Peculiarities of decision making by authorities in Ukraine in the transformation period

Author(s): Natalya Podvirna / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2013

This article analyzes the process of as well as the impact of transformation processes, political crisis and personal characteristics of governmental actors in policy-making. The present research concludes that the speed and efficiency of decision-making depends on the political and legal standards of government entities, their competence, as well as the ability to use the available resources and take responsibility for decision-making. During the transformations and political crisis there are a number of factors that affect the decision-making process, such as compliance with time parameters in deciding the objective and full-scale clear awareness of decision-making by the authorities.

Mění se patriarchální režim v myanmaru?

Author(s): Eliška Boháčová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2018

After the elections in November 2015 Myanmar has had a new and, although some wouldn’t agree, democratic government. And the head of the new government is a woman – Aung San Suu Kyi. In a country where the government had been led by an army dominated by men for more than five decades, there is now a quasi-democratic government led by a woman. Could this fact imply that the situation of Myanmar’s women in general is improving? Does democratization have any implications for a gender regime that has been dominantly patriarchal for decades? And how do the democratisation process and the rising Buddhist nationalism effect the antidiscrimination agenda declared after the abandonment of military rule?

Decline of Elite Consensus and Destabilization of Political Space in East-Central Europe

Author(s): Matevž Tomšič / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2017

The article deals with recent developments in terms of elite configuration and its impact on political stability in post-communist countries from East-Central Europe, especially with regard to the structure of political/party space. The author observes that none of the countries from this region has a political space that matches those of established democracies, where the key role is played by two parties, one on the left and another on the right of the political center. The claim is made that these developments are strongly related to an increase in polarization within the political elite, and the corresponding decline in elite consensus, resulting in the weakening of the potential for cooperation between elite factions. It is argued that this decline is only partially conditioned by global crisis, but is more significantly correlated to the specific nature of the transformation process.

Leadership Styles. Qualitative Analysis on Romanian Presidents

Author(s): Georgeta Condur,Teodora Prelipcean / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

Leadership style has received significant attention in the management literature, but the topic has been studied also by political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, and anthropologists. The authors of this paper provide a general framework for the systematic study of leadership, and then apply various typologies to all Romanian presidents who have servedat least onefull term. After defining leadership and leaders, summarizing leadership principles and features, and examining some leadership studies, four Romanian presidents (Nicolae Ceauşescu, Ion Iliescu, Emil Constantinescu, and Traian Băsescu) are categorized taking into account their performance, but also the constraints and opportunities resulting from the environment and political context. The succinct qualitative analysis presented in this paper is based on the framework and taxonomy provided by Roger-Gerard Schwartzenberg, Richard E. Neustadt, and James David Barber, with focus on Fred I. Greenstein’s qualitative study, who examined various presidents in terms of six qualities: proficiency as a public communicator, organizational capacity, political skills, policy vision, cognitive style, and ability to manage emotions and turn them to constructive purposes.

Confronting the International Order: Changes in US Foreign Policy from the Perspective of American Power Elites

Author(s): Andrzej Mania,Tomasz Pugacewicz / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

The aim of this article is to present the most important voices on the role of the US in the international order during Donald Trump’s presidency in the debate held in the Foreign Affairs. The authors assume that Foreign Affairs expresses the opinions of the most crucial organisation bringing together the elites of American foreign affairs – the Council on Foreign Relations. The paper proposes a hypothesis according to which there is a difference of opinion due to the adopted theoretical perspective regarding Trump’s role in the destruction of the liberal international order among the American power elites, even though they agree that the ideological conflict between democratic and authoritarian countries around the world is escalating.

