We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.

The new Law on the Municipality Boundaries (Law on territorial Organization) and the failed Referendum of 2004

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

This paper will discuss recent political events in Macedonia, concerning the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement in the sphere of development of decentralized government and in particular regarding the events surrounding the referendum on the newly adopted Law on Territorial Organization. On 3rd September 2004 the Macedonian parliament adopted a decision to hold a referendum on 7th November. If successful, the referendum, initiated by the World Macedonian Congress (WMC) in early 2004, would have effectively required a repeal of the newly passed Law on Territorial Organization, City of Skopje and Financing on Units of Local Self-Government, and a return to the status quo ante of 123 municipalities. The new Law has reduced the numbers of municipalities to 84. The calling of the referendum has also forced the postponement of local elections, previously delayed and rescheduled for 21st November, and now required by law to take place by 31st March 2005. A Law on Territorial Organization was part of the indispensable package of laws necessary to ensure the decentralization process, regarded as a crucial component of the Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA) of 2001. The international community expressed widespread concern about the potential impact of the referendum on the Ohrid process and on inter-ethnic relations.

More...

4.50 €

Tracing Back the Bulgarian Clerk: Public Images of the Profession (Late 19th – early 20th centuries)

Author(s): Galina Goncharova / Language(s): English

The traditional sociological notion of the role combines the presumption of rationality with the metaphor of theatrical performance. On the one hand, the role notion presupposes typization and instrumentality, or setting up and upholding certain normative prescriptions. On the other hand, it refers to a situation of communication and representation – assessment and orientation of your own acts in accordance with the “presence” of the others’ roles – that comes to the fore. As two ultimate explications of these two characteristics we can treat the ideal model of Webber of bureaucracy and the interactive symbolism of Goffman; and as an attempt to bridge them together we can view the definition of Berger and Luckmann.

More...

4.50 €

Institutional Trust within the Local Society from South Eastern Europe. A Transformation Perspective

Author(s): Stelu Şerban / Language(s): English

The aim of this paper is to identify the incentives of the institutional trust on the regional levels of two neighboring areas along the Danube. The approach is a comparative one; two border zones from northern Bulgaria and southern Romania, having a certain similarity as regards historical past and social organization, are juxtaposed. The research took place both at the level of these circumscribed geographical areas and in particular localities. The hypothesis was that the networks of social trust have a strong infl uence upon the civic and political commitments. By the term ‘commitment’ I mean the social reliability for roles and position takings in the frame of the local institutions (mayoralty, political parties, civic and cultural associations).

More...

Vodič kroz administrativnu proceduru upisa prilagodbe spola za transrodne osobe u Bosni i Hercegovini

Author(s): Edita Miftari / Language(s): Bosnian

Sam termin procedura najčešće asocira na niz nepremostivih prepreka do dostizanja cilja, ili na poduzimanje određenih radnji koje nam uvijek oduzmu više vremena nego što je potrebno. Ova asocijacija donekle je i opravdana kada su u pitanju administrativne procedure (postupci) i procesi u Bosni i Hercegovini zbog složenosti njenog političkog sistema i velikog broja birokratskih institucija. Međutim, ono što procedura jeste i treba da bude predstavlja usaglašen i jasan proces kojim se kroz niz propisanih i jasno određenih radnji izvršava određeni posao i dolazi do određenog rješenja. Svaka administrativna procedura ili administrativni postupak treba biti transparentan, efikasan i jednostavan; bitno je da bude precizno i jasno propisan aktima koji su dostupni javnosti, te da postoje mehanizmi njegove kontrole.

More...

Legal Insight into Macedonia’s newly approved Law on Public Servants

Author(s): Agim Selami / Language(s): English

Looking back and analyzing the flow of the reform process on the public administration in Macedonia there’s a perception that this is a never‐ending and quite complex process. All governments to date have never expressed any fatigue or dilemmas in relation to the reform. However, this willingness has not been all the time complemented with the right actions and strategies that would “incarnate” the idea of an ideal public administration system. The battle for power among political parties has many times undermined the general interest. Hence, the critical stand of the international factor toward the development of the reform, being closely monitored by them. The current government’s willingness to give priority to the EU agenda is mostly expressed through drafting laws compatible to the EU Aquis Communitaire. One of them is also the already approved Law on Public Servants, which was proposed by the Ministry of Justice. The initiation for drafting this law itself had opposite reactions, praised from ones and faced with strong opposition for the envisaged legal provisions from others.

