual climate of the later 20th century. More than that, Tocqueville‘s political thought remains relevant even today. He is valued as an innovator, who, as Zbigniew Brzezinski put it, „understood earlier and interpreted better than anyone the uniqueness of the American experiment... His judgements are to this day remarkably prescient and incisive“ (Brzezinski 2011. Consequently, Tocqueville‘s book Democracy in America is a text that is worth being reread. In each political period the readers of this text rediscover anew the meaning of the messages communicated by the author. This depends on the political consciousness, political culture and the „quality“ of the recipients, i.e. on their ability to process and adapt the received information to their times, their state, their specific situation or a specific subject. Tocqueville invites his readers to engage in communicative reading (i.e. dialogue and discussions, which is an important part of modern political communication and political practice. It is also one of the most important attributes of politics and a reliable instrument that makes it easier to form modern political theories and solve political problems. 

  4. How have the Eastern European countries of the former Warsaw Pact developed since 1990? A bibliometric study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kozak, Marcin; Bornmann, Lutz; Leydesdorff, Loet

    Did the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 influence the scientific performance of the researchers in Eastern European countries? Did this historical event affect international collaboration by researchers from the Eastern European countries with those of Western countries? Did it also change international collaboration among researchers from the Eastern European countries? Trying to answer these questions, this study aims to shed light on international collaboration by researchers from the Eastern European countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia). The number of publications and normalized citation impact values are compared for these countries based on InCites (Thomson Reuters), from 1981 up to 2011. The international collaboration by researchers affiliated to institutions in Eastern European countries at the time points of 1990, 2000 and 2011 was studied with the help of Pajek and VOSviewer software, based on data from the Science Citation Index (Thomson Reuters). Our results show that the breakdown of the communist regime did not lead, on average, to a huge improvement in the publication performance of the Eastern European countries and that the increase in international co-authorship relations by the researchers affiliated to institutions in these countries was smaller than expected. Most of the Eastern European countries are still subject to changes and are still awaiting their boost in scientific development.

  5. Maternal and infant health of Eastern Europeans in Bradford, UK: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Jessica; Kliner, Merav; Brierley, Shirley; Stroud, Laura

    2014-09-01

    This qualitative study aimed to investigate maternal and infant health needs within Eastern European populations in Bradford. Evidence suggested that migrants from Eastern Europe had poor maternal and child health and increased rates of infant mortality. Health visitors, community midwives and specialist voluntary workers were involved. Eleven interviews took place. They were semi-structured and analysed using a thematic approach. A number of health needs were identified in Eastern European populations, including high rates of smoking and poor diet. Wider determinants of health such as poverty and poor housing were cited as commonplace for Eastern European migrants. There were numerous cultural barriers to health, such as discrimination, mobility, cultural practices regarding age at pregnancy, and disempowerment of women. Lastly, access to health services was identified as a significant issue and this was impacting on staff working with this population. This study demonstrated the complexity and interaction of health and social factors and their influence on utilisation of health services.

  6. Civic Education in European States: the Aspect of Education for Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ema Klemenčič

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Realistically speaking, it is impossible to discuss a unifi ed model of education for democracy, since no model encompasses the various dimensions of that which we call ‘education for democracy’. In public discourse there are several documents attempting to defi ne the said concept. To some extent they are merged into the so-called concept of education for democratic citizenship (the Council of Europe Programme. Likewise the education of a European citizen is one of the central points of common educational trends in EU documents. There are, in fact, only two approaches. Since one cannot even speak of a model in the theoretical sense, it would be quite irresponsible to try and speak of it in the practical sense, which is why we attempt here to focus on a single aspect, namely, civic education in schools.

  7. Europe as a Symbol: The Struggle for Democracy and the Meaning of European Integration in Post-Franco Spain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos López Gómez

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyses the effect that some political actors’ behaviours had on the image of the European integration process in Spain during General Franco’s dictatorship and its influence on the country’s European policy during the democratic transition and the adhesion to the European Economic Community (hereafter EEC. The EEC’s condemnation of the Spanish political regime and the pro-European stances assumed by the democratic opposition created a strong bond between the ideas of European integration and democratization in the eyes of the Spanish public. After Franco’s death in 1975, joining the EEC was seen as a natural move of the transition to democracy by all political actors and received an overwhelming support from civil society. Consequently, between 1977 and 1985, Spain negotiated its adhesion. Yet, the decision to join the EEC was not just a rational choice in political or economic terms; it was understood as a means to fulfil recognition of the democratization of the country.

  8. The review of constitutional norms concerning local public administration in the view of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission)

    OpenAIRE

    Apostolache, Mihai

    2015-01-01

    The proposals of the Commission to review the Constitution of Romania were subject to the analysis of experts from the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission), who expressed their opinion in a report adopted at the 98th plenary session of the European body. The article analyzes the recommendations of the Venice Commission regarding the proposed changes to the constitutional norms governing local public administration, comprising some general aspects concern...

  9. INTERNET ADDICTION IN BALKAN AND SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioannis PETASAKIS

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The use of Internet has increased dramatically in recent years. Although there is no standardized definition of Internet addiction, there is acknowledgement among researchers that this phenomenon does exist. In this study, we identify various similarities and differences among people in the Balkan and South-Eastern European countries about Internet addiction. There are many factors such as cultural differences, gender differences, psychosocial variables, computer attitudes and time.We present the experience from studies concerning Internet addiction in all over the world. A specific research with the use of Young's 20-scale was also conducted in five Balkan and South-Eastern European countries (Republic of Moldova, Romania, Republic of Bulgaria, Hellenic Republic, Republic of Cyprus.The findings are interesting. Although there is a need for Interest using, there are also cases where the addiction, dependence and abuse is apparent.

  10. The Populist Conception of Democracy beyond Popular Sovereignty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pepijn Corduwener

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available With populist parties making electoral progress across the European continent, the question of what their electoral success means for contemporary democratic systems has gained increasing significance. This article investigates how two populist radical right parties, the Austrian FPÖ and the Dutch PVV, conceptualise democracy, based on a wide range of party documents released over recent decades. It builds upon recent academic consensus that the relationship between populism and democracy is best understood from a ‘minimalist’ perspective, seeing populism not as antagonistic to democracy, but as an ideology that conceptualises democracy primarily in terms of popular sovereignty. The article adds to the existing literature by demonstrating that we can extend this understanding of the populist conception of democracy in three aspects: the populist emphasis on state neutrality; a two-fold notion of equality; and the extension of the political sphere in society. Based upon these three issues, the article concludes by exploring how the populist conception of democracy relates to the most dominant form of democracy practised nowadays, liberal democracy, and to what extent it reflects changes in our democratic political culture.

  11. Self-perceived health among Eastern European immigrants over 50 living in Western Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lanari, D; Bussini, O; Minelli, L

    2015-01-01

    This paper examines whether Eastern European immigrants aged 50 and over living in Northern and Western Europe face a health disadvantage in terms of self-perceived health, with respect to the native-born. We also examined health changes over time (2004-2006-2010) through the probabilities of transition among self-perceived health states, and how they vary according to nativity status and age group. Data were obtained from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Logistic regressions and probabilities of transition were used. Results emphasise the health disadvantage of Eastern European immigrants living in Germany, France and  Sweden with respect to the native-born, even after controlling for socio-economic status. Probabilities of transition also evidenced that people born in Eastern Europe were more likely to experience worsening health and less likely to recover from sickness. This paper suggests that health inequalities do not affect immigrant groups in equal measure and confirm the poorer and more steeply deteriorating health status of Eastern European immigrants.

  12. Adolescents' Conceptions of Democracy in Central/Eastern Europe and the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avery, Patricia G.; Levy, Sara A.; Simmons, Annette M. M.; Scarlett, Michael H.

    2012-01-01

    The term democracy has an overwhelmingly positive connotation for most people (Diamond & Plattner, 2008), yet it is a contested, fluid, and evolving concept that represents many different things to different people. This article presents our analysis of conceptions of democracy among groups of adolescents (n = 2,848, ages 13-19) in the Czech…

  13. Translating democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Doerr, Nicole

    2012-01-01

    Linguistic barriers may pose problems for politicians trying to communicate delicate decisions to a European-wide public, as well as for citizens wishing to protest at the European level. In this article I present a counter-intuitive position on the language question, one that explores how...... Forum (ESF). I compare deliberative practices in the multilingual ESF preparatory meetings with those in monolingual national Social Forum meetings in three Western European countries. My comparison shows that multilingualism does not reduce the inclusivity of democratic deliberation as compared...... in institutionalized habits and norms of deliberation. Addressing democratic theorists, my findings suggest that translation could be a way to think about difference not as a hindrance but as a resource for democracy in linguistically heterogeneous societies and public spaces, without presupposing a shared language...

  14. Attachment in cultural context : Differences in attachment between Eastern and Western Europeans

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Polek, Elzbieta

    2008-01-01

    Political changes after 1989 and resulting from the European Union enlargement increased emigration from Eastern to Western Europe. In the introductory Chapter 1 the data about migration from the Eastern to Western Europe are presented, as well as the data about cultural, social and economic

  15. Proteomic landscape in Central and Eastern Europe: the 9th Central and Eastern European Proteomic Conference, Poznan, Poland

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Gadher, S. J.; Marczak, L.; Luczak, M.; Stobiecki, M.; Widlak, P.; Kovářová, Hana

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 13, č. 1 (2016), s. 5-7 ISSN 1478-9450. [Central and Eastern European Proteomic Conference (CEEPC) /9./. Poznaň, 15.06.2015-18.06.2015] Institutional support: RVO:67985904 Keywords : Central and Eastern Proteomic Conference * proteomics * mass spectrometry imaging Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 3.849, year: 2016

  16. Income inequality in post-communist Central and Eastern European countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara ROSE

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Income inequality has become an important issue in Central and Eastern European countries during their transition process. This study constructs a model incorporating different categories of factors that impact inequality and tests whether the wealth of a country makes a difference in these relationships. This article shows that different income categories of Central and Eastern European transition countries do experience different relationships between income inequality and its contributing factors: economic, demographic, political, and cultural and environmental. The resulting Random Effects models of the best fit incorporate economic and political factors and show differences in magnitude, direction, and in their significance. These findings add to the literature by taking a cross-country and cross-income view on the impact of various factors.

  17. Is tuberculosis crossing borders at the Eastern boundary of the European Union?

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Werf, Marieke J.; Hollo, Vahur; Noori, Teymur

    2013-01-01

    Background: The Eastern border of the European Union (EU) consists of 10 countries after the expansion of the EU in 2004 and 2007. These 10 countries border to the East to countries with high tuberculosis (TB) notification rates. We analyzed the notification data of Europe to quantify the impact of cross-border TB at the Eastern border of the EU. Methods: We used TB surveillance data of 2010 submitted by 53 European Region countries to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. Notified TB cases were stratified by origin of the case (national/foreign). We calculated the contribution of foreign to overall TB notification. Results: In the 10 EU countries located at the EU Eastern border, 618 notified TB cases (1.7% of all notified TB cases) were of foreign origin. Of those 618 TB cases, 173 (28.0%) were from countries bordering the EU to the East. More specifically, 90 (52.0%) were from Russia, 33 (19.1%) from Belarus, 33 (19.1%) from Ukraine, 13 (7.5%) from Moldova and 4 (2.3%) from Turkey. Conclusions: Currently, migrants contribute little to TB notifications in the 10 EU countries at the Eastern border of the EU, but changes in migration patterns may result in an increasing contribution. Therefore, EU countries at the Eastern border of the EU should strive to provide prompt diagnostic services and adequate treatment of migrants. PMID:23813718

  18. The Populist Conception of Democracy Beyond Popular Sovereignty

    OpenAIRE

    Corduwener, Pepijn

    2014-01-01

    With populist parties making electoral progress across the European continent, the question of what their electoral success means for contemporary democratic systems has gained increasing significance. This article investigates how two populist radical right parties, the Austrian FPÖ and the Dutch PVV, conceptualise democracy, based on a wide range of party documents released over recent decades. It builds upon recent academic consensus that the relationship between populism and democracy is ...

  19. European future natural gas demand and supply diversification: key issues for Central and Eastern Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mueller-Elschner, E.

    1996-01-01

    After the breakdown of the former Soviet Union and the COMECON the demarcation line between western Europe and central/eastern Europe has disappeared. The central and eastern European economies as a whole and their gas industries as well as the western European gas companies are preparing for the future enlarged market in creating the prerequisites to participate successfully in such a market and to seize the opportunities this market is offering. The framework for this future European Gas Market has to be created now. The European gas industries and gas markets are in transition and are in a process of reshaping, with the following challenges: (1) In Central and Eastern European countries: To complete the privatization and restructuring process from centrally-planned economies to market-oriented structures with deregulated prices, market-oriented tariff systems and new legal and regulatory frameworks. These are the essential prerequisites for an integration of the central and eastern European countries into a single European gas market and the basis for an effective and successful trans border gas co-operation between east and west. (2) In western European countries: To pursue nearly similar processes of restructuring which are underway: privatization by reducing state participation and influence in gas and energy companies, with the accent on liberalization and deregulation of market structures with fewer market entry barriers, and more competition by reducing the influence of state or private monopolies. Gas companies are undertaking cost-efficiency measures to be prepared to meet the requirements of more competitive market structures and also of a more advanced internationalized gas business. The fundamental rules on which western European gas industries based their operations up to now have to be reconsidered. The old western European structures which have developed under the shelter of governmental protection are under pressure from several sources. EU energy

  20. Segmented socioeconomic adaptation of New Eastern European professionals in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michalikova, Nina

    2018-01-01

    This study examines the socioeconomic adaptation of post-1991 Eastern European professionals in the United States. The data were obtained from the pooled 2006-2010 American Community Surveys. The analysis includes recent immigrants between ages of 25-65 who have at least an associate's degree. Skilled immigrants in professional or managerial occupations are compared with non-professionals or managers to examine and compare socioeconomic outcomes. The findings presented in this study support the segmented assimilation theory and reveal cross-group and cross-country disparities in socioeconomic adaptation. Despite the high amount of human capital, Eastern European skilled immigrants tend to have a lower share of professionals and managers than other groups. Their average income is lower than the income of some other groups in the analysis, especially immigrants from Northern and Western Europe, suggesting these immigrants experience difficulties in transferring human capital. Among the three largest Eastern European groups - Russia, Ukraine, and Poland - there is a clear hierarchy in socioeconomic status with Russian professionals having the highest educational attainment and income, followed by immigrants from Ukraine and Poland. Results also revealed gender differences in socioeconomic adaptation. Women from Eastern Europe are highly professional, but they tend to be concentrated in different occupations than men, leading to a significant gender-wage gap. The effect of selected individual and country-level characteristics on skilled immigrants' socioeconomic adaptation is discussed.

  1. Democracy and shareholder's participation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radulović Vuk

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Democracy and participation of shareholders or the demand for their active participation in the meetings of the Assemblyhas increasingly gained in importance in modern conditions. This is because, negative trends of passivation, the limitations of democratic potential of shareholders and shareholders' rights abuse by the management body, especially in the work control and compensation policy of shareholders, have been observed in a detailed analysis of the application and results of the Shareholder Rights Directive. The passivity of shareholders, as one of the most striking features of their position in the joint stock company today, is the biggest problem and threat to democratic processes within the company. If we bear in mind that the most common definition of shareholder democracy is 'ability of shareholders to influence the management of the company', we can notice a clear picture of the seriousness and importance of the lack of shareholder participation. This is the reason why the author of this paper gradually examines the causes and consequences of the passivity of shareholders, the proposed changes in this context in the Law of the European Union and the practical implications of such solutions in practice. In addition, the author examines contemporary forms and conditions for shareholder democracy and the legal framework in the European Union and the Republic of Serbia. In this way, we analyze the situation in this area and point out shortcomings of certain solutions, as well as the implications they cause in practice. The main thesis from which starts the scientific work and which will be gradually proven through theoretical and practical analysis is that the wider social processes directly reflect on the state of the joint-stock companies, or the state of corporate governance. This means that the negative trends of modern democracy (in the constitutional sense are almost mirrored in economic capital (EC and our attempt in this paper

  2. Oligarchization, de-Westernization and vulnerability: Media between democracy and authoritarianism in Central and Eastern Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Balčytienė, Auksė; Bajomi-Lázár, Péter; Štětka, Václav

    2015-01-01

    What are the major trends of media change in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)? How do these media transformations relate to economic, political, social and cultural currents in the region? After a decade of democratic optimism from the early 1990s to the 2000s, why did democratic media...... influence of Russia, and the war in Ukraine? What could comparative post-communist media studies add to our analysis and understanding of the new CEE realities? These were some of the questions tackled by a recent public roundtable discussion entitled "Media, Democracy and Authoritarianism in Central......), Péter Bajomi-Lázár (Professor of Media Communications, and Head of the Institute of Social Science at the Budapest Business School, Hungary), and Václav Štětka (Senior Researcher, Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Social Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic...

  3. Options of biofuel trade from Central and Eastern to Western European countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Dam, J.; Faaij, A.P.C.; Lewandowski, I.M.; Van Zeebroeck, B.

    2009-01-01

    Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) have a substantial biomass production and export potential. The objective of this study is to assess whether the market for biofuels and trade can be profitable enough to realize a supply of biofuels from the CEEC to the European market and to estimate

  4. How have the Eastern European countries of the former Warsaw Pact developed since 1990? A bibliometric study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kozak, M.; Bornmann, L.; Leydesdorff, L.

    2015-01-01

    Did the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 influence the scientific performance of the researchers in Eastern European countries? Did this historical event affect international collaboration by researchers from the Eastern European countries with those of Western countries? Did it also change

  5. Stroke in the young: access to care and outcome; a Western versus eastern European perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhalla, Ajay; Grieve, Richard; Rudd, Anthony G; Wolfe, Charles D A

    2008-01-01

    To develop effective strategies to address the needs of young patients with stroke, it is important to recognize what components of stroke care they receive. The aims of this study were to describe the provision of stroke care and the factors associated with 3-month mortality and disability (Barthel Index 0-14) in patients younger than 55 years across Western and Eastern Europe. Data from hospital-based stroke registers in Western Europe (7 centers, 6 countries) and Eastern Europe (4 centers, 3 countries) were analyzed. Of 1735 patients admitted to hospital, 201 (11.5%) patients were younger than 55 years (Western European centers 51%, and Eastern European centers 49%). Stroke department care was higher in Western centers (67%) than in Eastern centers (24%) (P Western centers. At 3 months, case fatalities between Western and Eastern centers were 8% versus 23% (P = .003). Patients in Eastern European centers were more likely to have disability at 3 months (odds ratio = 24.3, confidence interval = 1.2-494, P = .04). Young patients with stroke in Western Europe are more likely to gain access to a number of components of stroke care compared with those in Eastern Europe. The future challenge is to ensure that recommendations are adopted to ensure all young patients receive evidence-based stroke care across Europe.

  6. Landscape democracy, three sets of values, and the connoisseur method

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arler, Finn; Mellqvist, Helena

    2015-01-01

    for argument. It examines various methods that have been used to try to make landscape decisions more democratic. In the last part of the paper the connoisseur method is introduced. This method emphasises stakeholder participation in deliberative processes with a particular focus on place-based knowledge......The European Landscape Convention has brought up the question of democracy in relation to landscape transformation, but without a clear definition of democracy. This paper conceptualises democracy in relation to three main sets of values related to self-determination, co-determination and respect...

  7. Participatory Democracy: Mechanism of Better Regulation in Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neliana RODEAN

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims at analyzing the concept of participatory democracy in the European context. In the era of globalization, tools such as Internet filled the gap between civil society and political institutions. The new information and communication technologies contribute to the involvement of citizens in decision-making process. The democratic deficit is bridged through increasingly active participation of civil society at various levels of policy. Through e-democracy tools is realized a direct action of citizens, or even certain categories, which for various reasons do not have the possibility to be informed or have voice on political decisions. In addition, the European institutions, through mechanisms of “better regulation”, promote processes of simplification rules to find a remedy for an excessive law-making.

  8. Occupational radiation exposure in Central and Eastern European countries - ESOREX EAST -. Proceedings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frasch, G.; Anatschkowa, E.

    1999-02-01

    On behalf of the European Commission, the BfS is currently executing a project entitled 'European Study of Occupational Radiation Exposure - ESOREX'. The project consists of several surveys executed in the Member States of the European Union, furthermore in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. In each of these countries the - 1. administrative systems used to register individual occupational radiation exposure, - 2. numbers and dose distributions of occupationally radiation exposed persons in 1995 are surveyed. The aim is to describe and compare the administrative structures of the various national registration systems and the distributions of the workers and their doses. It shall identify the differences between the states and analyse the possibilities for a European harmonization. Because of the intention of numerous Central and Eastern European countries to join the European Community, the harmonization theme is also of considerable importance for these countries. The workshop served the preparing works to execute the ESOREX study also in ten Central and Eastern European countries. In order to establish the necessary contacts and to prepare the co-operation with the respective institutions of these states, the BfS organised, together with the State Office for Nuclear Safety of the Czech Republic, an international introductory workshop in Prague in September 1998. The proceedings reflect the presentations of the participants and the results of the discussions. (orig.) [de

  9. Choice and dissonance in a European cultural context: the case of Western and Eastern Europeans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kokkoris, Michail D; Kühnen, Ulrich

    2013-01-01

    Prior research demonstrates that members of collectivistic cultures are less likely to reduce cognitive dissonance after making a choice, compared to members of individualistic cultures. This difference has been attributed to different conceptualizations of choice that derive from different self-construals across cultures. In individualistic cultures, choice leads to stronger commitment to the chosen option compared to collectivistic cultures, because it implicates core aspects of the independent self, such as personal preferences. However, this cultural variation in postchoice dissonance has thus far been studied exclusively by comparing East Asians and North Americans. Building on the assumption that this difference is due to different construals of the self, we conducted an experiment with movie choices using the classic free-choice paradigm to examine differences in dissonance reduction between Western and Eastern Europeans, two populations known to differ with respect to interdependence. The results show that Eastern Europeans are less likely than Western Europeans to reduce postchoice dissonance by spreading their alternatives. Our findings speak to the generalizability of the hypothesis that in cultures differing in independence or interdependence people also differ in the way they construe choice, as well as in the way the act of choosing affects their self-concept.

  10. The Eastern European experience on occupational skin diseases. Make underreporting an issue?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moldovan, H R; Voidazan, S T; John, S M; Weinert, P; Moldovan, G; Vlasiu, M A; Szasz, Z A; Tiplica, G S; Szasz, S; Marin, A C; Salavastru, C M

    2017-06-01

    While legislation in most of the Eastern European countries is nowadays widely harmonized with the legal safety and health provisions of Western countries, there is still a sustained resistance to the notification of occupational skin diseases (OSD). The aim of the study was to identify the main barriers in notification and recognition of OSD in 22 Eastern European countries. An online survey was administered to key persons in the field of occupational safety and health in 22 Eastern European countries. Multiple variables of the notification system were studied, including clinical, organizational and educational issues. The main causes of underreporting OSD are ineffective enforcement of occupational safety and health legislation, contractual relationship employer-employee, long duration of the notifying process, restrictions of the notification systems in terms of who is entitled to notify an OSD, ineffective regulations in regards to the pre-employment and periodical medical examination, ineffective compensation schemes, restraints and hesitations, mainly from the doctors, inappropriate mentalities - fear of losing the jobs, fining of the employers by the authorities, stigmatization of the workers with OSD, additional costs for employers, stakeholders' lack of interest in notifying, lack of guidelines and protocols and lack of preventive programmes. The most valuable method for a proper recognition of OSD is to increase the awareness of physicians involved in the management of OSD (occupational physicians, GPs, dermatologists), as well as employers and workers. There is an urgent need to improve national legislation, to develop and promote adequate preventive programmes, emphasizing ethical, legal, economical and psychological aspects in order to achieve an increased recognition and a real reporting of OSD, and to enforce an international action plan for Eastern Europe in order to improve the notification of OSD. © 2017 European Academy of Dermatology and

  11. Enresa's Participation in the Technical Assistance Programmes to the Eastern European Countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beceiro, A. R.; Vico, E.

    2000-01-01

    This article briefly describes the participation of ENRESA in the technical assistance programmes to the Central and Eastern European countries (PHARE) and to the New Independent States (TACIS) as well as in the co-operation programmes all of them established by the European Commission. It is worth to point out the active role of ENRESA within the European Consortium CASSIOPEE, formed in 1993 by the six radioactive waste management companies in existence in the European Union at that time. CASSIOPEE was created to assist the European Commission in the area of radioactive waste management of the PHARE and TACIS technical assistance programmes. (Author)

  12. The Political History of European Integration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schulz-Forberg, Hagen; Stråth, Bo

    This book adopts a historical perspective to explore the tensions between the idea of a European democracy through a European market, and the observations that there are signs of increasing social disintegration, political extremism and populism in the wake of economic integration. It was shortli......This book adopts a historical perspective to explore the tensions between the idea of a European democracy through a European market, and the observations that there are signs of increasing social disintegration, political extremism and populism in the wake of economic integration...

  13. Socioeconomic Gradients in Eastern European Countries: Evidence from PIRLS 2006

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caro, Daniel H.; Mirazchiyski, Plamen

    2012-01-01

    This article analyses educational inequalities related to socioeconomic status (SES) in 12 Eastern European countries that participated in the International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006. Economies and educational systems of these countries have undergone critical transformations since the fall of communism. The authors' analyses, using data…

  14. Developing Curriculum for Democracy through International Partnerships. ERIC Digest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamot, Gregory E.

    The fall of communism in eastern and central Europe inspired the call for curriculum development in citizenship education throughout the growing democratic world. Many programs between U.S. institutions and newly developing democracies continue to produce curricula for democratic citizenship suited to local needs. This digest discusses: (1)…

  15. Intersectionality and its journeys: from counterhegemonic feminist theories to law of european multilevel democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Caterina La Barbera

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Democratization processes imply questioning the discriminatory effects of law and politics, and challenging exclusionary legal categories and political institutions. Intersectionality was born as a tool for critical legal analysis and allowed identifying the multiplicity of interactions generated by social exclusion on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, national origin, (disability and socioeconomic status, shedding light on the complexity of the mechanisms of power and privilege in social relations. In the last twenty-five years, intersectionality gained increasing popularity in the Anglophone academia, but it had uneven diffusion in the different socio-political contexts. The goal of this article is to identify the challenges of using intersectionality in the multilevel context of the European Union. To this end, the first part of this article addresses the conceptual origins of intersectionality, providing a genealogy that connects it with counterhegemonic feminist theories. In the second part, intersectionality is put in the American socio-legal context of the 70s where it originated in connection with the movement of Critical Legal Studies. Finally, considering the challenges involved in transposing into the legal framework of European Union a concept that traveled from another legal system, the third part of the article offers an overview of the recent development of European Union law as an example of the advancements and challenges that the introduction of intersectionality can suppose for democratic societies. The final goal of this study is to contribute to the broader debate on the implementation of intersectionality in the multilevel European democracy.

  16. From Representation to Participation: A More Democratic European Union?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcela Monica Stoica

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The present paper analyzes the evolution and characteristics of the democratic process in theEuropean Union from the perspective of political science using the recent theories in this field. Following theentry into force, the Treaty of Lisbon establishes the principle of participatory democracy that puts the focusof the European citizen, a citizen who is actively involved in European Union life, strengthening EU - citizenrelationship. The essence of participatory democracy is the destruction of political apathy and the maximizingof active participation of citizens in the democratic tasks. So, the basic principle of the participatorydemocracy is solidarity. The results of this analysis show that although participatory democracy is establishedin the European law, citizens are less involved in the decision-making in EU and are more and moreindividual, contradicting thus the very foundations of this type of democracy.

  17. Land Mobility in a Central and Eastern European Land Consolidation Context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hartvigsen, Morten B.

    2014-01-01

    in a Central and Eastern European land consolidation context. The term land mobility is defined and the limited theory available is reviewed. Case studies of land mobility in land consolidation pilot projects in Moldova, Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina show the correlation between land mobility and the success......In most of the Central and Eastern European countries, land reforms after 1989 have resulted in extensive land fragmentation. The majority of the countries have during the two recent decades introduced land consolidation instruments to address the structural problems with land fragmentation...... or failure of voluntary land consolidation projects. In situations with low land mobility, land consolidation instruments need in order to be successful to be supported by other land policy tools such as land banks. The use of existing state agricultural land is an obvious foundation for establishing a state...

  18. Regional European Specialization and Concentration in Central and Eastern Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentin Neculita

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Enlargement has become a fundamental priority of the European Union after the 90’s. Up to now seven rounds have been held for enlarging the Community which initially was made up of six Member States (Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands. Among all EU enlargements, the eastward enlargement from 2004 was the biggest challenge, both due to the number of new Member States which joined - the number of EU inhabitants increasing to approximately from 380 to 485 million, but also due to the difference of Gross Domestic Product between the old and new EU members. This paper aims to provide insights in European integration and absorption of European funds into the newest that joined the European Union. The paper proposes an analysis of integration and specialization in Eastern Europe by means of data and statistics provided by European and national statistics institutions.

  19. Deliberative Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Kasper Møller

    Deliberative democracy is the current Buzz-word in contemporary democratic thinking. However deliberative democracy is deeply rooted in the republican tradition of democracy.  Nevertheless these democratic roots are often forgotten when researchers "jump on the bandwagon". This paper will shows how...... deliberation appear within the writing of five important political thinkers within the republican tradition of democracy. Secondly it will investigate the rise of deliberative democracy and explain why the deliberative turn suddenly occurred. However, first a brief general account of deliberative democracy...... is presented in order to outline the focus of deliberative democracy....

  20. European Counterpublics? DiEM25, Plan B and the Agonistic European Public Sphere

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Agustin, Oscar Garcia

    2017-01-01

    After the negotiations between the Syriza government and the European Union (EU), the European Left faced the dilemma of which kind of progressive Europe could be developed within the existing EU framework. Two initiatives were launched to foster an alternative Europe after the Greek crisis: ‘A...... Plan B in Europe’ (Plan B) and the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25). These initiatives emerged to promote a new European project as a rejection of EU austerity policies and lack of democracy. The shaping of alternatives is understood within the framework of the public sphere...

  1. European Integration and Outward FDI from Central and Eastern Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jindra, B.; Hassan, S. S.; Gunther, J.

    2015-01-01

    countries (CEECs) within the EU 27 (1996-2010). We find that the EU integration process is related with increasing importance of market access and less emphasis on labour cost advantages. We find heterogeneity in the valuation of foreign knowledge-related assets. The location probability within the EU15......The European Union (EU) Member States in central and eastern Europe (CEE) witnessed a surge in outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) between 2000 and the start of the global financial crisis. This article investigates whether the European integration process altered the relative importance...

  2. Westinghouse Electric Company experiences in chemistry on-line monitoring in Eastern European nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balavage, J.

    2001-01-01

    Westinghouse Electric Company has provided a number of Chemistry On-Line Monitoring (OLM) Systems to Nuclear Power Plants in Eastern Europe. Eleven systems were provided to the Temelin Nuclear Power Plant in the south of the Czech Republic. Four systems were provided to the Russian NPP at Novovoronezh. In addition, a system design was developed for primary side chemistry monitoring for units 5 and 6 of another eastern European VVER. The status of the Temelin OLM systems is discussed including updates to the Temelin designs, and the other Eastern European installations and designs are also described briefly. Some of the problems encountered and lessons learned from these projects are also discussed. (R.P.)

  3. Open Government: A Tool for Democracy?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emiliana De Blasio

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The growing disconnection between citizens and decision-makers is pushing politics towards a re-shaping of institutional design. New spaces of political participation are sustained and even reinforced by communication, especially by digital communication. Governments and public administrations can find and use different models to facilitate citizens’ participation; e-government, open government and a specific design of digital democracy. In this respect, open government can constitute a way to re-connect citizens and political institutions, but at the same time, it can also be an “appealing” tool to institutionalize bottom-up participation and so anesthetizing it. The aim of this article is to present the first findings of an international research project about open government and participatory platforms in four European countries (France, Italy, Spain, the UK. The study tries to understand if participatory platforms can improve the quality of democracy, and if open government can contribute to democratizing democracy.

  4. Power, Democracy--and Democracy in Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Ken

    2012-01-01

    This article addresses questions of workplace democracy, particularly in relation to school education. Following Luciano Canfora in treating democracy as "the rule of the many", it traces the post-1945 rise of workplace democracy, and its post-1979 decline. Analysing the constitution of contemporary schooling in England, the article…

  5. From democracy fatigue to populist backlash

    OpenAIRE

    Rupnik, Jacques

    2007-01-01

    The populist backlash in Central and Eastern Europe reveals the absence in the new democracies of checks and balances and of truly independent media to serve as a counterweight to creeping authoritarianism. It also shows the return of dormant strands in the region's political culture and thus its potential vulnerability to the authoritarian temptation. These developments are contributing to widespread estrangement from the postenlargement EU in the older member states. If current trends conti...

  6. Attachment in cultural context: Differences in attachment between Eastern and Western Europeans

    OpenAIRE

    Polek, Elzbieta

    2008-01-01

    Political changes after 1989 and resulting from the European Union enlargement increased emigration from Eastern to Western Europe. In the introductory Chapter 1 the data about migration from the Eastern to Western Europe are presented, as well as the data about cultural, social and economic differences between Russia, Hungary, the Netherlands and Poland. In this chapter we also introduce A theoretical basis of acculturation and attachment theory. In Chapter 2 we focused on the replicability ...

  7. Interpreting Democracy: Ethnic Politics and Democracy in the eastern Himalaya

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chettri, Mona

    2014-01-01

    into ethnic grievances in order to facilitate political mobilization and deeper engagement with the state. In this process, discussions and debates are framed around ethnicity but are presented and deliberated within state approved democratic practices. In the eastern Himalaya, ethnic identity is one...

  8. RE-EXAMINATION OF THE PURCHASING POWER PARITY IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN ECONOMIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmad Zubaidi Baharumshah

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available The empirical record on PPP tests for transition economies is far from being so opulent as it is for the developed market economies. This paper attempts to fill this gap by scrutinizing the theory of PPP on a sample of Central and Eastern European economies. The paper has two main advances with respect to previous PPP studies. First, it employs a monthly data base on real exchange rates for a panel of 12 Central and Eastern European economies by testing the theory separately with respect to US dollar and with respect to Euro. Second, we utilise a panel unit root test that involves the estimation of the ADF regression in a SUR framework. Since our study found support for the validity of PPP in some reforming European economies, special attention should be devoted to individual country-specific factors that cause PPP deviations.

  9. Islam and Democracy: Conflicts and Congruence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Md Nazrul Islam

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Is authoritarianism intrinsic to Islam? Is Islam incompatible with democracy? These questions are frequently debated in the context of the study of the relationship between the Western and Islamic civilization. The debate has gained momentum since the last decade of the twentieth century, especially after the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the subsequent transition of socialist states in Eastern Europe and other authoritarian states in Asia and Latin America to democracy. The publication of The Clash of Civilizations by American scholar Samuel Huntington, in which he presented a controversial argument about a cultural divide and clash between the Islamic world and the West, pushed the debate even further. Apart from Muslim intellectuals, Western academics have spent a significant amount of time on these questions, with a multitude of articles and volumes examining the compatibility of Islam and democracy. In this paper, we will examine Islam’s relationship with democracy from normative and philosophical viewpoints, examining how the established values and principles of Islam as reflected in the Qur’anic and prophetic traditions correspond to Western democratic norms and practices. In order to obtain a profound understanding of this subject, we have delved into, through content analysis, the thoughts of several early modernist Islamic scholars who have had tremendous impact on contemporary Islamic revivalist movements throughout the world, and interviewed a number of contemporary Islamic thinkers in Bangladesh.

  10. Mitigated Democracy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Doomen, J.

    2016-01-01

    Militant democracy is an attempt to defend democracy against totalitarian parties that would use democratic procedures to rise to power. This article is focused on the consistency of the concept of 'militant democracy'. I argue that what militant democracy defends is not the democratic procedure

  11. Democracy, Resistance, and the Practice of Literature: Introduction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arka Chattopadhyay

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Recent world politics has witnessed the rise of a certain style of authoritarianism. It can be roughly characterized with a cult of masculine leadership, a popular rhetoric of foreign investment and development, and a phobia of the illegal immigrant made into an ethical obligation. These contradictory forms of politics – the paean to multinational corporations, free trade, and the ‘bloc’-ing of power and the simultaneous mobilization of hyper-nationalism in the form of censoring books and throttling subversive aesthetic practices – characterize the conception and practice of what may be called “authoritarian democracy.” Considering the democratically elected basis of this authoritarianism, it becomes all the more important to ask if democracy paves the way for it. In that case, where do we locate democracy today? Is it right to say that the real democratic space unfolds itself in people’s movements and not in the electoral process? If this is the case, a radical conception of democracy would have to account for a shift of emphasis from the locus of governance to that of resistance and co-option. Historically speaking, democracy may not always be the means but it has been one of the ends for the various acts of resistance such as the working class, anti-colonial, nationalist, feminist, LGBT, or constitutional multiculturalism. In our sour and hungry times, when state aggression is overpowering the geographical marking (Russia’s in Ukraine or Israel’s in Palestine, or strangling the voice of internal resistance (North Eastern regions in India, not to mention religious fundamentalism, we need to rethink the old questions of democracy and resistance. With the ISIS, Boko Haram or the Taliban practice, we have seen how resistance itself can produce a dangerous authoritarianism which further complicates the relations between democracy, authoritarianism, and resistance. How do we historicize and ethically theorize resistance in

  12. A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S CIVIL SOCIETY DISCOURSE AND SOCIAL PLATFORM OF EUROPEAN NGOs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    KUTAY, RIZA ACAR

    2011-01-01

    European NGO network, the Social Platform of European NGOs. The common understanding conceives of these organizations as conducive to democratization of EU governance within the scope of participatory democracy. However, I endeavour to argue that the Commission has had an aim to make use of the civil...... society discourse for its institutional interests, while intentionally and unintentionally shaping (and reshaping) civic action in Europe. Participatory democracy project, which is promoted by the Commission, can be seen as a deliberate venture of shaping civic action and state-society relationships......, which has been particularly created by the Commission to disperse the participatory democracy and good governance discourse in Europe....

  13. Problem of Democracy Promotion in the of Postcolonial Feminism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vladislav A. Muzalevskiy

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the problems of democratization as a neocolonial practice. The author argues that the spread of democracy is similar in many respects to colonialism and civilizing mission as universal and even messianic phenomena. He notes that both of these phenomena, despite the similarity of their origin, have different "gender basis" (colonialism has characteristics of masculinity and civilizing mission - of femininity. The author reviewed the history of transforming the concepts of "colonialism" and "civilizing mission". Results parallels between the two phenomena are analyzed as a specific intellectual and public discourse in a particular era influenced the formation of both phenomena. Examples of national civilizing projects, their intellectual potential and influence on contemporary world politics are also considered. The echoes of colonialism and civilizing mission are visible in US and the EU doctrines of democracy promotion. Examining the evolution of approaches to democratization, the author finds the differences in strategic culture of the United States and the European Union: if the American establishment have a propensity to masculine practice of democracy promotion ("democratic enlargement", the project "Greater Middle East", etc., and European leadership prefers feminine practices. In terms of the post-colonial feminism, this approach does not give these actors any special benefits, as it offers the ineffective governing strategy of the local population, not taking into account, and often denying the specific cultural environment of democracy promotion, paying more attention to institutional characteristics (lack of certain civil rights and freedoms, lack of transparency in the work of public authorities, etc.. The author notes that the current strategy of democracy promotion, though being more complex, creates the effect of "double discrimination", when both the local people and local women (imposing image of "a free and

  14. Philosophy of democracy and Principles of Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jarmila Chovancová

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available As the title of suggests the article deals with the problems of democracy, its philosophy and also dominant principles. The author reflects interpretation of democracy on the society with their different understand.             Democracy represents a form of government, a way of political life where these principles are put into practice.             Democracy and its separate principles are expressed in the ultimate legal rules in the democratic countries. Principle of participation as a democratic principle rests with the fact that citizens have right to participate in state administration either directly or via their elected representatives. This principle also ensures that citizens participating in state administration enjoy equal basic rights and liberties and also guarantees that no person can be excluded from participation in state administration or from access to elected or other posts.             Methodology: In the article I using method of analyze - I analyzing dominant problems of democracy-its principles in democratic countries. Another method is comparation- understanding democracy from historical aspect. And the end I also using method of synthesis-explanation democracy understand today.

  15. Safety of nuclear power reactors in the former Eastern European Countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chakraborty, S.

    1995-01-01

    This article discusses the safety of nuclear power plants in the former Eastern European countries (including the former Soviet Union). The current international design, fabrication, construction, operation, safety, regulatory standards and practices, and ways to resolve plant problems are addressed in light of experience with the Western nuclear power development programs

  16. Relations between the Soviet Union and its Eastern European Allies: A Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    1975-11-01

    Communist states forwarding the process of world revolution. 4. The ideologiaal seaurity faator* Eastern Europe has provided a defensive Soviet...relaxation and the final conclusion of the negotiations on European cooperation and se- curity. In the ideologiaal sphere, the Soviets, as mentioned

  17. A model for promoting democracy by using the corporate culture of secondary school student councils in North-eastern Thailand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nongkran Anukul

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available This research aims to investigate the history of secondary school student councils in North-eastern Thailand (Isan, to study the present conditions and problems of secondary school student councils in Isan and to study a model for promoting democracy by using the corporate culture of secondary school student councils in Isan. The study area encompassed Kalasin Province, including Somdetpittayakom School in Somdet District and Yangtaladwittayakarn School in Yangtalat District, Mahasarakham Province, including Sarakhampittayakhom School in Muang District and Kantarawichai School in Kantarawichai District, and Khon Kaen Province, including Kallayanawat School in Muang District and Nampong Suksa School in Nampong District. This research employed interview, observation and focus groups as data collection tools with a purposive sample of student councils in secondary schools in Isan. Data was verified and validated using a triangulation method and analyzed by descriptive analysis. Research results show that the student councils in the secondary schools of Isan were established to promote democracy among youth. Students gained knowledge, understanding of the democratic system, experience in student administration and governance by students for students. It was also found that student council activities in secondary schools give students opportunities to know about their roles, acceptance, respect rights and duties, use intellect to solve problems, have faith in the democratic system, develop morality and ethics and preserve and disseminate traditions and culture according to the principles of Dharma. Current problems with student councils include no student interest in duties and no relationship between the elected leaders and their constituency. Selfishness, dishonesty and ignorance are the causes of non-transparent school councils with no responsibility, no response to student needs, lack of rights, justice and effectiveness, lacking of creative

  18. American Dreaming: Critical Perspectives on a Media Training Program for Emerging Democracies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miglena Mantcheva Sternadori

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Since the end of the Cold War, the International Media Training Center has brought dozens of Eastern European journalists to study in non-degree programs at U.S. universities. This study is a cultural critique of one such program. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews, participant observation, and articles from university newsletters. The trainees reveal that support from mentors is often insufficient, and some participants face significant hostility after returning to their native countries. The fast-paced media environments in those countries have not forgiven their yearlong absence: organizational power has been redistributed, connections have been weakened, and new colleagues have aggressively taken over one's old turf. The findings suggest that training a few journalists from disparate media outlets is unlikely to have much effect on media professionalism in emerging democracies, unless the trainees are guaranteed an opportunity to become trainers. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs100376

  19. Agriculture of central and eastern European countries in the European Union

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Redžepagić Srđan

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Agriculture posed considerable tensions for the processes of enlargement of the European Union, because of its continuing importance both in the economies of the applicant countries of Central and Eastern European countries which have joined EU on the 1st may 2004., and in the EU budget and acquits communautaire. The preparation of agriculture in the candidate countries to join the EU was rendered more complex by the fact that the Community's Common Agricultural Policy was a moving target. The aim of this paper is to show the bases elements of the Common Agricultural Policy, but also to provide a survey of recent developments relating to agriculture in the EU and new member states of the EU before their accession to EU and their preparation to access on the enlarged market, in order to indicate the main challenges and difficulties posed by enlargement. It seems likely that agricultural policy in the enlarged EU will attach increased priority to objectives such as rural development and the environment. However, these new priorities may be expensive to realize, and may impose a growing burden on the national budgets of EU member states.

