Anti-Corruption Reforms in Bulgaria: Key Results and Risks

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2007

This is the eighth Corruption Assessment Report providing an overview of the state and dynamics of corruption in Bulgaria and Bulgarian anticorruption policy. It analyzes the main results and risks of the anticorruption process from the period immediately preceding Bulgaria’s accession to the EU through to the first months of EU membership. The report builds on regular monitoring of the spread of corruption, its trends, evaluations of the anti-corruption efforts and initiatives implemented by government institutions and by civil society, as well as a number of suggestions and recommendations on anti-corruption measures, including considerations related to the administration of EU’s structural funds. In addition to the main corruption indexes which have consistently displayed lower values throughout 2006 and early 2007, the report draws on authoritative international surveys to assess corruption levels in Bulgaria in comparison to EU member states. Furthermore, Bulgaria’s EU member status demands that national anti-corruption initiatives are implemented in close coordination with EU and international efforts in this area. Therefore, corruption would be most appropriately measured and assessed by a common EU benchmarking methodology as the most reliable yardstick for international comparisons.

Approximation of Bulgarian to EU Legislation: Protection of Competition, Protection of Intellectual Property and Right of Establishment, August 1995

Author(s): Chavdar Popov,Pavlina Popova,Krasimira Damjanova / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 1995

The significance of the harmonisation of legislation of the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe (ACCEE) with the legislation of the European Community (EC) was already underlined by the European Council in Copenhagen (21-22 July 1993). The approximation of the Bulgarian legislation with that of the EC is one of the fundamental tasks of the strategy for the preparation of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to join the Union, adopted at the meeting of the European Council in Essen on 9-10 December 1994.

ARE ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIORS (OCBS) REALLY POSITIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH MEASURES OF ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS?

Author(s): Sofia Bratu / Language(s): English / Issue: 14/2015

The mainstay of the paper is formed by an analysis of personal and organizational elements that are instrumental in the operation of organizational citizenship conducts, the possible beneficial and adverse effects that may arise from stimulating organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) concerning workers, and the relevance of OCB for organizational performance. In this paper I am particularly interested in exploring the connections between OCBs and organizational effectiveness standards, the psychological workings that account for the link between OCB and its end results, and the direct association between carrying out OCB and achieving organizational reward.

Art-Cultural Entrepreneurship and Opportunities for Bulgarian Traditional Crafts Arising from it

Author(s): Ivan Stoyanov / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

Modern society faces a problem – the loss of cultural and historical traditions and arts. Entrepreneurship provides an answer and can find a solution to this challenge. Using the full potential of the entrepreneurial process will keep Bulgarian folklore and make it attractive to the younger generation.

Aspekty metodologiczne dynamicznych metod ilościowych w badaniach społecznych: budowa modeli

Author(s): Darya Filatova / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 23/2014

This paper motivates the necessity of the dynamics qualitative methods methodological backgrounds development. These methods have to face to the complexity of the social processes nature. A concept of a stochastic object is introduced. Taking in to account the typical research objectives a stochastic differential equation is selected as a dynamics model of a stochastic object.

Assessing the Integration of Vulnerable Migrant Groups in Ten EU Member States

Author(s): Mila Mancheva,Andrey Nonchev,Slavyanka Ivanova / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2015

This publication presents the results of a comparative monitoring study of the integration policies and outcomes for third-country-national (TCN) women, TCN children and TCN victims of trafficking in ten EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Spain. The study produced findings at two levels of analysis: an in-depth assessment of how migrant integration policies and programmes meet the needs of vulnerable migrant groups, and an assessment of their integration outcomes. Drawing on the analysis of these findings, the publication provides recommendations for improving monitoring mechanisms for migrant integration at the national and EU levels and for elaborating policy approaches for better integration of vulnerable migrants.

ASSESSMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN SLOVAKIA IN THE CONTEXT OF HUMAN RESOURCES

Author(s): Dana Jašková / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2019

Human resources are a primary source for development of a country. The importance of social policies and human resources for social development is a matter of particular consideration in today's globalizing society. Social development, human capital, human resources are factors that are related. The problem of the country's social development is a topical issue throughout the European Union. When analyzing the development of social development of the country,several concepts and methods are applied in practice. The aim of the article is to compare the development of social development in Slovakia using a composite indicator. Composite indicators as a tool for ranking objects are becoming more and more popular. The article describes various methods of its construction, their advantages and disadvantages. The construction of this aggregate indicator is based on the application of more complex and multidimensional statistical methods. The result of the statistical survey is a finding of steady growth of social development in Slovakia. The close negative dependence between social development and unemployment is illustrated.

Atitudini și valori în administrația publică locală

Author(s): Bruno Stefan,Pavel Popescu Neveanu,Ghiurutan Maria Manuela / Language(s): Romanian / Publication Year: 2001

The book analyzes the Romanian public administration in 2001, a few months after its inauguration following the elections, and measures the tools of sociology and psychology (opinion polls among citizens, mayors and counselors, focus groups, psychological tests, interviews in depth) personality traits, values, behaviors and attitudes that exist and are desirable. In 2001 the book offered the first major psycho-sociological diagnosis of the administrative phenomenon in Romania.

Attitudes towards Democracy in Bulgaria: The Importance of Social Inequalities

Author(s): Zhivko Minkov / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2019

This research is an attempt to examine the developmental relationship between democracy and the socioeconomic conditions in Bulgaria. The assumption is that one of the factors contributing to the negative attitude towards democracy in Bulgaria is the high level of social inequality. After discussing the relevance of studying democracy and socioeconomic conditions from a developmental perspective, the paper traces the socioeconomic development of Bulgaria from 1989 to date and examines public perceptions of social inequality in the country. The research has not revealed any overall negative public attitude towards democracy in Bulgaria. However, the findings have demonstrated a clear tendency for the public support for democracy to decline reflecting the growth of social inequality.

Autentyczność a dojrzałość religijna młodzieży o uzdolnieniach artystycznych

Author(s): Stanisław Radoń / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2 (7)/2012

The theoretical and empirical approaches showing that authenticity are the crucial concept of existentialism, postmodernism and humanistic psychology (be free, autonomic, unique, self-defining, self-creating and integrated, transcend enculturation, invent our own patterns, rise above circumstances, gather the past, present and future into the wholeness of our resolute selves, create our own meanings and goals). This article discuses especially the role of authenticity on religious maturity (Allport’s intrinsic orientation, Batson’s quest and Sandage’s dwelling and seeking). In this paper projection method were used to examine the functioning authenticity among artistically gifted young people and its role on religious maturity. Ss (N=296 aged 15–20 yrs) had to : 1) I’m sadly …, 2) I treasure, I like …, 3) Rational analysis…. The results of qualitative analysis revealed that the authenticity have two aspects: 1) autonomy (the freedom and loneliness, spontaneity, sensuality and creativity, 2) empathy (kindness, sensibility, emotional self-reflection, the acceptance of the imperfection,love and friendship). The findings confirmed validity of the authenticity on religious maturity as well as usefulness of considerations based on new theoretical suggestions in psychology (developmental framework of new concepts of the authenticity and religious maturity). Implications are considered for future research on dialectical understandings of religious maturity (a Wuthnow, Sandage, Shults dialectical model of spiritual development based on dwelling and seeking offers an interesting theoretical base for research)

Background Document on Corruption in Southeast Europe

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2001

Badacz zjawisk trudno dostępnych w terenie – kwestie etyczne, praktyczne i metodologiczne

Author(s): Sylwia Męcfal / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 3/2016

This article is a reflection of the ethical, practical and methodological issues which I experienced whilst conducting my own field research in 2013 and 2014 in four small towns in the lodzkie voivodeship. Although the choice of research method, the case study, made it possible for me to apply various research techniques and to gather rich material, it also left a wide area of flexibility for me to use my intuition rather than methodological knowledge or ethical consciousness. An additional factor that raised many doubts was the fact that the phenomena under investigation were sensitive and controversial (unclear links between political, business and journalistic circles in a local context, conflict of interest, etc.). This influenced my decision to keep the towns’ names confidential in order to protect informants’ confidentiality. This and other problematic situations and decisions are more widely described in this article.

