Machiavelli și machiavelismul în cultura română. Primele traduceri

Author(s): Cristina Ion / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2001

Comment Machiavel est-il entré dans la culture roumaine, comment a-t-il été reçu? La réception roumaine de l’oeuvre du secrétaire florentin est analysée, tout au long du XIXe siécle, au niveau des commentaires, des reprises, des traductions et du vocabulaire. Sur un premier volet la lecture roumaine de Machiavel reprend les grandes lignes du débat européen sur la question. Cité, repris ou traduit surtout de maniére parémiologique, Machiavel est engagé dans la dispute politique roumaine de I’époque et il est également appelé a fournir des arguments en faveur de l’irredenta roumaine. Machiavel est donc moins regu comme penseur et fondateur de la politique moderne, qu’en tant que héraut de l’unité nationale, italienne et toute autre. En second lieu, l’examen du vocabulaire mis en oeuvre au niveau des traductions révéle tant le dégré de maturité conceptuelle de la langue roumaine, que la maniére dont les traducteurs roumains et leur public éntendaient comprendre et interpréter Machiavel.

Radical Temptations and Cultural Idols. Reflections on a Polemic

Author(s): George Voicu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2001

A conflict of ideas has developed lately in Romanian cultural media, a conflict as sharp as it is surprising, at least for an unprepared reader. Intellectuals who appeared to be of one mind on a range of topics have come to see each other as op­ponents on several extremely important issues in which political, historical and cul­tural spheres are so intertwined that the distinctions become blurred

Citizenship and Nation State. Is Their Coexistence Necessary?

Author(s): Silvia Marton / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2001

The relationship between citizenship and nation state is still one of the most intriguing and debated scholarly topic. It is, in the same time, an ever present, mostly tensioned, fact of contemporary political life. Political reality endlessly challenges theoretical frameworks and scholarly researches on this issue. The numerous questions that can be raised about the widely debated equation between the state seeking for legitimacy, on one side, and the nation, on the other, side, citizenship loyalties being simultaneously claimed by both, may be reduced to a fundamental one: what kind of solidarities dominate in a political community, or, more simply, what binds people together? Answers to this question are based on the equation between state, citizens and nation that characterizes political modernity

Legitimated Inequality. Constitutional Implications of the United States Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978

Author(s): Michelle D. Deardorff / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2001

In a constitutional democracy like the United States, law provides the context and structure for the larger political world. It can act as a force to cement the con­trol and authority of the majority (either in a just or an unjust manner), it can empow­er political minorities in challenges against majority control and most frequently, it can provide opportunities and tools for both majorities and minorities to politically participate. The law, and its alteration, allow those who challenge the dominate social structure the ability to use the very legitimizing agent of the majority (the Constitution, statutory laws, and public codes) to force the majority to change according to their own rules. This is true not only in changing statutory laws and regulations, but also in the transformation of jurisprudential reasoning.

Bizanț contra Bizanț? Note despre „fondul” culturii politice românești

Author(s): Daniel Barbu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 4/2001

L’étude questionne les permanences de la société politique roumaine. Pour Daniel Barbu, la culture roumaine a repris certaines pratiques et cérémonies, comme |’instrumentaire culturel du Byzance, mais sans emprunter aussi ce qui leur donnait un sens: homoétheia, le mode dont la société byzantine se comprenait et se définissait elle-méme. Les Roumains n’ont pas ainsi developpé, comme corps politique, la conscience de soi des Byzantins, mais se sont manifesté dans un esprit tout a fait contraire au Byzance politique. L’auteur renverse ainsi la perspective inaugurée par l’historien roumain Nicolae lorga - qui parlait d’un «Byzance aprés Byzance» — pour parler d’un «Byzance contre Byzance», vrai modéle de la politique roumaine.

Le milieu littéraire entre quête identitaire et politique nationale en Basarabie et RASS Moldave dans les années trente

Author(s): Petru Negură / Language(s): French Issue: 2/2002

En mars 1918, Sfatul Țării, l'organe législatif de la République moldave nou­vellement instituée vote «l'union à la mère-patrie» - la Grande Roumanie1. Une année plus tard, la Roumanie, dans sa nouvelle composition territoriale, obtient la recon­ naissance officielle des grandes puissances européennes et de la Société des Nations1 2. Le gouvernement roumain démarre immédiatement une campagne de redressement économique et culturel de la province. Le ministère de l'Éducation, aidé par l'Armée, met en place de nouveaux réseaux d'établissements éducatifs et culturels dont le rôle déclaré est la «roumanisation» urgente de la région. Ces organismes publics encou­ragent aussi les initiatives locales de formation de sociétés et d'organes de presse dont la fonction est de propager la langue et la culture roumaines.

