Search

This paper will argue that the main attraction of conspiracy theories that are popular nowadays and influence many voters in democratic countries is their pseudo-scientific demonology. The non-falsifiable accounts of most theories of conspiracy meet strong biases that hinder criticism and objectivity. The gnostic roots of conspiracy theories and the origin of conspirativism in both Europe and the United States will also be considered, as well as the main elements of modern and contemporary conspiracy theories. Finally, the paper will inquire into the ideological profile (conservative or progressive) of the most known supporters of conspiracy theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Română de Drept European is the property of Wolters Kluwer Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Within the contemporary philosophical debate regarding human biomedical enhancement, one of the main objections against enhancement is based upon the hypothesis that there is a high probability that it could lead to social and political injustice. Within this paper, I address the compatibility of the biomedical enhancement with the axiological system assumed by Western societies. The assessment of the above mentioned compatibility starts from the premise that values such as individual freedom, social justice, equality of chances, and plurality, which represent the milestones of any democratic society, could be endangered by procedures and/or technologies of biomedical (moral) enhancement of the persons. By thoroughly describing the way in which these values are to be affected by the humans' accessibility to biomedical enhancement means, I try to emphasize the social risks of creating what bioethical scholarship today calls "post-persons", i.e., persons with a much higher moral status than that of normal moral personhood. Therefore, a first aim of this paper is to examine the arguments for and against biomedical moral enhancement of persons, from an individual as well as from a social perspective. The second aim of this work is to critically analyze the possible emergence of a higher moral status than that acknowledged, throughout the history of the Western moral philosophy, as moral personhood. The third aim of this paper consists in assessing the arguments which are raised against creating post-persons. These counter-arguments defend the thesis that even though mankind could either employ the existing technologies that enhance human capacities such as cognitive or moral capacities or it would just develop new technologies for the purpose of enhancing certain human traits, the cautious decision would be to call off any use of such technologies that could lead, either directly or indirectly, to the creation of "post-persons". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union represents an entity that, due to its institutional architecture and to its modus operandi, poses a challenge to the fundamental concepts of political theory and demands, consequently, their re-evaluation. In this context, the present article represents an attempt to consider the European Union in relation to two long-established concepts of political theory - democracy and legitimacy. At the same time, considering the European Union as a product of voluntary integration at a supranational level, this paper addresses the question of the nature of the European Union, arguing the integration of the European structure in the category of political systems, although it has a series of characteristics that reinforce the assumption that it is neither a state nor an international organisation and, what is more, the a further deepening of the integration process will not bring it closer to either of the two conventional types of organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author presents the way the international community influences the democratization process. Along side the internal factors, tranzition can be significatly influenced by the international arena, where activate states, international organizations or non-governmental organizations. The available political actions range from support for democracy and democratic assistance, to sanctions and even armed intervention. The paper offers an overview of these significant actions, as well as contemporary trends and approaches in the international relations applied to the worldwide promotion of democracy and democratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pandectele Române is the property of Wolters Kluwer Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, the author argues the need for the proper scientific integration in the classification of political regimes of a particular type of non-democratic regime, manifested as a failure of presidential government, especially in countries that underwent political transition in the third wave of democratization. The first part of this paper discuss the existing academic that endeavors to grasp the reality of this political system; while the second part demonstrates that the main characteristics of presidential system show a propensity for the authoritarian manifestations that end up in this type of regime, defined here as „formal democracy“. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lately we are speaking increasingly more about progress, peace, cooperation, understanding and integration in the context of increased efforts to level the inherent differences between individuals or groups of individuals, belonging to different cultural and ideological traditions. But if we do not want all these aspirations to lead to a new Tower of Babel, it must be borne in mind the consideration as a whole and as a particular the real anthropological context of human development, in terms of immanentotranscendental axiology, the two coordinate whose balance determines the progress and the regress of history. From this perspective, the practical approach to an issue so ambitious is obliged to take into account, first the importance both of the spiritual and rational factor understood in its full forming dimension. This paper is intended to be a concise and systematic exposure of the missionary and proselyte thinking and its relationships with the process of secularization in the democratic environment of the XXI century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today’s era of advanced digital technology, the concept of constitutionalism is undergoing a significant transformation, leading to the emergence of what is