Institucionalno poverenje i participacija građana kao indikatori merenja stepena krize predstavničke demokratije

Author(s): Milenko Elez / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 16/2019

The main attention in the article is directed towards the consolidation of democracy through greater citizen participation in the process of making key policy decisions and measuring the level of trust in political institutions, which are viewed as indicators also suggest that the empowerment and the crisis in which liberal democracy is entered . The paper highlights the concept of formal but not substantive operation of the institutional system of many democratic community. We also deal with the question of why the indicators are talking about inherent to the crisis of democracy at the global level on the one hand, and for what reason indicate a low level of democracy in the Republic of Serbia on the other. On the basis of guidance on key indicators that point to a crisis of democracy, we discover that actually the main deficits of democracy, and on the basis of their recognition, we offer a strategy of rehabilitation of democratic community.

The EU Approach to Security Provision in the Western Balkans and the Horn of Africa

Author(s): Annemarie Peen Rodt / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

This article appraises the EU’s approach to preventing further in security in the Western Balkans and the Horn of Africa. The purpose of this endeavour is to determine whether EU efforts meet needs on the ground as well as in Brussels. The article identifies similar sources albeit different degrees of instability across the two regions. It reviews EU strategies and CSDP missions deployed in response and evaluates the effectiveness of two such missions: EULEX Kosovo and EUCAP Nestor/Somalia. The study does not find failures as such in the strategies developed or missions deployed, but it does conclude that while relatively effective from an EU perspective this approach is less effective in providing security on the ground.

CONSTITUIREA, ORGANIZAREA ȘI FUNCȚIONAREA PARLAMENTUL REPUBLICII MOLDOVA

Author(s): Ilie Gîrneț / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2019

Parliamentarism as a form of government and political influence in studies of both historical and contemporary points of view is a subject of this presentation. Republic of Moldova is a unitary parliamentary representative democratic republic. The country's supreme central legislative body is the unicameral Moldovan Parliament, which is rather young, dating from 1990. In Moldova, as in other former Soviet Republics, the Parliament is a creation of social practice, a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Based on these beliefs, we can agree that the need for such research is justified. From this point of view, in the modern world, we are increasingly seeing a persistent manifestation of democratic functioning and organization of power, based on the fundamental principles of law. The Constitution of the Republic of Moldova is that country's supreme law. In general, we should note that there is a trend that actually reflects a series of states that have entered at the path of democratic development and definition of the state of law.

South AfricaʼS Mediation Surrounding the 2008 Elections in Zimbabwe

Author(s): Dan-Ionuţ PETRICA / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2019

The question of free and democratic elections in Zimbabwe is core to our present endeavour. We have analysed how South Africa mediated agreements between the political parties in Zimbabwe, resulting in a series of electoral reforms, decreased violence during the electoral process and, ultimately, a government of national unity. While thecreation of an inclusive government formalized the success of South Africa as a mediatingpower, Zimbabwe was plagued by a struggle for power inside its central apparatus, wherebygood governance principles were cast aside. Our research details the entire situation,ultimately providing an assessment based on several strings of IR theory and practice.

Uncertainty: Strategic Thinking and International Relations in 21st Century

Author(s): Lucia Surdu (Pantea) / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2019

Review of Uncertainty: Strategic Thinking And International Relations In 21st Century By George Cristian Maior, Editura RAO, București, 2014

Okno Overtona i inne strategie alt-prawicy

Author(s): Michał Zabdyr-Jamróz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 778/2020

Iszlám és demokrácia Indonéziában: egy konszenzus-orientált modell felé?

Author(s): Pál István Gyene / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2019