Le syndrome Timișoara chez les médias occidentaux. Roumanie - décembre 1989: médiatisation à l’Ouest d’une révolution à l’Est

Author(s): Gallianne Palayret / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2002

Véritable cavalier seul dans une Europe de l'Est en pleine mutation, Nicolae Ceaușescu est triomphalement réélu en novembre 19891, chef du Parti Communiste Roumain et Président. Partisan d'un «socialisme scientifique» à la roumaine, Ceaușescu qui fait l'objet d'un culte de la personnalité, ne cesse de fustiger les pays réformateurs d'Europe de l'Est, la Pologne et la Hongrie en tête. Toute dissidence est immédiatement et brutalement réprimée. Malgré les critiques de plus en plus vives des pays occidentaux, Ceaușescu a poursuivi son projet de centralisation urbaine qui entraîne la destruction de plusieurs milliers de petites localités rurales et le déplace­ment forcé de leurs habitants vers les villes. Il souhaite regrouper tous les Roumains au sein des grandes villes dans l'illusion de parvenir par ce moyen autoritaire à combler le retard industriel et économique du pays. «L'Union fait la force de notre pays» proclame-t-il. En réalité, si durant le mois de décembre 1989, son pays fait bloc, c'est... contre lui. Le 25 décembre, le présentateur du journal de la seule chaîne de télévision roumaine commence ainsi son plateau : «L'Antéchrist est mort le jour de Noël». La Roumanie entre à son tour dans l'ère postcommuniste.

Publicity, Liberty of the Press, and Representative Government in the Writings of the French Doctrinaires

Author(s): Aurelian Crăiuţu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2003

Although the French Doctrinaires built up one of the most important political theories of the nineteenth-century, they remain largely unknown in the English-speaking world. This paper examines the Doctrinaires’ theory of publicity by concentrating on François Guizot’s History of the Origins of Representative Government in Europe and Royer-Collard’s parliamentary discourses. The Doctrinaires’ theory of publicity shows how the norms of publicity vary with different social and political circumstances and sheds light on the ways in which state and society can be involved in a complex process of mutual empowerment. Special attention is paid to Guizot’s theory of publicity as the cornerstone of representative government and to the Doc- trinaires’ views on freedom of the press.

Européanisation et coopération paneuropéenne des partis. Une perspective roumain

Author(s): Ramona Coman / Language(s): French Issue: 3/2003

Une vaste littérature a émergé les dernières années sur les transformations à l'œu­vre dans les pays de l'Europe centrale et orientale suite à la chute des régimes com­munistes. La multiplication de ces recherches se justifie pleinement par l'ampleur des changements éthiques et idéologiques, en économie, dans le domaine juridique, au niveau social et politique, en matière de relations internationales. Le rythme des trans­ formations et leur résultat deviennent plus visibles à partir du moment où les pays de la région démarrent les négociations d'adhésion à l'Union européenne (UE). Le modèle imposé aux nouveaux candidats à l'élargissement a un grand impact sur les «domestic patterns», sur leurs politiques (policies) et leurs institutions (polities), cepen­dant, un des aspects qui est plutôt ignoré dans la littérature de spécialité est l'impact de l'intégration européenne sur les «structures de représentation»3, sur les partis, les groupes d'intérêts, les systèmes politiques etc.

Partis, régime politique et bureaucratie d’État dans le postcommunisme roumain

Author(s): Alexandra Ionescu / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2003

La Roumanie postcommuniste est, certes, nettement différente de la Roumanie communiste. Depuis la chute du régime communiste, il y a eu rédaction d'une nou­velle Constitution, il y a eu quatre épreuves électorales, il y a, à treize ans de l'adop­tion de la Loi fondamentale, une révision constitutionnelle déjà accomplie, de même une certaine volonté politique allant dans le sens de la révision du régime électoral, sans que les deux processus soient manifestement ou nécessairement liés1.

Rôle en influence actuels des contre-pouvoire associatifs et syndicaux en Roumanie

Author(s): Olivier Peyroux / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2003

Parmi les études sur les pays postcommunistes la question de la démocratie appa­raît comme une problématique centrale débouchant sur une série de réflexions sur les trajectoires empruntées, l'identification des facteurs de changement, les formes de démocraties produites. Au-delà de l'intérêt scientifique, ces recherches servirent souvent d'appui aux programmes des bailleurs de fonds internationaux dont le FMI, la Banque Mondiale et l'Union européenne. Ces applications concrètes permirent de mesurer la diversité des situations entre chacun des pays d'Europe centrale et orien­tale et la complexité des réalités sociales. Après 12 ans de «transition», le retour au pouvoir des ex-communistes dans plusieurs de ces pays démontre que la démocra­tie à «l'occidentale» n'est plus vraiment plébiscitée par l'électeur. Ces nouvelles démo­craties sont fragiles, instables et mal connues.