Bayan Taraftarların Stadyumlarda Futbol Maçı Seyretmemelerine Neden Olan Etmenlerin Araştırılması

Author(s): Fatih Çemrek / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 10/2015

In this study, it was tried to investigate the reasons why women supporters do not watch football matches in stadiums. To serve the aim, a 36- item questionnaire with five poit Likert- type questions was prepared. Some of the items in the questionnaire were later excluded from the survey, and remaining 24 items were used. Participants were chosen using a simple random sampling method, and randomly selected 300 women aged 15 and over and living in Eskişehir in May 10- 25, 2013 participated in the study. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was found to be 0.832. This result indicates that the survey was reliable. It was applied to the obtained data with the factor analysis. As a result of factor analysis, 24 items were collected at the rate of 7 factors, and variance explanations were determined as 66.1%. According to the Kaiser- Meyer- Olkin value criteria used to evaluate sample adequacy, KMO value was calculated as 0.792. For Barlett sphericity test employed to study the suitability of data for factor analysis, the value of the test statistic was defined as 2670.220 (p <0.01).

Become trainer in the interreligious dialogue and mutual acceptance for theological teachers.

Proposal for a Handbook Research; its necessity and development

Author(s): Tudor Cosmin Ciocan / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2019

My intention is to improve the receiving of the idea of ‘interfaith dialogue and mutual acceptance’ for Romanian people in general and foremost on their teachers, by writing a handbook for teaching it to the students and future public opinion formatters. It is a requirement nowadays firstly to make people understand the benefits of interfaith, then to make them believe it is the only solution of the social common living in such a religiously diverse society, and finally provide methodological and technical support for those who want to become the voices of interfaith in their own environment. I need to lift my training to that level that I can improve myself, maturing from a religious pluralism embracer to a trainer, professionally prepared and systematic instructed. For that matter, this paper is not an unassisted research presentation, but a proposal from which I would like to evolve to a fully developed result that I will share with our Dialogo readers when published (e.g., ask for a review on a possible, future book on the topic).

Better Management of EU Borders through Cooperation

Study to Identify Best Practices on the Cooperation between Border Guards and Customs Administrations Working at the External Borders of the EU

Author(s): Philip Gounev,Tihomir Bezlov,Mois Faion,Dobromir Hristov / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2011

The study Better Management of EU Borders through Cooperation was commissioned by Directorate General ‘Home Affairs’ of the European Commission. CSD led a team of international experts to examine and identify the best practices of cooperation between Border Guards and Customs administrations working at the external borders of the European Union. During the yearlong effort, the CSD team interviewed representatives of all customs and border guard agencies of EU Member States. In twelve Member States the CSD team visited 25 land border crossings, ports, and airports to discuss with Customs and Border Guard officers how the cooperation between them takes place in practice. The study examines eleven particular areas of cooperation including: strategic planning, information exchange, workflow coordination at Border Crossing Points (BCP), risk analysis, criminal investigations, joint operations, control over ‘green’ and ‘blue’ borders, emergency situations, infrastructure and equipment sharing, and training and human resource management.

