Transitions Online_Around the Bloc-25 May
Our news roundup: protests break out in Belarus; Russian airspace violations; NGOs in Kyrgyzstan targeted; remote voting in Russia; and a cross-ethnic, Balkan friendship.
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Our news roundup: protests break out in Belarus; Russian airspace violations; NGOs in Kyrgyzstan targeted; remote voting in Russia; and a cross-ethnic, Balkan friendship.
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The paper presents the research plans of official statistics prepared in close cooperation with government agencies, local government units, as well as business, social and trade union organizations. The primary criterion for the preparation of the program was to provide the continuous observation of the socio-economic situation of the country. The proposed surveys will provide information to obtain analyzes and current estimations, designed to forecast trends and historical and international comparisons.
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This article presents the history of the CSO in the interwar period – discusses the genesis of the Office as of rescript of the Regency Council, and then the first structure and tasks of the Central Statistical Office of the regulatory framework of the Second Republic. It describes the difficult circumstances of the emerging territory after the First World War, personnel, office and others, in the formation of the CSO and conducting surveys during the merging areas occupying in the reborn Poland after 123 years. The article discusses the major accomplishments of the Office during the period between the first and second world war, particularly the census of the population in the years 1921 and 1931, economic and social research, conduct of publishing and information services. At the end are presented the most distinguished statisticians in the early years of the CSO, derived mainly from Galicia.
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E-government means a common citizens and businesses access to government services through telecommunications media, including the Internet. The purpose of the article is to point the degree of utilization of e-government services by businesses in Poland and other European countries. The most similar countries for Polish in the degree of use of e-government services by businesses were Spain, Portugal and Belgium. Based on the results, it was found that intensive activity should be carried out to break the barriers to electronic business contacts with the administration.
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A modern administration is an administration that is open and transparent. Administration that has quality and timely communication with users of administrative services. It is an administration in which educated and competent civil servants work and are subject to a permanent grading and education system. The paper examines the classic model of public administration, the so-called Weberian public administration, the new public management, and the advantages and disadvantages of these systems. Four basic elements are crucial for the functioning of modern administration, namely: quality staff, retaining it in the service, further training, and especially the professionalization and depoliticisation of leadership positions. The rule of law cannot function without a good administration. Which system best suits a country depends on its specifics. It will rarely be a single system, but rather a combination of several systems. Advantages and disadvantages of individual systems will be briefly presented in the paper.
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The subject of this article concerns safety in transport in the context of broadly understood contemporary challenges. The study characterizes the impact of transport on individual types of safety. Ecological, personal and economic security were selected for the analysis. The purpose of this article is to attempt to synthetically address the issue of safety in transport while taking into account several selected areas of this safety. Selected types of security will be considered: ecological, personal and economic. It is the transport that presents new challenges that will affect the level of safety in the future. Today, the most important thing for the environment is to secure all parts of the infrastructure, both point and line, so that the movement process takes place without any irregularities that could result in damage to health and even loss of human life.
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The synthesized review of Kremikovtzi's economic activity during the period of socialism reveals well-known, but also, intentionally or not, forgotten characteristics of the Bulgarian socialist economy. The shortcomings identified in Kremikovtzi are systemic and not so much related to the personal qualities of the people who worked in the individual proceedings. "Kremikovtzi" is a collective image of the economic reality in Bulgaria during the socialism era and indicative of the possibilities and results of the state-implemented industrialization of the country.
More...AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY THE EDITOR
Just before we went into print, the international media outlets popularized the plan for an innovative monetary policy that was already in the making for about a year – the government of China and the central bank launched an emission of a digital currency.
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Nineteenth century was an era of many changes occurring in the everyday life of our ancestors. Altered political, economic, social and administrative conditions had thus transformed many towns on our old continent. Numerous novelties that emerged in the 19th century, were also adopted in Ptuj; some took a while, such as railway that was established only ten years after the opening of the Southern Railway; others came faster. Among the latter can be cited the removal of town ramparts and the filling-up of moats that started already at the end of the 18th century and lasted until the mid-19th century. Despite a rather prosperous economic position of Ptuj, public facilities in the town were quite in a poor state in the first half of the 19th century. Citizens living near the river were complaining about the smell and sewage that was washed down the streets from the upper part of town, in particular from houses at the foot of the castle hill. Due to numerous natural disasters, floods and fires, Ptuj fell into decay. Countless complaints and objections regarding the bad management of the town and poor fire protection finally made town dignitaries and municipal administration do something about public facilities and environment protection from the mid-20s of 19th century on. Main changes in the domain of public facilities in the town occurred during the term of mayor Franz Raisp (1824-1850). He has the merit that roofs of houses in the town were covered with tiles that replaced wooden shingles. Town streets were flanked with sidewalks paved with cobbles; public lighting was renewed. However, in the mid-19th century, despite the strivings of the town administration, streets in the town were in a very poor shape which was mainly due to uncleanliness. Citizens and the town council were well aware of the need to have the main drain, which was finally built towards the end of the 19th century; during the same period, many houses were renovated and almost all of them had a septic tank. From the mid-19th century on, the medieval town skyline was completed with the Orient railway and a park with a promenade. On the northern part of the town, Ptuj citizens created another small park with a pond and named it »People’s Garden«, for it represented a nice short trip destination. For a better protection against floods, various works were carried out on both river banks during the 19th century. Between 1897 and 1907 river banks were strengthened with supportive walls, the investment which included also the renovation of the town park along the Drava river. The majority of restoration and construction works carried out on municipal property were realised during the term of mayor Josef Ornig (1894-1918), who was German in his heart, but it was thanks to him that Ptuj knew an important development in terms of public utilities before WWI.