Blîndețea filosofului politic. In amintirea lui Norberto Bobbio

Author(s): Daniel Barbu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2004

In order to individualize Norberto Bobbio as a political philosopher, the ar­ticle explores the meanings and uses the Italian author assigned to political philosophy. In so doing, the paper draws mainly on a later work, Elogio della mitezza e altri scritti morali (Pratiche Editrice, Milano, 1998), which was pu­blished in English under the title "In praise of meekness", in Convivium. Jour­nal of Ideas in Italian Studies, I, no. 1,1995, pp. 21-38. The paper's contention is that Bobbio uses once again his analytical method of understanding a concept by exploring its opposite. Thus, the Italian political philosopher goes against the mainstream that, from Machiavelli to Schmitt, focuses on aristocratic and heroic political virtues as courage, magnanimity, discretion, and the like in­ tended to empower some people to govern most of the people. Bobbio takes the side of a non-political virtue, namely meekness, described as the virtue of the private citizen who has no ambition to rule over things or people. Bobbio argues that a better appraisal of what politics is can therefore be achieved by considering what is beyond politics.

Organisational Structure and Decision-Making in the European People’s Party (1952-2001)

Author(s): Tudor-Andrei Răutu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2004

This study attempts to explain how the decision-making process is handled in the political parties at the European level. The author proposes to interpret a case study on the European People's Party, while concentrating on the transnational processes developed by the (national) political parties, the parlia­mentary group in the European Parliament, and the extra-parliamentary party or federation. The broader aim is to assess and understand how the neo­functionalist propositions, the intergovernmental implications, and the neoinstitutionalist observations (apud Simon Hix) explain the development of the Europarties.

Report on the International Conference on Minority and Endangered Languages in the Multilingual Context of the Balkans (MELMUB)

Author(s): Giustina Selvelli / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

Spatial and Social Dimensions of Roma Segregation and Integration (A Case Study of the City of Kyustendil, Bulgaria)

Author(s): Boris Kazakov,Todor Lyubenov,Nadezhda IlIeva,Kamelia Petkova Tsvetkova-Nedyalkova,Aleksandra Ravnachka / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

The paper presents the results of an empirical sociological study conducted in the Roma ghettoized urban structure of Kyustendil, Bulgaria. Based on the results of in-depth interviews with representatives of local authorities, educational mediators, informal Roma leaders and representatives of the Roma community living in the neighbourhood, the main socio-economic integration problems were established. Additionally, an analysis of the internal structure of the Roma neighbourhood has been performed, with the use of data obtained from aerial photography (UAV data). Since a significant part of the housing stock in Roma neighbourhoods is illegal, in most cases it is not correctly depicted on cadastral maps. Detailed maps of the current state of the Roma neighbourhood have been created, thus compensating for the lack of precise official data on the current state of the housing stock. GIS have been used to measure, analyze and visualize the spatial relationships, patterns and trends in the changes of the internal structure of the Roma neighbourhood in Kyustendil.

Законът за бежанския заем от 1926 г. и концепцията за настаняване на българските бежанци

Author(s): Boris Boev / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2023

The study aims to clarify how the concept of housing Bulgarian refugees was implemented in the context of the 1926 Refugee Loan Act under the auspices of the UN. It analyzes the new means proposed by the government of Andrey Lyapchev (1926–1931) for the realization of the concept of permanent accommodation of the Bulgarian refugees on the territory of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom. It also presents criticisms and alternative proposals of the government project, which were opposed by the parliamentary opposition, mainly in the face of the Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, and the Bulgarian Agrarian People’s Union. An attempt has been made to assess the validity and effectiveness of the views of the government and the opposition on resolving the Bulgarian refugee issue in the specific historical situation of the mid-1920s.

Европейската инициатива „Ден на Дунав“ – модел за гражданско, екологично и интеркултурно образование

Author(s): Stela Dermendzhieva,Milka Asenova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2023

Тhe article reveals the characteristics of the Danube Day European initiative for protection and cooperation for sustainable management of one of the most important river systems in Europe. Day celebration is a place and platform for civil actions aimed at sustainability and solidarity in terms of the Danube basin, for identification of the social, economic and ecological effects of river protection, as well as for sharing events representing the cultural diversity of people along the Danube River. Further on, the paper investigates and analyzes educational, communication, cultural and event activities, carried out by Balkan countries. It also presents available educational resources on the Danube River.