BETWEEN MACEDONIA AND SWITZERLAND: ALBANIAN MIGRANTS’ TRANSLOCAL TRAJECTORIES AND PRACTICES

Author(s): Markov Ivaylo / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

The article examines transnational migrations of Albanians from the Republic of Macedonia to Swiss Confederation, seen in the light of ongoing processes of their exclusion and inclusion in different social contexts at the both ends of the migratory chain – the places of origin and destination. It focuses on the social and cultural challenges that individuals and groups face, as well as on everyday strategies of coping with live in-between different localities. The analysis, in the article, proceeds from the assumption that the migratory experience in a transnational space can be analysed by taking into account that it is constituted within historically and geographically specific localities of origin and migration, and it depends on social, cultural, economical, political and legal opportunities and constraints, and this at the both ends of the chain. In the light of this conceptualization, the strategies of managing with the live in-between are seen as everyday practices, relations and interactions within localized transnational (trans local) social spaces.

Bevezető a Fordulat 23. számához

Author(s): Zoltán Sidó,Natasa Szabó / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 23/2018

A Fordulat aktuális a digitális forradalom tágabb kontextusát vizsgálja. Az itt megjelenő szövegek megpróbálják bemutatni, miként változtak a számítástechnikát és az internetet övező ideológiák a hidegháború kezdetétől napjainkig, valamint hogy az elmúlt két-három évtizedben milyen gazdasági-politikai folyamatokba ágyazódott az internet és a digitális ipar robbanásszerű terjedése.

Bezdomność w Łodzi

Author(s): Inga B. Kuźma,Danuta Majdańska,Witold Janiszek,Katarzyna Zytke,Paweł Ciołkowski,Antoni Naglik,Joanna Paliwoda,Bożena Antoniak,Marek Marusik,Marta Krysiak,Anna Janiszewska,Rafał Rouba,Justyna Krakus,Joanna Mietlińska,Katarzyna Kikosicka,Ewa Klima,Edyta Pietrzak,Sylwana Borszyńska,Łucja Lange / Language(s): Polish / Publication Year: 2016

Książka "Bezdomność w Łodzi" jest w przeważającej mierze efektem konferencji pod tym samym tytułem, która odbyła się w tymże mieście w lutym 2016 roku za sprawą Łódzkiego Partnerstwa Pomocy w sytuacji Wykluczenia i Bezdomności. Składają się na nią teksty prezentowane podczas konferencji oraz kilka innych. Dobrze się stało, że książka nie odcina się od tego spotkania, jak to nieraz bywa z "tomami pokonferencyjnymi". Owszem, w różnoraki sposób do niej nawiązuje. We wstępie jest zamieszczony program konferencji, są też zdjęcia z obrad. W ten sposób redaktorkom publikacji udało się zachować coś z dialogu, który się toczył przecież tamtej zimy na Uniwersytecie Łódzkim. [...] Przedstawiony materiał [...] o bezdomności w Łodzi jest bardzo wartościowy. [z recenzji dr hab. Grzegorza Pełczyńskiego, prof. Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego]

Bezpieczeństwo społeczności lokalnych najbliżej człowieka

Author(s): Edmund Szweda / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 6.1/2015

The article presents the interrelations between security of local communities and the possibility of realization of the idea: the closest human security. In this context, presents the first experience with the participation of SAN students in education and security studies by preparing sub-projects. In partial design safety community, students document the ability of cognition, diagnose security environment of the selected entity in the local area. Adequately to their diagnosis, they design efforts for positive changes for the selected entity of safety.

Bezrobocie długotrwałe osób starszych w województwie lubuskim

Author(s): Anna Niewiadomska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 6/2017

Long-term unemployment is considered one of the most serious problems of the contemporary labor market. Economists see it as a source of serious depreciation of human resources in the labor market and the pauperization of the affected families. Changing the age structure of labor resources and the projected reduction of their size in Poland, have resulted in increased interest in working activity of older people. The analysis of data from recent years points to an increasing level of professional involvement of this group, but also reveals that older people are more likely to experience long-term unemployment. The article aims to describe the size and structure of long-term unemployment of older people in Lubuskie labor market and identify the factors determining the risk of this type of unemployment. Also analyzed are solutions directed at supporting the employment of this social group.