called „digital constitutionalism”. This new field of study explores the interaction between technology and constitutional principles, assessing how digital tools and the online environment affect governance, individual rights and political structures. In this article, we explore in detail the concept of digital constitutionalism, its influences on society and the challenges it poses. Traditionally, constitutionalism is the fundamental idea that power should be limited and regulated by a constitution, which encompasses the rights and responsibilities of citizens. In the digital context, these principles extend into the online sphere, where people’s interactions and government institutions are mediated through technology. Digitalisation brings with it a number of challenges and opportunities for constitutionalism. Access to information and participation in the political process have been significantly expanded through digital platforms. This gives citizens the opportunity to voice their opinion, mobilise and influence decisions in an unprecedented way. At the same time, there is a risk that personal data could be used for unauthorised purposes or that governments could use technology to excessively survey citizens. A major challenge in digital constitutionalism is the regulation of digital platforms, where social and political interactions take place to a large extent. While these platforms provide opportunities for free expression and mobilisation, they are also able to censor content and influence public discourse. This raises questions about the balance between private control and public regulation. To preserve the integrity of digital constitutionalism, transparency and accountability in the development and deployment of technologies is essential. Decisions on algorithms, artificial intelligence and content filtering must be considered in the context of democratic values and fundamental rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for the formation, during the U.S. presidential elections in 2016, of a hybrid „epistocratic democracy" sustained by politically competent elites who defend the interests of the most disadvantaged groups. The winning of the popular vote by the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton supports the hypothesis that if the populist and illiberal political rhetoric gained electoral support and led to Donald Trump's election, this process has triggered, at the same time, the reactive emergence of an „epistocratic democracy" which gets stronger through the democratic protests against Trump's policies and their racist undertones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technocracy is considered a government system where decisions are adopted in a rational and disinterested way. Technocracy is involved not only in the construction of decisions, but also in exercising power in various fields, policies and programs. Technocracy operates as an element of power structures and the technocrats are not only experts offering rational disinterested technical solutions, but also authors of resource allocation and income distribution decisions, which are essentially political decisions. This paper examines the relationship between technocracy and economics in contemporary societies, in which the presence of this socio-political professional category is inevitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political confrontations have had always implied a struggle between different value systems. This phanomenon takes place at international level, but also at national and local level. Therefore, it would be useful to know which are the opinions of citizens in relation to some values around which disputes are worn for over a hundred years. The purpose of this paper is to identify the attachment of Iasi citizens to some fundamental values in a democracy and a market economy. It was considered that a value is an image of objects, events, and processes considered righteous, moral and desirable. It have been taken into account five values considered, by the literature, important for the functioning of a democratic and capitalist system: participation, conflict, economic equality, government intervention in economy, and orientation towards local or central. The information has been collected in a survey conducted in the city of Iasi, from a representative sample of 738 people. The values were measured using a scale applied to a series of statements. The results seem to indicate that, at more than two and a half decades after the totalitarian regime collapsed, people from Iasi share a contradictory system of values, and these values are associated in a fairly small degree with a democratic regime or with a market economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to summarize a series of specific arguments for Dewey s "new type of education " reprezenting a new beginning for the way in which democracy should be applied into all the spheres of social and political life, and especially in education. The pragmatic conception of knowledge is enriched in the Dewey's view by a social dimension impossible to ignore. If the pragmatism insists on the idea of knowledge as a tool to adapt to the environment, and if the human environment is essentially social, then knowledge has a fundamental social dimension, which must be taken into account in organizing education. Therefore, from a Deweyanperspective, education in a democratic context must try to be integrative in regard to societal particularities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The legislative process is comprised by all the operations that are to be performed by an entity that wants a law to be adopted. As in most democracies, in Romania laws are generally initiated by Parliament, the ministries or other authorities concerned. After being written, the draft legislative initiative goes through several stages of approval and consultation with the public opinion and then enters the debate in the Parliament. This paper aims to examine two of the most important aspects of the legislative power in a state. The case studied here is the Romanian one, emphasizing on how these elements operate under the 1991 Constitution, revised in 2003. During the first part we will analyze the path that a legislative proposal has to undertake until it becomes law, and in the second will analyze the organization and functioning of parliamentary committees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to present a brief history and