  20. Work-life balance of Eastern European migrants in Portugal

    OpenAIRE

    Flenova, Vera

    2017-01-01

    his study is devoted to the balance between work and life the Eastern European migrants manage to obtain. Work and life balance is considered as one of the core factors for the quality of life of the individual. Processes of migration and integration of migrants make the attainment of the work-life balance even more complicated and involve more resources. In this work the work and personal life balance of migrants is being analysed from the following perspectives: occupation, f...

  1. A study of melanoma in Eastern European migrants in Italy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Astrua, Chiara; Fava, Paolo; Brizio, Matteo; Savoia, Paola

    2017-04-01

    Cancer survival rates are lower in Eastern Europe. To describe, based on a single-centre database in northern Italy, clinical, histopathological, and prognostic features of melanoma in a migrant population from Eastern Europe. We retrospectively analysed data from 18,190 consecutive foreign patients who visited our institution, with 49 cases of melanoma from Eastern Europe. The control group was represented by 1,003 Italian melanoma patients diagnosed and followed at our centre during the same time period. Patients from Eastern Europe were mainly females with lower median age, without significant differences regarding primary melanoma site, relative to the control group. Diagnosis was made at the place of birth in 30.6% and in our centre for the remainder. Median Breslow thickness was greater (p = 0.0178), and aggressive histotypes (p = 0.0017) and ulcerated melanomas (p = 0.002) were significantly over-represented, particularly when diagnosed in the patients' native country. Disease was more advanced at diagnosis (p = 0.0001), regardless of the place of initial diagnosis (51% had a progressive disease within one year which rose to 80% if diagnosed before admission to our centre), and the percentage of patients who died within one year was significantly higher (p = 0.022), relative to the control group. Our study shows a poor prognosis for melanoma patients diagnosed in Eastern Europe. Moreover, for migrant populations moving from Eastern to Western European countries, financial difficulties, poor social integration, and language barriers, with consequent late access to healthcare facilities, may account for a worse prognosis.

  2. Climate change and energy policy in Eastern Europe: two scenarios for the future

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chandler, W.U.; Kolar, S.; Gheorghe, A.; Sitnicki, S.

    1991-01-01

    The citizens of Poland, Eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania inhabit perhaps the most polluted environments in the world, largely because of their countries' inefficient use of energy. Energy use is two to three times greater per unit of economic output than in Western Europe. Energy inefficiency also constrains economic growth by diverting capital to unproductive use. As much as 40% of all industrial investment in Poland was consumed in energy production. The emerging democracies of Eastern Europe have embarked on reforms to make their economies more efficient. We assess their potential for energy efficiency and apply end-use analysis in an energy end-use economic model to evaluate future energy use in the region. We assume that Eastern Europe will approach current Western living standards over the next three decades and that this will in turn increase energy consumption. We have found, nevertheless, that Eastern European nations could hold energy demand virtually constant through structural reform and technical energy-efficiency improvement. The six countries in the region could save as much as 3.5 exajoules per year, with savings yielding an economic benefit of $300 million annually. (author)

  3. When Culture Hampers European Integration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Juul Petersen, Jeppe

    2016-01-01

    This article deals with Denmark’s skeptical attitude towards the EU cooperation. From a hermeneutical-institutional approach the aim of this article is to analyze why Denmark has been rejecting several initiatives from the EU. It illustrates how different democratic understandings hamper European...... integration. Based on Ronald Dworkin’s theoretical framework the article discusses two different perceptions on democracy: majoritarian democracy and constitutional democracy. It is shown when and why EU’s member states prefer to handle EU-related judicial disputes without involving supranational institutions....... In addition, the article provides tentative comparisons to Britain and the Nordic countries since they show similar attitudes to supranational institutions. The article concludes that Denmark’s majoritarian democracy provides political cultures incompatible with the EU’s constitutional democracy and this can...

  4. Tracks for Eastern/Western European Future Launch Vehicles Cooperation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eymar, Patrick; Bertschi, Markus

    2002-01-01

    exclusively upon Western European elements indigenously produced. Yet some private initiatives took place successfully in the second half of the nineties (Eurockot and Starsem) bringing together companies from Western and Eastern Europe. Evolution of these JV's are already envisioned. But these ventures relied mostly on already existing vehicles. broadening the bases in order to enlarge the reachable world market appears attractive, even if structural difficulties are complicating the process. had recently started to analyze, with KSRC counterparts how mixing Russian and Western European based elements would provide potential competitive edges. and RKA in the frame of the new ESA's Future Launch Preparatory Programme (FLPP). main technical which have been considered as the most promising (reusable LOx/Hydrocarbon engine, experimental reentry vehicles or demonstrators and reusable launch vehicle first stage or booster. international approach. 1 patrick.eymar@lanceurs.aeromatra.com 2

  5. Direct Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beramendi, Virginia; Ellis, Andrew; Kaufman, Bruno

    While many books on direct democracy have a regional or national approach, or simply focus on one of the many mechanisms associated with direct democracy, this Handbook delves into a global comparison of direct democracy mechanisms, including referendums, citizens' initiatives, agenda initiatives...... learned. In addition, the uniquely comprehensive world survey outlines direct democracy provisions in 214 countries and territories and indicates which, if any, of these provisions are used by each country or territory at both the national and sub-national levels. Furthermore, the world survey includes...

  6. Epidemiological studies of cognitive impairment and dementia across Eastern and Middle European countries (epidemiology of dementia in Eastern and Middle European Countries).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiejna, A; Frydecka, D; Adamowski, T; Bickel, H; Reynish, E; Prince, M; Caracciolo, B; Fratiglioni, L; Georges, J

    2011-02-01

    To determine the availability and the consistency of prevalence findings of epidemiological studies on cognitive impairment and dementia conducted in Eastern and Middle Europe. We adopted a stepwise multimethod study approach consisting of iterative literature searches for epidemiological articles published between 1990 and 2006 and subsequent data analyses of published material, reanalyses of existing accessible epidemiological data sets and expert inquiries in Eastern and Middle European countries. Systematic computer-assisted searches used the keywords: "dementia", "Alzheimer", "cognitive impairment", "incidence", "prevalence", "epidemiology" in combination with the name of the relevant countries or "Europe" in English and Polish language. We supplemented the literature search with a review of the references in the articles that were identified during the initial search. We were able to find few regional and country-specific epidemiological studies of various kinds (population-based, cohort, cross-sectional studies) and conducted on different restricted population groups of patients (from neurological units, out-patients units, residential homes). No studies were identified from most of the countries taken under consideration and the ones we found were characterized by an immense diversity with a considerable degree of clinical and methodological variations. The few studies that there are suggest prevalence rates of dementia in Eastern Europe similar to those in Western Europe. There is strong need for epidemiological studies in Eastern and Middle Europe, as well as for greater coordination and standardization of methods to improve the quality and comparability of epidemiological data to determine the prevalences' rates of dementia in all the EU countries. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  7. The challenges of attracting an retaining academic talent. Central and Eastern European perspectives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Leisyte, Liudvika; Rose, Anna-Lena

    2016-01-01

    Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are currently facing strong imperatives to increase incoming academic staff mobility. In this article, we focus on barriers and facilitators of academic mobility. We provide examples of Lithuanian and Czech higher education systems that are based on

  8. Designing For Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knutz, Eva; Markussen, Thomas; Mårbjerg Thomsen, Signe

    2014-01-01

    there are already a number of approaches available which in one way or the other address the relationship between design, democracy and power. We provide an account of participatory design, adversarial design and design activism thereby pointing towards design?s potential for re-distributing power and authority......n this paper we focus on ?patient-democracy? and ?shared decision-making? seen from the perspective of design practice and design research. In the research on democracy in healthcare it is rarely questioned what forms of democracy underlies these concepts. We have examined three different theories...... of democracy and the democratic practices that belong to each of these. For designers working to increase patient democracy it is of vital importance to be able to distinguish different structures underlying democratic practices and to work out methods for prototyping democracy. In design research...

  9. European Counterpublics? DiEM25, Plan B and the Agonistic European Public Sphere

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Agustin, Oscar Garcia

    2017-01-01

    Plan B in Europe’ (Plan B) and the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25). These initiatives emerged to promote a new European project as a rejection of EU austerity policies and lack of democracy. The shaping of alternatives is understood within the framework of the public sphere...... and agonistic public sphere from perspectives and experiences which, while sharing the need of internationalization, develop different strategies....

  10. Electromagnetic field standards in Central and Eastern European countries: current state and stipulations for international harmonization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gajsek, P; Pakhomov, A G; Klauenberg, B J

    2002-04-01

    Electromagnetic field standards in the West are based on well-established acute biological effects that could be considered as signaling a potentially adverse health effect. The specific absorption rate, which is proportional to the tissue heating (thermal effects), represents the basic restriction of exposure to Radio-Frequency (RF) fields. On the other hand, Eastern European standards are designed to protect from potential non-thermal effects that might be caused by chronic exposure to very low intensities, where a so-called "power load" (a product of field intensity and duration of exposure) represents the basic limitation. Thus, electromagnetic field standards in Eastern European countries differ considerably from those which are proposed by the International Commission of Non-ionizing Radiation Protection and the Standards Coordinating Committee 28 of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. In the present paper, the strategies for development of exposure limit values in electromagnetic fields standards currently in force in Eastern and Central European countries are discussed. Some differences as well as similarities of the national health and safety standards and the main obstacles to harmonization of these standards with those being established by Western national and international organizations and agencies are presented.

  11. Attractiveness of Central and Eastern European Countries for Foreign Direct Investment in the Context of European Integration: The Case of Estonia

    OpenAIRE

    Andresson, Kairi; Reiljan, Janno; Reiljan, Ele

    2001-01-01

    Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in the world have increased rapidly during the last decade. Most of the FDI inflows are targeted to developed countries (78% in 1999, about fifth of the flows are going to developing countries and Central and Eastern European transition countries are the host countries for only 2% of the world FDI. The necessity of foreign investments in the transition countries is the result of industrial restructuring in post-socialist Eastern Europe and the Baltic coun...

  12. Taiwan’s Democracy: Towards a Liberal Democracy or Authoritarianism?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dafydd J. Fell

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines how Taiwan moved from being viewed as a model Asian democracy to one allegedly suffering from democratic reversal. The reasons for the declining domestic and international reputation of Taiwan’s democracy are discussed. Lastly, some key political challenges facing Taiwan’s democracy are outlined.

  13. NGO structural adaptation to funding requirements and prospects for democracy: the case of the European Union

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sanchez Salgado, R.

    2010-01-01

    Most studies on voluntary organisations and advocacy groups focus on their contribution to democracy through participation in the policy-making process. The uniqueness of this study consists in shifting the emphasis to participatory democracy at the implementation stage of the policy process. We

  14. Democracy and Sense

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Bent Erik

    Democracy and sense questions practically all that happens in society today. Its aim is to raise a debate on the most urgent problems of economy, democracy, sustainable conduct and the framework for industry and business. A number of untraditional solutions are suggested, but without support...... to either rightwing or leftwing politics. In fact, one of the key points is that political parties have reduced democracy to one day of voting followed by four years of oligarchy. To regain a functioning democracy we must strengthen direct democracy and make the distance between population and government...

  15. Financial development and energy consumption in Central and Eastern European frontier economies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sadorsky, Perry

    2011-01-01

    This study examines the impact of financial development on energy consumption in a sample of 9 Central and Eastern European frontier economies. Several different measures of financial development are examined including bank related variables and stock market variables. The empirical results, obtained from dynamic panel demand models, show a positive and statistically significant relationship between financial development and energy consumption when financial development is measured using banking variables like deposit money bank assets to GDP, financial system deposits to GDP, or liquid liabilities to GDP. Of the three stock market variables investigated, only one, stock market turnover, has a positive and statistically significant impact on energy consumption. Both short-run and long-run elasticities are presented. The implications of these results for energy policy are discussed. - Research Highlights: → Financial development affects energy consumption in 9 Central and Eastern European frontier economies. → Bank variables have a larger impact on energy consumption than do stock market variables. → Long run bank elasticities range from 0.117 to 0.276. → These results have implications for energy demand forecasts and greenhouse gas emissions.

  16. Public health leadership competency level among health professionals in a South Eastern European country

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pampuri, O.; Czabanowska, K.; Hysa, B.; Roshi, E.; Burazeri, G.

    2015-01-01

    Pampuri O, Czabanowska K, Hysa B, Roshi E, Burazeri G. Public health leadership competency level among health professionals in a South Eastern European country (Original research). SEEJPH 2015, posted: 10 February 2015. DOI 10.12908/SEEJPH-2014-40

  17. The Western European countryside from an Eastern European perspective: Case of migrant workers in Norwegian agriculture

    OpenAIRE

    Rye, Johan Fredrik

    2014-01-01

    In the wake of the EU enlargements in 2004 and 2007, large numbers of migrant workers from Eastern Europe in-migrated to the Western European countryside. In this paper I discuss how these migration streams in important ways challenge the dominant perspectives in contemporary rural studies, in particular their focus on lifestyle-related rural in-migration, on the post-productivist character of the countryside, and on the social constructions of the rural as idyllic space. These perspectives a...

  18. EU, Eastern Europe and Values Imperialism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen White

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes an idea of'values imperialism'as a helpful way of conceptualising the relationship between the EU and the states that came within its sphere of influence after the end of the Cold War, particularly its 'neighbours' in Eastern Europe. Values imperialism places its emphasis on the 'superstructure', including norms, laws and social practices. EU larger objective was that the assumptions about government and ownership that were favoured by the dominant powers (EU and the West in the broad term should be absorbed and recapitulated by those countries that were subordinate. The broad framework ofsubordination was established by the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements that began to be concluded from 1994 onwards. Patterns of'values imperialism'could also be discovered in the EU Common Strategies on Russia and Ukraine that were adopted in 1999. Article also points out several cases when the EU intervened directly in the domestic affairs of the Eastern Europe countries in a manner that was not always compatible with the provisions on state sovereignty: a 'European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights', launched in 2006, interventions ofEU representatives in the work of local courts and organisation of exit polls, which could be used to discredit the official election results and in this way to undermine the position of local governments. Finally, the author concludes that the EU used 'values imperialism'practices in order to extend its influence, particularly in the Eastern Europe.

  19. Structural changes in Central and Eastern European economies: breaking news or breaking the ice?

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Égert, B.; Jiménez-Rodríguez, R.; Kočenda, Evžen; Morales-Zumaquero, A.

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 39, 1-2 (2006), s. 85-103 ISSN 1573-9414 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC542 Institutional research plan: CEZ:MSM0021620846 Keywords : Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries * multiple structural breaks * volatility Subject RIV: AH - Economics

  20. Does the digital age require new models of democracy? : lasswell's policy scientist of democracy vs. Liquid democracy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jelena Gregorius

    2015-01-01

    This essay provides a debate about Lasswell’s policy scientist of democracy (PSOD, 1948) in comparison to the model of liquid democracy (21st century) based on the question if the digital age requires new models of democracy. The PSOD of Lasswell, a disciplinary persona, is in favour of an elitist

  1. Mapping Deviant Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Seeberg, Michael

    2014-01-01

    A number of countries have emerged as stable (though minimalist) democracies despite low levels of modernization, lack of democratic neighbouring countries and other factors consistently related to democratic stability in the literature. The study of these deviant democracies is a promising new...... research field but it is afflicted by a notable problem, viz. the lack of a consensus as to which countries are actually instances of deviant democracy. The present article attempts to solve this problem by carrying out a comprehensive mapping of deviant democracies. First, I review the existing literature...... to provide an overview of the cases most often identified as deviant democracies. Second, I use a large-N analysis to systematically map deviant democracies. The analysis includes 159 countries covering the time period 1993–2008. The analysis points to 12 cases that merits further attention, viz...

  2. Contagion among Central and Eastern European stock markets during the financial crisis

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Baruník, Jozef; Vácha, Lukáš

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 63, č. 5 (2013), s. 443-453 ISSN 0015-1920 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GBP402/12/G097 Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : wavelets * financial crisis * Central and Eastern European stock markets * comovement * contagion Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 0.358, year: 2013 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2013/E/barunik-0396416.pdf

  3. Determinants of non-performing loans in Central and Eastern European countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruna Škarica

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyses the determinants of the changes in the non-performing loan (NPL ratio in selected European emerging markets. The model was estimated on a panel dataset using a fixed effects estimator for seven Central and Eastern European (CEE countries between Q3:2007 and Q3:2012. The countries analyzed are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia. Although the literature on NPLs is quite extensive, this is the first empirical research on the countries of CEE region using aggregate, country-level data on problem loans. The results suggest that the primary cause of high levels of NPLs is the economic slowdown, which is evident from statistically significant and economically large coefficients on GDP, unemployment and the inflation rate.

  4. The Death of Democracy and the Forces of Power and Control: The Case of Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Theo Gavrielides

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available At the time of writing, the United Kingdom is grabbling with its decision to abandon its European Union membership. As the country is divided and hate incidents are increased by almost 50%, this think-piece presents a critical analysis of Europe’s missed opportunity for social justice. The paper presents evidence by analysing the civil and political rights jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in order to explore the potential of what it calls the “human rights project” for a regional democracy. The paper shows that a key objective of the European Convention of Human Rights was the development of case law that would construct a regional democracy for bringing consistency in the enjoyment of civil and political rights across the continent. This “human rights project” was well underway, but is now hampered by contemporary forces of power and control that are ridiculing the work and status of the Council of Europe. The paper identifies three levers that move these forces, namely: financial and security terror as well as nationalism. The paper warns that if these forces are not managed, the backlash in social justice will continue while the human rights project for a regional democracy will come to its demise.

  5. The Phenomenology of Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Robert

    2009-01-01

    Human beings originate votes, and democracy constitutes decisions. This is the essence of democracy. A phenomenological analysis of the vote and of the decision reveals for us the inherent strength of democracy and its deficiencies. Alexis de Tocqueville pioneered this form of enquiry into democracy and produced positive results from it.…

  6. Performance Audit in Public Sector Entities - A New Challenge for Eastern European Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriana TIRON TUDOR

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available Performance measurement provides an objective basis for evaluating how efficiently public resources are being used and how effectively public service outcomes are being achieved. It is a process used to support government selfanalysis and provide a basis for more informed and publicly defensible decision-making. In this context an important role is reserved to performance external audit performed by external audit institutions. The performance audit analyses the quality of financial administration from the point of view of the three elements of performance: economy, efficiency and effectiveness. We intend to realize a comparative study for some Eastern European countries regarding the performance audit, knowing the fact that since countries differ at the level of individual reforms, there is no single model of reform. Nonetheless, reform strategies have many points in common emphasizing the international character of public management reform. By cross-national comparisons we intend to analyze the impact of implementing the new performance audit in certain Eastern European Countries, and in Romania, focused on the external audit institutions.

  7. Present status of practical aspects of individual dosimetry. Pt. 2. Eastern European countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goeksu, H.Y.; Regulla, D.; Drexler, G.

    1995-01-01

    The report is prepared in a historically rather unstable period concerning the Eastern European countries. Many independent states are formed which brought political, economical and administrative changes in the region. However such changes had not direct effect on the radiation protection practices concerning the occupationally exposed persons. In general all the newly formed states have adopted the former laws and regulation. Therefore we kept the names of the country of the origin. In near future laws and regulations are expected to be altered in many of these new states. The present laws and regulations are in great extent very similar to each other. However there are variations in practical aspects of the individual dosimetry due to the size of the country and their involvement with nuclear activities. Almost all countries based their regulations on International Safety Standards of IAEA and ICRP-26 recommendations. Since the Chernobyl accident, very many bilateral agreements have been concluded between Eastern European and OECD for the transfer of technology on the radiation safety of the public as well as occupationally exposed persons. (orig./HP)

  8. Systematic review on the evaluation criteria of orphan medicines in Central and Eastern European countries

    OpenAIRE

    Zelei, Tam?s; Moln?r, M?ria J.; Szegedi, M?rta; Kal?, Zolt?n

    2016-01-01

    Background In case of orphan drugs applicability of the standard health technology assessment (HTA) process is limited due to scarcity of good clinical and health economic evidence. Financing these premium priced drugs is more controversial in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region where the public funding resources are more restricted, and health economic justification should be an even more important aspect of policy decisions than in higher income European countries. Objectives To e...

  9. The Western Way? Democracy and the Media Assistance Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daire Higgins

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available International media assistance took off during a time where the ideological extremes of USA vs. USSR were set to disappear. Following the Cold War, international relations focused on democracy building, and nurturing independent media was embraced as a key part of this strategy. Fukayama called it the ‘End of History’, the fact that all other ideologies had fallen and Western style democracy was set to become the one common ideology. The US and UK led the way in media assistance, with their liberal ideas of a free press, bolstered by free market capitalism. America was the superpower, and forged the way around the globe with its beacon of democracy. Under that guiding light they would bring truth, accuracy, freedom of expression and independent reporting to the countries which had so long lived under the shadow of communism, or authoritarian media systems. This is what propelled and justified American foreign policy, and their media assistance, for many years. Much work was thus carried out in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet satellites, but many now question the impact and legacy of these projects. When the US and UK spoke of media assistance they seemed to mean ‘free market’. These days, the ‘democracy promoters’ focus has turned more to Africa and the Middle East. The ideology is apparently the same: to help establish and support democracy with a stronger and more independent media. But with Western economies, and their media systems, in crisis, the relevance of this media assistance model is questioned. This essay looks at the history of media assistance and the ongoing debate on the impact of media assistance over the long term, its motives and the new balance of power appearing in international media development.

  10. Post-Institutionalized Chinese and Eastern European Children: Heterogeneity in the Development of Emotion Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camras, Linda A.; Perlman, Susan B.; Fries, Alison B. Wismer; Pollak, Seth D.

    2006-01-01

    Post-institutionalized Chinese and Eastern European children participated in two emotion understanding tasks. In one task, children selected facial expressions corresponding to four emotion labels (happy, sad, angry, scared). The second task required children to match facial expressions to stories describing situations for these emotions. While…

  11. EUROPEAN UNION INITIATIVES IN TACKLING MIGRATION AND ORGANIZED CRIME AT ITS NEW EASTERN BORDER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian Pop

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available The EU migration strategy in relation to its new eastern neighbours has started to take shape. Among other things, it includes: applying the Global Approach to Migration to the eastern regions neighbouring the EU; securing the necessary funding for migration management through the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI and the Thematic Programme for the cooperation with third countries in the areas of migration and asylum; promoting mobility partnerships and circular migration; concluding short-term visa facilitation and readmission agreements; and opening the first Common Visa Application Centre in the capital city of the Republic of Moldova. In addition, the EU has improved its regional focus by the help of the Black Sea Synergy European Commission Communication and extended for 2008-2009 the mandate of its Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM, which is set to tackling irregular migration, drugs and cigarettes smuggling, and stolen cars and guns trafficking.

  12. Reports submitted by participants from central and eastern european countries and the new independent states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nersesyan, V.; Rozdyalovskaya, L.; Yatsevich, V.; Soljan, V.; Valcic, I.; Saar, J.; Abraitis, M.; Bieliauskas, V.; Szkultecka, E.; Cutoiu, D.; Chirica, M.T.; Karasev, A.V.; Pospisil, M.; Zlatnansky, J.; Kot, Y.; Shvytai, V.

    2000-01-01

    In this communication are grouped the reports submitted by participants from central and eastern European countries and the new independent states, concerning their government legislation relative to the nuclear liability in the event of a nuclear accident. (N.C.)

  13. Homegrown Democracy, Homegrown Democrats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Norman K. Denzin

    2005-02-01

    Full Text Available Written on the eve of the 2004 American presidential election, this political narrative offers a critical reading of two models of democracy: Instant-Mix imperial democracy (bring to a boil, add oil, then bomb, criticized by Arundhati Roy, and Garrison Keillor’s Homegrown Democrat. Keillor’s pastoral view of democracy is anchored in LakeWobegon, his imaginary utopian community. His homegrown democracy is narrow, provincial, and White. The author concludes that he must look elsewhere for his alternative view of democracy.

  14. Democracy in Crisis?

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neill, Brenda

    2006-01-01

    This article discusses the state of Canadian democracy. Although calling Canadian democracy as something to be in a crisis is still debatable, the author expresses worry over the declining turnout levels in recent elections. Canada--along with a number of other liberal democracies--has experienced a significant and consistent decline in election…

  15. Reviewing education and training for governance and active citizenship in Europe. A central and eastern European perspective. The implications of the research for Central and Eastern European policy design on active citizenship and governance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chioncel, N.E.; Jansen, T.J.M.

    2004-01-01

    The RE-ETGACE Project, "Reviewing Education and Training for Governance and Active Citizenship in Europe - A Central and Eastern European Perspective" is a complementary measure to the original ETGACE Project "Education and Training for Governance and Active Citizenship in Europe". The ETGAGE

  16. Reviewing education and training for governance and active citizenship in Europe : a Central and Eastern European perspective : the implications of the research for Central and Eastern European policy design on active citizenship and governance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chioncel, Nicoleta; Jansen, Theo

    2004-01-01

    The RE-ETGACE Project, 'Reviewing Education and Training for Governance and Active Citizenship in Europe - A Central and Eastern European Perspective' is a complementary measure to the original ETGACE Project 'Education and Training for Governance and Active Citizenship in Europe'. The ETGAGE

  17. The legacy of uranium mining in Central and Eastern Europe - a view from the European Union

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Webster, S.; Vrijen, J.

    2002-01-01

    Throughout the countries of Central and Eastern Europe there was widespread mining and processing of uranium which has left a huge environmental and public health problem requiring urgent remedial action. The present paper outlines the situation from the perspective of the European Union by presenting a description of the assistance provided through Community funding and a summary of relevant European Union legislation in this field. (author)

  18. Who Is Afraid of European Constitutionalism?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wind, Marlene

    the legitimacy of the European Court of Justice and of European law more generally. Using Denmark as a case, I show that national courts in a majoritarian democracy only reluctantly cooperate with supranational judicial bodies by referring very few cases. I argue that Nordic courts forward few cases...... to the European court of justice both because they have little experience with judicial review at the national level but also – and more importantly – due to a widespread hostility towards (supranational) judicial review in general.......According to Ronald Dworkin, majoritarian democracies like the Nordic ones are founded upon the notion that parliamentary majorities are elevated above the other branches of government and that such majorities should not be subject to judicial review. The emergence of a powerful supranational...

  19. Development tendencies of energy facilities in Central and Eastern European countries in transition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riesner, W.; Stuits, I.; Zeltins, N.

    1999-01-01

    The present work considers development problems of energy facilities in Central and Eastern European countries being in transition in the period from 1990 to 1997. It outlines the changes in economical situation during this period. The paper also shows the development dynamics for economic indicators in 11 countries and analyses them for each country taken separately. (author)

  20. 'Democracy is coming to the RSA': On democracy, theology, and futural historicity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert R. Vosloo

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available This article brings the concept of democracy � as an open-ended tradition � in conversation with notions dealing with historicity and the future, such as �democracy to come�, �promise�, and �a democratic vision�. It is argued that although these notions are rightfully associated with the future, they also imply that democracy should not be disconnected from an emphasis on an inheritance from the past. With this emphasis in mind, the first part of the article attends to the French philosopher Jacques Derrida�s intriguing term, �democracy to come�, whereas the second part of the article takes a closer look at some aspects of the work of the South African theologian John de Gruchy on democracy, with special reference to his distinction between a democratic system and a democratic vision. The third, and final, part of the article brings some of the insights taken from the engagement with Derrida and De Gruchy into conversation with the continuing challenges facing theological discourse on democracy in South Africa today.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: A constructive proposal is made that emphasises the futural openness of democracy in a way that challenges a vague utopianism.Keywords: Democracy; Derrida; De Gruchy; future; historicity

  1. Foreign bank entry, bank efficiency and market power in Central and Eastern European Countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poghosyan, Tigran; Poghosyan, Arsen

    2010-01-01

    This article analyses the implications of the recently observed sharp expansion of foreign banks in the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) as measured by equity ownership. We show that the mode of foreign entry has a pivotal impact on the post-entry performance of banks in CEECs. Foreign

  2. GROWING REGIONAL SCIENTIFIC MIGRATION AND MOBILITY: THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ganna KHARLAMOVA

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The article contributes to the growing strand of the literature on the scientific mobility and migration in the European Union (EU and the Eastern Partnership. The paper provides the quantitative assessment of the costs and benefits of ‘smart’ labour migration in the Eastern Partnership (EaP countries (particularly, Ukraine, explores the potential of future new rules for the mobility within the EU-EaP, and proposes some policy recommendations to enhance the benefits stemming from such flows. One of the rigorous idea – to provide an explanation whether the scientific migration and mobility, and remittances impact on economic development in the donor and recipient states, and, in particular, how important it is as a resource for the EaP enhancing. The convergence effect of scientific migration in the EU and the Eastern Partnership region is considered by means of calculative assessment.

  3. Globalization and democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DEEPAK NAYYAR

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACTThe gathering momentum of globalization in the world economy has coincided with the spread of political democracy across countries. Economies have become global. But politics remains national. This essay explores the relationship between globalization and democracy, which is neither linear nor characterized by structural rigidities. It seeks to analyze how globalization might constrain degrees of freedom for nation states and space for democratic politics, and how political democracy within countries might exercise some checks and balances on markets and globalization. The essential argument is that the relationship between globalization and democracy is dialectical and does not conform to ideological caricatures.

  4. Ethical Leadership Styles of Future Managers in Central and Eastern European Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Anna Remišová; Anna Lašáková

    2013-01-01

    There is a limited understanding what the constituent elements of the ethical leadership are. Although various researchers defined ethical leadership as a specific leadership style, with typical personality traits and behaviors, the precise instantiation of the content of ethical leadership was only seldom investigated. The body of empirical research on ethical leadership is only slowly beginning to build up. Furthermore, the ethical leadership in Central and Eastern European countries (CEE c...

  5. Acquits communautaire in quality management in the energy sector -Central and Eastern European Countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ristikj, Julija

    1997-01-01

    Energy is considered as one of the main infrastructure components, and efficient energy sectors are corner stones for the economic growth of the Central and Eastern European Countries on their way towards gaining EU membership. Therefore, energy is considered as one of the main directions of action within the PHARE Programme with trans-European dimensions. Five years ago started the implementation of the PHARE Multi-country Energy Programme, the efforts of which have been oriented to three main strategic axes: energy policy, energy supply, as well as energy efficiency and environment. (author)

  6. Proteomic landscape in Central and Eastern Europe: the 9th Central and Eastern European Proteomic Conference, Poznań, Poland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gadher, Suresh Jivan; Marczak, Łukasz; Łuczak, Magdalena; Stobiecki, Maciej; Widlak, Piotr; Kovarova, Hana

    2016-01-01

    Every year since 2007, the Central and Eastern European Proteomic Conference (CEEPC) has excelled in representing state-of-the-art proteomics in and around Central and Eastern Europe, and linking it to international institutions worldwide. Its mission remains to contribute to all approaches of proteomics including traditional and often-revisited methodologies as well as the latest technological achievements in clinical, quantitative and structural proteomics with a view to systems biology of a variety of processes. The 9th CEEPC was held from June 15th to 18th, 2015, at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznań, Poland. The scientific program stimulated exchange of proteomic knowledge whilst the spectacular venue of the conference allowed participants to enjoy the cobblestoned historical city of Poznań.

  7. Schooling for Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noddings, Nel

    2011-01-01

    There is a widespread movement today to prepare all students for college, and it is promoted in the name of democracy. I argue here that such a move actually puts our democracy at risk by forcing students into programs that do not interest them and depriving them of courses at which they might succeed. We risk losing the vision of democracy that…

  8. European Association for Palliative Care: Forging a Vision of Excellence in Palliative Care in Central and Eastern European and Former Soviet Union Countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radbruch, Lukas; Ling, Julie; Hegedus, Katalin; Larkin, Philip

    2018-02-01

    The European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) represents many thousands of health care workers and volunteers working in or with an interest in palliative care. In 2016, the EAPC has individual members from 48 nations across the world, and collective members from 57 national palliative care associations in 32 European countries. Throughout its history, the EAPC has produced guidance on a range of palliative care issues. The biennial congresses and research congresses and the comprehensive Web site (www.eapcnet.eu) are renowned and well utilized platforms for dissemination and exchange of palliative care information. The EAPC has also published a newsletter specifically for Eastern European and Central Asian countries that has been available in both English and Russian from 2005 to 2012. In addition, for a period of time, a Russian Web site (www.eapcspeaksrussian.eu) was also available. A survey of palliative care in Central and Eastern European nations sponsored by Open Society Foundation's International Palliative Care Initiative found that in most countries, the national language is preferred rather than using English or Russian for the provision of information. Accordingly, the EAPC Web site provides translations of white papers, position papers, and blog posts in a number of languages. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Reaching the Objectives of Sustainable Development on the Basis of the Creative Industries – A South and Eastern European Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihai Costică

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The reduction of the development gap of South and East European economy compared with the rest of the developed countries represent an important condition to achieve the goal of „healthy development“ of European Union. High level of competitiveness in West European industries as well as new policy of sustainable development causes a rethinking of strategy of individual countries. Creative industries may contribute to the efficient utilization of local resources and individual characteristics. Using the culture like an “engine” of regional development, in South and Eastern Europe, countries can generate many positive and lasting effects on these economies. This article presents the role and evolution of creative goods and industries in South and Eastern European countries, and aims to prefigure their impact on sustainable development of these regions. The involvement of these goods in international trade may improve or rehabilitate the position of different economies at European level.

  10. Civic Education Trends in Post-Communist Countries of Central and Eastern Europe. ERIC Digest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamot, Gregory E.

    Developments during the decade and a half following the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe indicate broad advancement in civic education for democracy. This digest notes the rising trend in civic education competency in Central and Eastern Europe, describes an increasingly accepted and used framework for civic education, and…

  11. Democracy and identity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milović Miroslav

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available It might be that the crisis of democracy is crisis of thinking. Modern metaphysics affirms the monologue of the subject with respect to the problem of rationality, as well as in the social realm. It thus affirms liberal egoism. Such metaphysics structures modernity as a monologue. Thus the question arises: how to think the democracy within this monologue? Democracy appears to be a modern project impossible to achieve.

  12. Democracy and Historical Writing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Baets, Antoon

    2015-01-01

    In this essay, we try to clarify the relationship between democracy and historical writing. The strategy is first exploring the general relationship between democracy and historical awareness, and then, studying the relationship between democracy and historical writing itself to find out whether

  13. Ukraine and the Council of Europe common activity in implementation of key principles of participatory democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mykhaliuk Nazar Yuriyovych

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The article analyses the main forms of mutual cooperation of Ukraine and the Council of Europe in order to implement basic principles of participatory democracy, to conform the legislation of Ukraine to standards of the European Union. The article examines the main legal documents, phases, and the main areas of cooperation between Ukraine and the Council of Europe. The author also assesses the processes of implementation of key principles of participatory democracy in Ukraine.

  14. Democracy from Islamic law perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mubarak Abdulkadir

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available It is frequently argued that because many Muslim states are monarchies or dictatorships or because of certain events that have taken place within their borders, Islamic law is not compatible with democracy and democracy is even neglected in the provisions of the holy Qur'an. Islamic law, according to what can be traced in its primary sources, not only supports democracy and people's participation in the state affairs but even possesses provisions in the Qur'an verses which encourage counselling and consultation and some scholars deem that to be democratic representation. Islamic Law, according to the provisions of some verses from the holy Qur'an encourages democracy but not liberal democracy like that of the western world. The religious democracy that can go with our modern time and solve many contemporary problems of the Muslim world is the model which was introduced by late Ayatollah Imam Khomeini after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. The author in this research work concludes by showing that the ideal democracy enshrined in the holy Qur'an, as the primary source of Islamic law, is not liberal democracy of the western world, but rather a religious democracy.

  15. The Impact of International Cooperation for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Pablo Prado Lallande

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available At the end of the Cold War, the developed countries agreed that democracy and human rights would be top priority goals of the international cooperation for development. However, nearly two decades after those official commitments, these goals have not been relevant elements of the international agenda, since political, economic and security issues still prevail over both values. This paper analyzes the existing situation, in reference to the U.S. and European Union experiences. The article includes some considerations for the improvement of the international cooperation ability to promote democracy and human rights in third world countries.

  16. SUSTAINABLE GROWTH: RECENT TRENDS ACROSS CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN ECONOMIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihut Ioana

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available What is economic growth? Although the answer to this question may seems of real simplicity, developing an accurate definition of this concept may constitute a real challenge both from a theoretical but also empirical point of view. This constant debate upon the concept of economic growth as well as indentifying the optimum set of instruments for quantifying it, constituted the starting point of the current article. The concept of economic growth is used nowadays complementary to terms like economic development, economic welfare or economic progress with reference to this complex process that implies macro-scale structures. Moreover indentifying the main factors that generate a significant impact upon the dynamics of the economic growth process, constitute a useful approach taking into consideration the high degree of heterogeneity that characterize the architecture of the economies around the world. If we develop this analysis across the European Union member states this debate became even more challenging due to the high degree of diversity that characterize these economies. Moreover, the Central and Eastern European countries and especially the ones that joined EU in 2004 and 2007 embody a set of particularities that make them extremely different from the rest of the European Union member states, features related to the historical background, economic policies and common efforts to intensify the convergence process with the more developed EU members. This paper studies the impact of two main factors upon the economic growth process namely an endogenous-exogenous factor like the degree of openness and an endogenous factor like the human capital using a complex dynamic panel method. The arguments that were in favour of choosing this two factors are on one hand the multitude of theoretical studies that argued the importance of them in modelling the economic growth process and on the other hand the small number of studies that use panel methods in

  17. Europeanization of the World or Globalization of Europe?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jerry Bentley

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Building on his long career as a distinguished historian of early modern Europe, John Miles Headley has recently turned his gaze to the influence of Europe in the larger world. In The Europeanization of the World, Headley makes an insistent case for the uniqueness of European values—particularly human rights and democracy—and argues that these values are Europe’s most precious gifts to the larger world. Without seeking to diminish the remarkable intellectual and cultural achievements of European peoples, this presentation will suggest a more nuanced view of relations between Europe and the larger world. Human rights and democracy mean different things to different peoples in different contexts at different times, and there have in fact been numerous expressions of both in societies beyond Europe. Furthermore, European theorists of human rights and democracy drew influence from societies beyond Europe. To the extent that the Europeanization of the world is a persuasive idea, it is possible only because of a prior globalization of Europe.

  18. Gas in Eastern Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1994-01-01

    West European gas companies have long recognised the potential for lucrative business within eastern Europe. But they recognise that the region's integration into the west European system will be far from straightforward, with deals between east European gas companies and their western counterparts invariably containing financial mechanisms, such as barter trade, that are designed to cope with the easterners' shortage of hard currency. (author)

  19. Technical guidelines for the seismic safety re-evaluation at Eastern European NPPs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Godoy, A.R.; Guerpinar, A.

    2001-01-01

    The paper describes one of the outcomes of the Engineering Safety Review Services (ESRS) that the IAEA provides as an element of the Agency's national, regional and interregional technical assistance and co-operation programmes and other extrabudgetary programmes to assess the safety of nuclear facilities. This refers to the establishment of detailed guidelines for conducting the seismic safety re-evaluation of existing nuclear power plants in Eastern European countries in line with updated criteria and current international practice. (author)

  20. Contemporary theories of democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mladenović Ivan

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is two-fold: first, to analyze several contemporary theories of democracy, and secondly, to propose a theoretical framework for further investigations based on analyzed theories. The following four theories will be analyzed: pluralism, social choice theory, deliberative democracy and participatory democracy.

  1. National parliaments and European constitutionalism: accountability beyond borders

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jancic, D.

    2011-01-01

    The structure and quality of EU democracy is greatly determined by the status that the European Union accords both to the European Parliament and to national parliaments. The potential that national parliaments carry for providing political accountability and democratic legitimacy to the EU

  2. The Integration of MEPs from Central and Eastern Europe into the European Parliament

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radko Hokovský

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available This article evaluates the level of integration of Members of the European Parliament from Central and Eastern Europe in the European Parliament after the EU enlargements of 2004 and 2007. The main objective is to address the puzzle of how the European Parliament’s political groups could maintain or even increase their voting cohesion after the influx of a significantly large number of new MEPs coming from countries with different historical experience, socio-economic characteristics, and political and party systems. Three indicators of MEP integration are defined: integration into parliamentary leadership, integration into parliamentary work, and integration into voting patterns. The article uses data from the VoteWatch.eu website on MEPs’ activities and voting between the years 2004-2011, as well as data from official documents of the European Parliament and its political groups. Analysis of the data reveals that the new member states’ MEPs were significantly under-represented in parliamentary leadership and key legislative activities, despite the fact that their voting loyalty to their political groups was greater than that of their colleagues from older member states.

  3. The "New Eastern Europe": Between the Deepening Crisis of the European Union and the Growing Tensions with Russia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentin Naumescu

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The concept of “Eastern Europe” was always ideologically, politically, strategically or even culturally defined, while pure geography was down on the list of criteria. We therefore consider Eastern Europe a geopolitical idea on a dynamic mental map rather than a geographic reality. In the past three decades, Eastern Europe had at least three meanings, from the former “socialist bloc”, then “East Central European post-communist countries”, to the present member states of the “EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood” or Eastern Partnership (EaP. None of the countries of the pre-1989 Eastern Europe is still in this category, all being “transferred” to Central Europe, while the “new Eastern Europe” currently consists of six post-Soviet republics, from Belarus in the north to Azerbaijan in the south. This paper analyses the geopolitical context of the new Eastern Europe after the launch of the EaP, focusing on Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, caught between the crisis of the EU, their own vulnerabilities and a more threatening Russian Federation.