More...

Ризици од корупција кај јавно приватно партнерство во Македонија

Author(s): Ana Stojilovska / Language(s): Macedonian

Борбата со корупцијата е горливо прашање за Република Македонија. Европска комисија во последниот извештај за напредок констатира дека корупцијата и понатаму продолжува да постои во многу области и дека корупцијата во јавните набавки е сериозен проблем. Понатаму, корупцијата на локално ново во Република Македонија е недоволно истражена, а и јавната доверба во институциите надлежни за справување со корупција е ниска, па затоа е важно поактивно вклучување на граѓанскиот сектор во мониторирање на трошењето на јавните пари како и континуирано истражување на областа, со цел да се придонесе кон зајакнување на доброто владеење во државата.

More...

Assessing the Oversight Mechanisms of the POLICE FORCES IN MACEDONIA

Author(s): Kaltrina Selimi / Language(s): English

Macedonia is an attention grabbing case for analyzing how a state’s security sector has evolved, and whether it has succeeded in embracing democratic practices or not. Macedonia’s peaceful exit from communist Yugoslavia in the 1990s, its experiences during and after the Internal Armed Conflict in 2001, and its efforts to join the EU and NATO make its recent history ripe for such analysis. The aim of this policy brief is to describe the existing oversight mechanisms of the Macedonian police forces - whether they succeed at implementing proper control of the police forces and the use of force continuum, and what kind of challenges they encounter at their work.

More...

Rightsizing of the Public Administration in Macedonia – A Reform Postponed to an Uncertain Time

Author(s): Agim Selami / Language(s): English

The rightsizing process has been initiated as a result of the inefficiency of pubic organizations in fulfilling their responsibilities effectively. Organizations across the world including public ones, perceive rightsizing as a catalyst of organizational reforms. In addition, due to government’s employments of large numbers of population, the human resources dimension of any public sector restructuring has become a very important national activity and a difficult and complex task to be fulfilled. This automatically derives the fact that rightsizing has become a major reform endeavor in all countries pretending to be in service of citizens. Organizational structure represents a vital component of the public administration system. Giving an exact definition related to organizational structure of the public administration, is not as simple as it looks, this mainly is because it does not include only the number of the people employed but also the number of positions and jobs. Starting from this point, the main idea for tackling rightsizing issues, has been to develop a study over the employed staff’s structure, jobs and positions and thus to define the points where layoff or recruitment actions should be taken.

More...

Introducing Career-Based System in Civil Service

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The latest European Commission Progress Report on Macedonia, once again pointed out the importance of pursuing thorough public administration reforms in the country. The EC explicitly demands that before starting accession negotiations, Macedonia should intensively pursue public administration reforms with the focus on de-politicization of recruitment and advancement in the civil service. Evidently, this progress report raises some critical issues concerning Macedonia’s public administration (PA) which was not the case in previous reports. Inefficiency, corruption and politicization of PA have been identified as obstacles of overall quality of reforms. Because of this, many believed that reforms in PA shall continue with a fresh enthusiasm and tackle the deep-rooted malformations of the system and head for fundamental systematic change. Understandably, actions aimed for systematic change require decisiveness and sometimes even controversial overhaul of the civil service that suppose to determine its new image. New policy discussion for changes in the Law on Civil Servants aimed at replacing the “position based” with “career based” civil service system is contributing in achieving the fundamental systematic change in the civil service. Although the policy discussion has been on agenda for some time, we suggest that career based approach should be discussed further, and once a new momentum is established conducive for needed reform, the issue is pursued and finalised by the governing authorities.

More...

Increasing the Efficiency of Public Procurement in the Republic of Moldova in the Context of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement

Author(s): Angela Secrieru / Language(s): English

Public procurement (PP) in the Republic of Moldova is currently facing complex problems, which according to the EBRD assessment (2011) determine a low level of compliance with the institutional framework and a medium level of compliance of PP legal framework of the Republic of Moldova with the European standards. In terms of PP, the most pronounced deficiencies are seen in the pre-tendering phase (low level of compliance), the other two phases (tendering and post-tendering) have a medium compliance.Implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement provisions on PP is both a solution and a prerequisite for overcoming the gaps and obstacles of the PP system in the Republic of Moldova.The main goal is the effective, reciprocal and gradual opening of PP markets of the Republic of Moldova and the European Union. The Republic of Moldova will have to make considerable efforts in three directions: (i) the gradual harmonization of the Republic of Moldova PP legislation with the acquis communautaire on PP; (ii) institutional reform in PP area; (iii) establishing an efficient PP system based on regulatory principles applied in the EU.