the evolution of the alliance respectively - NATO, since its establishment wished to respect the fundamental principles such as democracy, security and defense. In a world which is in constant interdependence, it is becoming increasingly difficult to look at the security of a state as a solitary element. This is much affected in a progressive manner of international relations, globalization, which provides to the security term, a supranational dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Română de Drept European is the property of Wolters Kluwer Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present paper -- From the Constitution of 1923 to the Legal Statute of 1940. An Insight into the Jewish Problem in Romania -- outlines several stages of the anti-Jewish policy in interwar Romania, materialized in: 1) the repeated violation of the democratic provisions within the Constitution of 1923; 2) the promulgation, in 1938, of the Constitution of King Charles II through which the establishment of the royal dictatorship and the abolishment of the democratic regime were legislated; 3) the adoption of the Jews' Legal Statute in 1940, which proclaimed the law of blood definition, the juridical and political distinction between blood defined Romanians and Romanian and Jewish citizens. The road towards the Holo - caust was paved ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the impact of the Western assistance for democracy in the Balkans (Eastern Europe), as civil society development programs. The analysis of the situation in the Balkans leads to the conclusion that the main consequence of this Western assistance has not been the export of democracy, but the increased capacity of the receptors (NGOs) to implement such programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of party building in the CEE democracies was intimately linked to formal and informal aspects of colonising State resources. While party regulations became more articulated, Romanian parties have taken advantage of an intricate arrangement of private and public resources for guaranteeing their financial survival. Hence, our paper aims at providing a general overview of the Romanian parties' financial (re)sources over the last decade. Within this context, party's members assumed a peculiar role, acting both as legitimacy providers and means of economic survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication represents a basic concept of human existence accompanying each person in all aspects of his life from the beginning to the end. Regarding the political communication and the media, these are new concepts which over time have adapted political regimes requirements either democratic or not. If we want to talk about the media in the true sense of the word, this exists only in democratic societies where the right to free expression represents a guaranteed right. In this paper I tried to highlight the evolution that the media had in the first post-communist years in Romania and how this free expression had to adapt moving from a totalitarian regime to a democratic one. What is most important is the fact that in Romania, the media has managed to evolve despite all the obstacles created of the difficult transition to democracy that our country has had. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview on the development of policing models în late modern societies. Central to this approach is the original perspective of "organic" and "manufactured" social control promoted by Martin Innes. Such a analysis demonstrates that the patterns of development în policing are not all necessarily în the same direction, or wholly compatible. For example, Community Policing embodies the desire to encourage community participation în crime control, and is thus illustrative of the ways în which one of the key movements în contemporary social control practice is to establish stronger conexions between formal and informal mechanism of social control. Contrastingly, the Plural Policing perspective perhaps demonstrates the limitations of such atemps -- în the private policing agents have increasingly been employed to perform the security functions that public police agencies might have been expected to perform. As such, the development of the Plural Policing perspective is illustrative of the trends towards the commodification of security and also the formalisation of security functions. Alongside such developments, shifts în the role of the public police associated with Zero -- Tolerance -- Policing and Intelligence - Led -- Policing perspectives are indicative of separate and some might argue contradictory trends. Zero- Tolerance -- Policing and Intelligence -- Led -- Policing respectively embody trends to encourage un ambiguos formal social controls of both comparatively trivial desorders (on the understanding that they impact on people's quality of life), and more serious types of crime, respectively. Thus, we can see how policing encapsulates trends for intense and sistematic forms of social control. It has been directed towards order maintenance and security providing functions, and în the same time as being encouraged to tackle more serious types of crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is an attempt to describe and explain the evolution of the state and in particular in Western Europe, an area were the modern democratic regimes originated. As in the early stages of the political thought wast stated by Aristotle, men is a "political animal". Still, being aware about the constraint resulted from the living under the strain of the rules imposed by the forms of human association called states, the question is what were the motives that determined the human beings to accept and even develop such kind of organizations. Also, it is important to understand why the modern democratic political regimes developed in a such narow geographical area as Western Europe and what were the conditions that favorized this particular kind of evolution. As is presented in the paper, the Western European societies evolved from a stage characterized by a high level a desorder and violence to what the french author Francois Guizot is designing as "the Government and the Country". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looked upon generally as a political and economic union, the European Union is based on the continous integration without a predetermined conclusion. Up to now, the integration politic of the countries found in the East of Europe was mainly done by the EU throught integration promises. Despite this, almost all countries that form the EU expressed their concern in relation to the expansion of the union. This reaction was related to the integration steps that have taken place in 2004 and 2007, which were thought to threaten the EU capability to react to different problems/contexts. The present paper serves as an evaluation of the PaE in Georgia, since its lauching on the 7th of May 2009 which took place in Praga to the Vilnius Summit, taken place between the 28-19th of november 2013. Why South Caucasus, and as a logic deduction Georgia? Why was PaE created and developed? Is PaE a good alternative for the neighbouring countries of the EU? What makes PaE apart from PEV? Which are the results of the implementation process of PaE in Georgia up to present and which are the perspectives of this political initiative? These are only a few of the questions that the present study will be answering regarding the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study intends to analyze the principle of preeminence of law and a few perspectives over this principle, especially the common law perspective. The author starts from the premise that the principle of preeminence of law is a common European value on which any democratic state must be founded, being the essence of the state of law and also an element of the common heritage of the Member States of the Council of Europe. The author has, as a research hypothesis, the fact that the history of Romania and its political course in the last century raises problems of understanding a philosophy based on the concept of preeminence of law. Coming after a period of communism, in many respects our country has passed from one extreme to the other, from many restrictions to too much freedom and legislative or power void, from a typology of totalitarian regulation to a form sometimes too liberal, which causes a functional instability of the state as a whole. One can notice that the elaborated study has as objectives the analysis of the general concepts recognized in common law regarding the preeminence of the law for the development of the Romanian legal doctrine in order to deeply understand and fully implement this principle in our legal system, and - more broadly - in our society. Regarding the research methods, the comparative and the quantitative method have been predominantly used, with elements that refer to the sociological and historical method. Notions and concepts specific to common law-type systems have been presented in order to identify possible solutions for taking over and integrating these concepts in our legal system. From the point of view of the results of the research, it has been concluded that the preeminence of law is aspirational and, therefore, it is a matter of degree. From the perspective of our country, we have shown that we have not yet succeeded in overcoming the horrors of the past, with reference here to the ideologies, philosophies and mentalities that have become part of us in the last century. Things are constantly evolving, but we have failed to achieve the level of civilization and understanding that exists in true democracies, one of the causes being the inconsistency of the choices we have made in the last 32 years. Regarding the theoretical and practical implications of the study, they consist in understanding some specific concepts developed in the common law-type systems, the need to implement and fully assume, at society level, the principle of the preeminence of law, with all its components and mechanisms, as well as of the awareness of the current historical moment, in which we must progress at the level of society towards the ideal of a developed and happy society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This dissertation, titled “Mass-media in the Republic of Moldova between objectivity and political partisanship” is an analysis of the media landscape from this exsoviet space, on which structures mass-media is turned to a political weapon. The direct reporting of the political partisanship in the Republic of Moldova’s press is owned to the detailed knowledge of political situation from this space, as I am permanently connected to this countries informational flux.The structure of this paper which is focused on the connection between the political world and the mass-media catches issues from general to particular. The theoretical part is composed of three chapters, the last one being the case study. This work is the result of my own activity. I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transitions from Soviet authoritarianism and planned economies to democracy and market economies have not been successfully completed in any of the three states from South Caucasus. This region continues to be characterized by high instability and insecurity due the absence of solutions to the protracted or „frozen" conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan -- over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh -- and between Georgia and Russia -- over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Finding common ground upon which all parties can agree has proven to be an impossible task. Protracted or „frozen" conflicts present a challenge for the stability and security of South Caucasus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I aim to discuss the role played by public intellectuals in interwar Romania starting from a series of recent analyses relative to this period, analyses which state that these intellectuals were "ensnared" by the fascination of totalitarianism. I do not intend to claim that the stances against the democratic political system - manifested by the most representative intellectuals of interwar Romania - are specific only to the Romanian area but on the contrary, I aim to include them in a populist trend which became manifest in the interwar period, either in the form of fascism or in that of bolshevism. Such an approach, which subscribes to the above mentioned analyses, takes a position "against" a particular contemporary intellectual trend, which projects retrospectively, a "romantic" perspective on the Romanian interwar period. A possible explanation for this state of affairs stems from the fact that, in post-communism, the axiological recovery of the interwar period has been an attempt to make a historical compensation for the totalitarian-based social engineering of the communist age. Although understandable