  4. THE LISBON TREATY- LINK BETWEEN PARTICIPATIVE DEMOCRACY AND ADMINISTRATIVE MODERNIZATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bosie Irina

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available This paperwork examines briefly, the implications it carries on the Lisbon Treaty, the organizational, institutional and decision-making level in the current context of the European Union, included in the reform process. It is important to mention that the European Union's desire is to assign a new role, upwards of national parliaments it is materialized with the new regulation of the Lisbon Treaty. This creates premises to develop a common foreign policy, providing Member States and Community institutions the chance to creatively use new opportunities. The Treaty encourages participative democracy and citizen participation with implications in decision-making efficiency gains.

  5. Cosmopolitan Democracy: A Restatement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Archibugi, Daniele

    2012-01-01

    Can democracy be expanded beyond borders? For many years, it was taken for granted that the norms and values of democracy could be applied within the boundaries of a state only. But over the last 20 years, it has been increasingly argued that democracy can also inform international organizations and global politics. This article recapitulates the…

  6. Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking Prevalence and Correlates in 25 Eastern Mediterranean and Eastern European Countries: Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jawad, Mohammed; Lee, John Tayu; Millett, Christopher

    2016-04-01

    Waterpipe tobacco smoking is highly prevalent among young people in some settings. There is an absence of nationally representative prevalence studies of waterpipe tobacco use and dual use with other tobacco products in young people. We conducted a secondary analysis of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, a nationally representative cross-sectional study of students aged 13-15 years. Of 180 participating countries, 25 included optional waterpipe tobacco smoking questions: 15 Eastern Mediterranean and 10 Eastern European countries. We calculated the prevalence of current (past 30-day) waterpipe tobacco use, including dual waterpipe and other tobacco use, and used logistic regression models to identify sociodemographic correlates of waterpipe tobacco smoking. Individual country results were combined in a random effects meta-analysis. Waterpipe tobacco smoking prevalence was highest in Lebanon (36.9%), the West Bank (32.7%) and parts of Eastern Europe (Latvia 22.7%, the Czech Republic 22.1%, Estonia 21.9%). These countries also recorded greater than 10% prevalence of dual waterpipe and cigarette use. In a meta-analysis, higher odds of waterpipe tobacco smoking were found among males (Adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.37, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.18% to 1.59%), cigarette users (AOR = 6.95, 95% CI = 5.74% to 8.42%), those whose parents (AOR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.31% to 1.82%) or peers smoked (AOR = 3.53, 95% CI = 2.97% to 4.20%) and those whose parents had higher educational attainment (Father, AOR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.14% to 1.89%; Mother, AOR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.07% to 2.46%). We report on regional- and country income-level differences. Waterpipe tobacco smoking, including dual waterpipe and cigarette use, is alarmingly high in several Eastern Mediterranean and Eastern European countries. Ongoing waterpipe tobacco smoking surveillance is warranted. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All

  7. Democracy Aid and Electoral Accountability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Heinrich, Tobias; Loftis, Matthew

    2017-01-01

    for this by analyzing incumbent turnover in elections following poor economic performance – the economic vote – as a measure of voting to achieve performance accountability. In our analysis of over 1,100 elections in 114 developing countries between 1975 and 2010, we find distinct evidence that increasing receipt......Although foreign policies often fail to successfully promote democracy, over a decade of empirical research indicates that foreign aid specifically for democracy promotion is remarkably successful at improving the survival and institutional strength of fragile democracies. However, these measures...... cannot tell us how well democracy aid supports the central promise of democracy: accountable government. Since institutions can be subverted in various ways that undermine accountability, it is vital to know whether democracy aid supports accountability to assess its overall success. We provide evidence...

  8. Democracy and non-profit housing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Anne Vorre; Langergaard, Luise Li

    2017-01-01

    Resident democracy as a special form of participatory democratic set-up is fundamental in the understanding, and self-understanding, of the non-profit housing sector in Denmark. Through a case study, the paper explores how resident democracy is perceived and narrated between residents and employees....... The tensions are related to representative versus participatory democracy; collectivity versus individuality; and service versus welfare. The tensions elucidate how resident democracy is squeezed between different logics, which result in an ambiguous setting for practising democracy. Based on the results...... at a housing association. The study indicates that the meta-story of democracy is disconnected from practice and the lived lives of residents. Three analytical tensions structure the analysis, which relate to the conditions for realizing the democratic ideal embedded in the structure of the sector...

  9. Special Report: Engaging Islamists and Promoting Democracy. A Preliminary Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-08-01

    criticized music festivals and spearheaded a campaign against the film Marock, directed by a Moroccan woman. Degree of internal Democracy and...parliament, the PJD deemphasizes its moral agenda, adopting a more pragmatic and sophisticated approach to a number of moral issues. Tourism is a key... tourism . In response, the PJD has pushed to develop Morocco’s infrastructure and establish retirement communities for European retirees. The project

  10. Sewage Management Changes in the North-eastern Poland After Accession to the European Union

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skarżyński, Szymon; Bartkowska, Izabela

    2018-02-01

    Poland's accession to the European Union contributed to the infrastructure development of the whole country. One of the elements of the modernized infrastructure is the sewage network and facilities on this network, as well as facilities for waste water treatment and disposal of sludge. A wide stream of funds flowing to the country, and consequently also to the north-eastern polish voivodeships (Podlaskie, Warmian-Masurian, Lublin), allowed modernization, organize, and sometimes to build a new sewage management of this part of the country. The main factors and parameters that allow us to evaluate the development of the sewage management in north-eastern Poland are included: percentage of population using sewage treatment plants, number of municipal sewage plants with the division of their type, number of industrial plants, number of septic tanks, amount of sewage purified in a year, amount of sludge produced in the year, design capacity of sewage treatment plant, size of plant in population equivalent (PE). From a number of investments in the field of wastewater management carried out in the discussed area in the period after Poland's accession to the European Union, 9 investments were considered the most important, 3 from each of the voivodeships.

  11. Lichens of neglected habitats in Eastern and East-Central European lowlands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jurga Motiejūnaitē

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Situation of lichens of aquatic and transient habitats in Eastern and East-Central European lowlands is discussed basing on example of several selected species: Leptogium biatorinum, Sarcosagium campestre, Steinia geophana, Verrucaria aquatilis, V. hydrela, V. praetermissa, V. xyloxena. Both habitat types are generally very much neglected in the region and all species show large spatial gaps in recording, which makes it difficult to judge both about their true distribution limits and spreading dynamics. On the other hand, targeted search through the suitable habitats and abundance of such indicate that many of these lichens are probably not uncommon in the region.

  12. Government, politics and health policy: A quantitative analysis of 30 European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackenbach, Johan P; McKee, Martin

    2015-10-01

    Public health policies are often dependent on political decision-making, but little is known of the impact of different forms of government on countries' health policies. In this exploratory study we studied the association between a wide range of process and outcome indicators of health policy and four groups of political factors (levels of democracy, e.g. voice and accountability; political representation, e.g. voter turnout; distribution of power, e.g. constraints on the executive; and quality of government, e.g. absence of corruption) in contemporary Europe. Data on 15 aspects of government and 18 indicators of health policy as well as on potential confounders were extracted from harmonized international data sources, covering 30 European countries and the years 1990-2010. In a first step, multivariate regression analysis was used to relate cumulative measures of government to indicators of health policy, and in a second step panel regression with country fixed effects was used to relate changes in selected measures of government to changes in indicators of health policy. In multivariate regression analyses, measures of quality of democracy and quality of government had many positive associations with process and outcome indicators of health policy, while measures of distribution of power and political representation had few and inconsistent associations. Associations for quality of democracy were robust against more extensive control for confounding variables, including tests in panel regressions with country fixed effects, but associations for quality of government were not. In this period in Europe, the predominant political influence on health policy has been the rise of levels of democracy in countries in the Central & Eastern part of the region. In contrast to other areas of public policy, health policy does not appear to be strongly influenced by institutional features of democracy determining the distribution of power, nor by aspects of political

  13. PUBLIC POLICY, QUALITY OF INTITUTION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DOGARU DORIN-MADALIN

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes the relationship between economic performance and institutional development in several Central and Eastern European Countries. Our meta-argument is that the structural transformations at the levels of the quantitative variables and mechanisms are only a part of the transition processes. In order to view the big picture, the qualitative aspects related to public policies and institutions should also be considered. We test the linkages between the quality of public policies and institutions for seven Central and Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and Romania for a time span between 2001 and 2011. These countries are displaying a certain degree of heterogeneity in terms of economic performances and the design and implementation of public policies. We use for our analysis the World Bank indicators from World Wide Governance Indicators. In order to deal with the potential reverse causality issues, we employ Generalized Method of Moments Framework (GMM by using the lagged variables as instruments. The impact of governance indicators is statistically significant even if we use several control variables: exchange rate, unemployment, current account deficit, taxes burden and price stability. The corresponding Sargan and Arellano-Bond test for zero autocorrelation in first-differenced errors tests shows that the results display a corresponding robustness. The main policy implications for our findings may be synthesized by the thesis, according to which a proper design of public policies, a high degree of their effectiveness and accountability, a stable social and political environment together with the rule of law and efficient anticorruption mechanisms are critical determinants of economic growth even in emerging markets. The impact of the government “size , economic structure and markets” mechanisms , monetary policy and price stability , ownership structure and legal rights

  14. Democracy, Support for Democracy and Corruption. A Longitudinal Study of Latin American Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davide Grassi

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Although often unable to satisfactorily solve the problem, democracy (especially enduring democracy is commonly believed to reduce corruption. Yet, both Transparency International and the World Bank continue to attach a high risk of corruption to Latin American countries: corruption and impunity remain prevalent in the area, despite consolidating democratic regimes and recent anticorruption reforms. Using level of democracy and its endurance, as well as information on the perceptions of democratic performance and corruption obtained from the Latinobarometro, we analyzed a panel data covering the period 2005-2010 in 14 Latin American countries. Our main results show that levels of democracy and citizens' assessment of government fairness have a positive impact on corruption. However, satisfaction towards democracy has the opposite effect: when citizens believed democratic governments and public administrations to be efficient, they also perceived that gains against corruption had significantly decreased.

  15. Multilingualism and Education for Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biseth, Heidi

    2009-01-01

    This essay attempts to show the importance of linguistic issues in education for democracy and the close relationship between democracy and multilingualism. Increasingly nation-states are having to adapt to linguistic diversity within their borders and to recognize that democracy requires the participation of all citizens, including those belonging to linguistic minorities. Democracy also requires that all linguistic groups share a sense of community. The author argues the need for educational policies that address these challenges.

  16. Variation in transnationalism among Eastern European migrants in Italy: the role of duration of residence and integration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cela, E.; Fokkema, T.; Ambrosetti, E.; King, Russell; Povrzanović Frykman, Maya; Vullnetari, Julie

    2017-01-01

    Transnationalism of first-generation migrants, usually considered as a core element of their migratory projects, is nowadays taken somewhat for granted. Our aim in this paper is to examine empirically the relations of transnationalism with duration of residence and integration of Eastern European

  17. Concurrent validation of two key health literacy instruments in a South Eastern European population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toçi, Ervin; Burazeri, Genc; Sørensen, Kristine; Kamberi, Haxhi; Brand, Helmut

    2015-06-01

    Public health practice has come to increasing recognition of health promotion and the central role of knowledge, attitude, beliefs and practices in achieving health promotion. Health literacy (HL) is an under-explored topic in South Eastern European countries. There are no HL reports from Albania to date. The aim of this study was to assess the concurrent validity of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q) and the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) in a population-based sample of adults in Albania. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2013 in Tirana, Albania, including 239 individuals aged ≥ 18 years (61% women; 87% response). A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was applied twice (test and retest procedure after 2 weeks) including HLS-EU-Q and TOFHLA instruments. The internal consistency was high for both instruments (Cronbach's alpha for the test procedure was 0.92 for TOFHLA and 0.98 for HLS-EU-Q). Both tools exhibited a high stability over time (Spearman's rho: 0.88 for TOFHLA and 0.87 for HLS-EU). Mean values of both instruments were similar in men and women (mean score for TOFHLA: 76.0 vs. 76.5, P = 0.83; mean score for HLS-EU-Q: 32.2 vs. 32.6, P = 0.63). For both instruments, higher HL scores were significantly associated with younger age, higher educational and economic level and lower body mass index. Our study provides valuable novel evidence on concurrent validation of two major HL instruments in a South Eastern European population-based sample. Future studies should be conducted in order to confirm and expand our findings. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

  18. POLITICAL PROCESS DRIVERS OF CORRUPTION IN EASTERN EUROPE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ada-Iuliana POPESCU

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Corruption stands as one of the many obstacles to the political and economic security of the Eastern European region. Thus, despite the political and economic instability in the region, Eastern European countries, in and outside of the European Union need to fight corruption collectively and individually. The task is difficult, but hope is justified because the causes of corruption in this part of the region are similar and anti-corruption expertise is available. We believe that a deeper analysis of corruption’s drivers can produce a better articulated and more efficient anti-corruption strategy. This strategy will create an anti-corruption infrastructure that will strengthen the Eastern European Partnership. As a prelude to the deeper analysis that we believe must be a part of this strategy, this paper identifies the main drivers of corruption in the Eastern European Partnership countries and explains why addressing these drivers will strengthen the Eastern European Partnership.

  19. Central and Eastern European Countries Focus on the Silk Road Economic Belt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    GEORGE CORNEL DUMITRESCU

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The Silk Road Economic Belt, a strategic priority of the Chinese foreign policy in 2015, draws the attention to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe through the multiple benefits that it displays (investments, economic growth, trade between the countries along its corridors, job creation, infrastructure development, the strategic importance of being part of a grandiose multi-continental project. Among these benefits an important one is represented by the opportunities of Chinese investments in infrastructure, since the EU is suffering from a credit restraint. Also, The Silk Road Economic Belt could lead to a potential increase in the bilateral trade. Analyzing the literature in the field and the various official information available online, this paper aims to depict the Chinese project form the Eastern European perspective, identifying local priorities, conflicting interests, possible infrastructure projects, routes, focusing on two strategic countries in the region: Romania and Serbia, both displaying advantages and disadvantages.

  20. Determinants of debt rescheduling in Eastern European countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laušev Jelena

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This study utilizes Panel Logit Models applied to a set of macroeconomic, financial, and political variables to estimate the debt rescheduling probabilities of 15 Eastern European countries during the transition period from 1990-2005. These transition economies became a very attractive region for foreign investment. Specifically, the region became the largest recipient of net non-FDI flows among all emerging market regions in 2005. Therefore, it is relevant for policy makers and institutional and private foreign investors to investigate factors that influence debt rescheduling probabilities, as these may directly affect the size of and return on investments in these countries. Our findings suggest that policy efforts focused on reducing government expenditure, attracting foreign direct investment, increasing export revenues, and keeping a good repayment record result in low debt rescheduling probabilities and, in turn, decrease the cost of debt for these countries. This is a common finding for all countries in the sample, including those that have become EU members.

  1. Safeguarding values in the European Union: : The European Parliament, Article 7 and Hungary

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bonelli, Matteo

    2015-01-01

    The recent constitutional crisis in Hungary and other political developments in several EU member states have raised concerns over the capacity of the European Union to safeguard its fundamental values: democracy, the rule of law and human rights. Mechanisms in the hands of the institutions are

  2. Debugging Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Likhotal

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Democracy was the most successful political idea of the 20th century. However since the beginning of the new century democracy has been clearly suffering from serious structural problems, rather than a few isolated ailments. Why has it run into trouble, can it be revived? In the consumption driven world people have started to be driven by the belief in economic prosperity as the guarantee of human freedom. As a result, human development and personal status have become hostages of economic performance, deforming basic civilisation’s ethical matrix. However in 10-15 years, the world may be completely different. We are looking at communications and technology revolutions occurring in very abbreviated time frames. Soon, billions of people will interact via a fast data-transferring Metaweb, and it will change social standards as well as human behaviour patterns. Integrated global economies functioning as holistic entities will spur a deep reframing of global governance, shaping a new configuration of political, economic and military power. One can hardly expect that these changes will leave democratic mechanisms intact. It’s a pivotal moment for all of us because we are facing paradigm changes in our way of life. We clearly need a new political vision that is deliverable quickly. Democracy can be reset if it can provide a platform for collective judgement and individual development—in a value-driven process, when values manifest themselves in concrete and socially meaningful issues, and are not reduced to the economic optimization and politics of the wallet. In other words, the only remedy to resolve the crisis of democracy is more democracy.

  3. Multilingualism and Education for Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biseth, Heidi

    2009-01-01

    This essay attempts to show the importance of linguistic issues in education for democracy and the close relationship between democracy and multilingualism. Increasingly nation-states are having to adapt to linguistic diversity within their borders and to recognize that democracy requires the participation of all citizens, including those…

  4. Law, Democracy & Development

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The evolution and implementation of democracy, good governance practices, human rights and socio-economic development are critical issues facing South Africa and Africa as a whole. Law interacts with this process in ways that may promote or inhibit it. Law, Democracy & Development addresses this interaction. Our aim ...

  5. Democracy Squared

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rose, Jeremy; Sæbø, Øystein

    2005-01-01

    On-line political communities, such as the Norwegian site Demokratitorget (Democracy Square), are often designed according to a set of un-reflected assumptions about the political interests of their potential members. In political science, democracy is not taken as given in this way, but can...... be represented by different models which characterize different relationships between politicians and the citizens they represent. This paper uses quantitative and qualitative content analysis to analyze the communication mediated by the Democracy Square discussion forum in the first ten months of its life......-Republican model. In the qualitative analysis the discourse is analysed as repeating genres – patterns in the communication form which also reflect the conflict of interest between citizens and politicians. Though the analysis gives insight into the nature of the discourse the site supports, little is known about...

  6. Entertaining Democracy in the Era of Neo-Liberalism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James Curran

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available James Curran’s article “Entertaining democracy in the Era of Neo-liberalism” is an essay written from the 13th SBPJor Conference Meeting in Campo Grande in 2015; a conference in which he was the opening speaker. The article was approved for publication in the BJR at the end of 2015, but we have decided to publish it in a special edition of Journalism and Democracy as it deals precisely with this issue. Curran begins the article by questioning the current state of democracy as it pertains to the decline of the nation state and the emergence of transnational institutions of deliberation which he calls “multilevel governance” but “is not matched by the development of a multilevel sense of citizenship”. As almost a prelude to the Brexit, Curran draws attention to the fact that the English do not consider themselves European despite being a part of the European Union. He tied this nationalist ideal not only to the British, but to other country populations in general. In a world dominated by transnational corporations and the presence and constancy of national media “supporting a national identity” he predicted that “Attempts at new institutional building are out of step with media development”. His analysis highlights several problems that are weakening modern democracy like “the increasing centralization of power by political leaders” and the “increasingly unrepresentative nature of the political class  rendering them in some countries almost a ‘separate caste’”. Reading Curran’s text allows us to reflect on the situation in Brazil. At first, it is pessimistic and places meanings that we have lobbied for outside of our borders: “Governments are less able to govern; political power is becoming more centralized; and the unelected influence of big business is becoming greater”. The media also has a hand in contributing towards a “growing sense of disconnection from politics”, making reference to politics as

  7. The institutional structure and political economy of food distribution systems: A comparative analysis of six Eastern European countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Esbjerg, Lars; Skytte, Hans

    This paper discusses the food distribution systems of six Eastern European countries. It considers the macro and task environments of distribution systems, discussing the constraints and opportunities the environments present to companies. The institutional structure of retailing and wholesaling...... are analysed and important developments in the institutional structure are noted. The internal political economy of distribution channels in Eastern Europe is analysed and the modernisation of distribution systems discussed. Finally, some conclusions are offered and areas for future research suggested....

  8. Gender Role Attitudes among Higher Education Students in a Borderland Central-Eastern European Region Called "Partium"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fényes, Hajnalka

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we examine the attitudes towards gender roles among higher education students in a borderland Central-Eastern European region. We used the database of "The Impact of Tertiary Education on Regional Development" project (N = 602, 2010). We intend to determine what kind of attitudes towards gender roles the students identify…

  9. Discursive Democracy. Republicanism, Multiculturalism and Cosmpolitanism in the transnational sphere

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Agustin, Oscar Garcia

    democracy. Velasco is thinking in the inclusion of indigenous groups in Mexico to increase political representation and control of politicians. Whilst multiculturalism is applied to ethnic minorities in these theories, the integration of immigrants has become the core issue developed by Cécile Laborde (2008...... on the recent development of the European Union’s immigration and integration policies. I will focus on the creation of the increasing institutional process: the more importance of the European Parliament (as traditional legitimate representatives of the national States in opposition to the Council......), the multilevel governance (with the deliberative role of the Committee of the Regions) and international civil society participation (leaded by the Economic and Social Committee but increased with the European Integration Forum). Besides I will look at the discussions between universalism (assumed...

  10. Democratic Citizenship – A Conditioned Apprenticeship. A Call for Destabilisation of Democracy in Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Olson

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available We live in times when the search for a citizenship education that can transcend national, ethnical and cultural borders is an important part of educational policy. In times of increased pressure by the European Union on its nation states to provide for nation-transcending democracy, this question becomes crucial for national policymaking in Europe. In this text, Swedish education policy will be taken as a case in point in order to shed light on how this question is being handled in this particular national policy setting. It is argued that the policy’s citizen fostering agenda tends to be counterproductive in the sense that it is still situated in national notions of the relationship between democracy and education, which tend to exclude certain individuals and groups of people on an age-related and (ethno cultural basis. It is further argued that these excluding features can be related to educational ideas about socialisation. The aim of this text is underlined by suggesting a different way of framing democracy and democratic citizenship education: to increase the potential of education as regards the renewal of democracy and democratic citizenship.

  11. Sewage Management Changes in the North-eastern Poland After Accession to the European Union

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Skarżyński Szymon

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Poland's accession to the European Union contributed to the infrastructure development of the whole country. One of the elements of the modernized infrastructure is the sewage network and facilities on this network, as well as facilities for waste water treatment and disposal of sludge. A wide stream of funds flowing to the country, and consequently also to the north-eastern polish voivodeships (Podlaskie, Warmian-Masurian, Lublin, allowed modernization, organize, and sometimes to build a new sewage management of this part of the country. The main factors and parameters that allow us to evaluate the development of the sewage management in north-eastern Poland are included: percentage of population using sewage treatment plants, number of municipal sewage plants with the division of their type, number of industrial plants, number of septic tanks, amount of sewage purified in a year, amount of sludge produced in the year, design capacity of sewage treatment plant, size of plant in population equivalent (PE. From a number of investments in the field of wastewater management carried out in the discussed area in the period after Poland's accession to the European Union, 9 investments were considered the most important, 3 from each of the voivodeships.

  12. Recognition of Laborers as Citizens: First Worker Democracy versus Liberal Capitalist Democracy

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Brabec, Martin

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 15, 1/2 (2016), s. 157-165 ISSN 1569-1500 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA14-19416S Institutional support: RVO:67985955 Keywords : Athenian democracy * capitalism * citizenships * demos * exploitation * liberal democracy * peasants Subject RIV: AA - Philosophy ; Religion

  13. Quality of democracy in Venezuela

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel H. LEVINE

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Discussions of democracy in contemporary Venezuela lack a settled definition of the subject, how to study it, or indeed of what counts as «democracy» in the first place. The regime has been described as everything from participatory democracy, hybrid, mixed, and personalist to populist, illiberal, or no longer democratic but rather competitive authoritarian. The goal of this article is to measure the quality of democracy in Venezuela, within the terms of a procedural concept of democracy as detailed in our earlier work. Empirical measurement of the quality of democracy on five dimensions (electoral choice, participation, responsiveness, accountability, sovereignty reveals a low level overall and deep institutional weakness under a personalist leadership, with little change from 2005 to 2010. Future scenarios, after the 2012 presidential election result, include reinforcement of authoritarian trends, open militarization, liberalization and institutional strengthening, or long term volatility and polarized conflict. All scenarios are contingent on the health of President Chávez, who is a central unifying factor for his movement and regime

  14. Deweyan Democracy: The Epistemic Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jón Olafsson

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available John Dewey famously argued that we should think of democracy as a “way of life”. What this consists in he described as participating according to capacity in public decisions and participating according to need or desire in forming values. He also characterized democracy as “a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience” (Dewey 1966 p. 87; 1954 p. 147; 1957 p. 209. Such and other passages in Dewey’s works show that his conception of democracy is complex. He did not think of it simply as a way of decision-making, nor is democratic procedure of particular importance to him. Concepts such as “associated living” or “communicated experience” point to the social dimensions Dewey was particularly interested in. Dewey also repeatedly claims that democracy demands “social return” from every individual and that democracy enables everyone to develop “distinct capacities” (Dewey 1966, p. 122. A related claim emphasizes how, in a democracy, “all share in useful service and enjoy a worthy leisure” (Dewey 1966, p. 256.

  15. A comparative study of gender pay gaps in nordic countries and eastern european countries

    OpenAIRE

    Weng, Linling

    2007-01-01

    Under the compressed wage structure and generous family policies, Nordic countries have been regarded as leaders of gender equality in terms of low gender pay gaps and high rates of female labor force participation; after the fundamental restructuring of the economic system in Eastern European countries, women have experienced a remarkable change with respect to the labor market positions and economic status facing the increased wage inequality and significant declines in labor force particip...

  16. The Impact of Bribery on Firm Performance: Evidence from Central and Eastern European Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Anna Kochanova

    2012-01-01

    I examine the relation between bureaucratic corruption ('to get things done') and firm performance in Central and Eastern European countries. While previous re- search relies on data from the BEEPS survey, which suffers from excessive non- reporting of corporate performance, I combine the information on bribery practices from the BEEPS with reliable firm performance data from the Amadeus database. The estimates, identified from within-firm variation, suggest that bureaucratic cor- ruption neg...

  17. CORRUPTION AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT. EVIDENCE FROM CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN STATES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Mihaela Amarandei

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the impact of corruption on foreign direct investment inflows for ten Central and Eastern European states. The paper attempts to answer the question: what is the role of corruption in attracting foreign direct investments? Using the data from UNCTAD for foreign direct investment and Corruption Perception Index from Transparency International, for a period of 12 years, 2000-2012, we evaluate the specific impact of corruptions on FDI using GDP as control variable. Our results confirm the majority of literature and show a negative significant relation between the variables analyzed, but at a lower intensity than expected.

  18. Towards a Critique of Political Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario Tronti

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Starting from the idea that democracy always binds together a practice of domination and a project of liberation, Tronti formulates the conditions for a critique of democracy that would permit a rebirth of political thought in the current conjuncture. Bringing the heterodox Marxist traditions of ‘workerism’ and the ‘autonomy of the political’ together with the feminist thinking of difference, Tronti underscores the identitarian tendencies of democracy and the difficulties of combining democracy with a genuine notion of freedom. For Tronti, democracy is increasingly synonymous with the pervasiveness of capitalism understood as ‘bourgeois society’, and the victory of ‘real democracy’ (as one might speak of ‘real socialism’ is the sociological victory of the bourgeoisie. The homo oeconomicus and the homo democraticus are fused into the dominant figure of democracy, the ‘mass bourgeois’. Against the depoliticizing consequences of ‘democratic Empire’, Tronti proposes a profound rethinking of our notion of politics, one which should not shy from reconsidering the elitist critiques of democracy.

  19. Freedom and the Non-Instrumental Value of Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rostbøll, Christian F.

    This paper is an intervention in two debates, one concerning the instrumental vs noninstrumental value of democracy, the other concerning the relationship between freedom and democracy. I reject the purely instrumental justification of democracy and defend the idea that democracy has noninstrumen......This paper is an intervention in two debates, one concerning the instrumental vs noninstrumental value of democracy, the other concerning the relationship between freedom and democracy. I reject the purely instrumental justification of democracy and defend the idea that democracy has...... noninstrumental value. I see the noninstrumental value of democracy in terms of freedom rather than the now more common reference to equality or fairness. The freedom argument can better show the noninstrumenal value of democracy and can better respond to some core objections to democratic noninstrumentalism than...... the equality argument. A main aim of this paper is to show that freedom and democracy are not merely instrumentally linked but, rather, intrinsically related. I argue this mainly via a critical engagement with Philip Pettit’s conception of freedom as nondomination. My defense of the noninstrumental value...

  20. Power and democracy in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Jørgen Goul; Jørgensen, Torben Beck; Valgårda, Signild

    the numerous projects under the Power Study, and this book is a short presentation of these conclusions.The main focus of the book is the state of democracy in Denmark at the dawn of the 21st century. How has democracy fared, has the development made things better or worse, and to which extent does......In 1997, the Danish Parliament decided to launch a power study, officially An Analysis of Democracy and Power in Denmark. A steering committee consisting of five independent researchers was assigned responsibility for the project. The Steering Committee has gathered the overall conclusions from...... contemporary democracy live up to our democratic ideals? The answer is that in many ways democracy is doing better than we might have expected, considering the intense pressure on the nation state and the democratic institutions in the postwar period. The Danish population is still full of democratic life...

  1. Micronutrient intake and status in Central and Eastern Europe compared with other European countries, results from the EURRECA network

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Novakovic, R.N.; Cavelaars, A.J.E.M.; Bekkering, G.E.; Roman-Vinas, B.; Ngo, J.; Gurinovic, M.; Glibetic, M.; Golesorkhi, M.; Warthon-Medina, M.; Satalic, Z.; Geelen, A.; Serra Majem, L.; Veer, van 't P.; Groot, de C.P.G.M.

    2013-01-01

    Objective: To compare micronutrient intakes and status in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) with those in other European countries and with reference values. Design: Review of the micronutrient intake/status data from open access and grey literature source

  2. Democracy is a historical urgency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Synek, Miroslav

    2015-03-01

    Survival of humanity, on this planet, may depend, heavily, on coping with advancing technology of nuclear missiles. Let us consider critical alternatives of powerful governments: democracy, as an alternative to dictatorship. Democracy is based on free elections, as a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Democracy is a historical urgency, in the age of inter-continental nuclear missiles, computerized on a push-button, conceivably controllable by a very powerful, miscalculating and/or insane, dictator, capable of producing global nuclear holocaust, on our entire planet. Diplomacy, together with supporting activities, should be utilized, to help, in important steps, at this time, for achieving democracy in critical areas.

  3. The Transmission of Foreign Shocks to South Eastern European Economies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petrevski, Goran; Bogoev, Jane; Tevdovski, Dragan

    2014-01-01

    This paper investigates the transmission of foreign shocks to economic activity and macroeconomic policies in the South Eastern European (SEE) economies with fixed exchange rate regimes: Croatia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. Specifically, we provide empirical evidence on the influence of the EMU policy...... with rigid exchange rate regimes, with different degree of integration within the EU. As for the methodological issues, we employ recursive Vector Auto regressions to identify the exogenous shocks in the euro-area. Generally, the estimated results imply that euro-zone economic activity has significant...... reference rate are relatively quickly transmitted to domestic money market rates. We can explain these effects by several factors, such as: the fixed exchange rates, the relatively high integration of SEE financial markets to EMU financial markets as well as the dependence of banks on foreign financing...

  4. The History of Parliamentary Democracy in Denmark in Comparative Perspective

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jakobsen, Uffe

    2008-01-01

    "In the last chapter of Part Three, 'The History of Parliamentary Democracy in Denmark in Comparative Perspective', Uffe Jakobsen takes up a comparative perspective to the history of European democratization. Adopting the recent processes of change, i.a. of transitions from the authoritarian rule...... of the Continent. The outcome invites, in his view, a reconsideration of the supposed specificity of the types and timing of changes within the historical processes of democratization in Western Europe."...

  5. Vessel guardians: sculpture and graphics related to the ceramics of NorthEastern European hunter-gatherers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Kashina

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available North-Eastern European hunter-gatherer ceramic sculptures, relief sculptures and graphic images on vessels are discussed. Five groups of finds are distinguished according to their chronology (4000–2500 BC cal and represented subject (birds, human head, human figure, mammal head etc.. Their production believes to be a female craft, their making had ritual aims and their emerging was independent from any influences of pastoral/agricultural societies.

  6. On Education and the Taste for Democracy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freire, Paulo

    1991-01-01

    Argues that it is impossible to teach democracy without living democracy. Shows the need to create the taste for democracy, and the appetite for learning, taking risks, and for appreciating differences. Asserts that teachers are not actually champions of civil rights, freedom and democracy but will be called on to fight for these ideals. (PRA)

  7. THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP – A PREMISE FOR AN ENHANCED EU-EASTERN NEIGHBOURS COOPERATION RELATIONSHIP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oana Mocanu

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The enlargement of the European Union towards the Central and Eastern Europe has brought to attention the necessity to reshape the EU institutional framework and specific policies addressing its new neighbourhood. Repeatedly stating that the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP is not a preceding phase for membership, the European Union also embraced the Polish-Swedish initiative for an Eastern Partnership (EaP. Meant at first to counterbalance the Union for Mediterranean project, the EaP has developed into a distinct project, with specific and ambitious cooperation goals, a positive and constructive agenda meant to support six countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Belarus develop and harmonize with the European standards and, at the same, attempting to build and further develop an Eastern dimension of the ENP. The questions of the efficiency of the conditionality derived from the EaP and also the complementarity of this initiative with other regional projects in the area can also be important matters of concern.

  8. From Promoting Political Polyarchy to Defeating Participatory Democracy: U.S. Foreign Policy towards the Far Left in Latin America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timothy M Gill

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available During the 1980s, the United States initiated an explicit policy of democracy promotion throughout the world. William Robinson (1996 more accurately described this initiative as “promoting polyarchy,” whereby the United States supported moderate elite actors that promoted neoliberal economic policies to displace both right-wing and communist despots, such as General Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Soviet rulers in Eastern Europe. While much of Latin America remained characterized by polyarchies throughout the late 20th Century, Latin American citizens began to reject these political arrangements and to elect anti-neoliberal candidates that promoted participatory democracy by the turn of the 21st Century, particularly in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. How has the United States changed its democracy promotion strategies to respond to these new dynamics? The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the U.S. government, through agencies such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED and USAID, has altered the main thrust of its foreign policy in Latin America, from promoting polyarchy and displacing despotic leaders, to supporting opposition actors to unseat democratically-elected far leftist leaders that promote participatory democracy. This paper deploys a case study method involving recent U.S. foreign policy in Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and it utilizes both U.S. diplomatic cables and interviews with U.S. state elites to illustrate this shift.

  9. Democracy, education, and economics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Emami, Z.; Davis, J.

    2009-01-01

    This paper examines the connections between democracy and education, particularly as it concerns economics. We adopt a pluralist proceduralist view of democracy, and argue that this requires a view of individuals as active decision-makers able to deliberate and reflect on their different ideas and

  10. Undergraduate teaching of nuclear medicine: a comparison between Central and Eastern Europe and European Union countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lass, P.; Scheffler, J.; Bandurski, T.

    2003-01-01

    This paper overviews the curricula of nuclear medicine (NM) undergraduate training in 34 Central and Eastern European (CEE) and 37 European Union (EU) medical faculties. The data show enormous variation in the number of hours devoted to nuclear medicine, varying between 1-2 to 40 hours and highly differentiated concepts/ideas of nuclear medicine training in particular countries. In most EU countries this teaching is integrated with that of radiology or clinical modules, also with training in clinical physiology. In many CEE countries teaching and testing of NM are independent, although integration with other teaching modules is frequent. The paper discusses the differences in particular approaches to nuclear medicine teaching. (author)

  11. Transcultural Memory in Eastern European Migrant Literature

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ortner, Jessica

    of the major processes that circulate memories across cultural and national borderlines. This paper will investigate the circulation of memories in Eastern Europe migrant-literature that since 2000 has become an increasingly influential literary tendency in Germany. Articulating an eastern perspective...... consciously follow the mission to “enlighten and inform Western readers about their eastern neighbours” (Haines 2008). Causing an “eastern enlargement” of German literature (Bürger-Koftis 2008), the wave of migrant authors broadens Germany’s cultural memory by supplementing it with “new” memories. Furthermore......The “transcultural turn” of memory studies focuses on the fluid and dynamic aspects of cultural memory. This paper is concerned with the traveling of memories along the paths of migration. As migrants carry along “collective images and narratives of the past” (Erll 2011), migration is one...

  12. Örgütsel Demokrasi( Organizational Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pınar ERKAL COŞAN

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The understanding of democracy that is shaped by contemporary economic, political, social and cultural developments makes us re-consider organizational life. The number of studies on organizational democracy rises exponentially whereby contributions to and complexities for the organization are discussed. In this context, this study begins with a conceptualization of organizational democracy from modern business management perspective, which is followed by respectively; a discussion of previous research on organizational democracy, the causes behind the new departure towards organizational democracy, the contributions to organizations, the complexities and problems faced during practical implementation, and finally a literature review on the ways and means of ensuring organizational democracy. With this study, the following questions will be raised to scholarly discussion; is organizational democracy just an ideal emphasizing the human element and employee satisfaction, or is it a strategy that needs managerial attention for attainment of organizational goals in 21 st century?

  13. From Deliberative Democracy to Communicative Democracy in the Classroom. A Response to "Education for Deliberative Democracy: A Typology of Classroom Discussions"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weasel, Lisa

    2017-01-01

    This response to Samuelsson's typology for assessing deliberative democracy in classroom discussions views his analysis through an equity lens. It offers Young's model of communicative democracy as a resource and argues that incorporating that model's emphasis on greeting, rhetoric, and storytelling into the typology can help to promote more…

  14. MEDICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES OF THE DECISIONS RENDERED BY THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakhvadze, B; Chakhvadze, G

    2017-01-01

    The European Convention on Human rights is a document that protects human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals, and the European Court of Human Rights and its case-law makes a convention a powerful instrument to meet the new challenges of modernity and protect the principles of rule of law and democracy. This is important, particularly for young democracies, including Georgia. The more that Georgia is a party to this convention. Article 3 of the convention deals with torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, while article 8 deals with private life, home and correspondence. At the same time, the international practice of the European court of human rights shows that these articles are often used with regard to medical rights. The paper highlights the most recent and interesting cases from the case-law of the ECHR, in which the courts conclusions are based solely on the European Convention on Human Rights. In most instances, the European Court of Human Rights uses the principle of democracy with regard to medical rights. The European court of human rights considers medical rights as moral underpinning rights. Particularly in every occasion, the European Court of Human Rights acknowledges an ethical dimension of these rights. In most instances, it does not matter whether a plaintiff is a free person or prisoner, the European court of human rights make decisions based on fundamental human rights and freedoms of individuals.

  15. Capacity development in food composition database management and nutritional research and education in Central and Eastern European, Middle Eastern and North African countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gurinović, M; Witthöft, C M; Tepšić, J; Ranić, M; Hulshof, P J M; Hollman, P C; Porubska, J; Gohar, A; Debeljak-Martačić, J; Petrović-Oggiano, G; Novaković, R; Glibetić, M; Oshaug, A

    2010-11-01

    Capacity development (CD) in food and nutrition is much more than formal training and includes human resource development, and organisational, institutional and legal framework development with the aim of enhancing nutrition-relevant knowledge and skills to support infrastructural development. The goal of the European Food Information Resource (EuroFIR) Network of Excellence has been to develop and integrate food composition data throughout Europe. EuroFIR joined forces in CD with the United Nations (UN) University and UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition, the Network for Capacity Development in Nutrition in Central and Eastern Europe, the Central and Eastern European Countries Food Data Systems network and with the Middle East and North African Capacity Building Initiative. The aim of this paper is to discuss an inventory of the status of food composition databases (FCDBs) and the training needs of compilers in non-EuroFIR countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and to present the CD achieved through EuroFIR and other network collaborations. Two online questionnaires were created addressing the FCDB status and specific training needs in countries of the targeted regions. Data were collected during 2006-2008 and then analysed. Subsequently, CD activities were organised. Contacts were established in 19 CEE and 7 MENA countries, of which several had national food composition tables, but no electronic versions. Education, training, workshops, networking and the sharing of experiences were uniformly requested. Subsequently, CD activities in EuroFIR were organised focussing on food composition courses, exchange visits, workshops and individual training for PhD students, junior scientists and other staff categories, as well as conferences linked to food composition research and food information. To facilitate CD activities, EuroFIR has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Czech Republic, Hungary

  16. Behavioral Determinants of Russian Nuclear State-Owned Enterprises in Central and Eastern European Region

    OpenAIRE

    Vlcek, Tomas; Jirusek, Martin

    2015-01-01

    Rosatom State Nuclear Corporation play a substantial role in the energy sector of the Central and Eastern European region and the behavioral characteristics of the company forms the basis of this article. Rosatom is positioned as the dominant provider of nuclear technology and fuel supplies to the region, in large part stemming from the Soviet legacy in CEE countries. Compounding this challenge, nuclear energy is one of the major sources of power generation in CEE. Given the long-time, near m...

  17. Human rights and democracy in a global context: decoupling and recoupling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samantha Besson

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Human rights and democracy have been regarded as a mutually reinforcing couple by many political theorists to date. The internationalisation of human rights post-1945 is often said to have severed those links, however. Accounting for the legitimacy of international human rights requires exploring how human rights and democracy, once they have been decoupled or disconnected, can be recoupled or reunited across governance levels (vertically and maybe even at the same governance level (horizontally albeit beyond the state. The article does so in three steps. The first prong of the argument is dedicated to presenting the moral-political nature of human rights and their relationship to political equality and, hence, their inherent legal nature from a democratic theory perspective. The second section of the article then draws some implications for the domestic or international levels of legal recognition and specification of human rights by reference to their legitimation within the domestic democratic community. It explains the mutual relationship between human rights and citizens’ rights and where international human rights draw their democratic legitimacy from. In the third and final section, the author discusses potential changes in the nature and legitimacy of international human rights once political structures beyond the state become more democratic, and human rights and democracy are being recoupled again at various levels of governance. The European Union being one of the most advanced examples of post-national political integration, recent developments in the regime of human rights protection within the EU are discussed in this new light. In a final step, the transposition to the global level of the argument developed in the European case is assessed and the author flags issues for further research on what democratic theorists should hope for in the new global order.

  18. Deliberative Democracy and Adult Civic Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carcasson, Martin; Sprain, Leah

    2012-01-01

    Adult education programs should turn to the deliberative democracy movement in order to help their communities better address the "wicked problems" they face. The authors contend that due to the "wicked" nature of problems in the diverse democracies, communities must develop and sustain their capacity for deliberative democracy and collaborative…

  19. Different trends in euthanasia acceptance across Europe. A study of 13 western and 10 central and eastern European countries, 1981-2008.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Joachim; Van Landeghem, Paul; Carpentier, Nico; Deliens, Luc

    2013-06-01

    We examined how acceptance of euthanasia among the general public has changed between 1981 and 2008 in western and central and eastern European (CEE) countries using data of the European Values Surveys. Data were collected in 1981, 1990, 1999 and 2008 for 13 western European countries and in 1990, 1999 and 2008 for 10 CEE countries. Euthanasia acceptance increased each decade up until 2008 in 11 of 13 western European countries; in CEE countries, it decreased or did not increase between 1999-2008 in 8 of 10 countries. A number of explanations for and implications of this apparent east-west polarization are suggested.