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This paper aims to present my research on a very important stage-related to the political situation of the Municipality of Prishtina from the period after the Second World War until the liberation of Kosovo in 1999. Carefully dealing with political events and developments chronologically, which were decisive in the realization of the centuries-old aspirations for freedom and independence and the establishment of the Republic of Kosovo. The paper will have scientific sources and references arguing with facts these events that are related in terms of time and space. The chronology of events will be followed by the initial establishment of public institutions in Pristina, for the territory of the former Province of Kosovo in the savage repression of the 50s (arms action) where Albanians were subjected to un precedent repression by the Yugoslav government known also as the “Rankovi. Period”. Then the demonstrations of the 60's will be elaborated, as a result of which the University of Prishtina was established and the use of the Albanian national flag was allowed until the proclamation of the Constitution of 1974. In the third part will be reflected the demonstrations of the 80s which played a decisive role in the later development switch calls for the peace full movement for freedom, independence and democracy that laid the foundations for the creation of parallel institutions of the Republic of Kosovo and which later culminated in the armed resistance of Kosovo Liberation Army which brought the final liberation of Kosovo.
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Institutions and institutional trust can be marked as important determinants of (regional) growth and development in contemporary literature. Aim of this paper is to analyse institutional trust in two Croatian counties and to compare those results with earlier theoretical findings. The methodology consists of in-depth interviews made by survey of counsellors or some of leading functions in two Croatian counties. The results are mostly in accordance with earlier theory findings of institutional trust for Croatian level, i.e. the highest level of institutional trust was related with traditional values, for instance in family, while in some institutions trust varied and had a gap in level of respondents trust, depending of their own experience, for instance in self-government and educational system. At very low level of institutional trust were for instance, political parties and Government. As singled out, some of the main obstacles in achieving high levels of institutional trust were corruption, inconsistency in decision-making and enforcement, noncompliance, slow and complicated procedures, non-transparency, politization. Trust in institutions according to the results, impacts reduction and regulation of uncertainty in the economy. These results could be very worth and a certain guide for policy makers and their future decision-making.
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The period under review started in 2010, when the discussion of significant para¬metric changes in the pension system in Bulgaria began in order to improve it, resulting from the changed rates of economic growth, employment/unemployment, income, infla¬tion, parameters and trends of demographic processes and their impact on the social insurance system and ends in 2018, with the inclusion of the latest changes in pension legislation and the available statistics on an annual basis. The article aims to show how the changes in recent years concerning the access to a pension for insurance experience and age and the determination of its amount have affected the number, amount and costs of pensions for insurance experience and age for the period 2010 - 2018.
More...A case study on Shenzhen city intelligent classification of domestic waste
How to efficiently, conveniently, safely, scientifically and intelligently reform the urban garbage classification system and the environmental sanitation system is a common problem to promote the ecological development of urban life.Taking the key elements in the whole process of garbage collection and disposal as the starting point, taking the development of technology as the driving force to improve the management system as the guide, and combining the current situation of infrastructure construction and market practice of environmental sanitation system in Shenzhen city of China,following the intelligent technology route map and realization route of "internet + municipal solid waste classification" are established by using the time line,with supporting of modern information technology,from the aspects of publicity and education, policy designation and industrial chain construction, this essay will discuss on the intelligent management countermeasures of Sehnzhen urban domestic waste classification based on "Internet + " to fully exploit the potential value of municipal solid waste and form a win-win environment and sanitation intelligent ecological circle.The necessity for sorting collection of municipal domestic waste was expounded. The status of municipal domestic waste sorting collection in China was analyzed. The waste sorting methods and techniques should be explained for residents and students in schools and residential communities. Equipment and systems of waste collection should be improved to facilitate residents in waste sorting.