The present paper studies the possibilities of adapting political democracy to Southeast Asia, more particularly to the context of Islam in Indonesia. We argue that the impact of the ”Islam” factor on the Indonesian political system is worth studying on three different levels: 1. on the level of society’s political divisions: the relationship to Islam and the state’s secular nature still seems to be the most fundamental political cleavage in Indonesian society; 2. on the level of the party system: investigating the position and role of parties on the platform of political Islam; 3. last but not least, on the level of parliamentary politics, examining the extent to which the secular and Islamic parties are influential actors in legislation and in the executive branch. While in the first two dimensions, i.e. as a social dividing line and a difference visible in the formation of the party system, the separation of secular and “Islamic” political subcultures is tangible up to the present day, the parliamentary dichotomy of government and opposition does not reflect this separation. The current government coalition, for example, is composed of secular, traditionalist and modernist Muslim parties, and the profile of the political opposition is also similar. I contend that there is a specifically Indonesian “consensus-oriented” democracy model in the process of formation, which however is not without western prefigurations, where political Islam and Islamist parties do not act as destabilizing factors, but on the contrary, as a kind of “Muslim democratic” force strengthening democratic consensus similarly to the functioning of some “western” Christian democratic parties. The research is partly based on a historical and, implicitly, a comparative approach. It strongly builds on the theoretical framework and methodology of Sartori’s classic party system typology, Lijphardt’s “majoritarian” and “consensus-based” democracy model, and the so-called neo-Institutionalist debate on the advantages and possible disadvantages of parliamentary and presidential forms of government.

THE POPULISM IN EUROPE: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT, PHOLITICAL SPEECH AND SUPPORTERS OF THE RADICAL RIGHT

Author(s): Ovidiu Lungu / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2020

Review of: Mihnea S. Stoica, The Populism in Europe: Historical development, political speech and supporters of the radical right, Cluj-Napoca, The University Press, 2017, ISBN: 978-606-37-0175-7

Populizm i demokracja: Ekwador w dobie correizmu

Author(s): Piotr Łaciński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2019

The ten-year rule of President Rafael Correa in Ecuador has led to a significant change in the political life of this country. Correism, or the concept and the practice of governance implemented by R. Correa is an excellent starting point to examine the relationship between populism and democracy and to identify factors deforming the functioning of democratic systems today – not only in the Latin American context. In this article, I try to answer the following questions: is populism only a threat to democracy, and can the rule of R. Correa be regarded as an autocracy? In the analysis, I use the ‘matrix’ developed by Levitsky and Ziblatt in 2018 to identify the authoritarian behaviour of political leaders. I conclude that while Correism was a political strategy deforming the democratic system of governance in Ecuador, it contributed to the stabilisation of political life in this country (despite the polarisation of the political scene), and populism was an indispensable tool for gaining and maintaining power by R Correa in this country between 2007 and 2017.

POPULISM OR THE BROKEN PROMISES OF DEMOCRACY. CONCEPTS, CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS

Author(s): Răzvan-Samir Avram / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

Europe's response to the consequences of the Two World Wars was the need for joint association in a European project. Later on, the communist revolutions have sparked hopes on the European continent in creating a much-dreamed prosperity. One by one, the Eastern European Countries have joined the European project, the last country being Croatia in 2013. Time has passed, but not all problems seem to be resolved, on the contrary, we could say, extremism is on the rise, intolerance of migrants and foreigners it’s a topic on any internal debate. And s as if it weren't enough, Brexit, in conjunction with the rise in the voting intentions for the populist leaders like Marine Le Pen with The National Front in France, Matteo Salvini with Lega Nord in Italy and Nigel Farage with UKIP and later on with Reform Part. This Article aims to provide some clarifications in relation with the conceptual nature of populism, in order to define the concept and identifying and analyzing the main key messages within the populist speech, and also to identify why such messages have success, using as a starting point the idea that populism is only the result of stagnation of the current political class, as well as of the shortcomings of the democratic system.

IDENTITY-BUILDING IN KAZAKHSTAN

Author(s): Alin Roman / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

As a young nation that came into existence following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Kazakhstan undergoes a gradual transformation within its demographics. The issue of national identity within what was once an important and well-integrated part of the USSR continues to draw the involvement of its administrative apparatus that has to find the equilibrium between, on one hand, maintaining national integrity through various mechanisms and, on the other, managing the level of external and internal factors that may lead to the fate of its fellow Central-Asian republics.