  20. Democracy and Teacher Education: Setting Priorities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodman, Jesse H.

    2009-01-01

    As John Dewey noted in his last book, each generation, in its turn, must assume responsibility as caretaker of democracy. He noted that one should never take democracy for granted. Everyone lives in an imperfect democracy, and teacher educators should play their part in protecting, nurturing, and advancing democratic ideals, rituals, values, and…

  1. Corruption, democracy and bureaucracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aviral Kumar TIWARI

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the relationship of corruption with democracy and bureaucracy in the 82 countries in a panel framework. For the analysis we use rule of law, regulatory quality, control over corruption and secondary school enrollment ratio as control variables. We find that democracy, rule of law and control over corruption decreases the level of corruption. When we allowed for interaction effect among independent variables we find the evidence of strong interaction effect between all of the explanatory variables. We also find that, surprisingly, higher democracy and rule of law are positively associated with the level of corruption while higher bureaucracy negatively.

  2. Legal Barriers in Accessing Opioid Medicines : Results of the ATOME Quick Scan of National Legislation of Eastern European Countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vranken, Marjolein J M; Mantel-Teeuwisse, Aukje K; Jünger, Saskia; Radbruch, Lukas; Lisman, John; Scholten, Willem; Payne, Sheila; Lynch, Tom; Schutjens, Marie-Hélène D B

    2014-01-01

    CONTEXT: Overregulation of controlled medicines is one of the factors contributing to limited access to opioid medicines. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify legal barriers to access to opioid medicines in 12 Eastern European countries participating in the Access to Opioid

  3. Central and eastern European activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rea, J.L.

    1993-01-01

    The Florida State University/Technical University of Budapest environmental research center, Center for Hungarian/American Environmental Research, Studies and Exchanges (CHAERSE), provides a resource base for information and technologies that is used to address near- and long-term environmental problems within the Department of Energy (DOE) complex and in Central and Eastern Europe. The CHAERSE is used as a technology transfer conduit for environmental restoration and waste management (ER/WM) problems and solutions. The International Technology Exchange Division (ITED) used the CHAERSE as one source of information for the identification of international ER/WM technologies being developed in Central and Eastern Europe. This was accomplished by matching high-priority problems in that region to high-priority problems in the DOE Complex; conducting symposia, meetings and workshops with international environmental experts; and identifying innovative technologies

  4. Democracy and development in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tolu Lawal

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Democracy and development are global phenomena. Every country in the world aspires and claims to be democratic. This is because of the role of the latter in developmental process. This paper examined the linkage between democracy and development in Nigeria, using ethics as the yardstick for democratic adherence. The paper adopted content analysis approach to source its data and concluded that democracy is an ingredient of development. It must therefore be sustained to evolve and ensure sustainable development.

  5. International Rivalry In The Energy Sector: The Eastern European Market Of Atomic Energy In Focus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. V. Borovsky

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In the post-bipolar world nuclear power has become one of the areas of competition and rivalry betweenRussiaand the West. The comprehensive analysis of theoretical publications allows us to consider international competition as an abstract, depoliticized contest of states and other international actors (including companies for some limited (mainly economic benefits. International rivalry is more a political process, necessarily involving some rival pairs of states (or groups of states that compete with each other not only to get some benefits, but to expand their territory or power. The competition and rivalry betweenRussiaand the West in the sphere of nuclear power are especially apparent in the Eastern European region where the American, European and Japanese corporations, with the support of the Western foreign ministries and EU institutions, try to achieve two main goals. The first goal is to win the contracts to build new power units, especially in tenders where Rosatom participates. The second goal is to become suppliers of nuclear fuel for multiple Russian- or Soviet-made VVER-type reactors, which are functioning or will be run in a number of countries in the region (Slovakia,CzechRepublic,Hungary,Bulgaria, andUkraine. Such activities can involve high risks. The West’s efforts to curb the dominant position of "Rosatom" inEastern Europeare formally associated with the need to create a "competitive market" of nuclear services in the region and to ensure the European energy security. It is also noteworthy that the expansion of Rosatom (and its predecessors to foreign markets, including Eastern Europe, is actively supported by the Russian state which in the second half of the 1990s – after a failed attempt of following in the footsteps of the West – joined in the rivalry, mostly imposed by the U.S. and their allies. As shown by the analysis,Russiaand the West, primarily theUnited States, are involved in the nuclear power sector to

  6. Retracted article: Flexible Fourier Stationary Test in GDP per capita for Central Eastern European Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meng-Nan Zhu

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Statement of Retraction (http://www.efri.uniri.hr/prikaz.asp?txt_id=7366 This is to notify our respectful reading public that the Editorial Board of the journal Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci, časopis za ekonomsku teoriju i praksu/ Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, Journal of Economics and Business has retracted the following article from publication: “Flexible Fourier Stationary Test in GDP per capita for Central Eastern European Countries“, by Hsu-Ling Chang, Chi-Wei Su, Meng-Nan Zhu, published in our journal Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci, časopis za ekonomsku teoriju i praksu/ Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, Journal of Economics and Business, 2011, vol. 29 (1, pp. 51-63 and almost concurrently published in the journal Eastern European Economics, 2011, vol. 49 (3, pp. 54-65. Being in contact with Josef C Brada, Professor Emeritus, Editor of the journal Eastern European Economics (EEE, we realized that the paper had been sent to both journals, although first published in the EEE and then in our Journal. According to professor Brada’s and our analysis, the paper published in these two journals is exactly the same, except for minor differences in wording, most likely due to editing the text before publication. The outstanding differences are in the title and the fact that the paper published in our Journal has three authors and in EEE journal has two. Whatsoever, owing to the fact that the article had been sent to both journals almost at the same time, it had been impossible to find out the case during the review procedure. Due to this unpleasant situation, our Editorial Board would like to inform our valuable readers that all the necessary measures to retract the paper from our publication have been undertaken and according to publishing ethical principles, cooperation with the authors of the retracted paper have been stopped. Although, in this case neither EEE nor our Journal had any

  7. The place and role of Ukraine in modern geopolitical processes in the Eastern European region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bostan Sergii Ivanovich

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The Eastern European region has always attracted attention of the international community and was a stumbling block between the western and eastern leaders. Ukraine is the largest country in the region with a great development potential, it plays a key role in division of powers and spheres of influence across the continent. Preferences in Ukraine's foreign policy have been influencing both on the internal politics of the state and the balance between the major "players" on the political map of the world: EU, USA and Russia. These preferences also largely depend on the policy of these countries regarding Ukraine itself. Ukraine's participation in the contemporary geopolitical processes, its positioning and foreign policy priorities will play an important role in redistribution of influence in Europe and in the world, and particularly affect the development of relations between the world powers.

  8. Dewey's Participatory Educational Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Višnovský, Emil; Zolcer, Štefan

    2016-01-01

    In this essay, Emil Višnovský and Štefan Zolcer outline John Dewey's contribution to democratic theory as presented in his 1916 classic "Democracy and Education." The authors begin with a review of the general context of Dewey's conception of democracy, and then focus on particular democratic ideas and concepts as presented in…

  9. DOES THE HIGHER EDUCATION PROMOTE STUDENTS’ ENTREPRENEURIAL POTENTIAL IN THE SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DIMITAR NIKOLOSK

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, there is a widespread recognition that business start-ups are a driving force of economic growth and significant job creation. Given the segmented characteristics of the labour markets, youth population is among those segments that are disproportionally affected by high and sustained unemployment. The situation with youth unemployment is particularly unfavourable in developing countries such as South-Eastern European countries where almost half of the active young population is jobless. Even though the governments in these countries have repeatedly undertaken measures for improving the position of youth on the labour markets, it seems that these endeavours have not reached the planned goals. From this perspective, it is important to analyse the potential contribution of education, and particularly the higher education to the development of entrepreneurship. The aim of this paper is to assess the role of the higher education in South-Eastern European countries in fostering the students’ entrepreneurial potential. For this purpose we have carried out a survey on representative samples of students in two universities: “St. Kliment Ohridski” (Macedonia and “Aleksander Xhuvani” (Albania. We found that considerable number of surveyed students have ideas for starting own businesses, but only a small portion of them attempted to develop their business ideas in practice. As a consequence, we can conclude that there exists a wide room for further policy recommendations that will shape directions for future reforms in the SEECs higher education systems and will improve the students’ entrepreneurial potential

  10. THE ATTITUDES TOWARDS EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN EASTERN PARTNERSHIP STATES: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ELITES’ COMMITMENT FOR FURTHER ENGAGEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Armen GRIGORYAN

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The paper examines how the cooperation with the EU has been influencing public sector, legal and economic reforms in EU’s Eastern neighbourhood by means of engaging the local political elites. The developments in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as the situation in Armenia, regarding the perspective for its further participation in the Eastern Partnership (EaP, are reviewed. In order to determine under which conditions the EU can have more influence over the political elites, the paper examines how the degree of commitment to the European norms and, consequently, the pace of reforms, depend on internal political situation and foreign policy priorities, on historical and cultural legacies, or the level of dependence on Russia.

  11. Uniparental genetic heritage of belarusians: encounter of rare middle eastern matrilineages with a central European mitochondrial DNA pool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kushniarevich, Alena; Sivitskaya, Larysa; Danilenko, Nina; Novogrodskii, Tadeush; Tsybovsky, Iosif; Kiseleva, Anna; Kotova, Svetlana; Chaubey, Gyaneshwer; Metspalu, Ene; Sahakyan, Hovhannes; Bahmanimehr, Ardeshir; Reidla, Maere; Rootsi, Siiri; Parik, Jüri; Reisberg, Tuuli; Achilli, Alessandro; Hooshiar Kashani, Baharak; Gandini, Francesca; Olivieri, Anna; Behar, Doron M; Torroni, Antonio; Davydenko, Oleg; Villems, Richard

    2013-01-01

    Ethnic Belarusians make up more than 80% of the nine and half million people inhabiting the Republic of Belarus. Belarusians together with Ukrainians and Russians represent the East Slavic linguistic group, largest both in numbers and territory, inhabiting East Europe alongside Baltic-, Finno-Permic- and Turkic-speaking people. Till date, only a limited number of low resolution genetic studies have been performed on this population. Therefore, with the phylogeographic analysis of 565 Y-chromosomes and 267 mitochondrial DNAs from six well covered geographic sub-regions of Belarus we strove to complement the existing genetic profile of eastern Europeans. Our results reveal that around 80% of the paternal Belarusian gene pool is composed of R1a, I2a and N1c Y-chromosome haplogroups - a profile which is very similar to the two other eastern European populations - Ukrainians and Russians. The maternal Belarusian gene pool encompasses a full range of West Eurasian haplogroups and agrees well with the genetic structure of central-east European populations. Our data attest that latitudinal gradients characterize the variation of the uniparentally transmitted gene pools of modern Belarusians. In particular, the Y-chromosome reflects movements of people in central-east Europe, starting probably as early as the beginning of the Holocene. Furthermore, the matrilineal legacy of Belarusians retains two rare mitochondrial DNA haplogroups, N1a3 and N3, whose phylogeographies were explored in detail after de novo sequencing of 20 and 13 complete mitogenomes, respectively, from all over Eurasia. Our phylogeographic analyses reveal that two mitochondrial DNA lineages, N3 and N1a3, both of Middle Eastern origin, might mark distinct events of matrilineal gene flow to Europe: during the mid-Holocene period and around the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, respectively.

  12. Democracy and development: the Nigerian experience | Ebohon ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The conventional notions on the relationship between democracy and development are that democracy accelerates development. Based on the Nigeria experience, this paper argues that both democracy and authoritarianism are social system based political ideologies that derives their character from the wider society, ...

  13. The Myth of Bourgeois Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mulvad, Andreas Christian Møller; Stahl, Rune Møller

    representative democracy - not abolish it. Third, we highlight how Leninists and liberals have unknowingly colluded to sustain the myth that parliamentary democracy is essentially liberal. Finally, turning our attention to the current neoliberal conjuncture, we argue that Badiou’s and Žižek’s notion......This paper argues that the Left should move beyond the commonplace understanding – upheld by Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek - that parliamentary democracy is essentially of a bourgeois nature. We show first how the introduction of parliamentary democracy – defined as constitutionalization of state...... power under a legislative body, with regular elections and universal suffrage – was everywhere a result of the pressure of social movements from below against the aspirations of both conservatives and liberals. Second, we reread Marx on the Paris Commune to discover how Marx wanted to radicalize...

  14. Understanding of Democracy among Young People in Croatia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vladimir Vujčić

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The task of this paper was to explore how young people understand the values of democracy, how much they believe in democracy as a political system, how much they are satisfi ed with the way democracy works (“constitution at work”, and how much they trust government institutions. It is important to analyse the understanding of democracy, for democracy is dependent on the citizens’ opinions and the level of their political culture rather than on its normative constitution and formal value system. Thus, this analysis joins in the debate between foundationalists and antifoundationalists on democracy and its functioning. The present model of research has provided insights into the relationship between so-called diff use and specifi c support of democracy (D. Easton and an explanation of that which R. Dahl defi nes as the “democratic paradox” in contemporary democracies. This scrutiny shows that young people in Croatia understand democracy within the framework of liberal values, but also that they largely tend towards so-called consensual democracy and a socialist syndrome involving a prevalent aspiration to social equality and an economically interventionist state. Moreover, the analysis shows that young people in Croatia have a low level of democratic legitimation and an even lower level of trust in government institutions. This is not a good basis for the development of stable and well-functioning democracy in Croatian society. It all warns against serious shortcomings in the political education of young people in Croatia and in the development of democratic political culture and democratic citizenship.

  15. Bioethics and deliberative democracy: five warnings from Hobbes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trotter, Griffin

    2006-06-01

    Thomas Hobbes is one of the most ardent and thoroughgoing opponents of participatory democracy among Western political philosophers. Though Hobbes's alternative to participatory democracy-assent by subjects to rule by an absolute sovereign-no longer constitutes a viable political alternative for Westerners, his critique of participatory democracy is a potentially valuable source of insight about its liabilities. This essay elaborates five theses from Hobbes that stand as cogent warnings to those who embrace participatory democracy, especially those (such as most bioethicists) advocating for deliberative democracy based on a rational consensus model. In light of these warnings, the author suggests an alternative, modus vivendi approach to deliberative democracy that would radically alter the current practice of bioethics.

  16. The American Dream, Democracy, and Participatory Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, George H.

    1983-01-01

    America has moved from participatory democracy to protective democracy, with political elites making the decisions. The result has been a culturally disenfranchised people abandoning the political system which does not want them. Calls for a return to participatory democracy and citizenship education programs which foster it. (CS)

  17. Democracy and the Moral Imperative to Philosophize

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Humphrey, J. F.

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available An important part of Cornelius Castoriadis’ exploration into the adventure of modernity involves his reflections on democracy. Indeed, in no less than three works [Figures of the Thinkable, Rising Tide of Insignificancy (The Big Sleep, and World in Fragments], Castoriadis devotes a part, entitled Polis, in which he discusses democracy and its relation to modernity by beginning with the Greeks. In World in Fragments, the section, "The Greek and the Modern Political Imaginary" clearly indicates the relation existing between the ancient Greeks and democracy in his mind. In my paper, I have considered Castoriadis’ reflections on democracy and the way in which he employs the Greeks in his attempt to rethink modern democracies. I shall argue that if we are to follow Castoriadis in embracing an authentic emancipation promised by but not delivered by modernity, we will have to look to his understanding of democracy as providing the way beyond both the cynicism of post-modernism and false hopes of neo-modernism.

  18. Options of biofuel trade from Central and Eastern to Western European countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    van Dam, J.; Faaij, A.P.C.; Lewandowski, I.; Van Zeebroeck, B.

    2009-01-01

    Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) have a substantial biomass production and export potential. The objective of this study is to assess whether the market for biofuels and trade can be profitable enough to realize a supply of biofuels from the CEEC to the European market and to estimate the cost performance of the energy carriers delivered. Five NUTS-2 (Nomenclature d'Unites Territoriales Statistiques) regions with high biomass production potentials in Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic were analysed for biofuel export options. From these regions pellets from willow can be provided to destination areas in Western European countries (WEC) at costs of 105.2-219.8 EUR t -1 . Ethanol can be provided at 11.95-20.89 EUR per GJ if the biomass conversion is performed at the destination areas in the WEC or at 14.84-17.83 EUR GJ -1 J if the biomass to ethanol conversion takes place (at small scale) at the CEEC region where the biomass is produced. Short sea shipping shows most cost advantages for longer distance international transport compared to inland waterway shipping and railway. Another reason for lower biofuel supply costs are shorter distances between the regions of biomass production and the destination areas. Therefore the Szczecin region in Poland, closely located to the Baltic Sea, shows a better economic performance for long distance trade of biomass production than the selected region in Hungary ('land-locked'). It is concluded that in future key CEEC regions can supply (pre-treated) biomass and biofuels to the European market at cost levels, which are sound and attractive to current and expected diesel and gasoline prices. (author)

  19. Deliberative Democracy V. Politics of Identity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    OSCAR PÉREZ DE LA FUENTE

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The defenders of deliberative democracy insist in the idea that for searching political truths is necessary to use values as universality, rationality and fairness. The defenders of the politics of identity distrust from this deliberative approach because, the interests of the powerful groups of the society are often behind those values. The common approach of deliberative democracy misunderstands the proper role, language, expression and actual interests of the members of the minorities. Deliberative democracy isn't really compromised with pluralism –social, cultural, ethnic, racial…– because it is more compromised with formal and substantial rules of decision that finally determine the result of the deliberation. Minorities claim for a new understanding of the democracy from the difference, from the identity. Thus, democracy is the result of a dialogue, not from abstractions, but from the particularity. In this sense, it is important the notion of ethics of alterity as a moral effort to understand the Other. This exercise excludes all kind of alterophobia (misogyny, xenophobia, racism, homophobia... and it is against relativist approach. An identity is legitimate in the way it includes the alterity. The minorities claim to think, other time, topics as democracy from the dynamics between identity/alterity, inclusion/exclusion, equal dignity/differentiated identity.

  20. Democracy as a legitimizing ideology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Henry, P.J.; Wetherell, G.A.; Brandt, M.

    2015-01-01

    Democracy as an abstract belief system bestows rights to individuals and serves egalitarian principles. However, the language of democracy may be used to justify harmful treatment of others in the world. Data from 3 representative samples of adults are presented demonstrating that satisfaction with

  1. Is Democracy A Prerequisite

    OpenAIRE

    Abdiweli M. Ali

    2011-01-01

    The current literature is silent on whether democracies are more fragile or less susceptible to economic and political breakdowns. Using a host of political instability and policy instability variables, this paper explores empirically, whether political freedom (a proxy for democracy) has any effect on the stability of the political order. Furthermore, it also explores the possibility that political freedom explains differences in the stability of economic policies.

  2. Practicing Democracy in the NCLB Elementary Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Margaret H.

    2010-01-01

    The practice of teaching democracy in school is diminishing. The implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has forced teachers to teach to the test, and has required some to follow scripted curriculum, leaving little time or incentive for teaching democracy. This study examines the importance of practicing democracy and identifies ways in…

  3. Liberty Challenge or Dangers of Liberal Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dalia Eidukienė

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available The article analyses dialectics of a modern democracy and liberalism through the new (from the quality point of view subsistence of liberty, the priority element of democracy, in liberal democracies. The significance of such discourse is determined by the existing social inequality and its conversion into political domain. Particular attention is paid to the social issue, which was treated by Max Weber already as the reason of death of the old, fanatic German “national liberalism”, since it has not managed to belong to the German environment. Even today, it still lies in the principles of life and reality of “young” democratic post­soviet states. Conversion of a social issue into political domain disorganises the society, and it is hardly capable to socialise its norms and values in order to be obligated with regard to civic goals. In other words, the social issue significantly adjusts the pace and direction of transformation of the society. Therefore, an immature “young” liberal democracy may become “less liberal” or no longer conform to the “strict” definition of liberal democracy. Referring to the above, we conclude that social composition should become the medium of political reconstruction for “young” democracies. This does not mean, however, the change of the genetic code of liberalism. This is a striving to vest it, as an ideology, additional powers for rationalisation of democracy by delivering to it the content and the meaning, which would answer the challenges and problems of the time. Liberalism should create a new, from the quality point of view, hierarchy of values and become a new context for both political thinking and democracy. This would render new impulses to economic and public politics, meanwhile developing new premises for a new, from the quality point of view, democracy that would help to consolidate the society for the becoming of liberal democracy.  

  4. "Always paracetamol, they give them paracetamol for everything": a qualitative study examining Eastern European migrants' experiences of the UK health service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madden, Hannah; Harris, Jane; Blickem, Christian; Harrison, Rebecca; Timpson, Hannah

    2017-08-29

    The enlargement of the European Union since 2004 has led to an increase in the number of Eastern European migrants living in the UK. The health of this group is under-researched though some mixed evidence shows they are at higher risk of certain physical health conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, HIV and alcohol use and have poorer mental health. This is compounded by poor or insecure housing, low pay, isolation and prejudice. We aimed to understand the health needs and health service experiences of the Eastern European population in a town in Northern England. Five semi structured one-to-one and small group interviews and five focus groups were conducted with 42 Eastern European participants between June and September 2014. The majority of participants were Polish and other participants were from Belarus, Hungary, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. The data were analysed using thematic framework analysis. Key findings included a good understanding the UK health service structure and high registration and use of general practice/primary care services. However, overall, there were high levels of dissatisfaction, frustration and distrust in General Practitioners (GP). The majority of participants viewed the GP as unhelpful and dismissive; a barrier to secondary/acute care; reluctant to prescribe antibiotics; and that GPs too often advised them to take paracetamol (acetaminophen) and rest. Overwhelmingly participants had strong opinions about access to primary care and the role of the general practitioners. Although the design of the UK health service was well understood, participants were unhappy with the system of GP as gatekeeper and felt it inferior to the consumer-focused health systems in their country of origin. More work is needed to promote the importance of self-care, reduce antibiotic and medication use, and to increase trust in the GP.

  5. Community, Democracy, and Neighborhood News.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hindman, Elizabeth Blanks

    1998-01-01

    Contributes to scholarship on democracy, community, and journalism by examining the interplay between communication, democracy, and community at an inner-city neighborhood newspaper. Concludes that, through its focus on neighborhood culture, acknowledgment of conflict, and attempts to provide a forum for the neighborhood's self-definition, the…

  6. Democracy in the Arab World

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Given that liberalism contains principles that 'have been profoundly hostile to democracy', ..... The challenge posed for Arab democracy by Islamist thought and practice is probably the ..... (2nd edn), London: Malaysian Think Tank London. ...... Thus, the Jordanian treasury was not very dependent on internal taxes, certainly ...

  7. Local democracy in large municipalities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thuesen, Annette Aagaard

    2017-01-01

    Municipal amalgamations in Denmark in 2007 led to concern for local rural democracy, as the number of politicians from rural areas dropped after the reform. To preserve rural democracy, local councils at the village level were established in some municipalities, and they have begun to prepare local...

  8. The Mirage of Global Democracy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Wilde, J.H.

    The literature about global democracy deals with two different types of democratization: Type 1 is about spreading democracy across sovereign states as the basis for good governance. It focuses on the quality of the state/society-nexus: the balance between coercion, reward and identity. Type 2 is

  9. Industrial democracy from a European perspective : the example of SEs

    OpenAIRE

    Keller, Berndt; Werner, Frank

    2010-01-01

    The article deals with the forthcoming challenges to the German system of co-determination (Mitbestimmung ) arising from the Europeanization of industrial relations (IR) in general and the European Company (Societas Europaea — SE) in particular. After some short remarks on co-determination’s national history and present challenges, recent political controversies are discussed. Then the most important European regulations on employee involvement are analysed from a German perspective. The main...

  10. Castoriadis’ Concept of Institution and Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dahl Rendtorff, Jacob

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available In this article I discuss the relation between institution and democracy in Castoriadis’ philosophy. The paper proposes an outline of the development of Castoriadis’ political philosophy with focus on institutionalization, imagination and self-limitation of democratic institutions as central elements in Castoridis’ thought. We begin with a short introduction to the concept of institution and institutionalization. Then we discuss the elements of Castoridis’ critique of bureaucracy as a way to distinguish between totalitarian society and democracy. This is the basis for understanding the relation between the imaginary, freedom and autonomy as basic elements of democracy. Finally the paper discusses Castoridis’ new notion of democracy as a kind of self-limitation and creation of collective meaning as the basis for social legitimacy.

  11. Financial development and energy consumption in Central and Eastern European frontier economies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sadorsky, Perry [Schulich School of Business, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario (Canada)

    2011-02-15

    This study examines the impact of financial development on energy consumption in a sample of 9 Central and Eastern European frontier economies. Several different measures of financial development are examined including bank related variables and stock market variables. The empirical results, obtained from dynamic panel demand models, show a positive and statistically significant relationship between financial development and energy consumption when financial development is measured using banking variables like deposit money bank assets to GDP, financial system deposits to GDP, or liquid liabilities to GDP. Of the three stock market variables investigated, only one, stock market turnover, has a positive and statistically significant impact on energy consumption. Both short-run and long-run elasticities are presented. The implications of these results for energy policy are discussed. (author)

  12. A decade of Central and Eastern European Proteomic Conference (CEEPC): Credibility, cohesion and vision for the next decade

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Gadher, S. J.; Kovářová, Hana

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 153, S1 (2017), s. 2-7 ISSN 1874-3919. [Central and Eastern European Proteomics Conference /10./. Budapest, 11.10.2016-14.10.2016] R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LO1609 Institutional support: RVO:67985904 Keywords : CEEPC * protein diveristy * proteome Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology OBOR OECD: Biochemical research methods Impact factor: 3.914, year: 2016

  13. Cooperation between West and East German gas transmission companies - an example of collaboration with Eastern European gas suppliers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Geweke, J.

    1994-01-01

    In the future, it can be assumed there will be a new quality of co-operation between the East and the West. The tremendous growth in demand for natural gas in Europe necessitates the development of new, increasingly distant gas resources. The investment required can not be raised by a few countries on their own. A strategy is needed for all states integrated in the European natural gas transmission system. Due to their geographic location, Eastern and Southern European countries have a key role to play. Central Europe will become the heart of the international natural gas business. Then the future co-operation between East and Western Europe must be taken into account. An important prerequisite for equal partners in the European gas industry will be coordination, if natural gas is to continue to make a growing contribution to an environmentally compatible and efficient energy supply in all European states and beyond. (orig.)

  14. Democracy in Brazil: presidentialism, party coalitions and the decision making process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Limongi

    Full Text Available There is no reason to treat the Brazilian political system as singular. Coalitions obey and are governed by party principles. The president, whose institutional power was enhanced by the 1988 Constitution, has a monopoly over legislative initiative, which approximates the Brazilian system to the European parliamentary democracies. Even though it is based upon empirical data, this essay formulates theoretical problems, such as the importance of institutional choices and how these impact on relations between the majority and minority in democratic governments.

  15. Romanian Democracy, Theory and Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Romulus Brâncoveanu

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available This is a comment on the type of democracy in Romania, as illiberal democracy. Given the Romanian democratization process, we can hope that, in the future, all populisms and politicization will cease, and a true liberal and constitutional democracy will be installed, which will not be a „Romanian democracy” as Paul Wolfowitz suggested to be exported in Iraq. The question is whether it is good or not to „export” such a political model. „Romanian democracy” could be an exporting model only as an alternative to dictatorship and under the assumption that it will be adjusted in time, under the external pressure.

  16. Web of science coverage and scientific performance of Central and Eastern European countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ploszaj, A.; Olechnicka, A.

    2016-07-01

    The paper put forward the hypothesis that changes in the list of journals, particularly in the number of periodicals published in specific Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, have a significant impact on bibliometric indicators and, consequently, on the convergence levels they are used to measure. The analyses presented in the article support the argument that countries from Central and Eastern Europe, despite showing fairly consistent convergence trends, achieve noticeably weaker results than Western Europe regarding research and development and scientific activity. The evident impact made by the inclusion of numerous CEE journals in WoS on the values of the indicator analysed, directly supports the hypothesis put forward in this article. The results of the study are important because data on the number of publications and citations in the Web of Science are increasingly used as development indicators of national R&D sectors. By showing how modifications in these databases influence the results obtained, we can better understand and thus make better use of data from these sources. The article concludes with listing the possibilities for furthering and deepening selected themes pointed out in the paper. (Author)

  17. Participation at any price? The ambivalence of the renaissance of direct democracy, in German municipalities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frank Eckardt

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available One of the main assumptions on how democracy can be achieved puts faith on the positive effects of the direct engagement of the citizens themselves. Urban planning has adapted to this idea in many countries. With the acceptance of the principal of subsidiarity, political participation of the cit-izens in decision processes has become a key idea for the further development for the European Uni¬on. The support for participatory forms of politics and planning were underpinned by a large desire in the European societies. The example of Germany shows that forms of direct democracy had major im¬pacts on urban planning. The analysis of the overall trend of the last two decades and of some selected examples however rises important questions. Framed by a sociological look on the new social and political conditions of German cities, it shows that the basic argument that more participation leads to more democratic grounding of planning can be questioned. In result, the review of the Ger¬man cases shows that in a ‘post-democracy’ (Crouch 2004, urban planning is confronted with a different meaning of participation.

  18. Democracy Barometer. Methodology. Version 4

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Merkel, Wolfgang; Bochsler, Daniel;; Bousbah, Karima;

    2014-01-01

    Based on our theoretical concept of democracy, it is feasible to measure a country’s quality of democracy for a given point in time. Nevertheless, the quality of the whole endeavor is not only the result of an adequate theoretical concept but equally depends on the quality of the measurement itse...

  19. Understanding Democracy

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Garcia, Gilberto

    1998-01-01

    .... Nevertheless, democracy is spreading, and today many countries are called democratic. This paper describes several countries, which are very different because of their history, culture, religion, people, education, and wealth...

  20. Essay on legitimacy and democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patricia Kaplanova

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Purpose and Originality: The aim of the paper is to deeply analyze a concept of legitimacy. Based on the classical works of Lipset and Habermas, the paper discusses conditions, efficiency, and presumptions on which a modern democratic political system stands. Method: The paper analyzes a relationship between positivist and normative understanding of legitimacy questioning a democratic political order. By a content analysis of two main theories of legitimacy, the paper examines a sense of democratic legitimacy in modern societies. Results: A legitimacy is a pillar of any democracy. From the structuralist point of view, in societies there are three main types of crises (economic, social, political, which are present constantly and interconnected by nature and implications. Each crisis creates a specific deficit and challenge for democracy. By overcoming, a stability of democracy is strengthened which makes a (crisis of legitimacy inevitable. Society: In a time of post-truth politics and crisis of democracy, there is a lack of research dealing with a legitimacy of the democratic regime. By pointing out classical approaches to a stability of democracy, there should be elaborated a new construct of democratic legitimacy reflecting structural conditions of modern societies. This paper is trying to offer an insight into a normative understanding of this construction. Limitations / further research: A theoretical approach could be verified by an empirical research.

  1. Are mixed electoral systems the best choice for central and Eastern Europe or the reason for defective party systems?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bochsler, Daniel

    2009-01-01

    incentives of mixed electoral systems might hamper the stabilization and institutionalization of party systems in young democracies. Empirical results from 19 democracies in Central and Eastern Europe suggest that the learning and stabilization effect that is exerted through simple electoral systems fails...... under mixed systems. Using a variance model analysis, this study rejects the common belief that mixed systems lead to more moderate party systems with regards to party system fractionalization. Rather, outcomes under mixed systems vary much more widely than under proportional representation...

  2. Participatory and Dialogue Democracy in U.S. Mathematics Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mukhopadhyay, Shiuli

    2009-01-01

    Teaching math to reflect values of democracy has to begin with some consideration of how democracy is conceptualized. A review of various theories of democracy conducted by Hagen (1992) provides everyone with a good starting point as it identifies three primary forms of democracy: competitive, participatory, and dialogue. In this essay, the author…

  3. Solving Local Violence by Cosmopolitan Democracy Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Luthfil Hakim

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The implementation of democracy intensified since the fall of the new order era has some failures. One of the factors is violence phenomena still continue in the region. This study aims to discuss the violence in the region by presenting cosmopolitan democracy as a new design of more humane democracy. In addition, this research method uses library research, because library research can understand the problem in-depth to find the pattern and recommendation from the violence problems which happens in Indonesia. This study uses Hannah Arendt observations on the phenomenon of violence. In addition, the concept of cosmopolitan democracy is referred from Daniele Archibugi, David Held, and Ulrich Beck is presented as a draft of new democracy direction which is more inclusive and humane. The result of this study discloses that the occurrence of incidence is triggered by failed implementation of the democratic system in Indonesia.

  4. Environmental NGOs : Channels of democracy for the European Union

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guasco, Clement Nicolas

    The notion of democratic deficit has been at the centre of many debates on the European Union for the last 30 years. The reason is, to a certain degree, linked to the lack of legitimacy of the European Commission, which is not elected and remote from the European citizens. However, the Commission...... seems to have found a positive way to increase its legitimacy by the inclusion of civil-society in the decision-making process. The interaction between the Commission and two Environmental NGOs will therefore be analysed in order to make a constructive contribution to the debate. The present paper does...... not limit itself to normative statements on reality and considers that there is more to socio political relations than “true” verifiable facts. Therefore, it is not limited to the formal decision-making process, and goes deeper into the socialisation process at play between the different actors. The outcome...

  5. Mathematics Education and Democracy Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Çetin, Ömer Faruk

    2015-01-01

    Democracy is a most accepted form of government system and has a great importance for citizens by allowing them equal and active participation in common life. As its development and characteristics are important for all citizens of a country, each democratic country puts much emphasis on democracy education in its educational curricula. In recent…

  6. Democracy and Development: The Nigerian Experience (1999-2010 ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Democracy and Development: The Nigerian Experience (1999-2010). Jebbin Maclean Felix. Abstract. This article is a contribution to the debate on democracy and development. It examines the relationship between democracy and development, using a contextual analysis of the Nigerian democratic experience. The key ...

  7. The concept and institutions of education for democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Avramović Zoran M.

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper comprises three sections: (a the concepts and institutions of democracy, (b the concept of education for democracy, and (c the role of school in democratic education. The concept of 'open society' is critical to the strategy of education for democracy. In addition to general conditions for establishing and functioning of democracy, the author points to some of its basic institutions: structured social groups, political parties, leader elections. The concept of 'education' is considered from the standpoint of goals - social, national and individual. It is pointed to tolerance as a key concept of the theory of education for democracy. School, being the most prominent institution in the process of education for democracy, places student and development of his/he; democratic characteristics and capacities in the focus of its strategy. All elements of teaching: curriculum, methods teacher, student, textbook are in the function of the basic idea of democratic education - tolerance and crisscrossed influences (practicing of getting used to differences. Apart from the development and acquisition of thinking in concepts about democracy, education for democracy should encompass knowledge for life at state and social institutions, for private and public life, acquisition of national values, rational decision-making discussion. The framework of strategy in question is certainly exercising of tolerance and getting used to crisscrossed influences.

  8. Flavor Democracy in Particle Physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sultansoy, Saleh

    2007-01-01

    The flavor democracy hypothesis (or, in other words, democratic mass matrix approach) was introduced in seventies taking in mind three Standard Model (SM) families. Later, this idea was disfavored by the large value of the t-quark mass. In nineties the hypothesis was revisited assuming that extra SM families exist. According to flavor democracy the fourth SM family should exist and there are serious arguments disfavoring the fifth SM family. The fourth SM family quarks lead to essential enhancement of the Higgs boson production cross-section at hadron colliders and the Tevatron can discover the Higgs boson before the LHC, if it mass is between 140 and 200 GeV. Then, one can handle 'massless' Dirac neutrinos without see-saw mechanism. Concerning BSM physics, flavor democracy leads to several consequences: tanβ ≅ mt/mb ≅ 40 if there are three MSSM families; super-partner of the right-handed neutrino can be the LSP; relatively light E(6)-inspired isosinglet quark etc. Finally, flavor democracy may give opportunity to handle ''massless'' composite objects within preonic models

  9. The Non-Instrumental Value of Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rostbøll, Christian F.

    2015-01-01

    rejected in this debate. But in order to understand the intrinsic value of democracy, we cannot ignore the relationship between freedom and democracy. Moreover, the freedom argument can better respond to the epistemic challenge to intrinsic accounts than can the equality argument. However, the freedom......A current debate in democratic theory concerns whether we can explain democratic legitimacy purely with reference to the intrinsic value of the public affirmation of equality, or whether we must invoke extra-democratic epistemic standards to do so. The freedom side of democracy is ignored or even...

  10. Elementary Students' Metaphors for Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dundar, Hakan

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of the research was to reveal elementary 8th grade students' opinions concerning democracy with the aid of metaphors. The students were asked to produce metaphors about the concept of democracy. 140 students from 3 public schools in Ankara (Turkey) participated in the research. 55% of the students were females and 45% were males. The…

  11. Democracy against the odds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Seeberg, Michael

    Why have a number of poor countries sustained electoral democracy against the odds? The extant literature on democracy and democratization consistently points to the importance of socioeconomic development and democratic neighboring countries, in particular, as important prerequisites for a stable...... demonstrates the enormous potential of political parties and civil society in processes of democratization. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Hvorfor opretholder en række fattige lande en demokratisk styreform imod alle odds? Demokratiforskere forventer, at et land må have et...

  12. The Eastring gas pipeline in the context of the Central and Eastern European gas supply challenge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mišík, Matúš; Nosko, Andrej

    2017-11-01

    Ever since the 2009 natural gas crisis, energy security has been a crucial priority for countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Escalating in 2014, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia further fuelled negative expectations about the future development of energy relations for the region predominantly supplied by Russia. As a response to the planned cessation of gas transit through the Brotherhood pipeline, which brings Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine and Slovakia, the Slovak transmission system operator Eustream proposed the Eastring pipeline. This Perspective analyses this proposal and argues that neither the perceived decrease in Slovak energy security nor the loss of economic rent from the international gas transit should be the main policy driver behind such a major infrastructure project. Although marketed as an answer to current Central and Eastern European gas supply security challenges, the Eastring pipeline is actually mainly focused on issues connected to the Slovak gas transit.

  13. Democracy always comes first’ : Adolescents’ views on decision-making in everyday life and political democracy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nieuwelink, H.; Dekker, P.; Geijsel, F.; ten Dam, G.

    2016-01-01

    Research shows adolescents to be positively oriented towards democracy, but little is known about what it actually means to them and what their views are on decision-making in both everyday situations and political democracy. To gain insight into these aspects of adolescents’ democratic views, we

  14. Voting for a change : The democratic lure of populist radical right parties in voting behavior

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Immerzeel, T.

    2015-01-01

    With the entrance and growing popularity of populist radical right parties (PRRs) in Western and Eastern European democracies in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the scientific and public debate has recently focused on the ‘threatening’ and ‘corrective’ consequences of the PRR for contemporary

  15. Why Choice Matters: Revisiting and Comparing Measures of Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heiko Giebler

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Measures of democracy are in high demand. Scientific and public audiences use them to describe political realities and to substantiate causal claims about those realities. This introduction to the thematic issue reviews the history of democracy measurement since the 1950s. It identifies four development phases of the field, which are characterized by three recurrent topics of debate: (1 what is democracy, (2 what is a good measure of democracy, and (3 do our measurements of democracy register real-world developments? As the answers to those questions have been changing over time, the field of democracy measurement has adapted and reached higher levels of theoretical and methodological sophistication. In effect, the challenges facing contemporary social scientists are not only limited to the challenge of constructing a sound index of democracy. Today, they also need a profound understanding of the differences between various measures of democracy and their implications for empirical applications. The introduction outlines how the contributions to this thematic issue help scholars cope with the recurrent issues of conceptualization, measurement, and application, and concludes by identifying avenues for future research.

  16. Psychology of democracy and democratization: Experience from Central and Eastern Europe

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Klicperová-Baker, Martina

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 47, Supplement (2012), s. 694-694 ISSN 0020-7594. [International Congress of Psychology /30./. 22.07.2012-27.07.2012, Cape Town] Institutional support: RVO:68081740 Keywords : political psychology * democratization * Central and Eastern Europe Subject RIV: AN - Psychology

  17. Globalization, democracy, and child health in developing countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welander, Anna; Lyttkens, Carl Hampus; Nilsson, Therese

    2015-07-01

    Good health is crucial for human and economic development. In particular poor health in childhood is of utmost concern since it causes irreversible damage and has implications later in life. Recent research suggests globalization is a strong force affecting adult and child health outcomes. Yet, there is much unexplained variation with respect to the globalization effect on child health, in particular in low- and middle-income countries. One factor that could explain such variation across countries is the quality of democracy. Using panel data for 70 developing countries between 1970 and 2009 this paper disentangles the relationship between globalization, democracy, and child health. Specifically the paper examines how globalization and a country's democratic status and historical experience with democracy, respectively, affect infant mortality. In line with previous research, results suggest that globalization reduces infant mortality and that the level of democracy in a country generally improves child health outcomes. Additionally, democracy matters for the size of the globalization effect on child health. If for example Côte d'Ivoire had been a democracy in the 2000-2009 period, this effect would translate into 1200 fewer infant deaths in an average year compared to the situation without democracy. We also find that nutrition is the most important mediator in the relationship. To conclude, globalization and democracy together associate with better child health in developing countries. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. DEMOCRACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE: INGREDIENTS FOR ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    status on democracy, good governance and socio-economic development. Democracy is being embraced across the globe by most civilized and ... amenities and infrastructure, employment, health, security and constant power ... based on life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and gross domestic ..... In some Asian.

  19. The Problem of Citizens: E-Democracy for Actually Existing Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Kreiss

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available This article argues that many contemporary e-democracy projects, particularly in the United States, have at their heart a model of atomistic, independent, rational, and general-interest citizens. As such, these projects, variously grouped under the labels of e-governance, online deliberation, open government, and civic technology, often assume a broad shared consensus about collective definitions of “public problems” that both does not exist and sidesteps debates over what these problems are and what potential solutions can and should be. Drawing on recent theories of political parties, social identity, and cultural cognition, this article argues that e-democracy efforts need to account for the fact that the citizens practitioners appeal to see themselves by default as members of social groups, and that this has implications for politics and what Jasanoff calls “civic epistemology.” Presenting the case of attempting to change Republican opinions about climate change, I argue that e-democracy initiatives should seek to foster collaboration and deliberation within , not between, parties and among partisans. To do so, e-democratic reformers need to explicitly structure the collaborative and deliberative environment so there is a range of intra-party opinions and beliefs as part of the consultative and policy-making process.