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The concepts ethnicity, religion and politics are problematic even at the level of conceptualization. However, the interdependence of ethnicity, religion and politics as social dynamics in fostering the development of a nation has become imperative across the globe. Nigeria is multi-ethnic with cultural differences between its component ethnic groups has been crippled by series of political unrest, ethnic chauvinism, youth restiveness, corruption, religious bigotry and extremism, and other social vices that undermine national development. Therefore, it is against this backdrop that this study examines the effects of ethnicity, religion and politics on national development in Nigeria. A descriptive method was adopted and cross-sectional data were collected across the twenty five Local Government Areas in Delta State with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Non-probabilistic sampling techniques comprising of purposeful and convenience techniques were used to elicit information via questionnaire from 400 respondents. Data collected were analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. The findings of the study showed that ethnicity, religion and politics negatively and significantly impacts national development in Nigeria. On the basis of these findings, the study recommends among others that the nation needs a purposeful leadership that has a vision of how to place its citizens at the centre of political project without recourse to ethnic chauvinism and sees acquisition of political power as not an end in itself but a means for serving the collective welfare of its people regardless of their ethnic origin.
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Bangladesh is a developing country that wants support for economic growth from other countries. This is would accomplish by receiving a large amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) that leads to a higher rate of jobs. Higher jobs contribute to better Bangladeshi life while rising its gross domestic product (GDP). However, unemployment remains one of the major problems facing the world today. The research analyzed the long-run and short-run relationships between unemployment and its macroeconomic determinants over the period 1991-2018/19, including industry value-added, inflation rate, foreign direct investment (FDI), urban population growth, and real gross domestic product (RGDP). This research employed the Johansen co-integration, Vector Auto Regression (VAR) testing method, the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) to unit root. The outcome of the regression indicates that the long-run unemployment rate explained by foreign debt, inflation, FDI, population growth, and RGDP. Therefore, we propose some economic proposals that the outcome of this study.
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Democracy has promoted political and socio-economic development far more effectively than any other political system across many countries and centuries of history. In Nigeria, it has been characterized with political corruption, ethnic politics, politicking of core government policies and programmes and politics of godfatherism. Since the return of democratic rule in 1999 to date, the country witnessed a heightened tempo in the politics of godfatherism, which has not only retards the process of democratic consolidation but also undermines effective state governance and restricts rather than broadens democratic representation. Godfatherism is one of the greatest glitches facing the Nigerian political system. This paper therefore, attempts a reflection on the nature, causes and effect of godfatherism on Nigeria’s nascent democracy. We anchored our investigation on some basic propositions arising from the elite theory and argue that politics of godfatherism negates peaceful coexistence, law and order and poses a threat to the Nigeria’s nascent democracy. This paper which is theoretical in nature draws its argument basically from secondary data which include journal articles, textbooks and internet sources. Requisite conclusion and recommendations were provided in the light of the theoretical findings.
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The concept of public value is related to different dimensions among which work and performance are of particular importance. In this work, we consider organizational well-being and the role of managerial support with reference to work, and citizens’ satisfaction as a relevant factor in measuring and evaluating public performance. Using the data collected through 175 questionnaires administered to the employees of an Italian municipality, this study applies a Mediation Model to analyze the factors influencing the organizational well-being and the role of managerial support, and a Principal Component Analysis to investigate the relationship between organizational well-being and citizens’ satisfaction. The results show that the lack of managerial support can induce civil servants to develop proactive behaviors, which, in turn, can lead to improve citizens’ satisfaction. Consequently, we suggest the implementation of an adequate performance management system that allow managers the possibility of "remote" control which leads to civil servants’ autonomy for a better perceived local governments performance by citizens.
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The paper discusses the importance of student-generated feedback, that is, peer feedback and self-assessment in public service interpreter training. The importance of peer feedback and self-assessment is widely recognised in teaching and learning and benefits include: promoting analytical and critical thinking skills, students’ active participation in the learning process, promoting a collaborative model of teaching and learning, students’ responsibility and autonomy, to name but a few. However, their beneficial character can also be observed in public service interpreter training. The aim of the pilot study conducted among trainee interpreters (MA students) of public service interpreting course was to examine interpreting quality and compare positive (strengths) and negative aspects (weaknesses) of trainee interpreters’ performance identified by them by means of peer feedback and reflection (self-assessment). The trainees participated in simulated public service interpreting sessions and later were asked to reflect on their own as well as their peers’ performance. As seen from data analysis, there are discrepancies between peer feedback and reflection in the perception of students’ strengths and weaknesses and a negative trend can be observed in the case of reflection.
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