TESTING THE SECOND-ORDER ELECTIONS MODEL ON THE 2019 EUROPEAN ELECTIONS IN ROMANIA

Author(s): Nicoleta Lașan / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

The Treaty of Rome adopted in 1957 included provisions on the elections of the then European Parliamentary Assembly elections, but it took more than two decades for the members of the European Parliament to be directly elected. Immediately after the first direct elections of the European Parliament in 1979, the second-order elections model was conceived in order to understand the new type of supranational but less important elections. The model includes several hypotheses deriving from the idea that in the European elections there is less at stake, so instead of having genuine EU elections, in reality there are now 27 simultaneous national elections. The paper tests the second order elections to see whether its hypotheses are valid in the case of 2019 EU elections in Romania.

Reforming the Nigerian National Assembly for Legislative Effectiveness: Issues, Constraints and Way-Forward

Author(s): Adebola Rafiu Bakare,Muhammed Lawan Bello / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

The persistent refusal of the Nigerian legislators to disclose to the public their actual earningshas continued to generate comments which, among other issues, have led to agitations for the reformof the National Assembly to reduce the cost of governance in Nigeria, especially in the wake of thescrapping of the Senegalese Senate in 2012 and the recent ‘yes’ vote to scrap the upper chamber inMauritania in 2017. In addition, the intensity of the recent claims by a federal lawmaker, HonourableAbdulmumin Jibrin on the pattern of running the National Assembly in terms of scandalous extrabudgetaryallowances of lawmakers and secrecy of legislative activities among others, is too weightyto be ignored, hence the significance and inevitatability of researching into these issues. It is againstthis backdrop that this paper examines the issues and arguments surrounding the calls for reforming theNational Assembly. The paper adopted mixed-method research design and found that the officialsalaries and allowances of Nigerian legislators are relatively low in comparison with what obtains inother climes. It also found some elements of lopsidedness in the House’s seats distribution as somestates with lower population are given more seats than some with higher population.

The Duties of Elected Officers and Their Relationship with Key Functionaries in Nigerian Local Government: the Implication for Development

Author(s): Joshua Tom Edet / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

Local governments in Nigeria were created to bring development closer to the people at thegrassroots level. To accomplish this, provisions were made in the constitution and other relateddocuments for the present of elected officers and key functionaries whose duties include cooperationin the administration of the local government affairs. It is generally argued however, that, both electedofficers and the key functionaries of the local government areas in Nigeria have failed to cooperate toperform their duties creditably thereby denying the local government the much desired development.This work was undertaken to assess the elected officers’ commitment to their duties as well as theirrelationship with the key functionaries of the local government and the attendant effects ondevelopment. The findings revealed that the elected officers and key functionaries have reneged ontheir duties and wallowed in internecine feuds. These have significantly affected development atgrassroots level. Descriptive research method was used in gathering facts for this work. The workproposed that for meaningful development to take place at grassroots level both elected officers andkey functionaries must develop mutual confidence and respect among themselves. It recommendedamong others that both elected offices and key functionaries must show sufficient commitment to theirduties for better decision making and service delivery.

Területi változások helyi szinten: az önkormányzati különválások környezeti és politikai tényezői

Author(s): Paweł Swianiewicz,Gábor Dobos / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2020

While municipal amalgamation is a fairly researched area, another type of territorial change, that of municipal splits is almost entirely absent from the literature. The aim of our study is twofold. First, we offer a theoretical background to the analysis of municipal splits. Our questions concern the factors that influence the emergence of municipal splits and the factors that affect the success of the split initiations. In accordance with these questions, we identify and categorize environmental and political factors of municipal splits. Second, based on the theoretical framework, we examine the nearly hundred cases of municipal splits in Hungary between 1990 and 2019. On the one hand, the analysis of the Hungarian splits is suitable to test the theoretical model in practice, on the other hand, the model can be used to map the dynamics of these municipal splits.