  20. Metaphors of Social Studies Teacher Candidates on Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tural, Aysegül

    2018-01-01

    Democracy is a form of government in which principle of equality is based, human rights and freedoms are protected. In this research, it is aimed to reveal democracy perceptions of social science teacher candidates through metaphors. Towards this aim, 105 social science teacher candidates are consulted about their democracy opinions. Study is a…

  1. Media Education and the Practice of Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert Ferguson

    2006-02-01

    Full Text Available They do say that all ideas have their time, and in media education it seems that it is the time for democracy. Books and papers begin to appear and there are conferences with democracy in their titles to replace a focus on the postmodern, or identity. There seems to be a general consensus that democracy is a ‹good thing›. But, as with most other significant terms which hold centre stage for a while, they need to be interrogated with some care. For some more critical educators democracy takes its place alongside Gandhi’s comment when asked about Western Civilisation – he said it would be a good idea. The ‹practice› of democracy takes on a poignant, ironic, desperate or cynical cloak in the light of recent world events and the rise of terrorism as a political weapon. It depends where you stand. Democracy is not something that thrills the hearts and minds of the vast majority of citizens who live in nations who declare themselves to be democratic. Apathy and cynicism work together against democratic growth. But so do governments whose declared democratic aims pay scant attention to the people they are supposed to represent. And then there are the ‹democratic› exercises which supposedly involve the people in a conversation (‹we are listening› they say which results in the status quo being implemented by politicians with morally superior physiognomies. After all, they say, we did ask your opinions. We did ask you to participate. And so democracy staggers from crisis to disaster...

  2. A decade of proteomics accomplished! Central and Eastern European Proteomic Conference (CEEPC) celebrates its 10th Anniversary in Budapest, Hungary.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gadher, Suresh Jivan; Drahos, László; Vékey, Károly; Kovarova, Hana

    2017-07-01

    The Central and Eastern European Proteomic Conference (CEEPC) proudly celebrated its 10th Anniversary with an exciting scientific program inclusive of proteome, proteomics and systems biology in Budapest, Hungary. Since 2007, CEEPC has represented 'state-of the-art' proteomics in and around Central and Eastern Europe and these series of conferences have become a well-recognized event in the proteomic calendar. Fresher challenges and global healthcare issues such as ageing and chronic diseases are driving clinical and scientific research towards regenerative, reparative and personalized medicine. To this end, proteomics may enable diverse intertwining research fields to reach their end goals. CEEPC will endeavor to facilitate these goals.

  3. Redefining Democracy for the Modern State.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahe, Paul A.

    1992-01-01

    Draws distinctions between classical and modern concepts of democracy. Contrasts Pythagoras' dislike of factions with Madison's support for economic differentiation and religious toleration. Discusses Aristotle's and Noah Webster's ideas on addressing class tensions. Examines early U.S. theorists' suspicions of direct democracy and support for…

  4. Malawi's Traditional Leadership and Democracy Consolidation ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    is that the tendency to brand traditional leadership as undemocratic masks debate on its great potential for the promotion of democracy. The article contends that efforts towards democracy consolidation require foregoing harmonious power relations and linkages between traditional leaders and elected local governments; ...

  5. Duality and 'particle' democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castellani, Elena

    2017-08-01

    Weak/strong duality is usually accompanied by what seems a puzzling ontological feature: the fact that under this kind of duality what is viewed as 'elementary' in one description gets mapped to what is viewed as 'composite' in the dual description. This paper investigates the meaning of this apparent 'particle democracy', as it has been called, by adopting an historical approach. The aim is to clarify the nature of the correspondence between 'dual particles' in the light of a historical analysis of the developments of the idea of weak/strong duality, starting with Dirac's electric-magnetic duality and its successive generalizations in the context of (Abelian and non-Abelian) field theory, to arrive at its first extension to string theory. This analysis is then used as evidential basis for discussing the 'elementary/composite' divide and, after taking another historical detour by analyzing an instructive analogy case (DHS duality and related nuclear democracy), drawing some conclusions on the particle-democracy issue.

  6. Is the Communist Ghost Still Alive? - Participative Democracy in Eastern Europe after the Fall of Berlin Wall. The Case of Post-Conflict Yugoslavia and East-Central Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Repak, Dragana

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this article is to analyze application of the participatory model of democracy in the former communist countries, emphasizing influences of communist legacies. First part of paper covers basic characteristics of the participatory model of democracy and discusses communist heritage that is hypothesized to hamper development of participative democracy. In the third part of the paper goals of the investigation are defined and countries of the former communist block grouped. The last part of research presents analysis of the data obtained by the EVS research conducted on 2008.

  7. Democracy, political participation and good governance in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dare E. Arowolo

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The practice of democracy in Nigeria over a decade ago has not yielded much needed good governance. This is because democracy is practiced in such a way that responsible and competent people are scared away. Scholars and keen observers have attempted at unraveling the factors militating against translating democracy into good governance. The paper revealed that democratisation in Nigeria is pervaded by electoral violence, manipulation of election results and political participation constraints. These identified challenges have made it impossible to attain consolidated democracy that can, in turn, facilitate good governance. Democracy is a catalyst for accountability, transparency and responsive government which brings about good governance. The paper insisted that governance collapse in Nigeria is reflexive of the perfunctory role of the political actors and it adopted elite theory to reinforce this argument. The paper adopted content analysis as a means of data gathering. It dwelt extensively on the synergy between democracy, political participation and good governance but queried the artificial gulf between them in Nigeria. It concluded by putting forth viable and pragmatic way forward.

  8. Popular democracy and waste management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wallis, L.R.

    1986-01-01

    The US has moved from representative democracy to popular democracy and public scrutiny is unrelenting. Any hope of success on their part in resolving the nuclear waste question hinges on their ability to condition themselves to operate in a popular democracy environment. Those opposed to the siting of high- and low-level waste repositories have already developed a set of recurring themes: (1) the siting criteria are fatally flawed; (2) the criteria are not adequate; (3) the process is driven by politics not science; (4) unrealistic deadlines lead to dangerous shortcuts; (5) transportation experience is lacking; (6) the scientific community does not really know how to dispose of the wastes. They must continue to tell the public that if science has brought us problems, then the answer can be only more knowledge - not less. Failure by their profession to recognize that popular democracy is a fact and that nuclear issues need to be addressed in humanistic terms raises the question of whether America is philosophically suited for the expanded use of nuclear power in the future - or for that matter for leadership in the world of tomorrow

  9. A decade of Central and Eastern European Proteomic Conference (CEEPC): Credibility, cohesion and vision for the next decade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gadher, Suresh Jivan; Kovarova, Hana

    2017-02-05

    The Central and Eastern European Proteomic Conference (CEEPC), has reached a special milestone as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. Today, an expansive network of proteomics in Central and Eastern Europe stands established to facilitate scientific interactions and collaborations in and around Central and Eastern Europe, as well as with international research institutions worldwide. Currently, when many conferences are struggling to attract participants, CEEPC is thriving in its status and stature as well as expanding by attracting newer member countries. CEEPC's success is driven by mutual respect between scientists sharing interest in proteomics and its applications in multidisciplinary research areas related to biological systems. This effort when interwoven with exciting ambience steeped with culture, and tradition is also a reason why participants enjoy it. CEEPC's careful balance between excellence and cohesion holds the key to its success. It is evident that CEEPC is ready for the next decade of excitement and expectations of multifaceted proteomics in Central and Eastern Europe. Additionally, in the era of emerging personalized medicine where treatment selection for each patient is becoming individualized, CEEPC and proteomics is expected to play a significant role moving forward for the benefit of mankind. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Radiation Oncology in the Developing Economies of Central and Eastern Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esiashvili, Natia

    2017-04-01

    Eastern Europe is represented by 22 countries of significant variability in population density and degree of economic development. They have been affected by past geopolitical isolation due to their association with the "Soviet Block." Currently, all Eastern European countries except Slovenia are low- or middle-income level and 10 of them are part of European Union. Health care systems in Central and Eastern Europe have been influenced by the legacy of centralized soviet-era governance; however, most countries, particularly in European Union zone, have gone through health care reforms directed toward modernizing infrastructure and staffing. The level of health financing available through health insurance has increased in the region, although still lags behind the Western European levels. After adjusting for differing population age structures, overall incidence rates in both sexes are lower in Eastern and Central Europe compared with the Northern and Western European countries; however, mortality remains higher. There is an ongoing shortage of oncology services in Eastern Europe, including radiotherapy equipment and personnel. Eastern European radiotherapy field is highly diverse with large differences among countries regarding staffing structure, training, accreditation, and defined roles and responsibilities. The rapid diffusion of technological innovations has been identified as one of the most important factors driving the escalating health care expenses, and the need for better cost-effective solutions applicable to the local health care systems and levels of economic development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Democracy as a social technology on schools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kofod, Kasper

    2009-01-01

    " democracy. The democratic influence in schools thus spans from "big" parliamentary democracy to small participatoruy democracy - a dichotomy schooll leadership must maneuvre within using democratic procedures and leadership as social technologies. This article argues that a positive coinnectiion exists...... between strong leadership and having wello-functioning democratic processes in schools and the introduction of tests, quality reports and these approaches does not weaken democratic processes in schools. This connection is nonetheless changing the logics of the state, market, and the civil society vectors.......On a formal level, the influence og "big" parlamentary democracy is enhanced because parliamentary control in individual schools has become stronger; and the formal democratic influence of parents has been strengthned by their membership on school boards, the latter being an example of "small...

  12. How Terrorism Affects Attitudes toward Democracy: Tunisia in 2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, Robert; Brym, Robert

    2017-11-01

    Tunisia is the only country that emerged from the Arab Spring as a democracy. However, Tunisian democracy is threatened by political divisions, economic problems, and the threat of terrorist attacks. We shed light on Tunisia's democratic prospects by examining (1) the degree to which major terrorist attacks in 2015 influenced Tunisian public opinion on democracy and (2) the extent to which preference for a democratic system affected opinions on the prospects for democracy in Tunisia. We use data from three waves of a nationwide survey conducted just before and just after Tunisia's first major terrorist attack, and just after the country's second major terrorist attack. We demonstrate that after the attacks the Tunisian public became less favourable toward democracy and less optimistic that Tunisia would soon be ready for it. Such scepticism was widespread, affecting people who preferred democracy as much as those who did not. We conclude that the prospects for Tunisian democracy are more precarious than is sometimes assumed. © 2017 Canadian Sociological Association/La Société canadienne de sociologie.

  13. The sexual attitudes and lifestyles of London's Eastern Europeans (SALLEE Project: design and methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    French Rebecca S

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Since May 2004, ten Central and Eastern European (CEE countries have joined the European Union, leading to a large influx of CEE migrants to the United Kingdom (UK. The SALLEE project (sexual attitudes and lifestyles of London's Eastern Europeans set out to establish an understanding of the sexual lifestyles and reproductive health risks of CEE migrants. CEE nationals make up a small minority of the population resident in the UK with no sampling frame from which to select a probability sample. There is also difficulty estimating the socio-demographic and geographical distribution of the population. In addition, measuring self-reported sexual behaviour which is generally found to be problematic, may be compounded among people from a range of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This paper will describe the methods adopted by the SALLEE project to address these challenges. Methods The research was undertaken using quantitative and qualitative methods: a cross-sectional survey of CEE migrants based on three convenience samples (recruited from community venues, sexual health clinics and from the Internet and semi-structured in-depth interviews with a purposively selected sample of CEE migrants. A detailed social mapping exercise of the CEE community was conducted prior to commencement of the survey to identify places where CEE migrants could be recruited. A total of 3,005 respondents took part in the cross-sectional survey, including 2,276 respondents in the community sample, 357 in the clinic sample and 372 in the Internet sample. 40 in-depth qualitative interviews were undertaken with a range of individuals, as determined by the interview quota matrix. Discussion The SALLEE project has benefited from using quantitative research to provide generalisable data on a range of variables and qualitative research to add in-depth understanding and interpretation. The social mapping exercise successfully located a large number

  14. European Neighbourhood Policy. A Polish Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paula Marcinkowska

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Before the bing-bang enlargement of the EU in 2004, the Union needed to define a coherent policy towards its new neighbours. The European Neighbourhood Policy was formulated when Poland became a member of the EU. Due to its close ties with the Eastern European countries, Poland tried to shape the EU foreign policy towards its neighbouring countries and became their advocate in Brussels. In 2009 it succeeded in establishing the Eastern Partnership as one of the dimensions of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

  15. A New Index of Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesús M. de Miguel

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The present paper analyses and revises the latest Democracy Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit in the United Kingdom. We analyze the changes produced in the index from 2006 to 2011, as well as in the five basic factors that constitute the index: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. The analysis of these factors ?measured by sixty variables? has made it possible to develop a new index, based on the data from 167 countries, and calculate a revised ranking. Countries have been classified into four types: democracies, flawed democracies, mixed systems, and authoritarian/totalitarian regimes. The new index permits a better understanding of the impact of the crisis through variables such as economic growth, human development, quality of life, corruption, and violence.

  16. New data on Eimeria dicentrarchi (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae), a common parasite of farmed European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) from the mid-eastern Adriatic

    Science.gov (United States)

    This study extends the original description of Eimeria dicentrarchi Daoudi and Marquès, 1987, a common coccidian parasite of European sea bass from the mid-eastern Adriatic, by providing insights into the parasite’s site of infection, development and pathogenicity. E. dicentrarchi was found in vario...

  17. Anti-discrimination Philosophy and the Decline of Post-capitalist Democracies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dan Pavel

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The author is trying to explain the contrasts existing between the expanding universe of anti-discrimination sanctions and the decline in legitimacy of democracy. The declining legitimacy affects both consolidated democracies, and newborn democracies. Inequality in the USA, but also at global level is illustrated with relevant statistics. The convergence between the crisis of democracy and the financial and economic global crisis is a major social and political threat. At the global level, after the Arab Spring, the third wave of democratization continued, while the quality of democracy substantially diminished. In the newborn Islamic democracies, discrimination against women, Christians, Jews, gay & lesbians, etc. continued, leading to arson, torture and killings.

  18. Are coups good for democracy?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Derpanopoulos

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available A number of recent studies argue that coups can help usher in democracy. We examine this relationship empirically by looking at the political regimes that follow coups in autocracies, as well as the level of repression against citizens. We find that, though democracies are occasionally established in the wake of coups, more often new authoritarian regimes emerge, along with higher levels of state-sanctioned violence.

  19. Conceptual Foundations Of Deliberative Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Елизавета Васильевна Золотарева

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The article is dedicated to the analysis of theoretical foundations of deliberative model of democracy that is formed on the basis of synthesis of traditionally opposing approaches to research of democracy — liberal political philosophy (J. Rawls and critical social theory (J. Habermas. Special attention is paid to the problems of testing of normative requirements to the public discourse as the basis of deliberative process.

  20. Natural gas in Eastern Europe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grabarczyk, Ewa; McCallum, Robert; Wergeland, Tor H

    1994-12-31

    The paper is based on Ewa Grabarczyk`s thesis ``The European Gas Market and the Former East Block Countries`` in the Master of International Business Programme at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. The material of Grabarczyk`s work has been split into two parts; SNF Working Papers Nos. 97/93 and 98/93. Working Paper 97/93 ``The European Gas Markets`` contains an equilibrium model of the European Gas Market employed to investigate some scenarios to the consequences of an integration of the former Soviet Union. Working Paper 98/93 ``Natural Gas in Eastern Europe`` contains descriptions of the energy sectors of former Eastern European countries and an evaluation of the potential future demand for natural gas in these nations. The paper has chapters on each country and sections on reserves, production, exports and markets, transport possibilities and technology, demand and development as well as evaluation of the present situation. 11 figs., 37 tabs., 33 refs

  1. POSSIBLE IMPACT OF RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP ON FURTHER INTEGRATION WITHIN THE EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brankica TODOROVIĆ

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The involvement countries of bilateral and multilateral economic relations, global markets, and integration enable the achievement of mutual and multiple benefits which in the case of the Eastern Partnership expressing as security, stability and prosperity, democracy and the rule of law. On the basis of Cost-benefit analysis and SWOT analysis, the paper will analyze the impact of Eastern Partnership on achieving economic objectives of member states of the partnership and the impact of the current situation and issues reconceptualization the mutual relations of partners in foreign trade. As a separate issue, the paper analyzes the relationship between the Republic of Serbia with the member countries of the Eastern Partnership in order to detect potential threats and benefits in international exchanges.

  2. High-Speed Rail for Central and Eastern European Countries: A Conference Report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jandová Monika

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The European transport strategy promotes the role of railways and expects that the key role in passenger transport should be played by high-speed rail (HSR. Although the core network of high-speed lines has already been built and is operating in Western Europe, there has been little coverage so far in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE. The aim of the conference “High-Speed Rail for CEE Countries” that took place in Prague in June 2016 was to put together academics, policy-makers, and practitioners interested in HSR and to formulate recommendations for CEE countries based on West European countries’ experience. Based on the conference presentations and subsequent discussion, the following conclusions were formulated. Firstly, there are many crucial differences in national HSR build-up and operation, which means that former experience of Western Europe is not directly applicable to CEE countries. Secondly, in comparing presentations discussing experiences in France, Britain, Italy, and Germany, it was concluded that the German approach-upgrading existing lines where possible and only building new lines for bottleneck sections-was the most likely appropriate solution in CEE. Lastly, CEE has the additional problem of many border crossings, with a reduction of traffic in comparison with purely domestic routes, and this effect has to be taken into account.

  3. "Views of democracy and peace” inequality, minorities and radical democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    TizianoTelleschi

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Democracy is a moral and practical system conveying living proximity, including definition of love-AGAPE, conflict, inequality, power. First we highlight “what it is” love and “what it is” power. Then, in order to overcome inequality weapply the love theory to an acknowledgment theory to figure out the mediator figure, that is able to build a social space where love-AGAPE may thrive and power may be restored to its relational nature, that is negotiable. From this point we go on analyzing the distributed power (horizontal. At last, thank to A. Gramsci’s hegemony notion, we point out the ideal of radical democracy as the most fertile along the others, to which a common action from different types of qualified mediators should tend.

  4. Education for Deliberative Democracy: A Typology of Classroom Discussions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samuelsson, Martin

    2016-01-01

    The theory of deliberative democracy places public deliberations at the heart of democracy. In order to participate in democratic deliberations, citizens need certain skills, attitudes, and values. Within the field of education for deliberative democracy, it is assumed that these are learned through participation in democratic deliberation. Thus,…

  5. Inventions and developments of democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jakobsen, Uffe

    2010-01-01

    In traditional approaches to the history of political ideas, the history of democracy is uniformly studied concerning the point of departure, selection of canonical texts, etc. The paper introduces the Koselleckian conceptual history approach (Begriffsgeschichte) and the principle of a broader...... selection of texts than in the traditional history of ideas to provide a fuller account of usages of the concept, thereby opening up for alternative conceptions of the inventions and development of democracy....

  6. Constitutional Politics, Constitutional Texts and Democratic Variety in Central and Eastern Europe

    OpenAIRE

    Blokker, Paul

    2008-01-01

    In the paper, it is argued that democratization in Central and Eastern Europe involves important forms of differentiation of democracy, rather than merely convergence to a singular – liberal-democratic, constitutional - model. One way of taking up democratic differentiation in post-communist societies is by analysing the constitutional documents of the new democratic orders, and the constitutional politics leading to the foundational documents. In a first step, the paper analyses constitution...

  7. Policy evaluation and democracy: Do they fit?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sager, Fritz

    2017-08-05

    The papers assembled in this special issue shed light on the question of the interrelation between democracy and policy evaluation by discussing research on the use of evaluations in democratic processes. The collection makes a case for a stronger presence of evaluation in democracy beyond expert utilization. Parliamentarians prove to be more aquainted with evaluations than expected and the inclusion of evaluations in policy arguments increases the deliberative quality of democratic campaigns. In sum, evaluation and democracy turn out to be well compatible after all. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. The Happy Gardener: on populism, democracy and specters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julián A. Melo

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The present text aims to retake several aspects and debates concerning the relation between populism and democracy. We will expound the main ideas by authors such as Margaret Canovan, Benjamín Arditi and Sebastián Barros in order to rethink the bonds between both terms. We will try not to take populism and democracy as antithetical poles in communitary political associations, since we are interested in pointing out how the ideas of shadow and specter have been crucial in the thought of these authors. Along with this reflection we seek to revisit several discursive keys of the experience of first Peronism in twentieth-century Argentina, just to investigate the ways in which the logic of Peronist populism rethought democracy and set it as a central element of the identity that it claimed to embody. Thus, we think that may be interesting not just to think populism as a specter of democracy but also to think democracy as a specter of populism.

  9. EUROPEAN UNION STRATEGIC NARRATIVE TOWARDS THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES AND THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION’S ESCALATION: STOP, SLOW OR GO?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nikita LOBANOV

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The narrative dimension of the EaP programme was considered by the European policy makers of secondary relevance as it was focused on the bureaucratic aspects of the economic and judicial convergence of the target countries with the European Union through “regulation setting”. The importance of these aspects has clearly increased after the Russian Federation used hybrid war tactics in Ukraine since 2013 based on a fabricated Strategic Narrative that relied on the “Reflexive Control” and “Informational Warfare” principles to a great effect. The growingly opposing information spheres, the Russian and the European, have an enormous importance for the political discourse in the Eastern Partnership (EaP countries. By drawing on a closer examination of a number of primary and secondary sources – including important events, official texts, and excerpts from interviews – this paper aims at comprehending the formation, projection and reception in the EaP states of the Strategic Narratives of the Russian Federation and the European Union since 2013.

  10. Membership ballots and the value of intra-party democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wolkenstein, Fabio

    2016-01-01

    On the face of it, membership ballots present a clear case in which intra- party democracy comes into collision with core principles of representative democracy: they weaken the autonomy of representatives, and undermine the authority of the voters. In this article, I investigate whether this is ......On the face of it, membership ballots present a clear case in which intra- party democracy comes into collision with core principles of representative democracy: they weaken the autonomy of representatives, and undermine the authority of the voters. In this article, I investigate whether...

  11. A clash of civilizations? Examining liberal-democratic values in Turkey and the European Union.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixon, Jeffrey C

    2008-12-01

    Turkey's proposed entry into the European Union (EU) has been undermined by Europeans' perceptions of Turkish-European cultural differences, particularly regarding the liberal-democratic values that the EU promotes (democracy, rule of law, and respect for and appreciation of minority/human rights). Yet, cross-national research on values has not focused on Turkey, the EU, and these liberal-democratic values, leaving assumptions of cultural differences and their explanations untested. Through analyses of World and European Values Survey data (1999-2002), this article asks whether people in Turkey have the same values regarding democracy, rule of law (versus religious and authoritarian rule), and minority/human rights as people in EU member and candidate states (as of 2000)? What factors explain these values? I find that people in Turkey support democracy to the same extent as people in EU member and candidate states, but people in Turkey are more supportive of religious and authoritarian rule and are less tolerant of minorities. Although the 'clash of civilizations' thesis expects liberal values to be ordered according to countries' religious traditions, with western Christian the most supportive and Islamic the least, only for tolerance of minorities values is this pattern found. Instead, economic development most consistently explains differences between Turkey and EU member and candidate states in support for these values. I conclude with calls for theoretical refinement, particularly of the clash of civilizations thesis, along with suggestions for future research to examine more Muslim and Orthodox countries; I discuss the debate over Turkey's EU entry.

  12. Just Democracy. A Radical Assessment.

    OpenAIRE

    Jacquemain, Marc

    2012-01-01

    This paper is a tentative assessment of the Rawls-Machiavelli program by Philippe Van Paris, who proposes that justice is the main goal of political action (in a Rawlsian perspective) and democracy is only instrumental (the Machiavellian part of the program). The paper adresses three questions to the proposal of Philippe Van Paris : 1) Can democracy be properly defined without a condition of public debate ? 2) Don't "realistic politics" underestimate the margin of possibility we have to chang...

  13. Power and democracy in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Jørgen Goul; Jørgensen, Torben Beck; Valgårda, Signild

    In 1997, the Danish Parliament decided to launch a power study, officially An Analysis of Democracy and Power in Denmark. A steering committee consisting of five independent researchers was assigned responsibility for the project. The Steering Committee has gathered the overall conclusions from...... the numerous projects under the Power Study, and this book is a short presentation of these conclusions.The main focus of the book is the state of democracy in Denmark at the dawn of the 21st century. How has democracy fared, has the development made things better or worse, and to which extent does......, and the political institutions show considerable democratic robustness. However, not everything has gone or is going well. There are still pronounced social divisions in Danish society, although their nature has changed somewhat. The ideal of an informed public debate does not always enjoy the best conditions...

  14. The Civil Society Tradition in the Evolution of European Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hulgård, Lars

    The soft revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe, which were initiated at the end of the 1980s, led to a renewed growth in interest concerning civil society in Europe in general. This was so, even though such an interest had already existed since the late sixties and early seventies...... to enhancing the role of the citizenship....

  15. Improving school governance through participative democracy and the law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marius H Smit

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available There is an inextricable link between democracy, education and the law. After 15 yearsofconstitutional democracy, the alarming percentage of dysfunctional schools raises questions about the efficacy of the system of local school governance. We report on the findings of quantitative and qualitative research on the democratisation of schools and the education system in North-West Province. Several undemocratic features are attributable to systemic weaknesses of traditional models of democracy as well as the misapplication of democratic and legal principles. The findings of the qualitative study confirmed that parents often misconceive participatory democracy for political democracy and misunderstand the role of the school governing body to be a political forum. Despite the shortcomings, the majority of the respondents agreed that parental participation improves school effectiveness and that the decentralised model of local school governance should continue. Recommendations to effect the inculcation of substantive democratic knowledge, values and attitudes into school governance are based on theory of deliberative democracy and principles of responsiveness, accountability and justification of decisions through rational discourse.

  16. Democracy, Corruption and the Politics of Spirits in Contemporary Indonesia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bubandt, Nils Ole

    Indonesia has been an electoral democracy for more than a decade, and yet the political landscape of the world’s third-largest democracy is as complex and enigmatic as ever. Indonesia is simultaneous a country that has achieved a successful transition to democracy and a flawed, illiberal......, and predatory democracy. This book provides a portrait of Indonesia’s contradictory democracy through a series of biographical accounts of political entrepreneurs, from the political ‘periphery’ of North Maluku and the ‘political centre’ of East Java respectively. Each biographical account is focused on one...... contentious area of democracy in Indonesia – elections, corruption, decentralization, and regional representation. The chapters explore the intimate ways in which the political world and the spirit world are entangled. The core argument of the book is that Indonesia’s seemingly peculiar problems...

  17. The Internet and Democracy: Global Catalyst or Democratic Dud?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Best, Michael L.; Wade, Keegan W.

    2009-01-01

    In this study, we explore the global effect of the Internet on democracy over the period of 1992 to 2002 by observing the relationships between measures related to democracy and Internet prevalence. Our findings suggest that while Internet usage was not a very powerful predictor of democracy when examining full panel data from 1992 to 2002, it was…

  18. Direct Democracy in Local Politics in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Svensson, Palle

    2007-01-01

    Elements of  direct democracy at the local level does exist in Denmark, but it is little known, because no formal rules regulate this aspect of political life, because results from popular initiatives and referendums are not recorded in official statistics, and because few systematic analyses have...... been published. This paper, accordingly, has an explorative nature and asks two basic questions: What is the current state of direct democracy at the local level in Denmark, and what are the prospects for a further development of direct democracy at the local level in Denmark? The paper is based...

  19. Internet and Democracy: Is the Internet an Important Predictor for Physical Education Teacher Candidates' Attitudes towards Democracy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ünlü, Hüseyin

    2017-01-01

    Today, in the digital age, the Internet usage is common among university students. The Internet is also an important platform for actively participating in democracy. This study explores physical education (PE) candidate teachers' attitudes toward the Internet and democracy. It also explores whether the Internet is an important predictor for…

  20. Theoretical Models of Deliberative Democracy: A Critical Analysis

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    Tutui Viorel

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: My paper focuses on presenting and analyzing some of the most important theoretical models of deliberative democracy and to emphasize their limits. Firstly, I will mention James Fishkin‟s account of deliberative democracy and its relations with other democratic models. He differentiates between four democratic theories: competitive democracy, elite deliberation, participatory democracy and deliberative democracy. Each of these theories makes an explicit commitment to two of the following four “principles”: political equality, participation, deliberation, nontyranny. Deliberative democracy is committed to political equality and deliberation. Secondly, I will present Philip Pettit‟s view concerning the main constraints of deliberative democracy: the inclusion constraint, the judgmental constraint and the dialogical constraint. Thirdly, I will refer to Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson‟s conception regarding the “requirements” or characteristics of deliberative democracy: the reason-giving requirement, the accessibility of reasons, the binding character of the decisions and the dynamic nature of the deliberative process. Finally, I will discuss Joshua Cohen‟s “ideal deliberative procedure” which has the following features: it is free, reasoned, the parties are substantively equal and the procedure aims to arrive at rationally motivated consensus. After presenting these models I will provide a critical analysis of each one of them with the purpose of revealing their virtues and limits. I will make some suggestions in order to combine the virtues of these models, to transcend their limitations and to offer a more systematical account of deliberative democracy. In the next four sections I will take into consideration four main strategies for combining political and epistemic values (“optimistic”, “deliberative”, “democratic” and “pragmatic” and the main objections they have to face. In the concluding section

  1. Skill Content of Intra-European Trade Flows

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zeddies, Goetz

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available In recent decades, the international division of labor has expanded rapidly in the wake of European integration. In this context, especially Western European high-wage countries should have specialized on (human-capital intensively manufactured goods and should have increasingly sourced labor-intensively manufactured goods, especially parts and components, from Eastern European low wage countries. Since this should be beneficial for the high-skilled and harmful to the lower-qualified workforce in high-wage countries, the opening up of Eastern Europe is often considered as a vital reason for increasing unemployment of the lower-qualified in Western Europe. This paper addresses this issue by analyzing the skill content of Western European countries’ bilateral trade using input-output techniques in order to evaluate possible effects of international trade on labor demand. Thereby, differences in factor inputs and production technologies have been considered, allowing for vertical product differentiation. In this case, skill content of bilateral exports and imports partially differs substantially, especially in bilateral trade between Western and Eastern European countries. According to the results, East-West trade should be harmful particularly to the medium-skilled in Western European countries.

  2. Populisms and liberal democracy – business as usual?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thompson, Grahame Frederick

    2017-01-01

    Populism is often thought to mark a sharp break with liberal democracy. But to what extent is this the case? In this contribution the connections between populism and liberal democracy are sketched in the context of several areas where discussions about populisms have stressed their discontinuity...... in these relationships. The contribution ends with a discussion of how it might be possible to defend liberal democracy from a non-liberal position in the face of the critique from populisms....

  3. European Capitals of Culture: A “soft power” resource for the European Union?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandros Sianos

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Using English-language newspaper articles retrieved from digital repositories, this paper examines the cultural asymmetrical encounter between Western and Eastern Europe after 1989. It argues that due to the rise of the Iron Curtain after 1948 and the post-war progress of the Western European integration project after 1950, the idea of “Europe” was confined to the West until 1989. After 1989, however, the Eastern European nations were free to “return to Europe”, and in order to do so they followed the “reference model” of the West. The paper takes the institution of the European Capital of Culture (ECOC as a case study and demonstrates how both Western and Eastern European cities used the ECOC title as a gateway to modernity, why it acquired an extra functionality in the East as a stage where they could showcase their “European” credentials, and how it gradually developed into one of the E.U.’s “soft power” resources.

  4. Economic restructuring in Eastern Europe and acid rain abatement strategies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amann, Markus; Klaassen, Ger; Schoepp, Wolfgang; Soerensen, Lene; Hordijk, Leen

    1992-01-01

    Acid rain abatement strategies in Europe are currently being discussed in view of the expiration of the Helsinki Protocol on SO 2 emission reduction. The changing energy situation in Eastern European countries is expected to have an influence on the deposition pattern in Europe. The paper presents a consistent energy scenario for Eastern European countries and compares optimal strategies to reduce SO 2 emissions. These strategies are based on runs with the RAINS model in which environmental targets have been set based on critical loads for sulphur. The analysis shows that economic restructuring and efficiency improvements in Eastern European countries, as well as in Western Europe, may result in significantly lower sulphur abatement costs. Potential assistance to Eastern Europe to guarantee desired environmental standards in Western countries should therefore focus not only on providing emission control devices but also on the success of the economic transition process. (author)

  5. Science is a gateway for democracy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaoua, Mohamed

    2014-06-01

    The Arab Spring of 2011 has highlighted an unprecedent fact in the region: it was the young and educated population who established the spearheading of change, and led their countries to democracy. In this paper, we try to analyze how science has been a key factor in these moves, in Tunisia as well as in Egypt, and how it can help to anchor democracy in these countries.

  6. Determinants of FDI into Central and Eastern European Countries: Pull or Push Effect?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Burcak Polat

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Despite the growing interest in foreign direct investments (FDI, substantial uncertainty still exists regarding what stimulates foreign investors to operate in a foreign market and uneven distribution of FDI across countries. Using panel data for 2001 -2012 period, the major determinants of the FDI inflows into the Central and Eastern European Countries are analysed in this study. Strong evidence are found that while EU CR indices, EU and USA real GDP growth rates and global financial crisis have power to explain FDI inflows among all other push factors, labour cost, electricity price, real exchange rate and host CR indices have strong influential on FDI as the most effective pull factors. However, study fails to find any effect of openness, tax rates on commercial profits, USA CR indices, interest rate differentials and host real GDP growth on FDI.

  7. Stochastic properties of the consumption-income ratios in central and eastern European countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giray Gozgor

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to investigate stochastic properties of the consumption-income ratios in eleven central and eastern European (CEE countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The heterogeneous panel unit root tests are used to account for cross-sectional dependence and the Modified Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test over the period March 1997-September 2012. The half-lives are also calculated as to find the strong mean-reversion in the consumption income ratio for nine of eleven CEE economies; and the exceptions are Croatia and Slovenia. In other words, empirical findings provide significant support for the existence of hypothesis that the consumption-income ratio is a mean reversion. Accordingly, the policy implications have permanent effects on the consumption of households only in Croatia and Slovenia.

  8. Reaching beyond Democracy in Educational Policy Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Leigh

    2016-01-01

    Educational policy analyses have tended toward either the impact of policies on student achievement or the furthering of progressive ideals, regularly theorized through concepts of democracy. In this theoretical essay, I suggest that democracy has become a vehicle for cauterized projects of individualized and contingent state status rather than…

  9. The Central and Eastern European Earthquake Research Network - CE3RN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bragato, Pier Luigi; Costa, Giovanni; Gallo, Antonella; Gosar, Andrej; Horn, Nikolaus; Lenhardt, Wolfgang; Mucciarelli, Marco; Pesaresi, Damiano; Steiner, Rudolf; Suhadolc, Peter; Tiberi, Lara; Živčić, Mladen; Zoppé, Giuliana

    2014-05-01

    The region of the Central and Eastern Europe is an area characterised by a relatively high seismicity. The active seismogenic structures and the related potentially destructive events are located in the proximity of the political boundaries between several countries existing in the area. An example is the seismic region between the NE Italy (FVG, Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto), Austria (Tyrol, Carinthia) and Slovenia. So when a destructive earthquake occurs in the area, all the three countries are involved. In the year 2001 the Agencija Republike Slovenije za Okolje (ARSO) in Slovenia, the Department of Mathematics and Geoscience of the University of Trieste (DMG), the OGS (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale) in Italy and the Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG) in Austria signed an agreement for the real-time seismological data exchange in the Southeastern Alps region. Soon after the Interreg IIIa Italia-Austria projects "Trans-National Seismological Networks in the South-Eastern Alps" and "FASTLINK" started. The main goal of these projects was the creation of a transfrontier network for the common seismic monitoring of the region for scientific and civil defense purposes. During these years the high quality data recorded by the transfrontier network has been used, by the involved institutions, for their scientific research, for institutional activities and for the civil defense services. Several common international projects have been realized with success. The instrumentation has been continuously upgraded, the installations quality improved as well as the data transmission efficiency. In the 2013 ARSO, DMG, OGS and ZAMG decided to name the cooperative network "Central and Eastern European Earthquake Research Network - CE3RN". The national/regional seismic networks actually involved in the CE3RN network are: • Austrian national BB network (ZAMG - OE) • Friuli Veneto SP network (OGS - FV) • Friuli VG

  10. Technologies of democracy: experiments and demonstrations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laurent, Brice

    2011-12-01

    Technologies of democracy are instruments based on material apparatus, social practices and expert knowledge that organize the participation of various publics in the definition and treatment of public problems. Using three examples related to the engagement of publics in nanotechnology in France (a citizen conference, a series of public meetings, and an industrial design process), the paper argues that Science and Technology Studies provide useful tools and methods for the analysis of technologies of democracy. Operations of experiments and public demonstrations can be described, as well as controversies about technologies of democracy giving rise to counter-experiments and counter-demonstrations. The political value of the analysis of public engagement lies in the description of processes of stabilization of democratic orders and in the display of potential alternative political arrangements.

  11. Mexico – A New Narco-Democracy in Latin America?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lidija Kos-Stanišić

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the author analyses the democratic transition and the first decade of the Mexican democracy. She points out that the democratic transition took place parallel with a huge expansion of the drug business, which caused the creation of extraconstitutional actors – drug cartels. The situation is particularly pressing in six Mexican federal states where the drug cartels cause deficiencies in the functioning of the majority of partial regimes of constitutional democracy. The conclusion raises fears that the collapse of democracy might extend to other federal states and that Mexico could turn into a narco-democracy in its entire national territory.

  12. Participatory Democracy in Local School Districts: Fact or Fiction, Boon or Bane?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatley, Richard V.

    1976-01-01

    Discusses the viability of participatory democracy and representative democracy for educational decision-making and argues that pure representative democracy would be preferable to the combination of participatory and representative democracy that now predominates. (Available from the Kansas Association of School Boards, 825 Western, Topeka, KS…

  13. Sovereignty and Democracy: Overcoming Supranational Mutual Double-Binds from the Eurozone

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pigozzo Francesco

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available EU and EMU are facing a hastened phase of structural rather than episodic crisis, following the progressive shift of the world order from a bipolar toward a multi-polar system. From the sovereign debt trap to migratory pressures and security threats, all European crisis are intimately interdependent and long awaited rather than unexpected, since their origins trace back to a lack of reactivity of the European unification process to the progressive weakening of US hegemony in the world from 1971 onward. In this paper I point out that two double-binds mutually prevent a full (and widespread understanding of Europe’s situation and avoid for this reason a fully structural approach to the institutional reforming process in the EU: a ‘sovereignty double-bind’ and a ‘democracy double-bind’. An effective roadmap toward political unification should primarily aim at tackling these misrepresentations instead of embracing them in the form of a gradualist approach to legitimacy issues.

  14. Dewey versus "Dewey" on Democracy and Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Ploeg, Piet

    2016-01-01

    In the literature on citizenship education, frequent references are made to Dewey. However, educationalists do not always interpret him correctly. To provide some counterbalance, I explain Dewey's views on education and democracy. I base this, not only on "Democracy and Education", but also on 17 articles that Dewey wrote after…

  15. Re-Thinking Normative Democracy and the Political Economy of Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carr, Paul R.

    2010-01-01

    Normative thinking around democracy often emphasizes the supremacy of electoral politics, underplaying the salience of education as a defining feature to produce a more meaningful, engaged, inclusive form of democracy. Critical pedagogy can be an extremely useful, illuminating and transformative means and process of deconstructing how democracy is…

  16. Does the consumption of fruits and vegetables differ between Eastern and Western European populations? Systematic review of cross-national studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stefler, Denes; Bobak, Martin

    2015-01-01

    Difference in fruit and vegetable consumption has been suggested as a possible reason for the large gap in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality rates between Eastern and Western European populations. However, individual-level dietary data which allow direct comparison across the two regions are rare. In this systematic review we aimed to answer the question whether cross-national studies with comparable individual-level dietary data reveal any systematic differences in fruit and vegetable consumption between populations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) compared to Western Europe (WE). Studies were identified by electronic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science databases from inception to September 2014, and hand search. Studies which reported data on fruit, vegetable consumption or carotene and vitamin C intake or tissue concentrations of adult participants from both CEE/FSU and WE countries were considered for inclusion. Quality of the included studies was assessed by a modified STROBE statement. Power calculation was performed to determine the statistical significance of the comparison results. Twenty-two studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Fruit consumption was found to be consistently lower in CEE/FSU participants compared to Western Europeans. Results on vegetable intake were less unambiguous. Antioxidant studies indicated lower concentration of beta-carotene in CEE/FSU subjects, but the results for vitamin C were not consistent. This systematic review suggests that populations in CEE and FSU consume less fruit than Western Europeans. The difference in the consumption of fruit may contribute to the CVD gap between the two regions.

  17. A European Demos? The Nordic Adult Education Tradition--Folkeoplysning--Faces a Challenge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korsgaard, Ove

    2002-01-01

    The Nordic tradition of folkeoplysning (Denmark, Norway) or folkbildning (Sweden) is a form of adult education--"people's enlightenment"--linked to the emergence of democracy. Differing social, political, and cultural emphases attached to "folk"/"people" in various European languages have implications for the role of…

  18. Devouring the Other: Democracy in Music Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gould, Elizabeth

    2008-01-01

    In this essay, the author builds on Val Plumwood's (1993, p. 192) notion of "devouring the other" to address fundamental problems of social justice and difference in liberal democracies and music education. The problem with liberal democracies is that they assimilate (devour) difference; consensual treatment of its citizens is predicated on the…

  19. Latin American intra-party democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aldo Adrián Martínez Hernández

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Research proposes to determine the level of internal democracy of political parties in Latin America from perception of its members, allowing the creation of an index that has parameters for the measurement and comparison of the parties according to its democratic features. At the same time, research supports designing a profile of the parties by subjecting to analysis the relationship between ideology and internal democracy, stressing that despite the differences between left and right, parties in Latin America do not have dichotomous democratic features, while maintaining low levels despite their ideological location.

  20. Jurisdiction Size and Local Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lassen, David Dreyer; Serritslew, Søren

    2011-01-01

    and problems of endogeneity. We focus on internal political efficacy, a psychological condition that many see as necessary for high-quality participatory democracy. We identify a quasiexperiment, a large-scale municipal reform in Denmark, which allows us to estimate a causal effect of jurisdiction size......Optimal jurisdiction size is a cornerstone of government design. A strong tradition in political thought argues that democracy thrives in smaller jurisdictions, but existing studies of the effects of jurisdiction size, mostly cross-sectional in nature, yield ambiguous results due to sorting effects...