ECONOMY AS A BACKGROUND OF CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL CONFLICTS: THEORETICAL ASPECTS

Author(s): Volodymyr Prykhodko,Oleksandr Kompaniets / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

The article examines the economic aspect of international conflicts, in particular the role of the economic component in international conflicts. Individual causes of occurrence, management methods and principles of conflict resolution were studied, in order to structure theoretical knowledge about conflicts and determining the role of economic aspects in the reasons of conflicts, its influence on their course and the possibility of applying of economy as a lever that contributes to the prevention, resolution or minimization of the negative consequences of international conflicts, the search for solutions and the prevention of such in the future, also by taking into account the results of previous scientific studies and using the examples of modern interstate disputes.The main three functions that can be performed by the conflict economy have been defined and the importance of such roles for understanding the nature of the conflict and determining the methodology of its management and resolution has been defined.Authors studied the reasons of actual conflicts to reveal the role of economic aspects of each conflict in order to realize how is economy applied in those conflicts and if it could be as an instrument of aggression or as an instrument of stabilization and resolving the conflict. Also, the nature of conflicts itself was examined to understand if it is possible to find some signs that there is a possibility that a conflict is coming. This understanding could help to prevent the worst consequences of such foreign policy or how to manage it better.Some aspects of the psychology of the conflict were examined. The aim of studying this aspect was to realize which aspects give the possibility to the government to step in the conflict. And how the internal policy of some country could testify that country is preparing to some kind of a conflict.The different systems of internal state organizing were examined to understand which of them is more stable and which one is less stable and could not only move forward to the conflict, but also could be a kind of such conflict.

Symbolical Representations of Brexit in Ali Smith’s Autumn

Author(s): Oana Gociu,Mihaela Culea / Language(s): English Issue: 28/2023

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the novel Autumn by Scottish author Ali Smith, published in 2016. Our study seeks to contribute to the understanding of the way the author has chosen to represent the cultural and generational gaps on the background of Brexit in the UK in her novel, by providing an in-depth stylistic analysis dwelling on the author’s linguistic choices. The applicative part of our study will provide a stylistic investigation of the selected literary text, bringing to the fore the main linguistic features and the symbols the author has chosen in order to depict the general state of the nation and to underline the divisions and the fractions born as a consequence of the 2016 referendum in the UK. This study addresses several issues related to the cultural and generational gaps already existing in the pre-Brexit period in the UK, which are reflected in Ali Smith’s novel. Smith, who considers that all Brexit did was to reveal these gaps, underlines the fact that these misuderstandings and differences had already been there before the UK’s decision to withdraw from the European bloc. The main objective of this paper is to provide a stylistic analysis with special focus on the symbols and symbolism identified in the selected literary text, be they people, marks, locations, or material objects, representing something beyond the literal meaning. Our analysis fosters a more in-depth understanding of the selected literary text, uncovering the hidden yet essential aspects of the novel.

EU ASSISTANCE MISSIONS TO FAILED STATES. AN ASSESSMENT OF THE LIBYAN AND SOMALI CASES

Author(s): Vasile-Dumitru RAȚIU / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Failed states are a threat to international security. This issue has been recognized and presented in all the security strategies of the European Union (EU). Since 2003, through the adoption of the European Security Strategy and continuing with the Report on the Implementation of the European Security Strategy of 2008, the Global Strategy of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy of 2016, and the Strategic Compass of March 2022, failed states have been identified as threats to the EU. The policy of the EU towards failed states is being realized through a series of missions aimed at supporting the governments of states belonging this category. This support is given to various government institutions that need to be strengthened in order to provide security and prosperity to their citizens. Among the missions conducted by the EU in failed states and their near neighborhood, this article analyses those concerning Libya (EUBAM Libya and EUNAVFOR MED IRINI) and Somalia (EU NAVFOR ATALANTA, EUCAP Somalia, and EUTM Somalia). For the EU, helping these failed states has become a priority, because the EU is a global actor that aims to get more involved in the problems that could have a negative impact on it. These problems include the disruption of international maritime traffic, illegal migration, and organized crime. The purpose of the present article is to highlight how the EU is actively involved in these failed states. Starting from the hypothesis that the involvement of the EU in strengthening the governments of these states is necessary, we will analyse the specifics of the missions sent to these countries.