from a symbolical perspective, this vision does not annul the fact that the interwar itself was a period which encompassed totalitarian political and social attitudes, even if the latter did not have the impact of those specific to the communist dictatorship. In any case, by positionning themselves against the democratic organisation of society and by conveying the idea of a "historical necessity" which claimed "another type of politics", the most important intellectuals of the interwar period supported and, in some cases, even justified totalitarian attitudes and political decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper entitled Considerations About Politics in the Greek World in Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle Works has as aim to emphasize the political ideology and their thoughts about the role of leadership, and of the laws in the state management. It is interesting to observe the evolution of these ideas, the parallels and the differences of opinions between this three great philosophers whose ideas are at the same time ancient and modern, being the basis of the ideological evolution of the modern state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interwar years in Romania are viewed by many as a period of unparalleled democratic life. Furthermore, the period 1934-1937, the time when Gheorghe Tatarescu was the leader of the cabinet, is regarded as a kind of golden era of democracy and national prosperity. Nevertheless, this view must be taken with caution. My intention in this paper is to make us realize how difficult is to understand a complex historical period as the above mentioned one. In my opinion, the historical research should focus on examples that reflect another time and place. That is way I did not jumped at starting a conclusion. Instead, my research is focused on presenting and analyzing illustrative articles selected from the most important newspapers of the time. Letting all the parties to speak for themselves by the means of mass-media of the moment it seems to me an interesting and instructive way of capturing the zeitgeist. Once one is acquainted with the way articles were written in these years (containing only little information of relevance, lacking rational arguments, resorting to ad hominem attacks) it is easier to have a clue about the democracy level of the time. My assumption is that the newspapers of the moment may function as a mirror to make visible what often remains unsaid in classic historical texts. In short, my impression was that we are on good grounds for supposing that the period analyzed was a democracy in the making, where freedom of speech did exists. Unfortunately, these first steps to democracy were interrupted by a monarchical dictatorial regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Română de Drept European is the property of Wolters Kluwer Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The term paradigm was introduced to the philosophy of science by Thomas Kuhn - he used this term to denote the specific approach applied by a school of research to examine its subject matter. Researchers using the same paradigm seek answers to similar questions, and employ similar methods and concepts. In an article published in 2000, the author of this essay introduced the term system paradigm, which focuses on the systems functioning in a society. This study develops the theoretical considerations outlined in that earlier article on the basis of experience on post-socialist transition. The first part compares the socialist and capitalist systems, describing their main characteristics, and concludes that the capitalist system has become established in former socialist countries, except for North Korea and Cuba. The second part analyses varieties of capitalism within a typology which classifies prevailing forms of politics and government. Three markedly different types are identified: democracy, autocracy, and dictatorship. Huntington wrote about the "third wave" of democratization. This study concludes the third wave has dried up: for the 47 post-socialist countries, only a tenth of the population lives in democracy, while autocracy or dictatorship prevails in all other countries in this group. The third part of this essay applies the conceptual and analytical apparatus to Hungary, where capitalism exists, and autocracy is the prevailing politico-governmental form - here we can find important characteristics common to other capitalist countries or other autocracies. This finding is compatible with the observation that there are some, less fundamental, characteristics unique to Hungary, or "Hungarica", which differ from the characteristics of all other countries. [Note: This article is the Romanian translation of the essay published in Acta Oeconomica, Vol. 66 (4), pp. 547-596 (2016).] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new populism strikes on an assumed iliberalism, oriented towards the „needs" of the so-called popular categories, being matched by a strategy of systematic dissemination of „fake news" facilitated by the perverse effects induced by new media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many citizens consider, on the one side, as being unsatisfactory the way the institutions of democratic political system is functioning, and, on the other side, the same voices are expressing themselves in favor of searching for, maintaining or studying thoroughly democracy, which is appreciated as the most desirable political regime. Citizens don't want to abandon democracy, but on the contrary. The political expectations of many of them are bound up of increasing democratization. This finding may be used as a possible explanation for the ascension of populist political movements, observable in the last years in the entire democratic world. Populism promises to give back and to respect the sovereignty of the people, to defence the liberty, the rights and the welfare of the simple citizens, against the enemies which are vitiating the democratic political system. Consequently, populist political movements tend to be considered a solution for getting more democracy. However, despite of willing more democracy, citizens, through populism, may be in the case of receiving less democracy, or even absolutely nothing. A proper knowledge of the political reality, of the limits that democratic political systems have, and of the illusions spread by the populist political programs could protect us from dangerous political experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of the 'Carol I' National Defence University / Buletinul Universitatii Nationale de Aparare 'Carol I' is the property of Carol I National Defence University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study has in view an analysis of the way the Romanian democracy succeeds in registering on the firm way of democratization under the circumstances of some non-democratic pressures of unprecedented scale. All the analyses of this study suggest that the process of democratization, as well as that of the consolidation of democracy too, at a global level, have stopped or manifest a recoil, and Romania enrolls in the general movement. Under such circumstances, a revelation of the causes and of the non-democratic manifestations is more than necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of the EU perceived democratic deficit was one of the most discussed topics by EU scholars in the 1990s, but it slowly moved off the agenda after the beginning of the Eurozone crisis in the late 2000s. This article aims at retracing the history of the debate surrounding this issue, as well as at assessing the state of play and the institutional reforms meant to overcome it. It emphasizes the way in which the economic crisis deepens and at the same time conceals the crisis of democracy in the EU as a whole and in its member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This piece focuses on Libya as a special case aport from the general trends of the Arab Spring and argues NATO's involvement to have been a first crucial element on its transition to democracy. Unfortunately, it is neither sufficient an element, nor a certainty for Libya's transition to democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presidential elections in March 2012 have been followed with interes by international community. Vladimir Putin won and returned to the Kremlin. Under Putin's first two presidential mandates (2000-2008) Russia has returned to the international arena as an important player. Now, Russia is different, international situation is, also, different and very challenging. Putin's return might be followed by the Russia's stronger affirmation as an important international player. The study analyzes the first two presidential mandates, context, perspectives of the future internal and external evolutions and significance of Putin's return, impact, perspectives and challenges he might face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the literature on Chinas rising to prominence has almost become a field in itself, rather few studies dwell upon the bilateral relations between worlds still hegemon and its challenger. The present study reflects on the domestic consequences stemming from US-China economic ties. Having as a theoretical background Robert Gilpins hegemonic stability theory along with democratic peace theory, the claims made here are that a prolonged US-China interdependence may have as result Americas eroding republican institutions and Chinas liberalisation. A less democratic America and a slightly more liberal (but still authoritarian) China will probably be more aggressive one to each other and destabilize the international system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tries, although we are aware of its limits, to offer two methods through which Romanian democracy could overcome its state of „non-development". Beyond the objective and the subjective causes of the democratic backwardness of Romania, causes that have been discussed both in the academic community and in the public space, we think that it might be more relevant to identify the possibilities of an evolution. Although omnipresent in the Romanian public debate, the two ways to follow are approached from a special perspective, following a certain liberal model, stressing the importance of protecting the individual interests and rights of the citizens against the inherent abuses of the institutions of the political power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Al Jazeera English broadcast presents a nuanced image of the European Union, but not without accents of criticism. Still, the European Union is seen as a significant global actor, not only in the economic area, but also as a cultural and civilization model, and as an international, geopolitical player, especially in the Mediteranean area. The European Union and/or its member states are presented as having a multi-level involvement in the events related to the Arabian Spring (Egypt, Libia, Syria). The EU and its members are shown as actors whose actions are based on law, on the legitimacy offered by UN resolutions, that promote the spread of ideas related to democratic political structures, freedom of expression and gathering, and human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The correlation between parliament and democracy is a classical one. It has been proven not only by the beginnings of parliamentarism, related to limitation of the omnipotence of the monarch, but also by subsequent developments, especially-in the generalization of universal suffrage, but also by the historical experience of the previous century, when the collapse of totalitarian or authoritarian regimes has always been followed by the return to parliamentarism or to a political system in which Parliament's role is essential. After joining the European Union, its role was enhanced by its involvement in the European decision-making process by means of monitoring the compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality of the proposed EU legislation or of the implementation of directives into national law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tension between fundamental human rights and democratic (majoritarian) legitimacy is both critical and analytically rich for contemporary normative theories of democracy -- and for the issue of morally acceptable civil disobedience as well. I briefly discuss the challenge this tension raises for three of the mainstream approaches to this issue, namely republicanism, liberalism and deliberative democracy. I move then to a detailed account of the early Rawlsian justification of civil disobedience, and in the third step of my argument I advance the idea that Rawls' theory of public reason offers a particularly strong framework for understanding disobedience as an effective means for promoting justice and legitimacy in contemporary democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]