  1. "Democracy Will Not Fall from the Sky." A Comparative Study of Teacher Education Students' Perceptions of Democracy in Two Neo-Liberal Societies: Argentina and Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zyngier, David; Traverso, María Delia; Murriello, Adriana

    2015-01-01

    This paper compares and contrasts pre-service teachers' (PSTs) beliefs about democracy in Argentina and Australia. While there are many important studies of how school students understand democracy and democratic participation, few have studied what teachers, and especially pre-service teachers, think about democracy. This paper uses a mixed…

  2. REGIONALIZATION IN EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE: OBSTACLES AND PERSPECTIVES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gyula Horváth

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Regional policy depends on efficient administrative systems for designing and implementing strategies, and places considerable demands on Member States’ public administrations in terms of e.g. financial management and monitoring; project selection procedures; ex ante environmental impact assessments and cost-benefit analyses; and the monitoring and evaluation of outputs, results and impacts. EU member states have taken a range of different approaches to the administration of regional policy.The construction of regions in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe became one of the important debate topics for preparation for EU membership. Despite the numerous similarities in the changes that have taken place in the territorial structures of the Eastern and Central European countries, the differences in the responses individual countries gave to the challenges of regional development and the varied results of their development efforts demonstrate that the “Eastern European Bloc” is at least as heterogeneous as the former member states of the European Union. EU accession opened up a Pandora’s Box in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe. The fundamental issue of how unitarily structured states can be set on a decentralised path became the centre of debate. The paper introduces the Central and Eastern European achievements of region building processes and searches for an explanation of the reasons for the difficulties of Eastern and Central Europe in regional construction; it summarises the administrative and political development pre-requisites of the transition to a regional outline of the possible advantages of a regional institutional system in the creation of the Cohesion Policy ensuring a decrease in regional differences.

  3. Social Progress in Romania and other Central and Eastern European Non- Eurozone States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    VIRGINIA CÂMPEANU

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Our research paper refers to the social progress achieved in the last 10 years by Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland and Hungary as non- Eurozone members (CEE-6, compared to the minimum and maximum levels in the EU-28, depending on their economic development levels. This analysis isa part of the larger-scale study regarding the readinessassessment of Romania and other five Central and Eastern European countries (CEE-6 for accession to the Eurozone in terms of the real convergence. We extended the analysis of the real economic convergence to the sphere of social convergence. The purpose of the extended analysis is to compare the living standards in Romania, CEE-6 and other European Union member states (EU-28 and to draw conclusions on the social convergence as a complement to real economic convergence. Using a new analytical tool, the global composite index “Social Progress Index” at different levels of disaggregation, this article reveals the social gaps between CEE-6 and the EU and identifies strengths, and weaknesses for these countries to achieve social progress on the road to real economic and social convergence with the EU.The aim is to provide to the national decision-makers some milestones to remove weaknesses and to turn threats into opportunities in the future social and economic policies.

  4. How do South Africans understand Democracy and Christianity ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The average South African is often seen as Christian and as supporting democracy, but research suggests many of the fundamentals of democracy and Christianity are clearly not accepted unconditionally. Africa Insight Vol.34(2/3) 2004: 16-22 ...

  5. LAW DEMOCRACY & DEVELOPMENT

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    HP27975994114

    the routine of daily business”.21 In the Court's view, this is so because, in a ..... tendency to be disruptive of deliberative processes and to rely on slogans and ... of a deliberative model of democracy for understandings of fundamental rights.

  6. Flavour democracy and the lepton-quark hierarchy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fritzsch, H.; Muenchen Univ.; Plankl, J.

    1990-01-01

    The mass hierarchy of the leptons and quarks is interpreted as a consequence of a coherent state phenomenon ('flavour democracy'). It is emphasized that particular forms of the mass matrices can arise from the coherent state basis. The violations of the 'flavour democracy' turn out to be relatively large. Numerical examples are presented. (orig.)

  7. How is an absolute democracy possible?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joanna Bednarek

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available In the last part of the Empire trilogy, Commonwealth, Negri and Hardt ask about the possibility of the self-governance of the multitude. When answering, they argue that absolute democracy, understood as the political articulation of the multitude that does not entail its unification (construction of the people is possible. As Negri states, this way of thinking about political articulation is rooted in the tradition of democratic materialism and constitutes the alternative to the dominant current of modern political philosophy that identifies political power with sovereignty. The multitude organizes itself politically by means of the constitutive power, identical with the ontological creativity or productivity of the multitude. To state the problem of political organization means to state the problem of class composition: political democracy is at the same time economic democracy.

  8. Philosophical Foundations for Democracy: A Ukrainian Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuriy Myelkov

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available The article intends to conduct a philosophical analysis of democracy as it is presented by democratization processes in societies under globalization. Turbulent political life or contemporary Ukraine with its recent ‘revolution’ provides an excellent example of such a process. The authors demonstrate that the processes in question could be denoted as rather manipulation and political technologies than democratic transition. They argue that democracy can only be understood correctly as the self-organization of society composed of free and conscious human personalities. They show that personality as the subject of democracy, opposed to crowds led by contemporary demagogues, is the only possibility to achieve real changes for a better society.

  9. The 1997 Protocol and the European Union (European Union and '2nd generation' responsibility conventions)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Handrlica, Jakub; Novotna, Marianna

    2014-01-01

    The issue of accession of the Eastern European Member States to the 1997 Protocol is discussed with focus on the European Union's authority and enforcement powers. Following up the article published in the preceding issue of this journal, the present contribution analyses the relations of the '2nd generation' responsibility conventions to the law of the European Union. (orig.)

  10. Democracy as the Rule of Nobody. Does It Make Sense Today?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tonči Kursar

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available I would like to contribute to the ongoing debate on democracy by discussing the notion of the rule of nobody. I first address Rosanvallon's theory of counter-democracy and Keane's concept of monitory democracy. Keane writes about 'monitory democracy' not only as a new phase in the development of democracy on a global scale, but primarily as an abolishment of all domination in human relations. His idea that in a monitory democracy 'no body rules', has been criticized by John Dunn and John Gray. They consider it meaningless to claim that in democracy 'no body rules', since every form of rule needs rulers. I would like to show that both this supposedly realistic criticism and Keane's version of the rule of nobody are too literal and superficial. If we consider democracy to be a kind of sentiment rather than a set of political institutions, we get closer to the puzzling idea that 'no body rules'. This idea, namely, is not about abolishing the rule of men over men, but about being aware of the contingency of all forms of mastery. This was well known to Plato and has been convincingly revived in the works of the French philosopher Jacques Rancière.

  11. The effect of generation and age on turnout to the European Parliament

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bhatti, Yosef; Hansen, Kasper Møller; Wass, Hanna

    2012-01-01

    Electoral turnout has been declining at national elections in almost all Western democracies. European Parliament (EP) elections have followed the same trend. We utilize a previously suggested method for separating the effect of generation, age and period and show that a major part of the decline...

  12. Identity and democracy: linking individual and social reasoning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Davis, J.B.; Marin, S.R.

    2009-01-01

    Following Amartya Sen's approach, John Davis and Solange Regina Marin look at individual and social reasoning when examining the complex relationship between identity and democracy. They characterize democracy as a process of social or public reasoning that combines the individual reasoning of all

  13. 1. European conference on local democracies and nuclear power plants. Conference proceedings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-01-01

    The Group of European Municipalities with Nuclear Facilities (GMF) was constituted in 1999. Its basic objectives are to keep and strengthen the relations between municipalities with the aim of consolidating a European network of municipalities with common problems; and to participate in European forums on the future of nuclear energy, contributing and helping in decision making processes. The GMF wants to become a support element to the local authorities of nuclear areas in order to foster their participation in the decision making processes, working continuously in collaboration with other agents of the nuclear sector, especially with the authorities of the European Commission, assuming that its major contribution is the knowledge of the everyday territorial reality, as a fundamental element that should be born in mind in all defined policies, whether on european or national level. It is stated that the debate on the future of nuclear energy represents a new era for the municipalities with nuclear facilities across Europe and that international cooperation will open the way for a better use of nuclear energy in Europe

  14. Democracy Dies in Dualisms. A Response to "Dewey and Democracy"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarofian-Butin, Dan

    2017-01-01

    This essay reviews Atkinson's article "Dewey and Democracy" and argues that while Dewey and the social foundations classroom may indeed be important for teacher preparation, it is not in the way Atkinson suggests. Namely, I argue that Atkinson's essay has three distinct (yet interrelated) issues: his problematic oversimplifications, what…

  15. AMBIGUOUS JANUS OF MODERN DEMOCRACY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volodymyr V. Khmil

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. The purpose of the research is to analyze ambiguous concept of  democracy as a phenomenon of political and social formation based on political and instrumental approach. As a result, some deep fundamentals of  human social existence and values as social life basis are blurred. Task. The task of  this investigation is to reveal the concept of democracy in its invariative philosophical  meaning and find the consequences of global social transformations towards social entropy. Methods of investigation. To implement the task an activity approach has been used with further possibility to single out two approaches - politological and philosophical. The focus on democracy from philosophic point of view makes possible to anticipate negative entropic processes that lead  to future ambiguity. Subject matter. Chaotic social processes can result in  ruined family, spiritual, legal and moral formations. Regulatory and legal paradigms are becoming less effective and entail disintegration of spiritual and value constituents of worldview causing necessary conditions for social entropy. Originality and Findings. Possible threats for human freedom that hinder the way to targeted  prospects of mankind have been considered in the paper. Thus, taking into account all positive aspects of democracy, it is simultaneously becoming the tool of continuous differentiation of society into tiny autonomous communities similar to nomadic atomization of society. The concept based on moral substantial existence basis as in “axis time” by K. Jaspers that can prevent social entropy resulting in world anthropologic catastrophes has been grounded in the present research.

  16. Design for the values of democracy and justice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pols, A.J.K.; Spahn, A.; Hoven, van den J.; Vermaas, P.; Poel, van de I.

    2015-01-01

    In this chapter, we provide an overview of literature on the relation between technology and design and the values of democracy and justice. We first explore how philosophy has traditionally conceptualized democracy and justice. We then examine general philosophical theories and arguments about this

  17. Democracy, Citizen Sovereignty and Constitutional Economics

    OpenAIRE

    Vanberg, Viktor J.

    2006-01-01

    This paper is an exercise in conceptual clarification. Its purpose is to explore the contribution that constitutional economics can make to the theory of democracy. Constitutional economics as the economics of rules is concerned with the study of how the choice of rules in the social, economic and political realm affects the nature of the processes of human interaction that evolve within these rules. The theory of democracy is concerned with institutionalorganizational problems of self-govern...

  18. Power and Democracy in Denmark. Conclusions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Jørgen Goul; Christiansen, Peter Munk; Beck Jørgensen, Torben

    In 1997, the Danish Parliament decided to launch a power study, officially An Analysis of Democracy and Power in Denmark. A steering committee consisting of five independent researchers was assigned responsibility for the project. The Steering Committee has gathered the overall conclusions from...... the numerous projects under the Power Study, and this book is a short presentation of these conclusions.The main focus of the book is the state of democracy in Denmark at the dawn of the 21st century. How has democracy fared, has the development made things better or worse, and to which extent does......, and the political institutions show considerable democratic robustness. However, not everything has gone or is going well. There are still pronounced social divisions in Danish society, although their nature has changed somewhat. The ideal of an informed public debate does not always enjoy the best conditions...

  19. Is Polis the Answer? Hannah Arendt on Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monika Bokiniec

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to reconsider Hannah Arendt’s most influential works from the point of view of her attitude towards democracy and analysis of the way it may contribute to the contemporary understanding and redefinition of the very notion of what democracy is.The paper begins with the reconstruction of Arendt’s anthropology in order to ground her political reflections. The next part discusses the basic characteristics of counsel democracy in forms of spontaneous, local organizations and associations in which every citizen could freely and equally participate, as they show through her analysis of revolutions. The last part deals with different and contradictory interpretations of Arendt’s attitude towards democracy and the question whether her proposition is a practical, revolutionary proposition or an idealist utopia. The interpretation of Arendt’s project emphasizing her democratic and reformative approach is defended. The conclusion states Hannah Arendt’s important contribution to the contemporary reflection on democracy in view of her recognition of the power of grassroots collective actions and their role in contemporary political sphere and the necessity of such formed at grass­roots and spontaneous level actions and associations as a unique safety valve for the society, as well as a counterbalance for mass society.  

  20. Mapping Anomalous Democracies During the Cold War

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Seeberg, Michael

    2014-01-01

    During the Cold War, a number of countries established stable democracies despite low levels of modernization and a relative lack of democratic neighbour countries—factors otherwise consistently related to the endurance of democracy. Meanwhile, the Cold War superpowers often supported autocracies...... are identified, including Bolivia, Botswana, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turkey....

  1. Education, democracy and development in Latin America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gomes, Candido

    1993-11-01

    The education first brought to America by Europeans was hardly more than ornamental culture, literacy was generally unimportant, and African slaves were not educated at all. Only in this century did industrialization cause some governments to provide economic and technological support through training and education. In the last decade, the debt crisis curtailed spending, while numbers of students and teachers continued to rise. A comparison between Latin America and South Korea illustrates the former's relative decline in investment. The advent of populist and corporatist democracies did not alleviate the situation, although there is now some evidence of concern for basic education for poorer children. With economic adjustment programmes, little else has been done for those who have suffered the heaviest burdens, and no obvious solutions to poverty and technological obsolescence are in prospect. A major reform of State institutions is called for, including a commitment to education, a change in the economic model, and a recognition of global interdependence.

  2. The European Union's Mediterranean Policy in the Context of the "Arab Spring"

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victoria A. Latkina

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article discusses the policy of the European Union aimed at the export of its democratic values, acquis communautaire and governance models to the neighbour countries in the Southern Mediterranean. The process of Europeanization reflects a particular case of global megatrend -democratization which in its turn positioned as democracy promotion through soft power instruments. From the EU point of view the goal of the Barcelona process launched in 1995 was to construct Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and common identity in order to promote democratic transitions in Southern Mediterranean. While the EU Foreign Policy in the Mediterranean region was historically conditioned by the security interests of the European Union, it suffered from securitization/democratization dilemma. The article analyses the process of external Europeanization in the Southern Mediterranean as a regional dimension of global democratization process in the context of Union for the Mediterranean development before and after the Arab Spring and new approach in the framework of the ENP Partnership for Democracy and Shared Prosperity with the Southern Mediterranean. The article proposes that the lack of political strategic vision in the EU toward the Arab democratic transition during 2011-2013 narrows its role as a transformative democratic power, hinders Europeanization/ democratization process in the macro-region of North Africa and Middle East and presents the EU with a new dilemma - to continue its traditional democratization policy or to shift towards a more pragmatic approach to cooperating with new Arab regimes.

  3. Inclusive or managed democracy?

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    remains fragile, and faces the reality that political stability has not been accompanied ... 'managed democracy'2 cognizant of the manipulation of political, economic ...... pushing societies under extractive institutions toward political instability.

  4. Dewey versus ‘Dewey’ on democracy and education

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Ploeg, Piet

    In the literature on citizenship education, frequent references are made to Dewey. However, educationalists do not always interpret him correctly. To provide some counterbalance, I explain Dewey’s views on education and democracy. I base this, not only on ‘Democracy and Education’, but also on 17

  5. Creating an International Network of Democracy Builders | IDRC ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Creating an International Network of Democracy Builders. The Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) at Queen's University will conduct three case studies on democratic transition in Liberia, Costa Rica and Palestine, partnering with the Sua Foundation, the Arias Foundation and the Arab Thought Forum, respectively.

  6. Of Asian forests and European fields: Eastern U.S. plant invasions in a global floristic context.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jason D Fridley

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Biogeographic patterns of species invasions hold important clues to solving the recalcitrant 'who', 'where', and 'why' questions of invasion biology, but the few existing studies make no attempt to distinguish alien floras (all non-native occurrences from invasive floras (rapidly spreading species of significant management concern, nor have invasion biologists asked whether particular habitats are consistently invaded by species from particular regions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here I describe the native floristic provenances of the 2629 alien plant taxa of the Eastern Deciduous Forest of the Eastern U.S. (EUS, and contrast these to the subset of 449 taxa that EUS management agencies have labeled 'invasive'. Although EUS alien plants come from all global floristic regions, nearly half (45% have native ranges that include central and northern Europe or the Mediterranean (39%. In contrast, EUS invasive species are most likely to come from East Asia (29%, a pattern that is magnified when the invasive pool is restricted to species that are native to a single floristic region (25% from East Asia, compared to only 11% from northern/central Europe and 2% from the Mediterranean. Moreover, East Asian invaders are mostly woody (56%, compared to just 23% of the total alien flora and are significantly more likely to invade intact forests and riparian areas than European species, which dominate managed or disturbed ecosystems. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These patterns suggest that the often-invoked 'imperialist dogma' view of global invasions equating invasion events with the spread of European colonialism is at best a restricted framework for invasion in disturbed ecosystems. This view must be superseded by a biogeographic invasion theory that is explicitly habitat-specific and can explain why particular world biotas tend to dominate particular environments.

  7. E-democracy a group decision and negotiation perspective

    CERN Document Server

    French, Simon

    2010-01-01

    Web-based interactions to support participation and deliberative democracy, called e-participation and e-democracy, are coming and coming fast. In some instances, the Internet is already permeating politics. However, it is far from clear if the processes involved in these interactions are meaningful and valid, and most of the research in the field has focused largely on the technologies to facilitate or automate the standard democratic instruments involved, such as e-voting or e-debating. This book, though, uses the point of view of the Group Decision and Negotiation approach to thoroughly discuss how web-based decision support tools can be used for public policy decision making. e-Democracy is structured into five main parts. The first part places democracy in context and reviews participatory instruments already in use in the physical world. The second part reviews methodologies that may be used to support groups in public policy decision making with a view on discussing how they may be used in the virtual ...

  8. Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazaridis, Iosif; Patterson, Nick; Mittnik, Alissa; Renaud, Gabriel; Mallick, Swapan; Kirsanow, Karola; Sudmant, Peter H.; Schraiber, Joshua G.; Castellano, Sergi; Lipson, Mark; Berger, Bonnie; Economou, Christos; Bollongino, Ruth; Fu, Qiaomei; Bos, Kirsten I.; Nordenfelt, Susanne; Li, Heng; de Filippo, Cesare; Prüfer, Kay; Sawyer, Susanna; Posth, Cosimo; Haak, Wolfgang; Hallgren, Fredrik; Fornander, Elin; Rohland, Nadin; Delsate, Dominique; Francken, Michael; Guinet, Jean-Michel; Wahl, Joachim; Ayodo, George; Babiker, Hamza A.; Bailliet, Graciela; Balanovska, Elena; Balanovsky, Oleg; Barrantes, Ramiro; Bedoya, Gabriel; Ben-Ami, Haim; Bene, Judit; Berrada, Fouad; Bravi, Claudio M.; Brisighelli, Francesca; Busby, George B. J.; Cali, Francesco; Churnosov, Mikhail; Cole, David E. C.; Corach, Daniel; Damba, Larissa; van Driem, George; Dryomov, Stanislav; Dugoujon, Jean-Michel; Fedorova, Sardana A.; Romero, Irene Gallego; Gubina, Marina; Hammer, Michael; Henn, Brenna M.; Hervig, Tor; Hodoglugil, Ugur; Jha, Aashish R.; Karachanak-Yankova, Sena; Khusainova, Rita; Khusnutdinova, Elza; Kittles, Rick; Kivisild, Toomas; Klitz, William; Kučinskas, Vaidutis; Kushniarevich, Alena; Laredj, Leila; Litvinov, Sergey; Loukidis, Theologos; Mahley, Robert W.; Melegh, Béla; Metspalu, Ene; Molina, Julio; Mountain, Joanna; Näkkäläjärvi, Klemetti; Nesheva, Desislava; Nyambo, Thomas; Osipova, Ludmila; Parik, Jüri; Platonov, Fedor; Posukh, Olga; Romano, Valentino; Rothhammer, Francisco; Rudan, Igor; Ruizbakiev, Ruslan; Sahakyan, Hovhannes; Sajantila, Antti; Salas, Antonio; Starikovskaya, Elena B.; Tarekegn, Ayele; Toncheva, Draga; Turdikulova, Shahlo; Uktveryte, Ingrida; Utevska, Olga; Vasquez, René; Villena, Mercedes; Voevoda, Mikhail; Winkler, Cheryl; Yepiskoposyan, Levon; Zalloua, Pierre; Zemunik, Tatijana; Cooper, Alan; Capelli, Cristian; Thomas, Mark G.; Ruiz-Linares, Andres; Tishkoff, Sarah A.; Singh, Lalji; Thangaraj, Kumarasamy; Villems, Richard; Comas, David; Sukernik, Rem; Metspalu, Mait; Meyer, Matthias; Eichler, Evan E.; Burger, Joachim; Slatkin, Montgomery; Pääbo, Svante; Kelso, Janet; Reich, David; Krause, Johannes

    2014-01-01

    We sequenced the genomes of a ~7,000 year old farmer from Germany and eight ~8,000 year old hunter-gatherers from Luxembourg and Sweden. We analyzed these and other ancient genomes1–4 with 2,345 contemporary humans to show that most present Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: West European Hunter-Gatherers (WHG), who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; Ancient North Eurasians (ANE) related to Upper Paleolithic Siberians3, who contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and Early European Farmers (EEF), who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harbored WHG-related ancestry. We model these populations’ deep relationships and show that EEF had ~44% ancestry from a “Basal Eurasian” population that split prior to the diversification of other non-African lineages. PMID:25230663

  9. Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mitchell, Timothy; Jaquet, Christophe

    2013-01-01

    How oil undermines democracy, and our ability to address the environmental crisis. This book is a French translation of 'Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil' originally published by Verso Edition (New York, US, ISBN 978-1781681169). Oil is a curse, it is often said, that condemns the countries producing it to an existence defined by war, corruption and enormous inequality. Carbon Democracy tells a more complex story, arguing that no nation escapes the political consequences of our collective dependence on oil. It shapes the body politic both in regions such as the Middle East, which rely upon revenues from oil production, and in the places that have the greatest demand for energy. Timothy Mitchell begins with the history of coal power to tell a radical new story about the rise of democracy. Coal was a source of energy so open to disruption that oligarchies in the West became vulnerable for the first time to mass demands for democracy. In the mid-twentieth century, however, the development of cheap and abundant energy from oil, most notably from the Middle East, offered a means to reduce this vulnerability to democratic pressures. The abundance of oil made it possible for the first time in history to reorganize political life around the management of something now called 'the economy' and the promise of its infinite growth. The politics of the West became dependent on an undemocratic Middle East. In the twenty-first century, the oil-based forms of modern democratic politics have become unsustainable. Foreign intervention and military rule are faltering in the Middle East, while governments everywhere appear incapable of addressing the crises that threaten to end the age of carbon democracy-the disappearance of cheap energy and the carbon-fuelled collapse of the ecological order. In making the production of energy the central force shaping the democratic age, Carbon Democracy rethinks the history of energy, the politics of nature, the theory of

  10. Electoral rules in Serbia and the European standards on universal suffrage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nastić Maja

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Elections are the most important form of citizens' participation in political decision-making processes in every state. Electoral rules shape the electoral democracy as an essential component of democracy. Elections are the basis for government legitimacy and the cornerstone of democracy, providing that they are organized on the following principles: universal and equal suffrage; free, personal and direct voting by secret ballot. The subject matter of this article is the principle of universal suffrage in the electoral rules in Serbia and its compliance with the European standards. The electoral legislation in Serbia is not homogeneous and it is contained in several legislative acts. The Act on the Election of Members of Parliament is the basic legislative act which regulates the matter of parliamentary elections. The Presidential and local elections are regulated by separate legislative acts, which (along with the Act on the Unified Register of Voters regulate the substantive and procedural framework of Serbian electoral law. Within the framework of European electoral standards, the author explores the relevant provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Article 3 of Protocol No. 1, the OSCE documents (primarily the Copenhagen Criteria and the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, adopted by the Venice Commission. The author analyzes the national electoral rules and how they provide for the exercise of the principle of universal suffrage, i.e. the right of each citizen to vote and to stand for election, including the envisaged restrictions to this right. Bearing in mind that the universal suffrage right may be exercised only if the state ensures that the electoral register is regularly and efficiently updated, the author specifically focuses on the voters' registration. The exercise of the universal suffrage right will also be considered in terms of candidacy for an MP position. The

  11. Prospects of the power industry in central and eastern Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dubslaff, E.; Tillmann, H.B.; Lehmann, R.; Denk, P.

    2003-01-01

    The development of the Central and Eastern European countries is dependent to a large extent on the development of their national power industry. Until 1990, the development of the power industry of these countries was comparable to that of East Germany. After presenting an assessment of the upgrading of the power station park and grid in East Germany, we outline, by means of examples, the current situation in several Central and Eastern European countries and particularly in Russia. We discuss both the status quo of liberalisation and privatisation efforts made in these countries and the development of European transmission grids. (orig.) [de

  12. Prescribing Democracy?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bourne, Angela; Casals Bertoa, Fernando

    2017-01-01

    When democracies ban political parties, one of the central issues to usually emerge in both public and academic debate concerns the effects of proscription. Some argue that proscription may lead to radicalisation, a growth of militancy and readiness to use violence. Some also argue that, in the l......When democracies ban political parties, one of the central issues to usually emerge in both public and academic debate concerns the effects of proscription. Some argue that proscription may lead to radicalisation, a growth of militancy and readiness to use violence. Some also argue that...... of party bans on party system development has remained mostly under-researched. Trying to address this lacuna, and employing a new dataset of banned parties in Europe between 1945 and 2015, we compare the effects of party ban regulation on party system stability in three different arenas: electoral......, parliamentary and governmental. In particular, we examine the impact of party proscription on electoral volatility, fragmentation and closure in three different countries: Turkey, Germany and Spain. Using examples both at national and regional (e.g. Basque Country, Navarre, Saxony) level, and making use...

  13. Direct democracy and minority rights: same-sex marriage bans in the U.S.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Daniel C

    2011-01-01

    Objectives. A common critique of direct democracy posits that minority rights are endangered by citizen legislative institutions. By allowing citizens to directly create public policy, these institutions avoid the filtering mechanisms of representative democracy that provide a check on the power of the majority. Empirical research, however, has produced conflicting results that leave the question of direct democracy's effect on minority rights open to debate. This article seeks to empirically test this critique using a comparative, dynamic approach.Methods. I examine the diffusion of same-sex marriage bans in the United States using event-history analysis, comparing direct-democracy states to non-direct-democracy states.Results. The results show that direct-democracy states are significantly more likely than other states to adopt same-sex marriage bans.Conclusion. The findings support the majoritarian critique of direct democracy, suggesting that the rights of minority groups are at relatively higher risk under systems with direct democracy.

  14. The Eastern Partnership

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Kristian L.; Vilson, Maili

    2014-01-01

    When the EU launched the Eastern Partnership (EaP) in 2009, it did so with much rhetoric about projecting its soft power into Eastern Europe. Yet today, the EU's soft power project seems to have stalled, with developments in the region being less than favourable. This article argues that the EaP...... essentially replicated the main weaknesses of the European Neighbourhood Policy, by offering too little incentive and support to the partners, rendering both conditionality and soft power ineffective as tools for milieu shaping. In promoting the EaP as a policy of soft power, the EU has once again forgotten...

  15. On Democracy and Leadership: From Rhetoric to Reality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karagiorgi, Yiasemina

    2011-01-01

    This paper resembles a personal narrative on leadership and democracy and outlines how an educational leader can conceptualize democratic leadership and take some steps towards transforming theory into practice. The concepts of democracy and democratic schools within the discourse of educational theory and research are briefly discussed. Based on…

  16. Democracy, leadership and nation building in Nigeria | Nweke ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Dissatisfied with a long-term period of military rule, Nigerians clamored for democratic rule and the nation has since 1999 witnessed civilian transitions of power within democracy. For Nigerians, the beauty of their hard earned democracy lies in its proclivity towards integral and sustainable national development. The thrust ...

  17. Dementia and representative democracy: Exploring challenges and implications for democratic citizenship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sonnicksen, Jared

    2016-05-01

    Despite growing recognition of the rights of people with dementia for full citizenship, issues related to democracy, whether from theoretical or practical perspectives, remain neglected. Especially since discourses on dementia have expanded to this rights-based approach, it is imperative to begin to examine the meanings and practices of democracy within a context of dementia. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to assess implications of dementia in the context of democracy. Rather than surveying the variety of democratic concepts, it will focus the analytical framework on representative democracy and then outline several challenges to and for representative democracy and citizens with dementia. The intention is to begin to identify paths for ensuring representation, inclusion and participation for those who have dementia. © The Author(s) 2016.

  18. Democracy, political representation, leadership and the institutional question. Debates on the theory and practice of politics in contemporary democracies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hernán Fair

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes the problem of political representation in contemporary democracies, its links with the role of political leadership and the institutional issue. In the first part, it examines the debates on political representation from the predominant perspectives of Latin American political science and critiques from alternative views of the discipline. The second part focuses on representative democracies today, examining the links and tensions between Laclau´s post-foundational theory of populism and neo-institutionalist political science. The last part critiques laclausian theory of populism, distinguishing conceptually between the institutional, administrative and pluralistic elements and the liberal tradition, which appears juxtaposed in the laclausian approach, and between the populist (post-foundational and ideological (foundational forms, on the basis of the analytical differences between authoritarianism, dictatorship and totalitarism. After that, some resources of the classical tradition of democracy and republicanism are incorporated, which are sub-theorized in Laclau’s approach. Finally, these tools are used to conceptualize and analyze two dimensions, defined as participatory-horizontal-popular and representative-pluralist, which tend to construct a post-foundational theory of radical democracy for the twenty-first century.

  19. Educational Systems and Inequalities in Educational Attainment in Central and Eastern European Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irena Kogan

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Before exploring the selectivity of educational attainment in detail, this article extensively describes the contours of educational systems in Central and Eastern European (CEE countries. These countries provide an interesting setting in view of their post-secondary education expansion and differentiation, as well as their variation in the degree of vocational orientation at the secondary level. Drawing on high quality, national micro data, we find that students from disadvantaged family backgrounds who manage to enter post-secondary education are ʽdivertedʼ to second-tier post-secondary institutions, while long-term university programs are more likely to be dominated by students whose parents have an academic background. At the secondary level, we confirm the patterns of negative selection among students from lower social backgrounds into lower vocational programs. This diversion effect at the secondary level is especially pronounced in CEE countries that inherited a strong secondary vocational system and reinstalled early tracking.

  20. EU and US External Policies on Human Rights and Democracy Promotion: Assessing Political Conditionality in Transatlantic Partnership

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beatriz Pérez de las Heras

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This contribution aims at advancing existing research about the role that the Transatlantic Partnership may play within the specific field of human rights and democracy promotion in the current changing global order. It examines recent changes to the foreign policies of the European Union and the United States on this area and assesses the impact of these changes on the transatlantic partnership over the last five years. The paper argues that these modifications entail a greater convergence between the policies of the two regions, though some ideological divergences, lack of coordination and differences in implementation are still observable. However, the increasing mutual realignment could foster a truly transatlantic partnership in the field if both partners attain to define a joint strategy and establish common institutions to ensure permanent dialogue and policy coherence. At the same time, this enhanced co-operation could enable them to remain the principal supporters of human rights and democracy in the current multi-polar order.

  1. Banzhuren and Classrooming: Democracy in the Chinese Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jiacheng; Chen, Jing

    2013-01-01

    The issue of education and democracy has become more and more important in China. This paper firstly explains the theory of democracy in Chinese classrooms, and then focuses on the Chinese banzhuren who is responsible for classrooming, an important educational area equal to instruction. We illustrate how Chinese students achieve development…

  2. "Democracy and Education": Reconstruction of and through Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, James

    2016-01-01

    While focusing on "Democracy and Education," James Campbell attempts in this essay to offer a synthesis of the full range of John Dewey's educational thought. Campbell explores in particular Dewey's understanding of the relationship between democracy and education by considering both his ideas on the reconstruction of education and on…

  3. Is low survival for cancer in Eastern Europe due principally to late stage at diagnosis?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minicozzi, Pamela; Walsh, Paul M; Sánchez, Maria-José; Trama, Annalisa; Innos, Kaire; Marcos-Gragera, Rafael; Dimitrova, Nadya; Botta, Laura; Johannesen, Tom B; Rossi, Silvia; Sant, Milena

    2018-04-01

    Cancer survival has persistently been shown to be worse for Eastern European and UK/Ireland patients than those of other European regions. This is often attributed to later stage at diagnosis. However, few stage-specific survival comparisons are available, so it is unclear whether poorer quality treatment or other factors also contribute. For the first time, European cancer registries have provided stage-at-diagnosis data to EUROCARE, enabling population-based stage-specific survival estimates across Europe. In this retrospective observational study, stage at diagnosis (as TNM, condensed TNM, or Extent of Disease) was analysed for patients (≥15 years) from 15 countries grouped into 4 regions (Northern Europe: Norway; Central Europe: Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands; Southern Europe: Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, and Spain; and Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia), diagnosed with 7 malignant cancers in 2000-2007, and followed to end of 2008. A new variable (reconstructed stage) was created which used all available stage information. Age-standardised 5-year relative survival (RS) by reconstructed stage was estimated and compared between regions. Excess risks of cancer death in the 5 years after diagnosis were also estimated, taking age, sex and stage into account. Low proportions of Eastern European patients were diagnosed with local stage cancers and high proportions with metastatic stage cancers. Stage-specific RS (especially for non-metastatic disease) was generally lower for Eastern European patients. After adjusting for age, sex, and stage, excess risks of death remained higher for Eastern European patients than for European patients in general. Late diagnosis alone does not explain worse cancer survival in Eastern Europe: greater risk of cancer death together with worse stage-specific survival suggest less effective care, probably in part because fewer resources are allocated to health care than in the rest of

  4. Nutrition transition and dietary energy availability in Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulijaszek, Stanley J; Koziel, Slawomir

    2007-12-01

    After the economic transition of the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a rapid increase in overweight and obesity in many countries of Eastern Europe. This article describes changing availability of dietary energy from major dietary components since the transition to free-market economic systems among Eastern European nations, using food balance data obtained at national level for the years 1990-92 and 2005 from the FAOSTAT-Nutrition database. Dietary energy available to the East European nations satellite to the former Soviet Union (henceforth, Eastern Europe) was greater than in the nations of the former Soviet Union. Among the latter, the Western nations of the former Soviet Union had greater dietary energy availability than the Eastern and Southern nations of the former Soviet Union. The higher energy availability in Eastern Europe relative to the nations of the former Soviet Union consists mostly of high-protein foods. There has been no significant change in overall dietary energy availability to any category of East European nation between 1990-1992 and 2005, indicating that, at the macro-level, increasing rates of obesity in Eastern European countries cannot be attributed to increased dietary energy availability. The most plausible macro-level explanations for the obesity patterns observed in East European nations are declines in physical activity, increased real income, and increased consumption of goods that contribute to physical activity decline: cars, televisions and computers.

  5. Democracy and Human Rights: Concepts, Measures, and Relationships

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Todd Landman

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The empirical literature on democracy and human rights has made great strides over the last 30 years in explaining (1 the variation in the transition to, consolidation of, and quality of democracy; (2 the proliferation and effectiveness of human rights law; and (3 the causes and consequences of human rights across many of their categories and dimensions. This work has in many ways overcome the ‘essentially contested’ nature of the concepts of democracy and human rights conceptually, established different measures of both empirically, and developed increasingly sophisticated statistical and other analytical techniques to provide stronger inferences for the academic and policy community. This article argues that despite these many achievements, there remain tensions between conceptualisations of democracy and human rights over the degree to which one includes the other, the temporal and spatial empirical relationships between them, and the measures that have been developed to operationalize them. These tensions, in turn, affect the kinds of analyses that are carried out, including model specification, methods of estimation, and findings. Drawing on extant theories and measures of both, the article argues that there must be greater specificity in the conceptualisation and operationalization of democracy and human rights, greater care in the development and use of measures, and greater attention to the kinds of inferences that are made possible by them.

  6. Pan-European management of electricity portfolios: Risks and opportunities of contract bundling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gampert, Markus; Madlener, Reinhard

    2011-01-01

    Due to the liberalization of energy markets in the European Union, today's European utilities not only focus on electricity supply, but also offer exchange-traded 'structured products' or portfolio management for unbundling financial and physical risk positions. Many utilities are only able to provide these services in their domestic markets. In a globalized economy, the need for a centrally organized pan-European portfolio management has arisen, as it allows a simplified commodity sourcing in combination with an optimized risk management. In this paper, we examine the challenges to be overcome for establishing a European-wide bundling of electricity contracts. For this purpose, a case study based on the business perspective of RWE Supply and Trading in Central and Eastern Europe is carried out. In a first step, we analyze general requirements for a pan-European bundling of electricity contracts. Then, RWE's situation in Europe is examined, based on which we finally propose a concept to meet customer demands in Central and Eastern Europe. - Research highlights: → Analysis of electricity market liberalization in Central and Eastern Europe. → Identification of requirements and problems for pan-European bundling of contracts. → Case study based on RWE Supply and Trading perspective in Central and Eastern Europe. → Model development for pan-European unbundling of financial/physical risk positions.

  7. Democracy as a meaning. Regional participatory forums of public consultation in Argentina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Víctor Humberto Guzmán

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the study of part of the dispute process around the Audiovisual Communication Services law in the argentine public space during the year 2009. Specifically, it shows how the signification of democracy was configured in the Regional Participatory Forums of Public Consultation (FPCP organized by the Federal Broadcasting Committee (COMFER which were held during 2009 as a previous stage to the presentation of the Audiovisual Communication Services Bill. Thus, from the analysis of the interventions in the FPCP, the paper presents the emergence of democracy as democratic gradualness configured in three analytical dimensions: what democracy is not, democracy as plurality, and democracy as participation.

  8. MULTIFRACTAL STRUCTURE OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKETS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cn#259;pun#351;an Rn#259;zvan

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available It is well known that empirical data coming from financial markets, like stock market indices, commodities, interest rates, traded volumes and foreign exchange rates have a multifractal structure. Multifractals were introduced in the field of economics to surpass the shortcomings of classical models like the fractional Brownian motion or GARCH processes. In this paper we investigate the multifractal behavior of Central and Eastern European foreign exchange rates, namely the Czech koruna, Croatian kuna, Hungarian forint, Polish zlot, Romanian leu and Russian rouble with respect to euro from January 13, 2000 to February 29, 2012. The dynamics of exchange rates is of interest for investors and traders, monetary and fiscal authorities, economic agents or policy makers. The exchange rate movements affect the international balance of payments, trade flows, and allocation of the resources in national and international economy. The empirical results from the multifractal detrending fluctuation analysis algorithm show that the six exchange rate series analysed display significant multifractality. Moreover, generating shuffled and surrogate time series, we analyze the sources of multifractality, long-range correlations and heavy-tailed distributions, and we find that this multifractal behavior can be mainly attributed to the latter. Finally, we propose a foreign exchange market inefficiency ranking by considering the multifractality degree as a measure of inefficiency. The regulators, through policy instruments, aim to improve the informational inefficiency of the markets, to reduce the associated risks and to ensure economic stabilization. Evaluation of the degree of information efficiency of foreign exchange markets, for Central and Eastern Europe countries, is important to assess to what extent these countries are prepared for the transition towards fully monetary integration. The weak form efficiency implies that the past exchange rates cannot help to

  9. SWELA, Ethnicity, and Democracy in Cameroon’s Patrimonial State

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Orock, Rogers Tabe Egbe

    2014-01-01

    empowerment and accountability. This article draws from a recent anthropological theoretical position on democracy as a work of cultural construction as well as on ethnographic material on an ethno-regional elite organization in Southwestern Cameroon called SWELA to provide an alternative reading...... of the ethnicity-elite-democracy nexus in postcolonial Africa. I suggest that while ethnicity is a major idiom through which the politics of democracy is practiced in Africa where most states are very patrimonially organized, this need not be seen as unproductive to the democratic ideals or expectations...

  10. APPRAISING THE EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY: BACKGROUND, IMPLEMENTATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kerry Longhurst

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available The present article tackles the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP in the context of the European Union’s Eastern neighbours – Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. Reflected on the May 2011 Communication drafted by the European Commission and High Representative ‘A New Response to a Changing Neighbourhood’, the article focuses on the main steps of ENP’s evolution, looking at the political and economic offer made to the partner countries, the state of the neighbourhood, the progress made in the ENP Eastern countries, the regional component of the policy.

  11. Constitutionalism and Democracy in Contemporary International Community

    OpenAIRE

    Padjen, Ivan

    1992-01-01

    Starting from the insight that jurisprudence of legal theory should be concerned primarily with,on the one hand, international law, and, on the other, constitutional developments, the paper; analyzes some prominent conceptions of constitutionalism and democracy in international community and municipal legal orders; formulates a new set of criteria for the analysis of constitutionalism and democracy in international law; and argues that Laswell and McDougal's policy oriented jurisprudence offe...

  12. Democracy, property rights, income equality, and corruption

    OpenAIRE

    Dong, Bin; Torgler, Benno

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents theoretical and empirical evidence on the nexus between corruption and democracy. We establish a political economy model where the effect of democracy on corruption is conditional on income distribution and property rights protection. Our empirical analysis with cross-national panel data provides evidence that is consistent with the theoretical prediction. Moreover, the effect of democratization on corruption depends on the protection of property rights and income equality...

  13. The Future of the European University:Liberal Democracy or Authoritarian Capitalism?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sharon Rider

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the prevalent notion that that the production of knowledge, academic research and teaching can and ought to be audited and assessed in the same manner as the production of other goods and services. The emphasis on similarities between industry and the academy leads to a neglect of fundamental differences in their aims and, as a consequence, a tendency to evaluate scientific research in terms of patents and product development and colleges and universities in terms of the labour market. The article examines the idea of the free academy, on the one hand, and compares and contrasts it to the idea of free enterprise, on the other. It is argued that the view of the university as a supplier of specific solutions for pre-determined, non-scientific needs (a workforce with skills currently in demand, innovations for commercial partners, justifications for political decisions, etc undermines the public legitimacy of university science and weakens the fabric of scientific training and practice. The article proposes that the university’s main purpose must be to provide a recognized neutral, autonomous agency of rigorous, disinterested investigation and scientific education, which constitutes a necessary condition for an enlightened liberal democracy: an informed, capable and critical citizenry.

  14. Democracy and environment as references for quadruple and quintuple helix innovation systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carayannis, Elias G.; Campbell, David F. J.; Orr, Barron J.