More...

0.00 €

ON MOUNT OLYMPUS. How the UN violated human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and why nothing has been done to correct it

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Between 1996 and 2002, UNMIBH ran a large police mission in Bosnia, the International Police Task Force (IPTF). One of the tasks it set itself was to rid the Bosnian police forces of inappropriate personnel through an exhaustive vetting procedure. Altogether, the UN assessed some 18,000 police officers and declared 793 unfit to exercise police powers. || These individuals were banned from serving as police for life – a very severe sanction. Yet the UN failed to offer the most basic procedural safeguards, which the UN Secretary-General himself has noted is the difference between legitimate vetting and “wholesale purges”. The banned police officers were given no opportunity to respond to the evidence against them. Some were not even told the reason for their disqualification. Among the 793, there are at least 150 cases that IPTF could not finalise during its mandate, and whose fate was simply left hanging. Some of these cases clearly involve serious injustice. || At the centre of this report is an exchange of letters between the High Representative in Bosnia and the UN Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations in New York. It shows that international officials have been aware for many years that mistakes were made. According to notes prepared by the High Representative’s Office (OHR), the two organisations concluded in December 2003 that there were “cases where errors of law or errors of fact might have occurred.” An OHR summary of a further meeting in July 2004 noted again that “the UN representatives acknowledged that some cases were problematic.” But nothing was done to resolve the problems. The only action on which the two institutions could agree was intimidating the Bosnian courts and authorities into doing nothing.

More...

0.00 €

THE WORST IN CLASS. How the international protectorate hurts the European future of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Yesterday (November 7, 2007) the deputy prime minister of Serbia travelled to Brussels to initial a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union. A few days ago (31 October) the European Union announced that the same would not be possible for Bosnia and Herzegovina because of the country’s failure to agree on a police reform that would conform to “European standards” defined by the Office of the High Representative (OHR). As a result of yesterday’s development Bosnia now finds itself at the very end of the queue moving towards distant EU membership: behind Croatia, Turkey, Macedonia, but also behind Albania, Montenegro and Serbia.

More...

0.00 €

THE GOOD NEWS FROM GREECE. Can Thessaloniki point the way?

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

He has always been a man of the left. He entered politics with the backing of the Communist Party in local elections in 2002. In his campaigns he promised liberation from a conservative status quo that had kept society “dwelling in darkness.” He assailed the corruption of his predecessor, who is now in jail. In 2010 he won the election for mayor by a mere 300 votes. He rejected his predecessor’s expensive limousine and is often seen on a bike. He never wears a tie. In 2014, he was re-elected as mayor of Greece’s second city by a huge margin. || … || And yet in one important respect, Boutaris remains in a category of his own: he is a reformer whom both Greek voters and outside observers have embraced as credible. European media tell the tale of a hero slaying fiscal monsters. Der Spiegel called him a “reform hero.” The New York Times wrote that Boutaris “showed Athens how it is done.” In 2014, The Economist praised his city’s “exemplary” transformation. In short, Boutaris came to be the good news story from Greece. How did this happen? And does the story of Thessaloniki suggest a way out of Greece’s current imbroglio?

More...

0.00 €

MEASURING CORRUPTION. The case for deep analysis and a simple proposal

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In its annual progress reports the European Commission offers descriptions of the institutional and legal infrastructure that play a role in combatting corruption in the seven accession countries. Such analysis matters: flawed laws, under-resourced institutions and ill equipped officials will obviously generate problems. But studying and improving the institutional and legal infrastructure is not an end in itself: its ultimate purpose is to change behavior. Even the best anti-corruption agency and even the most eloquent anti-corruption action plan are only the means to an end, not the end itself. || This raises the question of assessment of impact. Can the actual incidence of corruption in different walks of social life be fairly established? Can the impact of anti-corruption reforms be captured, measured, and the outcomes compared? || ESI believes that the European Commission has a powerful tool at its disposal to do just this. It is, however, a tool that is not currently used in the context of accession.

