Suchergebnisse

This study is conducted to observe the impact of public education expenditure on economic growth in five West African countries namely: The Gambia, Ghana, Niger, Mali, and Senegal. In addition, we generated a study called ECOWAS representing West Africa. In order to advance into the study, we used econometric tools such as Augmented Dickey Fuller test (ADF), Johansson Cointegration Test, Error Correction Model (ECM) and Granger Causality Test Analysis. The target sample consist of panel data collected based on its availability for each selected West African country covering different ranges from 1968 to 2015. The result of the ADF test revealed that some of the variables are individually non-stationary at level but stationary at first difference. The Johansson cointegration test indicated a cointegration relationship between the variables for some countries and ECM coefficients revealed for all the countries indicated an evidence of convergence after short run deviation from equilibrium. The Granger Causality test result suggest a unidirectional causality that run from Government Education Expenditure (Edu) to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for ECOWAS and the reverse is true for Ghana and Mali. There is no causal direction revealed between the variables for The Gambia, Niger and Senegal. However, the study concluded that Education Expenditure has significant long run and short run impact on economic growth in West Africa.

This article focuses on administrative reforms in two countries of the Western Balkans – Croatia and Serbia – within the context of democratization and Europeanization processes. It explores, in particular, the administrative simplification measurdes and regulatory reforms that have been undertaken by the two countries in order to reduce administrative burdens on both businesses and citizens, and improve public governance and regulatory quality. In this article, particular attention is given to the progress reached by Croatia and Serbia in establishing the one stop shop principle and e-Government services. The main aim of the article is to verify the impact of the EU integration on administrative simplification measures, especially in the areas of administrative procedure and relationships between public administration and citizens.

This article concerns the theoretical debate on some important politicaland questions in our Western societies. The theme is coexistence with the other, also caused by the massive migration in recent years. The relationship with each other has been developed in the Western tradition in a peculiar way over the centuries. It is essential in the liberal conceptionof de mocracy, starting from a deeply individualistic idea of tolerance andthe theory of h uman rights. This conception is seen with suspicion in many extra-western countries. However, today, even in "our" societies, the presence of communities of immigrants who are not educated in the culture of individualism is creating integration problems and even regressive pressures in the indigenous population.

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the formation of a new geopolitical reality in the post-Soviet space with the emergence in 1991 of five new independent states in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) and a complete transformation of their political and economic systems. The purpose of this study is the institutional and socio-economic evolution of the Central Asian region (CAR) and its states after Chapter I defines geographically the different possible boundaries of the Central Asian region, which over the centuries were part of different empires, kingdoms, and states, and the population of which historically de jure and de facto never had their independent national statehood until 1991. The study also focuses on the consequences of the policy of the ethnic and territorial division adopted in the Soviet era in Central Asia on the current political instability in the region. The chapter analyzes the features and results of the transformation of the Soviet political system into a Western democratic system in the CAR. Why did Central Asian countries abandon communism for democracy, then turn to authoritarian rule? This paper proposes a theoretical framework, which discusses the durability and sustainability of the super-presidential regimes in the region, and the key factors that have largely determined the failure of a democratic transition in all five post-Soviet Central Asian states. Special attention is given to the issues of political legitimacy of the current authoritarian regimes and the prospects of further democratic modernization. Chapter II is devoted to an analysis of the main features and results of the socio-economic transformation of the Soviet planned economy to a market economy in Central Asian states. The research area includes an analysis of the structural changes in the five Central Asian economies. State capitalism and critical dependence on external factors have become today the main common features of all these economies. In particular, the second chapter describes the restrictions imposed on the Central Asian commodity and labor exported economies and the protectionist policies adopted by national governments. Protectionist policies are aimed at reducing the economies' vulnerability to external shocks, which are due to the high sectorial and geographical concentration of exports, significant migrants' remittances and consistent inflows of foreign direct investments. The chapter discusses the issues of regional cooperation and integration and the perspectives of sustainable economic development in the states of Central Asia. Finally, this study highlights the emerging challenges associated with the intersection of the competitive multidirectional interests of the major world powers, which consistently expand and strengthen their control over the natural resources of the CAR. Through different economic instruments, such as providing loans and investments, or the formation of alternative macro-regional integration projects in Eurasia, they seek to achieve their ambitious strategic objectives in Central Asia.