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The international academic community is currently exploring the development of the intelligence studies domain as a social science project. The current position paper argues for a project to connect, in content terms, the Romanian political science with the domain of intelligence studies. It takes into account the international and local context, and presents some of the benefits to be generated by the intersection of these two domains.

The structural-functional features of the European political system are analyzed. The author correlates the structure and the functions of the national political system with the functionality of the European supra-national structures. The efficiency of the decision making process and the functionality of any type of political system is influenced by the level of political culture and the degree of maturity of the political actors. The need to correlate interests of different states: EU members, candidates or those in process to adhere to the EU, determines the supra-national structures: European Council, European Union Council, European Parliament, EU Court of Justice, EU Court of Accounts, European Central Bank to honor honestly and responsibly their functions, respecting democratic principles of political communication, of cooperation and co-work. In conclusion, the author states that the European political system is functional, efficient, viable due to the capacity of institutions to ensure a dynamic stability both at community level and national one. The fact that at the moment the European Union is an international political actor with legal status and its components (Member States) that share the same rights and obligations represents a unique experience, interesting for the contemporary political theory.

The article investigates the political mechanisms specific to contemporary Romanian politics and political parties, as well as those social representations related to gender roles and the
definition of family that have contributed to maintaining a low level of women participation in
Romanian politics after 1989. In a first part, it sets the conceptual context through a review of the
main theoretical approaches for the political representation of women, with an emphasis on
gender studies' cognitive dimension. Second, it connects a quantitative evaluation of women's
presence in the Romanian post communist parliament with a qualitative analysis of public (i.e.
mass media) discourse of the rejected legislative proposal to introduce gender quotas in various
political and social processes. The author finds that, beyond the dynamics of political elites'
recruitment and the functioning of the political "game", the ideological options and social
representations that emphasize the differences between men and women, as well the central role
of family in building gender roles play an essential part in maintaining a low number of women
within the Parliament.