More...

0.00 €

№10 Public Administration Reform in Kosovo: Constant Struggle to Make It

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Public Administration Reform (PAR) is a dynamic process aimed at improving its capacity to deliver public services. In Kosovo, it is largely driven by external factors, the European Union (EU) perspective and agendas and other donors. Domestically, a number of internal factors work against effective reform; a high level of politicization, inefficient recruitment and evaluation processes, a bloated size, inadequate training and professional development, a barely functional local administration, a chaotic framework for independent agencies, a deficient focus on service delivery and lack of local ownership of the reform process. Kosovo created its own public administration less than two decades ago, and reforms took place simultaneously with its institutional building. Along the way, from UNMIK’s interim administration to the most recent national PAR Strategy, reform could never succeed without the necessary recourses and willpower. The legal framework has advanced substantially in recent years, mostly as a result of it being a requirement to implement the Stabilization and Association Agreement and the European Reform Agenda, but it is rarely respected.

More...

0.00 €

Barometrul electoral al municipiului Caransebeș

Author(s): Bruno Stefan / Language(s): Romanian

The survey was conducted on September 3-6, 2020 on 808 adults living in the city. He measured the confidence of the candidates for mayor, the voting intentions, the expectations of the future mayor, the degree of involvement of the mayor’s office in various administrative issues, the appreciation of national political leaders.

More...

0.00 €

Barometrul electoralal județului Caraș-Severin

Author(s): Bruno Stefan / Language(s): Romanian

The survey was conducted between August 29 to September 1, 2020 on a sample of 1173 people residing in all areas of the county. He measured the opinion towards the candidates in the local elections, the expectations from the future mayors, the voting intentions, the confidence in the local and regional personalities.

More...

0.00 €

Дистанційне електронне голосування як механізм реалізації виборчих прав громадян України, що перебувають за кордоном (у контексті застосування європейських стандартів електронного голосування)

Author(s): O. V. Tokar-Ostapenko / Language(s): Ukrainian

The analytical report emphasizes that Ukraine has a good potential for the implementation of e-government, including remote electronic voting. Some problematic moments of realization of voting rights by citizens who are permanently or temporarily outside Ukraine are outlined. Prospects, risks and warnings about piloting information and communication technologies of voting in the near future are considered. It was stressed that such a pilot project is possible with acceptable risks for voting of Ukrainian citizens abroad, as the percentage of votes cast in a foreign constituency does not significantly affect the results of national elections. Relevant recommendations are given.

More...

0.00 €

Трансформація спеціальних служб незалежних держав пострадянського простору

Author(s): V. O. Palivoda / Language(s): Ukrainian

t different stages of the historical development of any state, the role of its special services and their place in the system of state bodies is changing. In this context, the USSR has a special place, because after the collapse of the Soviet Union on its territory appeared 15 new subjects of international law, each of which began its own state-building processes with the formation of national intelligence services (to some extent on the basis of Soviet heritage).

More...

0.00 €

Regionalism asimetric şi administraţie publică

Author(s): Miklós Bakk / Language(s): Romanian

After 1990, the concepts of regional reform that emerged in the Central and Eastern European countries attracted the question of whether asymmetric regionalism, characteristic of Western Europe, is also topical here. According to the classical typology of state structures there are three fundamental types: a) the federal state; b) the regional state; c) the unitary state. These structural types include those elements of asymmetrical political territorial division, which are combinations of elements of indirect and direct governance, under the conditions of the organization of the modern state. From the point of view of this study, the latter type is of the highest relevance. Regarding the regional autonomies and special administrative statutes of this category, the following conclusions can be drawn: 1) the reason for the creation of regions depends largely on a historical history, and the form of institutionalization of the public administration model of that state; 2) at the beginning of the regionalization, the constitutional starting point may be both symmetrical (Spain) and asymmetric (Italy, UK), but the subsequent evolution of regionalization inevitably results in an institutional asymmetry (at the level of the statutes). In the decades after the Second World War the number of elements of asymmetric political territorial division in the territorial and administrative systems of the EU Member States (Spain, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain) increased and most authors who analyzed the phenomenon suggest that solutions Asymmetric rather facilitates than undermines stability.

More...