    2015-04-01

    The perspective of democracy and the ecological context define key references for knowledge production and innovation in innovation systems. Particularly under conditions of environmental change where enhancing the potential for adaptation is critical, this requires a closer look at ecological responsibility and sensitivity in the different innovation models and governance regimes. The "Quintuple Helix" innovation model is an approach that stresses the necessary socio-ecological transition of society and economy by adding an environment helix to an innovation system already made up of three (university-industry-government) or four (civil society relations) helices in a way that supports adaptation by incorporating global warming as both a challenge to and a driver of innovation. There is the proposition that knowledge production and innovation co-evolve with democracy (Carayannis and Campbell, 2014). In the Triple Helix model (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000) the existence of a democracy does not appear to be necessary for knowledge production and innovation. However, the Quadruple Helix (Carayannis and Campbell, 2009, 2010 and 2014) is defined and represented by additional key attributes and components: "media-based and culture-based public", "civil society" and "arts, artistic research and arts-based innovation" (Bast, Carayannis and Campbell, 2015). Implications of this are that the fourth helix in the Quadruple Helix innovation systems brings in and represents the perspective of "dimension of democracy" or the "context of democracy" for knowledge in general and knowledge production and innovation in more particular. Within theories of democracy there is a competition between narrow and broader concepts of democracy (Campbell, 2013). This is particularly true when democracy is to be understood to transcend more substantially the narrow understanding of being primarily based on or being primarily rooted in government institutions (within a Triple Helix

  15. Does the information source matter? Newspaper readership, political preferences and attitudes towards the European Union in the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Leruth, B.; Kutiyski, Yordan; Krouwel, A.P.M.; Startin, N.; Caiani, M.; Guerra, S.

    2017-01-01

    This volume focuses on the relationship between the media and European democracy, as important factors of EU legitimacy. The contributors show how the media play a crucial role in making European governance accountable, and how it can act as an intermediate link between citizens and their elected

  16. Delegated democracy. Siting selection for the Swedish nuclear waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johansson, Hanna Sofia

    2008-11-01

    The present study concerns the siting of the Swedish nuclear waste repository. Four cases are examined: the feasibility studies in Nykoeping and Tierp (cases 1 and 2), as well as three public consultation meetings with conservationist and environmental organisations, and two study visits to nuclear facilities in Oskarshamn and Oesthammar, which were held during what is called the site-investigation phase (cases 3 and 4). The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co (SKB) began the search for a nuclear waste site in the 1970s. Since 1992 SKB has conducted feasibility studies in eight municipalities, including in the four municipalities mentioned above. At the present time more comprehensive site investigations are underway in Oskarshamn and Oesthammar, two municipalities that already host nuclear power plants as well as storages for nuclear waste. In addition to SKB and the municipalities involved in the site-selection process, politicians, opinion groups, concerned members of the public, and oversight bodies are important actors. The analysis of the cases employs the concepts of 'sub-politics', 'boundary work', and 'expertise', together with the four models of democracy 'representative democracy', participatory democracy', 'deliberative democracy', and 'technocracy'. The aim of the study is to describe the characteristics of Swedish democracy in relation to the disposal of Swedish nuclear waste. The main questions of the study are: Which democratic ideals can be found within SKB's siting process during the feasibility studies and in the consultation process during the site investigations? and Which democratic ideals were influential during the feasibility studies and in the consultation process? The study is based on qualitative methods, and the source materials consist of documents, interviews, and participant observations. In summary, the form of democracy that emerges in the four case studies can be described as delegated democracy. This means that a large

  17. Regional Autonomy and Local Democracy: Independent Candidates Cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suryanto

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available One of the efforts to achieve local democracy is through the participation of independent candidates in the Direct General Election in the region. The presence of independent candidates in the Direct General Election gives a great hope to change the political structure of the shackles of the old forces. This paper aims to discuss the implication of regional heads coming from independent candidates on the effectiveness of local governance and the implementation of substantive democracy in the region. The method used is a qualitative approach using descriptive research method. The data collection is done through literature approach. Processing data uses Milles and Huberman interactive models, which includes data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion. The study concluded three things: First, the presence of independent candidates in the Direct General Election gives the opportunities to achieve local democracy that is getting bigger, Second, Regional Heads elected from independent candidates face the challenges of the ineffectiveness of regional government, and Third, within certain limits, the power of elected regional heads from independent lane leads to the realization of democracy that is not substantial.

  18. High-stakes educational testing and democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ydesen, Christian

    2014-01-01

    This article investigates the relation between high-stakes educational testing and democracy drawn from the experiences of 20th-century high-stakes educational testing practices in the Danish history of education. The article presents various concepts of democracy using leading propositions within...... the field of education. Then a sample of relevant historic case studies are examined in light of these definitions. Among other things, the article concludes that a combination of different evaluation technologies – some formative and some summative – might be the safest way to go from a democratic...

  19. Technical cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries with special focus on engineering aspects of lifetime optimisation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trampus, P.

    2002-01-01

    A regional Technical Cooperation project for Central and Eastern European countries was established and funded by the IAEA as a response to the region's need. Majority of these countries are now in the process of establishing/strengthening their infrastructure for assessment of structural integrity of primary circuit components for an appropriate level of safety and reliability. Moreover, extension of the operational life of the WWER nuclear power plants (NPPs) became part of the generation strategy in most of these countries. The overall objective of the project is to improve long term integrity of primary circuit components as a fundamental technical prerequisite to ensure plant operation until and beyond the design lifetime. In a series of workshops and technical meetings issues relevant to primary circuit component structural integrity with special regard to operational life optimization have been being addressed. The works under the project are coordinated with the European Commission's integrity related assistance projects, and some of the activities are jointly organized with the WANO Moscow Center. Main conclusions of the central topics are summarized in this paper

  20. TURKEY’S ACCESSION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION – PRESENT OR PERSPECTIVES?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ileana Voica

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The enlargement of the European Union is a sui generis process, which involves internal preparation of the candidate countries, the European Union and accession negotiations as well. The EU enlargement process is based on the desire to create a close relationschip between the European countries in a common economic and political project. Guided by tha values of the European Union and subject to strict conditions, the enlargement proved to be one of the most effective tools for promoting political, economic and social reforms and to strengthen pceace, stability and democracy across the continent. A controversial topic in the last period is Turkey’s accession to the European Union. Turkey’s European ambitions date back to the 1963 Ankara Agreements, although it has formally submitted the membership application in 1987. Following the Helsinki European Council of 10 – 11 December 1999, accession negotiations between the EU and Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Malta and Bulgaria started on 15 February 2000. Regarding the accession negotiations with Turkey, il was considered that this country does not meet, at this stage, the criteria set by the Copenhagen European Council on the rule of law, democracy and human rights. For Turkey, an Accession Partnership was adopted on 8 March 2001. Currently, Turkey is far from concluding the process of joining the European Union. However, Turkey is a state that can no longer be ignored by anyone in the world politics, being remarked by the infrastructure projects, the developed tourism, the steady economic growth and, last but not least, by the impressive military power, being the second NATO army. Given that, in the framework of the enlargement process, both the candidate states and the old members must be prepared for integration and cohabitation as well as the negative opinion on the Turkish membership of the influential states, such as Germany and France, it remains to be seen whether Turkey will

  1. A time series study on the effects of heat on mortality and evaluation of heterogeneity into European and Eastern-Southern Mediterranean cities: results of EU CIRCE project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leone, Michela; D'Ippoliti, Daniela; De Sario, Manuela; Analitis, Antonis; Menne, Bettina; Katsouyanni, Klea; De' Donato, Francesca K; Basagana, Xavier; Salah, Afif Ben; Casimiro, Elsa; Dörtbudak, Zeynep; Iñiguez, Carmen; Peretz, Chava; Wolf, Tanja; Michelozzi, Paola

    2013-07-03

    The Mediterranean region is particularly vulnerable to the effect of summer temperature.Within the CIRCE project this time-series study aims to quantify for the first time the effect of summer temperature in Eastern-Southern Mediterranean cities and compared it with European cities around the Mediterranean basin, evaluating city characteristics that explain between-city heterogeneity. The city-specific effect of maximum apparent temperature (Tappmax) was assessed by Generalized Estimation Equations, assuming a linear threshold model. Then, city-specific estimates were included in a random effect meta-regression analysis to investigate the effect modification by several city characteristics. Heterogeneity in the temperature-mortality relationship was observed among cities. Thresholds recorded higher values in the warmest cities of Tunis (35.5°C) and Tel-Aviv (32.8°C) while the effect of Tappmax above threshold was greater in the European cities. In Eastern-Southern Mediterranean cities a higher effect was observed among younger age groups (0-14 in Tunis and 15-64 in Tel-Aviv and Istanbul) in contrast with the European cities where the elderly population was more vulnerable. Climate conditions explained most of the observed heterogeneity and among socio-demographic and economic characteristics only health expenditure and unemployment rate were identified as effect modifiers. The high vulnerability observed in the young populations in Eastern-Southern Mediterranean cities represent a major public health problem. Considering the large political and economic changes occurring in this region as well future temperature increase due to climate change, it is important to strengthen research and public health efforts in these Mediterranean countries.

  2. The young Marx on constituent power and “true democracy.”

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Flohr, Mikkel

    Marx and Marxism is commonly charged with having neglected politics and the development of a theory of politics. However, this presumption ignores Marx’s unfinished and unpublished 1843 Critique of Hegel’s Doctrine of State, where he engaged political theory at length – an engagement, which...... propelled him towards his subsequent critique of political economy. It is the aim of the proposed paper to reconstruct and reinterpret his argument focusing in particular on his conceptualization of constituent power and “true democracy.” In the 1843 Critique Marx argues that democracy is the foundation...... the conflicts of civil society. Marx therefore concludes that all these political forms are democracies in contradiction with themselves. Marx proceeds to suggest that it is possible to overcome these contradictions and develop an adequate political form of democracy, which he describes as “true democracy...

  3. Democracia dos antigos x democracia dos modernos: uma revisão de literatura Old democracy x modern democracy – a literature review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandre José Pierini

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available This work is a literature review on democracy. Firstly, a short historical retrospect of democracy is carried out. This retrospect is important because democracy had links with the citizen’s direct participation in the decision-making. The modern democracy, on its turn, is related to the political representation, where the citizen participates through mechanisms developed by the State to elect its representatives. The main aspect is the crisis inherent in the current democratic system which needs an urgent review process. It is on the crisis established on democracy that the old as well as the modern democracy establish convergence points, for mechanisms of direct participation are being thought and blended together with the modern democracy, with the purpose of recreating the current political system.O presente trabalho se caracteriza como uma revisão de literatura sobre o tema democracia. Para a consecução da revisão, buscou-se expor no primeiro momento a realização de um breve retrospecto histórico da democracia. Esse retrospecto é importante porque a democracia possuía vínculos com a participação direta do cidadão nas tomadas de decisão. A democracia dos modernos por sua vez, se relacionada com a representação política, onde o cidadão participa por meio de mecanismos criados pelo Estado para eleger os seus representantes. O ponto nevrálgico e que marca sobretudo os aspectos relacionados a esta revisão de literatura é a crise inerente do sistema democrático em voga e que necessita sobremaneira de um processo de revisão. A crise da democracia conduz ao estabelecimento de pontos de convergência entre a democracia dos antigos e a democracia dos modernos mecanismos de participação direta estão sendo pensados e mesclados junto à democracia dos modernos com o intuito de recriar o sistema político vigente.

  4. Examining Citizen Participation: Local Participatory Policy Making and Democracy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Michels, A.M.B.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/11124501X; de Graaf, L.J.

    2010-01-01

    Citizen participation is usually seen as a vital aspect of democracy. Many theorists claim that citizen participation has positive effects on the quality of democracy. This article examines the probability of these claims for local participatory policymaking projects in two municipalities in the

  5. Philosophy for Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartels, Rob; Onstenk, Jeroen; Veugelers, Wiel

    2016-01-01

    Philosophy for Democracy is a research project that aims to examine whether and how Philosophy with Children contributes to the development of democratic skills and attitudes. In the Netherlands, as in almost all Western countries, Philosophy with Children is linked with the movement for citizenship education. This article reports the research on…

  6. VISITOR AND EXHIBITOR CLUSTERS AT EASTERN-EUROPEAN AGRICULTURAL FAIRS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Varga Levente

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available There is no exact information concerning the economic effect of the agricultural exhibitions neither on national nor on international level. Some publications focus on the positive externalities of exhibitions, but the exhibition itself is a neglected topic. Although the fair is one of the most ancient marketing-tools; its role is still relatively high in the marketing mix of different economic sectors, even nowadays, in the Internet-age. One of these sectors is the agribusiness, where the exhibition is a place of business-to-business communication, Customer Relationship Management, and last, but not least an important Point Of Sale. The aim of the present paper is to point out the importance of exhibitions through the assessment of their popularity. From this aim, we have derived the following objectives: - To build a model concerning the relationships among the interested parties. - To asses the visitors of five Eastern-European exhibitions. - To asses the exhibitors of the same exhibitions. - To compare the opinion and expectance of the mentioned groups. - To test the model, based on the questionnaires data. - To measure the radius of attraction by the attendees, as well as by exhibitors I have collected primary data through questionnaires and site visit, and also have obtained secondary data from printed and electronic documents. In this paper, I present a model, which describes the relationships among the interested parties. The data was collected on four different exhibitions: Farmerexpo (Debrecen, Hungary in 2005 and 2006, OMK (Budapest, Hungary from 2005 and Polagra-Farm (Poznan, Poland 2006.

  7. 21st-century liberal democracy and its contradictions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Bellini

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This brief paper intends to highlight the contradictions in which liberal democracy struggles within the process of globalisation, influenced as it is by the new connecting technologies. In particular, the difficult relationship between liberalism and democracy is analysed in light of the latest communitarist theories and new trends that interpret them socially. 

  8. Drivers of forest cover change in Eastern Europe and European Russia, 1985–2012

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alix-Garcia, Jennifer; Munteanu, Catalina; Zhao, Na

    2016-01-01

    to explain variation in forest loss between countries, nor does trade and price liberalization policy. None of our covariates explain forest regrowth on non-forested land over the period. We conclude that history and land privatization drove important cross-country variation in forest dynamics in the region......The relative importance of geography, history, and policy in driving forest cover change at broad scales remains poorly understood. We examine variation in forest cover dynamics over the period 1985–2012 across 19 countries in Eastern Europe and European Russia in order to shed light on the role...... of these in driving forest cover change after the collapse of socialism. Using a combination of cross-section and panel regression methods, we find that privatization of forest lands increased forest cover loss due to logging, as did increases in agricultural land between 1850 and 1900. Land quality has no power...

  9. Letter to Editor: RESITA NETWORK - ACADEMIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION NETWORK OF SOUTH EASTERN EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES: AN EXAMPLE OF SUCCESSFUL NETWORKING IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION AT ACADEMIC LEVEL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Schulte

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available The foundation, development, activities, and wider social impact of the AcademicEntrepreneurship and Innovation Network of South Eastern European Universities, or shortlyRESITA Network, is presented in this paper as a positive example of successful networking inentrepreneurship and innovation at academic level.

  10. The Secret Driving Force Behind Mongolia’s Successful Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-03-01

    the nation’s democracy movement its earliest stages. Courtesy of the Democratic Union of Mongolia PRISM 6, no. 1 FROM THE FIELD | 141 The Secret Driving...assistance and trade. Our state budget PRISM 6, no. 1 FROM THE FIELD | 143 THE SECRET DRIVING FORCE BEHIND MONGOLIA’S SUCCESSFUL DEMOCRACY collapsed; we...O yungerel Tsedevdam ba (2006) PRISM 6, no. 1 FROM THE FIELD | 145 THE SECRET DRIVING FORCE BEHIND MONGOLIA’S SUCCESSFUL DEMOCRACY significantly as

  11. Local Democracy in Myanmar

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kyed, Helene Maria; Harrisson, Annika Pohl; McCarthy, Gerard

    Myanmar is undergoing a comprehensive political transition. In April this year the first democratically elected government in six decades came into power under the leadership of NLD, the pro-democracy party headed by Aung San Suu Kyi. The largest peace conference in the country’s history was held...... in early September, and Myanmar again made the international headlines a week later when Kofi Annan visited the country to head a commission for addressing communal violence. These national events are crucial to the democratization process in Myanmar and for ending the almost seven decades of civil war....... However, often overlooked in this larger picture of transition is the state of local democracy, including village level governance and everyday state-citizen engagements. Political changes at this level are equally crucial for the wider democratization process. This roundtable summary discusses the 2016...

  12. University and Transitions to Democracy in Mediterranean Europe and Latin America (1970-1980. Presentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara González Gómez

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Universities and periods of transition to democracy form the tandem analyzed in the monograph the journal Espacio, Tiempo y Educación presented in this issue. A total of eight studies –from Spain, Greece, Portugal, Brazil and Chile– makes up a volume approaching different question (student mobilization, models of university, claims of teachers, regulatory framework... and exploring changes, evolution or inertia experienced in some European and Latin American universities during what Huntington (1990 called the «third wave» of transition to democracy. This outline of studies aims at expanding the information available on the binomial formed by University and democratic transition, a topic rather limited investigated at present, and, above all, encouraging to develop new lines of research focused on a suggestive and critical issue to understand the history of our universities. How to reference this article González Gómez, S. (2015. Universidad y Transiciones a la Democracia en la Europa mediterránea e Iberoamérica (1970-1980. Presentación. Espacio, Tiempo y Educación, 2(2, 25-32. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14516/ete.2015.002.002.002

  13. Liberalism and democracy Liberalismo e democracia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    (Autor Claude Lefort

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available In this essay, the historical connections between liberalism and democracy are analyzed, based mostly on three important authors of the French liberal thought of the first half of the 19th century: Benjamin Constant (1767-1830, François Guizot (1787-1874 e Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859. Although, the Author doesn’t forget to highlight the contemporary issues which demand confronting and elucidating the chances of democracy. Keywords: French Liberalism. Democracy. Political Philosophy. Tolerance. São aqui examinadas as relações históricas entre liberalismo e democracia, com base principalmente em três importantes autores do pensamento liberal francês da primeira metade do século XIX: Benjamin Constant (1767-1830, François Guizot (1787-1874 e Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859. Contudo, o Autor não deixa de lançar luz sobre as questões contemporâneas que exigem enfrentar e elucidar as chances da democracia. Palavras-chave: Liberalismo francês. Democracia. Filosofia política. Tolerância.

  14. Schooling for Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noddings, Nel

    2008-01-01

    The author of this article contends that current efforts at school reform--ostensibly designed to increase equality of outcomes--may actually be undermining democracy by undervaluing the wide range of talents required in 21st-century America. Many policy makers today argue that all students should have a standard curriculum that will prepare them…

  15. Democracy predicts sport and recreation membership: Insights from 52 countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balish, Shea M

    2017-03-01

    Although evidence suggests sport and recreation are powerful contributors to worldwide public health, sizable gender differences persist. It is unknown whether country characteristics moderate gender differences across countries. The primary purpose of this study was to examine if countries' levels of democracy and/or gender inequality moderate gender differences in sport and recreation membership across countries. The secondary purpose was to examine if democracy and/or gender inequality predicts overall rates of sport and recreation membership for both males and females. This study involved a nested cross-sectional design and employed the sixth wave (2013) of the world value survey (n Ss =71,901, n countries =52). Multiple hierarchal nonlinear Bernoulli models tested: (1) if countries' levels of democracy moderate gender differences in sport and recreation membership; and (2) if democracy is associated with increased sport and recreation membership for both males and females. Countries' level of democracy fully moderated gender differences in sport and recreation membership across countries. Moreover, democracy was positively associated with both male and female membership, even when controlling for individual and country-level covariates. Democratic political regimes may confer health benefits via increased levels of sport and recreation membership, especially for females. Future research should test mediating mechanisms. Copyright © 2016 Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Microsatellite and Mitochondrial DNA Study of Native Eastern European Cattle Populations: The Case of the Romanian Grey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ilie, Daniela Elena; Cean, Ada; Cziszter, Ludovic Toma; Gavojdian, Dinu; Ivan, Alexandra; Kusza, Szilvia

    2015-01-01

    The Eastern European Grey cattle are regarded as the direct descendants of the aurochs (Bos taurus primigenius). Nowadays in Romania, less than 100 Grey animals are being reared and included in the national gene reserve. We examined the genetic diversity among Romanian Grey, Brown, Spotted and Black and White cattle breeds, with a particular focus on Romanian Grey through the use of (i) 11 bovine specific microsatellite markers on 83 animals and (ii) 638 bp length of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop region sequence data from a total of 81 animals. Both microsatellite and mtDNA analysis revealed a high level of genetic variation in the studied breeds. In Romanian Grey a total of 100 alleles were found, the mean number of observed alleles per locus was 9.091; the average observed heterozygosity was 0.940; the Wright's fixation index (FIS) was negative (-0.189) and indicates that there is no inbreeding and no selection pressure. MtDNA analysis revealed 52 haplotypes with 67 variable sites among the Romanian cattle breeds without any insertion or deletion. Haplotype diversity was 0.980 ± 0.007 and ranged from 0.883 ± 0.056 (Brown) to 0.990 ± 0.028 (Spotted and Black and White). The highest genetic variability of the mtDNA was recorded in the Grey breed, where 18 haplotypes were identified. The most frequent mtDNA D-loop region belonged to T3 haplogroup (80.247%), which was found across all studied breeds, while T2 haplotypes (16.049%) was only found in Grey, Spotted and Black and White genotypes. The T1 haplotypes (3.704%) were found in the Grey and Spotted. The current results contribute to the general knowledge on genetic diversity found in Eastern European cattle breeds and could prove a valuable tool for the conservation efforts of animal genetic resources (FAnGR).

  17. Viewls - Possibilities and performance of international biofuel trade from CEEC to WEC[Central and Eastern European Countries; Western European Countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dam, J. van; Faaij, A.; Lewandowski, I. [Utrecht Univ., Dept. of Science, Technology and Society, Utrecht (Netherlands); Zeebroeck, B. van [Transport and Mobility Leuven, Leuven (Belgium); Falkenberg, D.; Hein, M.; Schroeder, G.; Thraen, D.; Weber, M. [Inst. of Energy and Environment, Leipzig (Germany)

    2006-05-13

    The EU has set high targets to increase the use of renewable energy sources from which a large part has to come from biomass. To meet these targets, a large amount of biomass resources is needed, which requires large areas of land in the EU for energy crop production. However, the availability of good land for energy crop production is limited in Western European countries (WEC). This means that the potential from indigenous biomass resources is not sufficient to meet the set bioenergy targets. At the same time, the expansion of the EU and the inclusion of the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) in agricultural and energy EU policies create potential difficulties as well as opportunities. Agriculture plays an important role in the CEEC furthermore, the share of agricultural employment is still large. In the future rationalization of the current agriculture in the CEEC is expected. This will lead to increased productivity and economic performance. On the other hand, unemployment and an increase in abandoned land are expected as well. A study of the technical biomass production potentials in the CEEC shows that in some scenarios the biomass production potential exceeds the current final energy consumption on a country level. The main objectives of this study are: 1) Define the critical factors to set up a stable international biofuel trade between CEEC and WEC, 2) Estimate the cost performance of the energy carriers delivered in the WEC from the CEEC, 3) Analyze the regional differences in cost performance of the energy carriers in the CEEC. (BA)

  18. Patron-Client Politics, Democracy and Governance in Nigeria, 1999 ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Its evidence abounds in older democracies, emerging democracies and even authoritarian regimes. In Nigeria, its evidence abounds in the pre-colonial political system through the colonial era to the previous civil administrations in the country since independence. The paper revealed that pecuniary motivation and the ...

  19. Education and support for representative, direct and stealth democracy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Coffé, Hilde; Michels, Ank

    2014-01-01

    Using data collected within the scope of a Dutch internet panel survey (LISS) in 2011, this study tracks public support for direct, stealth and representative democracy according to educational level. Our findings indicate that, in terms of overall support for each specific type of democracy, lower

  20. Anther and isolated microspore culture of wheat lines from northwestern and eastern Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holme, I B; Olesen, A; Hansen, N J P

    1999-01-01

    Hexaploid wheat genotypes from north-western Europe show low responses to current anther culture techniques. This phenomenon was investigated on 145 north-western European wheat lines. Twenty-seven lines from eastern Europe were included to observe the response pattern of wheat from an area, where...... the technique has been used successfully. On average, eastern European wheat lines produced 3.6 green plants per 111 anthers, while only 1.4 green plants per 111 anthers were obtained in north-western European lines. This difference was due to the high capacity for embryo formation among the eastern European...... lines, while the ability to regenerate green plants was widespread in both germplasm groups. Isolated wheat microspore culture performed on 85 of these wheat lines gave an average 3.7-fold increase in green plants per anther compared with the anther culture response. The increased recovery of green...

  1. Transferability of results of cost utility analyses for biologicals in inflammatory conditions for Central and Eastern European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulácsi, László; Rencz, Fanni; Péntek, Márta; Brodszky, Valentin; Lopert, Ruth; Hevér, Noémi V; Baji, Petra

    2014-05-01

    Several Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries require cost-utility analyses (CUAs) to support reimbursement formulary listing. However, CUAs informed by local evidence are often unavailable, and the cost-effectiveness of the several currently reimbursed biologicals is unclear. To estimate the cost-effectiveness as multiples of per capita GDP/quality adjusted life years (QALY) of four biologicals (infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab, golimumab) currently reimbursed in six CEE countries in six inflammatory rheumatoid and bowel disease conditions. Systematic literature review of published cost-utility analyses in the selected conditions, using the United Kingdom (UK) as reference country and with study selection criteria set to optimize the transfer of results to the CEEs. Prices in each CEE country were pro-rated against UK prices using purchasing power parity (PPP)-adjusted per capita GDP, and local GDP per capita/QALY ratios estimated. Central and Eastern European countries list prices were 144-333% higher than pro rata prices. Out of 85 CUAs identified by previous systematic literature reviews, 15 were selected as a convenience sample for estimating the cost-effectiveness of biologicals in the CEE countries in terms of per capita GDP/QALY. Per capita GDP/QALY values varied from 0.42 to 6.4 across countries and conditions (Bulgaria: 0.97-6.38; Czech Republic: 0.42-2.76; Hungary: 0.54-3.54; Poland: 0.59-3.90; Romania: 0.77-5.07; Slovakia: 0.55-3.61). While results must be interpreted with caution, calculating pro rata (cost-effective) prices and per capita GDP/QALY ratios based on CUAs can aid reimbursement decision-making in the absence of analyses using local data.

  2. Midwifery education in Central-Eastern Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mivšek, Polona; Baškova, Martina; Wilhelmova, Radka

    2016-02-01

    Problems in midwifery in many Central-Eastern European countries are very similar; it is possible to speak about the evolving Central-Eastern model of midwifery care. The educational models of this region have a relatively strong theoretical part; however, there is an insufficient practical dimension. Theoretical part of midwifery education in the universities is relatively autonomous and is slowly changing the professional identity of graduates. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Systematic review on the evaluation criteria of orphan medicines in Central and Eastern European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zelei, Tamás; Molnár, Mária J; Szegedi, Márta; Kaló, Zoltán

    2016-06-04

    In case of orphan drugs applicability of the standard health technology assessment (HTA) process is limited due to scarcity of good clinical and health economic evidence. Financing these premium priced drugs is more controversial in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region where the public funding resources are more restricted, and health economic justification should be an even more important aspect of policy decisions than in higher income European countries. To explore and summarize the recent scientific evidence on value drivers related to the health technology assessment of ODs with a special focus on the perspective of third party payers in CEE countries. The review aims to list all potentially relevant value drivers in the reimbursement process of orphan drugs. A systematic literature review was performed; PubMed and Scopus databases were systematically searched for relevant publications until April 2015. Extracted data were summarized along key HTA elements. From the 2664 identified publications, 87 contained relevant information on the evaluation criteria of orphan drugs, but only 5 had direct information from the CEE region. The presentation of good clinical evidence seems to play a key role especially since this should be the basis of cost-effectiveness analyses, which have more importance in resource-constrained economies. Due to external price referencing of pharmaceuticals, the relative budget impact of orphan drugs is expected to be higher in CEE than in Western European (WE) countries unless accessibility of patients remains more limited in poorer European regions. Equity principles based on disease prevalence and non-availability of alternative treatment options may increase the price premium, however, societies must have some control on prices and a rationale based on multiple criteria in reimbursement decisions. The evaluation of orphan medicines should include multiple criteria to appropriately measure the clinical added value of orphan

  4. Energy consumption, human well-being and economic development in central and eastern European nations: A cautionary tale of sustainability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jorgenson, Andrew K.; Alekseyko, Alina; Giedraitis, Vincentas

    2014-01-01

    Sustainability is fundamentally a challenge of tradeoffs. In order to improve human well-being through economic development we consume nonrenewable energy and other natural resources, relying on a broad range of ecosystem services. Enhancing sustainability requires reducing the “energy intensity of human well-being (EIWB)”: the amount of energy used per unit of human well-being. In this study we employ longitudinal analysis techniques to assess the temporally dynamic relationship between EIWB and economic development for a sample of 12 Central and Eastern European (CEE) nations for the 1992 to 2010 period. These are nations that have recently transitioned, which is still an ongoing process, from socialist command economies to market demand economies. During this ongoing transition, many of them have experienced declines in energy intensity, coupled with increased energy efficiency, while human well-being has improved considerably. The results of the analysis indicate that the relationship between EIWB and economic growth in CEE nations is complex and has changed dramatically through time. Of particular importance, the later years of the study exhibit an increasingly sustainable relationship between EIWB and economic development. The findings point to future possibilities for relatively more harmonious relationships between development, human well-being, and the natural environment. - Highlights: • We analyze the energy intensity of well-being in Central and Eastern European nations. • The effect of economic development is time-dynamic. • Other factors influence the energy intensity of well-being. • The results highlight possibilities for enhanced sustainability policies

  5. Corruption: Threat to democracy and market economy in Nigeria ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In the research on 'Corruption: Threat to Democracy and Market Economy', the researchers critically explore the issue of corruption and how it threatens the democracy and market economy in Nigeria. Relevant literature was revised, which formed the secondary data. The theoretical framework of the study is political ...

  6. Post-militarism: provenance of praetorian democracy in nigerian, 1999

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The development of 'command democracy' took root during this period. On the basis of the empirical evidence adduced, the paper argued that the phenomenon of 'praetorian democracy' which became visible from 1999 to 2007 undermined the constitution and due democratic process. Executive contempt for the rule of law ...

  7. Democracy and development in the age of globalisation | Mubangizi ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Globalisation is one of the leading characteristics of the world today – a world that is striving for development, democracy and the protection of human rights. There is no doubt that the relationship between globalisation and democracy is quite complex. So too is the relationship between globalisation and development.

  8. Classifying and explaining democracy in the Muslim world

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rohaizan Baharuddin

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to classify and explain democracies in the 47 Muslim countries between the years 1998 and 2008 by using liberties and elections as independent variables. Specifically focusing on the context of the Muslim world, this study examines the performance of civil liberties and elections, variation of democracy practised the most, the elections, civil liberties and democratic transitions and patterns that followed. Based on the quantitative data primarily collected from Freedom House, this study demonstrates the following aggregate findings: first, the “not free not fair” elections, the “limited” civil liberties and the “Illiberal Partial Democracy” were the dominant feature of elections, civil liberties and democracy practised in the Muslim world; second, a total of 413 Muslim regimes out of 470 (47 regimes x 10 years remained the same as their democratic origin points, without any transitions to a better or worse level of democracy, throughout these 10 years; and third, a slow, yet steady positive transition of both elections and civil liberties occurred in the Muslim world with changes in the nature of elections becoming much more progressive compared to the civil liberties’ transitions.

  9. Constructing (IlLegitimate Democracy: Populism and Power Concentration in Newspaper Discourse on Venezuela

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ernesto Abalo

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Despite scholarly consensus about the importance of the media for democracy, scant attention has been paid to what democracy means to journalistic discourse and how discourses on democracy are interrelated with legitimacy. The aim of this paper is to explore how (illegitimate democracy is constructed in newspaper discourse. By using critical discourse analysis, this paper examines foreign news items about Venezuela, a country that under the presidency of Hugo Chávez has challenged the hegemonic global political and economic orders. The analysis section focuses on two main findings about the Venezuelan government: the constructions of populism and power concentration, which serve to mark deviance from what is perceived as legitimate democracy. This paper argues that a liberal perception of democracy constitutes a central framework for the construction of (illegitimate democracy, which is revealed not least by news discourse’s focus on what is morally unacceptable political conduct according to liberal democratic norms. In this sense, such constructions serve to denounce potential governmental power abuses but also to legitimize the hegemonic economic and political orders.

  10. The Concept of Freedom in Post-Communism: a Proposal for Reconsidering Eastern European Thinking in Constructing Social Research in Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FLORIN GRANCEA

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This article analyzes the concept of freedom and its ontology in post-communist Romania and questions the opportunity of using, without filtering through Eastern European philosophy, the major Western philosophical ideas on freedom. While there is a need to use verified and up to date theories when discussing post-communism, there is also a danger of using terms which locally have other meanings than those with which they are employed in the Western academic world. Thus, this article argues, research done without filtering Western-based theories and without debating them by using the local school of thought, can fail to reach its purpose. The methodology used for this article is mainly critical. Literature on both Western and Eastern schools of thought was reviewed and compared with data obtained from newspaper analyses. In order to validate empirical observations on the notion of freedom (including philosophical freedom, political freedom etc. qualitative interviews were conducted with people whom the "train of life" (Şora brought my way.

  11. Winning votes and weathering storms: the 2009 European and parliamentary elections in Greece, election report

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gemenis, Konstantinos

    2010-01-01

    In 2007, the New Democracy (ND) party led by Kostas Karamanlis renewed its term in office, albeit with a very slim parliamentary majority (see Gemenis 2008). For the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) the result marked the fourth consecutive defeat in local, national and European elections and

  12. Beyond the Culture of Exclusion: Using Critical Race Theory to Examine the Perceptions of British "Minority Ethnic" and Eastern European "Immigrant" Young People in English Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Emel

    2012-01-01

    In England there are minority ethnic students with past family connections to the former British Empire, as well as recent Eastern European students, economic migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. One may wish to ask, do newly emerging racial identities conceptualise race and race relations in similar ways to existing minority ethnic communities?…

  13. A Brief Survey of Democracy Promotion in U.S. Foreign Policy

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-03-01

    highlight that economic and security concerns both pre-dated active democracy promotion efforts. 2 For its first centennial , the United States was...the troubles of the world. The 1930s brought the Great Depression and the perception that democracy and capitalism might not be such good ideas after...peacetime foreign policy on democracy was somewhat constrained by the Great Depression and World War II. As World War II raged, FDR eloquently

  14. The Rise of Direct Democracy in Croatia: Balancing or Challenging Parliamentary Representation?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Butković Hrvoje

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available In 2010 the Croatian Constitution was changed to lower the requirements for the implementation of direct democracy at the national level, in order to save the referendum on Croatia’s EU membership from possible failure. Since then, Croatia has witnessed a sharp increase in people’s initiatives that have managed to block a number of the government’s reform proposals. Therefore, the newly discovered appeal of direct democracy in Croatia has created a new environment for the operation of its representative democracy. Starting from theoretical notions, this paper analyses the practice of direct democracy in selected transitional countries, which could be instructive for Croatia. In its central part, the paper explores the obstacles that stand in the way of the efficient implementation of direct democracy in Croatia.

  15. How Taxes Can Contribute to The Implementation of The Public Governance Strategy? – An Analysis for Eastern European Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vlad Cristina

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The paper begins with a short literature review regarding the public governance concept in the EU approach and its methods for establishing a common way to manage different situations for all member states; we discovered that the problems they confront with have to do with good governance and qualitative public administration. In the second part, we developed an econometric model for three Eastern European countries and we found a strong correlation between the total revenues from taxes and social contributions and total gross debt in 2002-2014 period. We ended the paper by emphasizing the conclusions obtained.

  16. Reactor safety in Eastern Europe has been improved by international cooperation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reponen, H.

    1996-01-01

    The need to improve the safety of the Soviet-made nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe motivated the Western countries to take concrete measure in the early 1990s. Cooperation with the Eastern European nuclear power states was launched as both bilateral and multinational projects. Programmes coordinated by the European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are the most comprehensive ones. Among the bilateral projects, the most centralized - and most visible from the Nordic viewpoint - is Sweden's assistance to Lithuania and to Ignalina nuclear power plant. Finland's cooperation efforts focus on two Russian power plants that are the closest to Finland: Leningrad and Kola. (3 figs.)

  17. Deliberative democracy in health care: current challenges and future prospects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Safaei, Jalil

    2015-01-01

    There is a vast body of literature on deliberative, participative, or engaged democracy. In the area of health care there is a rapidly expanding literature on deliberative democracy as embodied in various notions of public engagement, shared decision-making (SDM), patient-centered care, and patient/care provider autonomy over the past few decades. It is useful to review such literature to get a sense of the challenges and prospects of introducing deliberative democracy in health care. This paper reviews the key literature on deliberative democracy and SDM in health care settings with a focus on identifying the main challenges of promoting this approach in health care, and recognizing its progress so far for mapping out its future prospects in the context of advanced countries. Several databases were searched to identify the literature pertinent to the subject of this study. A total of 56 key studies in English were identified and reviewed carefully for indications and evidence of challenges and/or promising avenues of promoting deliberative democracy in health care. Time pressure, lack of financial motivation, entrenched professional interests, informational imbalance, practical feasibility, cost, diversity of decisions, and contextual factors are noted as the main challenges. As for the prospects, greater clarity on conception of public engagement and policy objectives, real commitment of the authorities to public input, documenting evidence of the effectiveness of public involvement, development of patient decision supports, training of health professionals in SDM, and use of multiple and flexible methods of engagement leadership suited to specific contexts are the main findings in the reviewed literature. Seeking deliberative democracy in health care is both challenging and rewarding. The challenges have been more or less identified. However, its prospects are potentially significant. Such prospects are more likely to materialize if deliberative democracy is

  18. Public health leadership competency level among health professionals in a South Eastern European country

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orjola Pampuri

    2015-12-01

    the overall scores and the subscale scores of the current and the required level of leadership competencies among health professionals. Results: Mean value of the overall summary score for the 52 items of the instrument was significantly lower for the current leadership competency level compared with the required leadership competency level (138.4±11.2 vs. 159.7±25.3, respectively; P<0.001. Most of the subscales’ scores were significantly higher for the required than for the current leadership competency level. Conclusion: Our study provides useful evidence about the current and the required level of leadership competencies among health professionals in transitional Albania. Findings of this study may help policymakers in Albania to identify the gap between the required and the current level of leadership competencies among health  professionals. Furthermore, findings of this study should be expanded in the neighbouring countries of the South Eastern European region and beyond.

  19. Cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe in Language Engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, Poul

    This paper outlines trends and activities in Central and Eastern European language research and language-related software development (language engineering) and briefly describes some specific projects. The language engineering segment of the European Union's Fourth Framework Programme, intended to facilitate use of telematics applications and…

  20. Biochemical and volatile organic compound profile of European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) and Pacific cupped oyster (Crassostrea gigas) cultivated in the Eastern Scheldt and Lake Grevelingen, the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Houcke, van Jasper; Medina, Isabel; Linssen, Jozef; Luten, Joop

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of two important different geographical cultivation areas in the Netherlands (Eastern Scheldt and Lake Grevelingen) on the volatile organic compound (VOC) profile of European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) and Pacific cupped oyster (Crassostrea

  1. Dolni Vestonice (Czech Republic) an intermédiate loess series between Western and eastern European records

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rousseau, D.; Antoine, P.; Hatte, C.; Lagroix, F.; Fuchs, M.; Moine, O.; Gauthier, C.; Svoboda, J.; Lisa, L.

    2010-12-01

    Previous investigations on western and eastern European loess series have shown similarities at least for the main loess deposition during the last climate cycle, recording North-Atlantic abrupt climate changes, the Dansgaard-Oeschger and Heinrich events. To address the question of how such record occurred through modeling experiments (Sima et al., QSR, 2009), we need reference series located in an intermediary position between the Nussloch (Germany - Antoine et al, QI 2001, QSR, 2009; Rousseau et al, GRL 2007) and Stayky (Ukraine -Rousseau et al, Clim Past D 2010) loess series at about 50°N latitude, location of the main deposits. The key sequence of Dolni Vestonice in southern Czech Republic, had been investigated previously and described by many authors since 1961, and more especially by G Kukla and B Klima. Here we present the preliminary results of the new study of this key sequence by a multidisciplinary study, supported by ANR-ACTES project, combining the detailed stratigraphy, AMS 14C and IRSL dating, rock magnetic property, grain size, d13C and mollusks analyses. We applied the same sampling protocol than previously developed, by carefully cleaning the sequence on a vertical panel, 15m high and 5m wide in order to have parallel samples (on continuous columns) easily comparable. The results show similar patterns, high frequency variations of the different proxies in the upper part of the record corresponding to MIS 3 and 2, as observed in western and eastern European sequences supporting then our assumption of the recording of N Atlantic abrupt changes over Europe. Other interesting variations are clearly demonstrated for every proxy making these results remarkable new data for individual in deep studies. Moreover our detailed investigation also shows new data about abrupt dust events, markers, in the lower part of the sequence, and previously interpreted as strong dust events, and how they appear within sedimentary cycles linked to the cyclicity at the

  2. Early Childhood in Central and Eastern Europe: Issues and Challenges. Action Research in Family and Early Childhood. UNESCO Education Sector Monograph No. 13/2000. First Central and Eastern European Early Childhood Care and Development Meeting (Budapest, Hungary, October 24-28, 1999).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korintus, Marta

    This document is comprised of the proceedings from the first Central and Eastern European Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) meeting in Budapest, Hungary, October 24-28, 1999, convened to begin the development of an ECCD network in the region to address the similar needs and concerns of children in these countries. Following an…

  3. Dewey's Ethical Justification for Public Deliberation Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shook, John

    2013-01-01

    Interpretations of John Dewey's political theory grasp his respect for public deliberation, but typically overlook his ethical justification for democracy. Dewey gave two primary reasons why democracy is superior to other forms of government. First, a public educated in the tools of social intelligence can be more effective at managing their…

  4. "A Liberation of Powers": Agency and Education for Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyte, Harry C.; Finders, Margaret J.

    2016-01-01

    In this essay Harry Boyte and Margaret Finders argue that addressing the "shrinkage" of education and democracy requires acting politically to reclaim and augment Deweyan agency-focused concepts of democracy and education. Looking at agency from the vantage of civic studies, which advances a politics of agency--a citizen politics that is…

  5. Gravity and magnetic modelling in the Vrancea Zone, south-eastern Carpathians: Redefinition of the edge of the East European Craton beneath the south-eastern Carpathians

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bocin, A.; Stephenson, R.; Matenco, L.; Mocanu, V.

    2013-11-01

    A 2D gravity and magnetic data model has been constructed along a 71 km densely observed profile, called DACIA PLAN GRAV MAN's. The profile crosses part of the nappe pile of the south-eastern Carpathians and includes the seismically active Vrancea Zone and was acquired with the objective to illuminate the basement structure and affinity in this area. The modelling approach was to create an initial model from well constrained geological information, integrate it with previous seismic ray tracing and tomographic models and then alter it outside the a priori constraints in order to reach the best fit between observed and calculated potential field anomalies. The results support a realignment of the position of the TTZ (Tornquist-Teisseyre Zone), the profound tectonic boundary within Europe that separates Precambrian cratonic lithosphere of the East European Craton (EEC) from younger accreted lithosphere of Phanerozoic mobile belts to its west. The TTZ is shown to lie further to the south-west than was previously inferred within Romania, where it is largely obscured by the Carpathian nappes. The crust of the EEC beneath the south-eastern Carpathians is inferred to terminate along a major crustal structure lying just west of the Vrancea seismogenic zone. The intermediate depth seismicity of the Vrancea Zone therefore lies within the EEC lithosphere, generally supporting previously proposed models invoking delamination of cratonic lithosphere as the responsible mechanism.

  6. The Theological Foundation of Democracy According to Ratzinger

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Gonçalves Lind

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available When the Cold War was ended in 1989, Francis Fukuyama wrote, three years later, his very well-known book proposing a quite original thesis. He argues that the end of fascism and of communism means the triumph of Eastern liberalism in history. Following a Hegelian perspective, Fukuyama said contrary to Marx that communism, like the other previous economic-political systems that are not liberal, has been only a step to achieve a liberal society. So it happened in Russia and in Eastern Europe, and so it seems to be happening with the progressive opening of the market in China. Today, more than twenty years after Fukuyama wrote, it is time to ask whether secular liberal Western societies still appear to the eyes of humankind to provide the best option. In fact, with the economic crises in Europe, with the austerity imposed on many people and affecting deeply the lives of at least one generation, are liberal societies at risk? Does the growth of the Islamic state after the Arab Spring question the foundation of democratic principles? Considering also Russia and the geo-political problems in Ukraine, can we say that the East has become or is in the process of becoming really democratic? Is the growing popularity of political parties opposed to the European Union, and often embracing anti-democratic ideologies, compatible with Fukuyama’s thesis? It is true, we must say that the American philosopher whom I mentioned assumed that, even if liberal economic-political systems were the best option, their triumph was not automatic and necessary in the long-term. However, Francis Fukuyama recently wrote a new book in which he analyzes a kind of contemporary democratic recession in the first decade of the twenty-first century, a recession that he sees as having delayed the democratic triumph all over the world and over history he announced in the nineties. For me, it is quite interesting to notice how Joseph Ratzinger shares, even if from a different

  7. Is the Perspective of a Closer French Policy toward Russian a threat for Eastern European Countries?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karim BELGACEM

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The current world is not moving as all specialists predicted. Brexit, Trump, everyone was wrong. This paper will have two targets: describing the French policy toward Russia, making a perspective on the future policy, whatever the new French presidency in 2017, Francois Hollande will transmit the key to his successor with new election. He refused to compete for a second mandate. It is good to remind that Hollande was involving in the Ukrainian affairs and had managed with Germany the Minsk I and II agreements. He also had suspended Mistral ships selling and approving sanctions against Russia. How will be the future with François Fillon, Marine Le Pen or other? The analysis will be focusing on the future relationships toward Russia and Eastern European Countries.

  8. The cattle sector in Central and Eastern Europe : developments and opportunities in a time of transition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Peters, K.J.; Kuipers, A.; Keane, M.G.; Dimitriadou, A.

    2009-01-01

    Countries in Eastern-Europe are in a lengthy period of rapid changes. Ten Central and Eastern European countries entered the European Union in 2004 and two more entered in 2007. Surrounding countries to the east are in a similar process of change following the disintegration of the former Soviet

  9. ESN information bulletin. European science notes information bulletin reports on current European/Middle eastern science

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Orendorf, C.R.

    1990-06-01

    The European Science Notes Information Bulletin (ESNIB) 90-05 is a compilation of reports on recent developments in European science of specific interest to the U.S. research and development community, and is issued in support of the mission of the Office of Naval Research European Office. Issue Number 90-05, in addition to European area news, notes, and abstracts, contains reports in the fields of Acoustics, Atmospheric Electricity, Computer Science, Electronics, and Physics. The value of the ESNIB to Americans is to call attention to current activity in European science and technology and to identify the institutions and people responsible for these efforts. The ESNIB authors are primarily ONREUR staff members; other reports are prepared by or in cooperation with staff members of the USAF European Office of Aerospace Research and Development or the U.S. Army Research, Development and Standardination Group. Scientists from the U.S. who are traveling in Europe may also be invited to submit reports.

  10. RETHINKING DEMOCRACY (reflections on John Dunn’s “Breaking democracy’s spell”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. S. Kanevskiy

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This article analyzes a book “Breaking democracy’s spell”, the last work by John Dunn, world famous political scientist from Cambridge. Current discourse on democracy and tendencies of its development is seen through the lens of this book and John Dunn’s political thought. It is hard to question the fact that democracy is still one of the mightiest political symbols, although its core meaning still poses a lot of questions. Democracy is an unstable variable, which changes through time being influenced by multiple factors. This is why, before trying to understand where democracy’s mimicries are leading us, Dunn proposes to look closer at how it became a category which is so essential for legitimizing contemporary regimes. Is our understanding of democracy the same as it was 100, 50 or even 20 years ago? What determines the dynamics of democracy as a symbol of public power? Does democracy help nations in their quest for well being and effective government? Dunn’s work is not just an original analyses of democracy in political, sociological and historical perspectives, it is also a challenge to provoke a discussion on democracies failures both in developed and developing world. Dunn’s work divided scientific community on those who saw warning signs to democracy and those who considered author to be unjustified pessimist. In reality, Dunn’s work doesn’t give simple explanations because in relatively small text he managed to put complex set of questions, which can’t answered unequivocally. Author himself recognizes that he had to use absolutely new style to convey his thoughts. This article is an attempt to interpret Dunn’s ideas and react to his call to start a discussion on contents and perceptions of democracy which he sent to a political science community. This discourse is particularly important today for Russia where democracy not only encounters institutional difficulties and misunderstood by majority of the citizens

  11. Enhancing policy innovation by redesigning representative democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Eva

    2016-01-01

    Policy innovation is a key aspect of public innovation, which has been largely overlooked. Political leadership, competition and collaboration are key drivers of policy innovation. It is a barrier in traditional models of representative democracy that they provide weak conditions for collaboration....... Two Danish case studies indicate that collaboration between politicians and relevant and affected stakeholders can promote policy innovation, but also that a redesign of representative democracy is needed in order to establish a productive combination of political leadership, competition...... and collaboration in political life....

  12. Democracy at the end of the History

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vicente Sanfélix Vidarte

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1677-2954.2013v12n2p289 This article analyzes the loss of legitimacy that the economic crisis brought upon representative democracy and the consequences that can be drawn for the thesis of the end of History. The thesis we defend here is that the deterioration of the welfare state, as a result, under very specific conditions, of the capitalism in certain parts of the world, runs parallel with the delegative degradation of democracy.

  13. E-democracy and public administrators: the Malaysian case

    OpenAIRE

    Abu Bakar, Abdul Gapar

    2017-01-01

    The thesis investigates public administrators’ use of interactive Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in the Malaysian Federal Public Service (MFPS). It describes qualitative research which identifies the nature of e-democracy practices in policy development in the MFPS. In-depth interviews and scholarly as well as government documents provide empirical evidence. Through a survey of literature, contextual features such as absence of policy in the MFPS for e-democracy, constitut...

  14. an a Fledgling Democracy take

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    process and the country's prospects for consolidating a democracy in the future. ... Mark Anstey is a Professor in Labour Relations, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan ... potentials for hydro-electric power it is shockingly underdeveloped, boasting.

  15. Civic Innovation & American Democracy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sirianni, Carmen; Friedland, Lewis

    1997-01-01

    Argues that American democracy is at a critical stage of development, with declining trust in government, citizens feeling displaced by a professional political class, derailed public interest, and policy that limits citizen deliberation and responsibility. Some instances of civic innovation, community organization, civic journalism, and efforts…

  16. Science, expertise, and democracy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinberg, Justin; Elliott, Kevin C

    2012-06-01

    The combination of government's significant involvement in science, science's significant effects on the public, and public ignorance (of both politics and science) raise important challenges for reconciling scientific expertise with democratic governance. Nevertheless, there have recently been a variety of encouraging efforts to make scientific activity more responsive to social values and to develop citizens' capacity to engage in more effective democratic governance of science. This essay introduces a special issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, "Science, Expertise, and Democracy," consisting of five papers that developed from the inaugural Three Rivers Philosophy conference held at the University of South Carolina in April 2011. The pieces range from a general analysis of the in-principle compatibility of scientific expertise and democracy to much more concrete studies of the intersection between scientific practices and democratic values in areas such as weight-of-evidence analysis, climate science, and studies of locally undesirable land uses.

  17. Democracy and Women's Health

    Science.gov (United States)

    Safaei, Jalil

    2009-01-01

    New research on broader determinants of health has culminated into the new paradigm of social determinants of health. The fundamental view that underlies this new paradigm is that socioeconomic and political contexts in which people live have significant bearing upon their health and well-being. Unlike a wealth of research on socioeconomic determinants, few studies have focused on the role of political factors. Some of these studies examine the role of political determinants on health through their mediation with the labour environments and systems of welfare state. A few others study the relationship between polity regimes and population health more directly. However, none of them has a focus on women's health. This study explores the interactions, both direct and indirect, between democracy and women's health. In doing so, it identifies some of the main health vulnerabilities for women and explains, through a conceptual model, how democracy and respect for human rights interacts with women's health. PMID:21836777

  18. Public Participation Guide: Electronic Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Electronic democracy describes a wide range of interactive tools that embrace existing and emergent media sources as a forum for allowing members of the public to express opinions and seek to influence decision-making.

  19. Lebanese Young Citizens’ Attitudes toward Peace and Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khayrazad Kari Jabbour

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Lebanon is a small democratic country with a population of less than four million and a range of diversity; there are at least 18 different religious sects and 19 different political parties. The diversity among ethnic, religious and/or political groups has created conflicts that severely impact the Lebanese economy, environment, politics and most importance our young citizens. The aim of this investigation is to capture students’ awareness and attitudes toward the accountability and mechanisms of peace and democracy. Data for the study was obtained from extensive literature reviews and questionnaire surveys of 70 high school students. The investigation was conducted in the fall of the year 2013. The results of the study showed that most Lebanese young citizen view peace and democracy process associated with the end of violence and conflict behaviors; very small percent of respondents believe that bringing peace and democracy process should be answered by the people or by themselves. Results also indicate a lack of a sense of security among young citizen. This raises the urgent need to put into practice an effective peace education program that inspires and motivates young citizens to be involved in the peace and the democracy building process.

  20. The new left and democracy in Latin America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Panizza

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Without embarking on a theoretical debate over the meaning of the term, it is obvious that the left is on the rise in Latin America. However, we should not ignore the fact that the coming to power of left-wing and centre-left parties and movements presents a certain amount of paradoxes and questions. One of the most important of the many paradoxes is the fact that, in spite of the leftwards electoral shift in the region, there is no evidence that the electorate of Latin America has moved to the left in a significant manner. As for the questions, these concern the connection between left-wing governments and democracy, and especially the future challenges that these governments must face to preserve and develop democracy. In an attempt to unravel the paradox and answer these questions, this article examines the roots, contexts and political challenges of left-wing governments in Latin America. To this end, the author analyses a number of issues, such as the tensions between different logics of political representation and their implications for democracy, in addition to discussing the conditions under which the tensions between the different logics of political representation can contribute (or not to the developing of democracy in the region.

  1. The Cure for Civiliter Mortuus: Complementary Values of Phenomenology and Democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mindaugas Briedis

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available The core of this article is the ancient question concerning the individual person in relation to his/her society. This fundamental question of ethics and political philosophy is approached from the perspective of phenomenological philosophy. Hence, this article is an attempt to conjoin two prima facie inconsistent (because of category mistake types of attitude towards reality and action, e.g. democracy and phenomenology. The thesis states that there is a common ground between the basic features of phenomenological method and the fundamental values of democracy. This paper explores the arguments that establish this parallelism between the values of democracy and phenomenology. One of the outcomes of this analysis will be the sketch of a new kind of virtue ethics and a new type of citizen, concerning new approaches to identity problem. In this respect method of phenomenology can be used as a technique (phronesis for a future citizenship. On the other hand, this perspective helps to re­evaluate the treasures of antique democracy and compare them with contemporary transformations of democracy in political, social and everyday spheres.  

  2. Nuclear safety and the European Community: Broadening perspectives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brinkhorst, L.J.

    1992-01-01

    The European Community's activities in harmonizing of regulations and practices in the field of nuclear safety are described. The issues of aid to Central and Eastern European countries as well as of public information, within this context, are discussed

  3. Technical democracy as a challenge to urban studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Farías, Ignacio; Blok, Anders

    2016-01-01

    What is technical democracy? And why does it matter for urban studies? As an introduction to this special feature, we address these questions by reflecting on To Our Friends, the 2014 manifesto of the Invisible Committee. We engage in particular its provocative diagnosis of the current situation......: power no longer resides in the modern institutions of representative democracy and the market economy; instead, power has become a matter of logistics, infrastructures and expertise. This diagnosis, we suggest, brings into view the challenge of technical democracy, that is, the democratization of techno......-scientific expertise and the instauration of forms of lasting collaboration among experts and laypeople. Urban politics, we claim, increasingly turns around socio-technical controversies and it is in terms of the politics of expertise that we should analyse and engage it. Building on Science and Technology Studies...

  4. First Central and Eastern European Workshop on Quality control, patient dosimetry and radiation protection in diagnostic and interventional radiology and nuclear medicine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    National Frederic Joliot-Curie Research Institute for Radiobiology and Radiohygiene

    2007-01-01

    First Central and Eastern European Workshop on Quality Control, Patient Dosimetry and Radiation Protection in Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, scientifically supported and accredited as a CPD event for medical physicists by EFOMP, National 'Frederic Joliot-Curie' Research Institute for Radiobiology and Radiohygiene (NRIRR), Budapest, Hungary, April 25-28, 2007. Topics of the meeting included all areas of medical radiation physics except radiation therapy. A unique possibility was realized by inviting four European manufacturers of quality control instrumentation, not only for exhibiting but they also had 45 minutes individual presentations about each manufacturer's product scale and conception. Further sessions dealt with dosimetry, optimization, quality control and testing, radiation protection and standardization, computed tomography and nuclear medicine, in 29 oral presentations and 1 poster of the participants. (S.I.)

  5. ESN information bulletin. European science notes information bulletin reports on current European/Middle eastern science

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Orendorf, C.R.

    1989-10-01

    The European Science Notes Information Bulletin (ESNIB) 89-09 is a compilation of reports on recent developments in European science of specific interest to the U.S. research and development community, and is issued in support of the mission of the Office of Naval Research European Office. Issue Number 89-09, in addition to European area news, notes, and abstracts, contains reports in the fields of Acoustics, Computer Science, Condensed-Matter Physics, Materials Science, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, and Solid-State Physics. It is not intended to be part of the scientific literature. The value of the ESNIB to Americans is to call attention to current activity in European science and technology and to identify the institutions and people responsible for these efforts. The ESNIB authors are primarily ONREUR staff members; other reports are prepared by or in cooperation with staff members of the USAF European Office of Aero space Research and Development or the U.S. Army Research, Development and Standardization Group. Scientists from the U.S. who are traveling in Europe may also be invited to submit reports.

  6. The European Constitution: sovereignty, legitimacy and constituent power

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Signe Larsen

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available On the basis of Hannah Arendt’s and Carl Schmitt’s writings on the constituent power, this article sets out to develop an interpretative framework which would aid the understanding of the legitimation crisis of European integration initiated by the EU constitutional failure of 2004. The question raised in this essay is whether the successful establishment of democratic constitutional legitimacy is conditional upon the existence of a federal state. From the perspective of the constituent power, two opposing answers are given based on two rivalling notions of the ultimate meaning of constitutional politics: freedom and security. The article concludes that even though the EU as a case remains undecided, it seems likely that democracy and constitutional politics have parted ways in the EU both in the Arendtian and in the Schmittian sense. If that is the case, the constitutional crisis is a serious problem for the future of democracy in the EU.

  7. National Insecurity and Human Rights: Democracies Debate Counterterrorism

    OpenAIRE

    Brysk, Alison; Shafir, Gershon

    2007-01-01

    Human rights is all too often the first casualty of national insecurity. How can democracies cope with the threat of terror while protecting human rights? This timely volume compares the lessons of the United States and Israel with the "best-case scenarios" of the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, and Germany. It demonstrates that threatened democracies have important options, and democratic governance, the rule of law, and international cooperation are crucial foundations for counterterror policy.

  8. Middle Eastern Christian spaces in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Galal, Lise Paulsen; Hunter, Alistair; McCallum, Fiona

    2016-01-01

    Despite little scholarly attention, Middle Eastern Christian Churches are a well-established element of the European religious landscape. Based on collaborative research, this article examines how three mutual field visits facilitated a deeper understanding of the complexity that characterises...... church establishment and activities among Iraqi, Assyrian/Syriac and Coptic Orthodox Christians in the UK, Sweden and Denmark. Exploring analytical dimensions of space, diversity, size, and minority position we identify three positions of Middle Eastern Christians: in London as the epitome of super...

  9. The State of the Art in the EU Democracy Promotion Literature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Simmons

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available The literature on EU democracy promotion is fragmented into a number of sub-literatures, and this makes it difficult to gain a comprehensive understanding of this area of EU activity. Synthesising these literatures and the different theoretical approaches that have been taken is a necessary first step to a fuller understanding of what makes EU democracy promotion work most effectively, a task that is all the more vital given the increasingly challenging global environment that democracy promotion now faces.

  10. RELIGIOUS DEMOCRATIZATION IN INDONESIA: STRENGTHENING THE PRO-CEDURAL AND SUBSTANTIAL RELIGIOUS DEMOCRACY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eka Hendry AR.

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Inspired by the book of Michael Mann about the dark side of democracy that discusses the paradox between the ideality of democratic values and empirical realities of violence in the name of freedom (democracy, this paper begins with the exposure of the paradox, such as the rise of the violent conflict between groups of people (both ethnic and religious-based and the high prevalence of violence between religious groups in Indonesia. Even worse, a very wrenching violence involves state actors (rulers. This paper tries to understand the roots of the paradox, with a look at how the relationship between state and religion and the religious community trend of Indonesia (especially Muslims. The author argues that the democratization of religion is a solution to the issues. To answer what kind of religious democracy lives in Indonesia, the author analyzes through a religious procedural (or constitutional democratic dimension and religious substantial democratic dimension. The phenomenon of disobedience of law and system and the euphoria of law-making that reflects “intolerance” in several places in Indonesia display the fundamental issue in the religious procedural democracy. Whereas in the context of religious substantial democracy, the prevailing trend of religion that serves as a political and economic vehicle and ignores religion as a substantial aspect of the behavior of the Indonesian society has resulted in the marginalization of religious position and function. Then, the infiltration of the model of political Islam has also led to alienation of the character of the Islamic society of Indonesia, from a democratic pattern to a revival (radical one. In this light, the author needs to present a strategy to encourage religious democracy in Indonesia, structurally through formulating the ideal relation model between state and religion and culturally through a substantial pattern of religion embedded with the character of Indonesian religious

  11. Atomic energy, environment and energy conservation in Eastern Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kanno, Koko

    1990-01-01

    About 12 % of generated electric power is the nuclear power in Eastern European countries. Generally electric power is short in these countries, and as the countermeasures for environment, the promotion of nuclear power generation is considered. However, the public opinion opposing it is also strong. The situation in respective countries is briefly discussed. The prevention of warming of the earth and the reduction of carbon dioxide gas release are the largest environmental problems discussed in western countries, but in Eastern European countries, the far more primitive problem of the damage due to SO 2 is serious. Notwithstanding high sulfur brown coal is the main fuel, the installation of desulfurizing facilities has been neglected. The demand for the countermeasures to environmental pollution by people has become strong. The energy efficiency in Eastern European countries is poor, and it is one of the causes of environmental pollution. The industrial structure is centering around heavy industries which consume much energy, the energy loss arises due to the delay of equipment modernization, and the energy is cheap, so its saving is neglected. Energy conservation is important. (K.I.)

  12. Reconstruction of the democratic experience: democracy as a pedagogical belief in Dewey’s philosophy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carina Tonieto

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The present article aims at reconstructing and analyzing the reasons that led the American educator John Dewey to elect democracy as the pedagogical belief of his educational philosophy. In order to do so, fi rstly our work will briefl y retrace the origins of democracy at the Greek paideia, in order to analyze the reasons that led Deweyto choose democracy as the main reference of his pedagogical belief. Finally, we will discuss the democratic concept of education on Dewey’s work Democracy and Education and the reasons why the author uses science, philosophy, and education as instruments of reconstruction of the democracy.

  13. The Problem of Citizens: E-Democracy for Actually Existing Democracy

    OpenAIRE

    Daniel Kreiss

    2015-01-01

    This article argues that many contemporary e-democracy projects, particularly in the United States, have at their heart a model of atomistic, independent, rational, and general-interest citizens. As such, these projects, variously grouped under the labels of e-governance, online deliberation, open government, and civic technology, often assume a broad shared consensus about collective definitions of “public problems” that both does not exist and sidesteps debates over what these problems are ...

  14. Is It Culture or Democracy? The Impact of Democracy and Culture on Happiness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorn, David; Fischer, Justina A. V.; Kirchgassner, Gebhard; Sousa-Poza, Alfonso

    2007-01-01

    We analyze the relation between democracy and perceived subjective well-being while controlling for other relevant determinants such as culture measured by languages. We conduct a cross-national analysis covering 28 countries using data from the 1998 International Social Survey Programme. Contrasting existing empirical evidence, we observe a…

  15. E-democracy in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hoff, Jens Villiam

    Already in the 1970's and -80's high hopes for democracy were connected with the rise of technologies like cableTV and digital telephones. This outburst of 'utopian energy' was greatly accelerated with the breakthrough of the Internet in the beginning/middle of the 1990's, and both politicians...

  16. Deliberative democracy in health care: current challenges and future prospects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Safaei J

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Jalil Safaei Department of Economics, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, CanadaBackground: There is a vast body of literature on deliberative, participative, or engaged democracy. In the area of health care there is a rapidly expanding literature on deliberative democracy as embodied in various notions of public engagement, shared decision-making (SDM, patient-centered care, and patient/care provider autonomy over the past few decades. It is useful to review such literature to get a sense of the challenges and prospects of introducing deliberative democracy in health care.Objective: This paper reviews the key literature on deliberative democracy and SDM in health care settings with a focus on identifying the main challenges of promoting this approach in health care, and recognizing its progress so far for mapping out its future prospects in the context of advanced countries.Method: Several databases were searched to identify the literature pertinent to the subject of this study. A total of 56 key studies in English were identified and reviewed carefully for indications and evidence of challenges and/or promising avenues of promoting deliberative democracy in health care.Results: Time pressure, lack of financial motivation, entrenched professional interests, informational imbalance, practical feasibility, cost, diversity of decisions, and contextual factors are noted as the main challenges. As for the prospects, greater clarity on conception of public engagement and policy objectives, real commitment of the authorities to public input, documenting evidence of the effectiveness of public involvement, development of patient decision supports, training of health professionals in SDM, and use of multiple and flexible methods of engagement leadership suited to specific contexts are the main findings in the reviewed literature.Conclusion: Seeking deliberative democracy in health care is both challenging and rewarding. The

  17. Who needs credit and who gets credit in Eastern Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brown, M.; Ongena, S.; Popov, A.; Yesin, P.

    2011-01-01

    Based on survey data covering 8,387 firms in 20 countries we compare the access to bank credit for firms in Eastern Europe to that in selected Western European countries. Our analysis reveals five main results. First, the firm-level determinants of the propensity to apply are similar in Eastern and

  18. Modeling and forecasting office investment markets in Central and Eastern Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoefmans, M.P.; Janssen, I.I.; Chorus, C.G.

    2008-01-01

    Property markets in Central and Eastern Europe experienced turbulent developments since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing abolition of communism in the Central and Eastern European region. This paper examines the evolution of office investment markets in Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, and

  19. Democracy and Environmental Integration in Decision-Making

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Figueroa, Maria

    This dissertation presents an evaluation of the democratic qualities of decision-making processes for large transport infrastructure projects in two Scandinavian countries: Denmark and Sweden. The study uncovers criteria from aggregative and deliberative theories of democracy to create a qualitat......This dissertation presents an evaluation of the democratic qualities of decision-making processes for large transport infrastructure projects in two Scandinavian countries: Denmark and Sweden. The study uncovers criteria from aggregative and deliberative theories of democracy to create...... exemplify points of democratic strength and fragility in the decision processes. A robust system of participatory procedures exists, in both countries, as part of the planning tradition or as part of the legally mandatory environmental assessment procedures. This robust system shows fragility for government...... discourses to the state. While the role of civil society in deliberation is crucial, the study accepts that not all that goes on in civil society is conducive either to more democracy or greater environmental integration. The relevant discussion is then how to deal with differences that may have...

  20. Intelligence, democracy, and international environmental commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obydenkova, Anastassia; Salahodjaev, Raufhon

    2016-05-01

    This paper investigates the determinants of nations' commitment to environmental protection at the international level by focusing on the role of national intelligence and the level of democracy. The national intelligence is measured by nation's IQ scores. The findings based on a sample of 152 nations provide strong evidence that intelligence has statistically significant impact on ratification of international environmental agreements, and the countries with IQ 10-points above global average are 23% more likely to sign multilateral environmental agreements than others. The findings also demonstrate that it is the combination of high-level of intelligence of nations and democracy, that likely result in international environmental commitments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. European Non Destructive Examination Forum (ENDEF)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deffrennes, M.; Engl, G.; Estorff, U. von

    1998-01-01

    Non destructive examination (NDE) during fabrication, Pre-service inspection (PSI) and In service inspection (ISI) are considered key issues for the safe use of nuclear energy. They are important elements of plant lifetime management which is a critical item in decision making on nuclear policies. The European non destructive examination forum (ENDEF) founded by European Commission provides a platform for open discussion between representatives of the European industries with the purpose to establish cooperation between EU, Central and Eastern European Countries and New Independent States in the field of NDE and ISI

  2. Stroke care in Central Eastern Europe: current problems and call for action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenti, Laura; Brainin, Michael; Titianova, Ekaterina; Morovic, Sandra; Demarin, Vida; Kalvach, Pavel; Skoloudik, David; Kobayashi, Adam; Czlonkowska, Anna; Muresanu, Dafin F; Shekhovtsova, Ksenia; Skvortsova, Veronica I; Sternic, Nadezda; Beslac Bumbasirevic, Ljiljana; Svigelj, Viktor; Turcani, Peter; Bereczki, Dániel; Csiba, László

    2013-07-01

    Stroke is a major medical problem and one of the leading causes of mortality and disability all over in Europe. However, there are significant East-West differences in stroke care as well as in stroke mortality and morbidity rates. Central and Eastern European countries that formerly had centralized and socialist health care systems have serious and similar problems in organizing health and stroke care 20 years after the political transition. In Central and Eastern Europe, stroke is more frequent, the mortality rate is higher, and the victims are younger than in Western Europe. High-risk patients live in worse environmental conditions, and the socioeconomic consequences of stroke further weaken the economic development of these countries. To address these issues, a round table conference was organized. The main aim of this conference was to discuss problems to be solved related to acute and chronic stroke care in Central and Eastern European countries, and also, to exchange ideas on possible solutions. In this article, the discussed problems and possible solutions will be summarized, and introduce 'The Budapest Statement of Stroke Experts of Central and Eastern European countries'. © 2012 The Authors. International Journal of Stroke © 2012 World Stroke Organization.

  3. Cognitive aspect of education for democracy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Đurišić-Bojanović Mirosava

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Education for democracy is of particular importance for a society undergoing democratization. The paper investigates a cognitive aspect of education for democracy, and identifies psychological predispositions for the acceptance of plurality of ideas as a central indicator of democratic thinking. The acceptance of plurality is defined as the ability of an individual to consider different arguments in controversial topics, to accept the existence of different ideas in a discussion as well as different explanations. This psychological phenomenon integrates certain cognitive affective and conative characteristics. The acceptance of plurality of ideas is a fundamental prerequisite for democratic communication, therefore a prerequisite for the creation of democratic climate in a society. The concept of cognitive style has been examined from the perspective of different research traditions in an attempt to identify a psychological profile of cognitive style, provisionally named pluralist profile, which would help an individual behave democratically. The paper also studies the connection between the manner of thinking, personality characteristics and cognitive style. It is the author’s conclusion that it is reasonable to assume that there are ways to encourage the development of pluralistic cognitive style by practicing the acceptance of different ideas through teaching process which would significantly improve the effectiveness of education for democracy.

  4. Participatory Democracy in Theory and Practice: A Case Study of Local Government in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ntsikelelo Breakfast

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The idea of democracy is a curious oneand puzzling. There is reason for this;everyone talks about democracy no matter whether their views are on the left, centreor right of the political spectrum. Various politicians, regimes, whether in Africa, Europe or America claim to be democratic;yet what each says and does is usuallydifferent. Democracy as a practice is supposed to bestow rules, laws and decisions that are justifiable on democraticgrounds. Democracy also has evolved through social struggles. This article examines the practice of democracy withinthe context of local government in South Africa, and is an attempt to explore the concept of democracy without escaping other historical aspects of the idea and practice. From a methodological standpoint, this article is based on a literature assessment. Lastly and most importantly, this paper has made a scholarly contribution to the scholarship of Political Science and Public Administration with regard to the nexus between democracy and public participation at local government level in South Africa.

  5. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY ASSESSMENT IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

    OpenAIRE

    Serrao, Amilcar

    2001-01-01

    This research work examines levels and trends in global agricultural productivity in fifteen European Union countries and four Eastern European countries that have already applied for European Union membership. The study makes use of data collected from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and covers the period 1980-1998. An approach based on Data Envelopment Analysis is used to provide information on the peers of the (inefficient) i-th country and to derive the Malmqui...

  6. Abraham's children in the genome era: major Jewish diaspora populations comprise distinct genetic clusters with shared Middle Eastern Ancestry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atzmon, Gil; Hao, Li; Pe'er, Itsik; Velez, Christopher; Pearlman, Alexander; Palamara, Pier Francesco; Morrow, Bernice; Friedman, Eitan; Oddoux, Carole; Burns, Edward; Ostrer, Harry

    2010-06-11

    For more than a century, Jews and non-Jews alike have tried to define the relatedness of contemporary Jewish people. Previous genetic studies of blood group and serum markers suggested that Jewish groups had Middle Eastern origin with greater genetic similarity between paired Jewish populations. However, these and successor studies of monoallelic Y chromosomal and mitochondrial genetic markers did not resolve the issues of within and between-group Jewish genetic identity. Here, genome-wide analysis of seven Jewish groups (Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, Italian, Turkish, Greek, and Ashkenazi) and comparison with non-Jewish groups demonstrated distinctive Jewish population clusters, each with shared Middle Eastern ancestry, proximity to contemporary Middle Eastern populations, and variable degrees of European and North African admixture. Two major groups were identified by principal component, phylogenetic, and identity by descent (IBD) analysis: Middle Eastern Jews and European/Syrian Jews. The IBD segment sharing and the proximity of European Jews to each other and to southern European populations suggested similar origins for European Jewry and refuted large-scale genetic contributions of Central and Eastern European and Slavic populations to the formation of Ashkenazi Jewry. Rapid decay of IBD in Ashkenazi Jewish genomes was consistent with a severe bottleneck followed by large expansion, such as occurred with the so-called demographic miracle of population expansion from 50,000 people at the beginning of the 15th century to 5,000,000 people at the beginning of the 19th century. Thus, this study demonstrates that European/Syrian and Middle Eastern Jews represent a series of geographical isolates or clusters woven together by shared IBD genetic threads.

  7. Measure and collapse of participatory democracy in a two-party system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sznajd, Jozef

    2015-10-01

    Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so (Galileo Galilei). According to the above sentence we do not ask why we need to measure democracy but if it is possible to measure something which is not unequivocally defined. Although, it is unlikely a final agreement on the definition of democracy, the idea that it is a form of governance based on collective decision making seems to be uncontested. On the premise that in the high-quality democracy citizens (agents) not only must have equal participation rights but must want to participate in shaping decision, as an effective measure of democracy in a two party political system we propose the percentage of the total population that actually voted in a given elections only for two major parties. Thus, we disregard not only nonvoters but also smaller parties voters whom votes will not have a substantial impact on the election and consequently they will not be in the loop, even theoretically. To describe such a system a sociophysics model based on the $S=1$ Ising model (Blume-Capel) is proposed. The measure of democracy, V_D index, as a function of inter-party conflict is analyzed.

  8. Peter Van Elsuwege and Roman Petrov, eds. Legislative Approximation and Application of EU Law in the Eastern Neighbourhood of the European Union: Towards a Common Regulatory Space?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andriy Tyushka

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Peter Van Elsuwege and Roman Petrov, eds. Legislative Approximation and Application of EU Law in the Eastern Neighbourhood of the European Union: Towards a Common Regulatory Space? London and New York: Routledge, 2014. xxx, 268 pp. Notes on Contributors. Preface by Marc Maresceau. Foreward by Kostiantyn Yelisieiev. Illustrations. Informative table and list. Index. $145.00, cloth.

  9. Overall satisfaction of health care users with the quality of and access to health care services: a cross-sectional study in six Central and Eastern European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stepurko, Tetiana; Pavlova, Milena; Groot, Wim

    2016-08-02

    The measurement of consumer satisfaction is an essential part of the assessment of health care services in terms of service quality and health care system responsiveness. Studies across Europe have described various strategies health care users employ to secure services with good quality and quick access. In Central and Eastern European countries, such strategies also include informal payments to health care providers. This paper analyzes the satisfaction of health care users with the quality of and access to health care services. The study focuses on six Central and Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Ukraine). We use data on past experience with health care use collected in 2010 through uniform national surveys in these countries. Based on these data, we carry out a multi-country analysis to investigate factors associated with the satisfaction of health care users in the six countries. The results indicate that about 10-14 % of the service users are not satisfied with the quality of, or access to health care services they used in the preceding year. However, significant differences across countries and services are observed, e.g. the highest level of dissatisfaction with access to outpatient services (16.4 %) is observed among patients in Lithuania, while in Poland, the level of dissatisfaction with quality of outpatient and inpatient services are much lower than dissatisfaction with access. The study also analyses the association of users' satisfaction with factors such as making informal payments, inability to pay and relative importance of service attributes stated by the service users. These multi-country findings provide evidence for health policy making in the Central and Eastern European countries. Although the average rates of satisfactions per country are relatively high, the results suggest that there is ample room for improvements. Specifically, many service-users still report dissatisfaction especially those

  10. Reconstruction of the democratic experience: democracy as a pedagogical belief in Dewey’s philosophy

    OpenAIRE

    Carina Tonieto; Altair Alberto Fávero

    2012-01-01

    The present article aims at reconstructing and analyzing the reasons that led the American educator John Dewey to elect democracy as the pedagogical belief of his educational philosophy. In order to do so, fi rstly our work will briefl y retrace the origins of democracy at the Greek paideia, in order to analyze the reasons that led Deweyto choose democracy as the main reference of his pedagogical belief. Finally, we will discuss the democratic concept of education on Dewey’s work Democracy an...

  11. Effective Exchange Rates in Central and Eastern European Countries: Cyclicality and Relationship with Macroeconomic Fundamentals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stavárek Daniel

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the evolution of effective exchange rates in nine Central and Eastern European countries in terms of development trends, volatility and cyclicality. Consequently, it provides direct empirical evidence on the nature of the relationship between effective exchange rates and selected macroeconomic fundamentals, addressing a key precondition of numerous exchange rate determination models and theories that attempt to explain the role of exchange rates in the economy. The results suggest that flexible exchange rate arrangements are reflected in both nominal and real effective exchange rates having higher volatility and variability. Furthermore, the results provide mixed evidence in terms of intensity, direction and cyclicality, but show a weak correlation between exchange rates and fundamentals. Sufficiently high coefficients are found only for money supply. Consequently, using fundamentals for the determination of exchange rates and using the exchange rate to explain economic development may be of limited use for the countries analyzed.

  12. Implementing transparency in an Eastern European office market: preparing Warsaw for global investments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadine Bitterer

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available In the aftermath of an increasing integration of property and financial markets, the real estate industry is subject to soaring internationalization processes. Since international institutional investors appeared, transnational real estate investments have increased tremendously. In recent years, Central and Eastern European countries have been becoming more attractive to institutional investors and are therefore being integrated into international market structures. Within these countries, Warsaw emerged as the most dynamic and important real estate market. But what are the mechanisms and practices through which the real estate market of Warsaw becomes international? Which networks, intermediaries and frames are necessary to constitute a mature real estate market? The article argues that international real estate consultants are playing a crucial role in the underlying internationalization process. They are acting at the interface between investors, developers, construction companies and tenants and are therefore becoming a crucial hinge between real estate actors. With the example of the Warsaw real estate market we argue that international real estate consultancies are key drivers of the transformation process from a local to a global market. They transfer global knowledge, competence and practices and implement transparent and professional structures in the emerging Warsaw real estate market.

  13. Democracy, justice and state of exception: past present

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tásso Araújo Brito

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Violence against portions of society, disbelief in democratic institutions and agents of the state who inflict torture against those who are in their custody are elements that corrode the Brazilian democracy. Between the past of the military-civilian dictatorship and the current moment we realize how practices that have been considered exceptions have become rules that affect the life of many Brazilian citizens. The present paper investigates these political experiences to ask which democracy have we been living in.

  14. Globalization, Democracy, and Social Movements: The Educational Potential of Activism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hytten, Kathy

    2016-01-01

    In this essay, I explore the contemporary value of John Dewey's conception of democracy to addressing the challenges of neoliberal globalization. I begin by describing his vision of democracy as a way of life that requires habits of experimentalism, pluralism, and hope. I then suggest that contemporary forms of mobilization, resistance, and…

  15. An Appraisal of Mass Media Role in Consolidating Democracy in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study therefore critically assessed the performance of Nigerian mass media in consolidating democracy. The study is of the view that the mass contributed immensely to the return of democracy in Nigeria. This the media did through their critical criticism of the military juntas, mobilization of the citizens to participate in ...

  16. The Relationship between Youth Unemployment and Economic Growth in Central and Eastern European Countries: An Empirical Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leman ERDAL

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The study has analyzed the relationship between youth unemployment and economic growth, in the context of Okun law, by using new generation panel data analysis and cointegration tests. In this study, 18 Central and Eastern European country have been selected as subject matter whose youth unemployment rate is above the EU-28 average (25 % for the period 2006-2012. The results show that, if youth unemployment is quite severe; even an exclusive economic growth will not be enough to reduce the youth unemployment rate in the country. It is recommended that the global and country-specific policies which are effective, result-driven on youth (Un employment and labour market issues, should be developed. This study is expected to make a significant contribution to the literature on unemployment and social conflict.

  17. Publication ethics in biomedical journals from countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broga, Mindaugas; Mijaljica, Goran; Waligora, Marcin; Keis, Aime; Marusic, Ana

    2014-03-01

    Publication ethics is an important aspect of both the research and publication enterprises. It is particularly important in the field of biomedical science because published data may directly affect human health. In this article, we examine publication ethics policies in biomedical journals published in Central and Eastern Europe. We were interested in possible differences between East European countries that are members of the European Union (Eastern EU) and South-East European countries (South-East Europe) that are not members of the European Union. The most common ethical issues addressed by all journals in the region were redundant publication, peer review process, and copyright or licensing details. Image manipulation, editors' conflicts of interest and registration of clinical trials were the least common ethical policies. Three aspects were significantly more common in journals published outside the EU: statements on the endorsement of international editorial standards, contributorship policy, and image manipulation. On the other hand, copyright or licensing information were more prevalent in journals published in the Eastern EU. The existence of significant differences among biomedical journals' ethical policies calls for further research and active measures to harmonize policies across journals.

  18. Insights into the cystic fibrosis care in Eastern Europe: Results of survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walicka-Serzysko, Katarzyna; Peckova, Monika; Noordhoek, Jacquelien J; Sands, Dorota; Drevinek, Pavel

    2018-04-19

    The European cystic fibrosis (CF) Society Standards of Care were set to facilitate the delivery of high-quality care throughout Europe. However, their implementation may be difficult for less economically advantaged countries. This survey was performed to explore the gap in the knowledge of the level of CF care in Eastern Europe. Questionnaires were sent online to one CF professional and one CF patient representative for every Eastern European country. Although most respondents indicated the presence of CF centres, disparities in their framework among individual countries and between them and the European CF Standards of Care became apparent. A minority of countries achieved CF centre recognition by the government (6 of 16), provided CF care for adults (6 countries) and had a multidisciplinary team with all team members represented (2 countries). Patients were significantly more critical in the evaluation of various aspects of CF care than physicians, especially in the Balkan region. The survey results indicate that the organization and level of CF care across Eastern Europe is largely variable and lacks some of its fundamental attributes in several countries. Copyright © 2018 European Cystic Fibrosis Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Delegated Democracy. The Siting of Swedish Nuclear Waste

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Johansson, Hanna Sofia (Stockholm Univ., SCORE, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden))

    2009-12-15

    This paper aims to characterise Swedish democracy in connection with the disposal of Swedish nuclear waste. To this end, an analysis is performed to discern which democratic ideals that can be found within the nuclear waste issue. The study analyses various actors' views on democracy and expertise as well as their definitions of the nuclear waste issue, and discusses this from the perspective of democracy theory. Which definitions that become influential has democratic implications. In addition, various actors' possible attempts to help or hinder other actors from gaining influence over the nuclear waste issue in the four municipalities are studied. In connection with the case studies the aim of the paper can be narrowed to comprise the following questions: Which democratic ideals can be found within SKB's siting process during the feasibility studies and in the consultation process during the site investigations? Which democratic ideals were influential during the feasibility studies and in the consultation process?

  20. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis, reproductive freedom, and deliberative democracy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrelly, Colin

    2009-04-01

    In this paper I argue that the account of deliberative democracy advanced by Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson (1996, 2004) is a useful normative theory that can help enhance our deliberations about public policy in morally pluralistic societies. More specifically, I illustrate how the prescriptions of deliberative democracy can be applied to the issue of regulating non-medical uses of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), such as gender selection. Deliberative democracy does not aim to win a philosophical debate among rival first-order theories, such as libertarianism, egalitarianism or feminism. Rather, it advances a second-order analysis that strives to help us determine what would constitute a reasonable balance between the conflicting fundamental values that arise in the context of regulating PGD. I outline a theoretical model (called the Reasonable Genetic Intervention Model) that brings these issues to the fore. Such a model incorporates the concern for both procedural and substantive principles; and it does so in way that takes provisionality seriously.