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Transitional Justice in the Arab World and its Effects in the Light of the "Arab Spring" Launched in 2011 The events that took place in early 2011, known as the "Arab Spring", sparked several discussions in relation to regions that were considered closed to the democratic values promoted by Western states. Chain revolutions have primarily addressed a key issue, that of transitional justice, thus trying to bring truth and reconciliation to societies where for decades terror, totalitarianism, serious human rights violations, political repression have reigned, including those committed by police and security organs. Unfortunately, we must note that the lack of traditions in this regard has not allowed the realizations of tasks put before the transitional judiciary in these countries, although, we must admit, some successes have been achieved. Evenimentele ce au avut loc la începutul anului 2011, cunoscute sub termenul de "primăvara arabă" au trezit mai multe discuţii în raport cu regiuni care erau considerate închise pentru valorile democratice promovate de statele occidentale. Revoluţii în lanţ au abordat în primul rând un subiect cheie, cel al justiţiei tranziţionale, astfel încercând să aducă adevărul și reconcilierea în societăţile în care timp de decenii au domnit teroarea, totalitarismul, încălcări grave ale drepturilor omului, represiuni politice și din partea organelor de poliţie și de securitate. Cu regret, trebuie să constatăm faptul, că lipsa unor tradiţii în acest sens, nu a permis realizarea sarcinilor puse în faţa justiţiei tranziţionale în aceste ţări, deși, totuși, trebuie să recunoaștem, anumite succese au fost atinse.

The criminal treatment of juveniles in the European Union was regulated in earlier times and has evolved by national legislation of Member States, international treaties, documents of the Council of Europe, as well as by European Union Treaties, European Parliament Resolutions and Press Releases of the European Commission. The regulatory divergence of criminal treatment of juveniles in EU countries implies the need to elaborate certain minimum rules to prevent and to combat juvenile delinquency, oriented to education of minors and their punishment.

The 2000 Romanian General Elections marked the disappearance of the Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR), until then a remarkable fixture within the party system. The Convention's dissolution enabled other parties to emerge and fill in the void. This article explores these replacements at their geographical level. The historical region of Transylvania, once a stronghold for the Convention, became a favorable place for the Justice and Truth Alliance (DA) in 2004 and for the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) in 2008. Using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), we examine the geography of party replacement in six Transylvanian counties. ESDA indicates that the party replacement process within the Romanian context has a definite and clear geographical dimension. Our study shows the need to place electoral changes in a geographic framework for a better understanding of Romanian party politics.

Due to the tremendous ideological stakes of the issue both before and after 1989, the impact of the October Revolution on the Romanian socialist movement was either exaggerated or minimized. If communist literature naturally emphasized the influence of the events in Russia among Romanian socialists, the anticommunist narrative limited its hold to some few radical leaders and to their immediate followers. This article goes beyond these biased perspectives by restoring the topic in its historical environment. Eventually, it tends to corroborate the communist "side of the truth": the changes undergone by the Romanian "proletarian milieu" back in the early 1920s, i.e. the radicalization of the socialist discourse, the mobility of the socialist leadership or the reorganization of the Socialist Party, confirm the significant weight of the October Revolution in the economy of Romanian socialism.

Development perspectives of the European Law of Contracts arise from the Press Releases of the European Parliament, the Union Council and the European Commission. The necessity to develop the European Law of Contracts is determined by the objectives of the Common Market, by the amplification of the commercial relations inside the EU, by the abstract and selective regulation of the contracts in the Treaty on European Union, in the EU Regulations and Directives, as well as by the divergences of contracts in national legislations of Member States.

A common argument for the nomination of the Romanian city of Sibiu as European Capital of Culture 2007 by the European Commission is the actual local multiculturalism, which makes the city seem somehow different when regarding the more general ethnic background in Romania. The aim of this article is therefore to map the local multiculturalism and identify its limits. The conclusion is that the local context is multicultural in fact, yet some ethnic tensions are to be taken into account. These tensions are rather symbolic and still weak, and are related to the way one might conceive local public space. The findings not only confirm the initial supposition, but they could become a starting point for a future comparative analysis of ethnic contexts in Romania.

Volume contains the proceedings of the VII International Conference Jean Monnet (13 to 14 May 2011, Iasi), co-funded by the European Commission Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence Program in European Studies. Events held under the auspices and promoted by the Center for European Studies, every year, Europe Day, the present edition of the conference Romania and the European Union. Dynamics of the integration process and not only expose the general public, a number of issues facing European economies against the backdrop of the crisis. The volume was prepared with the assistance of several researchers, teachers, specialists in European studies from major universities of the country and the Republic of Moldova. Communications were made around three themes: Where does Europe stand?, Economic Challenges in Romania and EU During the crisis and The dynamics of structural changes and perspectives of integration process.

The author examines the creation and functioning of the Romanian propaganda office at the General Commission of Romania for the New York World's Fair (1939-1940). He analyses two previously unpublished documents from the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, relevant to the topic under scrutiny. The activity of the office was coordinated by the diplomat Andrei Popovici. His subordinates were the press attach. from the Romanian Legation in the USA, Horia Babeş, Paul Sterian, economic councillor, and Petre Neagoe, writer. The monthly budget was 750 $ (the rate of those years) for the daily expenses and salaries. The propaganda office started its activity in January 1939. It used to publish a bulletin, to help issuing stamps, to prepare propaganda posters, to publish and translate brochures. It also used to send presentations of Romania to journals, such as Cleveland News , Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, New York World Telegram etc., and articles on Romania to newspapers (Annalist, Journal of Commerce etc.), or to occasional publications (Going to the Fair, a Preview, International Guide etc.). The images the propaganda office used to handle were reproducing usual elements of the domestic and foreign official discourse of Charles II: Romania was a totally new country, based on a new social contract ("the royal revolution"), that was looking persistently towards "tomorrow's world" (the slogan of the American fair); this future was build with Romanian resources and strengths, mobilized by "the king of young people and of the peasants".

Such famous jurists as H. Kelsen, J. Chevallier, Giorgio del Vecchio, A. Hauriou, Mircea Djuvara, François Rigaux, Ion Deleanu, Tudor Drăganu etc. expressed their views on the principles of the rule of law, which persisted for several centuries. The rule of law is never a perfect reality and no country can claim to have achieved perfection, because the rule of law is not obtained easily, it is the joint effort of the state authorities, civil society, and all the citizens. José Manuel Durão Barroso stated that "The rule of law is the cornerstone of the European Union, there is no true democracy without the rule of law and without democracy the rule of law is just an instrument in the hand of the rulers". While the European Commissioner for Justice, Viviane Reding stated that "In parallel to the economic and financial crisis, we also have been confronted on several occasions with a true "rule of law" crisis. At the beginning of April 2014, in Innsbruck (Austria), was held the academic conference entitled "Strengthening the rule of law in Europe - from a common concept to mechanisms of implementation". On April 21, 2014, the European Parliament noted, according to Article 49 of the EU Treaty, Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia, as any European country can apply to become a member of the European Union, given that they realize the principles of democracy, the fundamentals of freedom, human and minority rights and ensure the rule of law. Thus, achieving the rule of law in Moldova was and will be a permanent and current task in the coming years.

his paper aims to illustrate how institutionalized education has been a significant identity management strategy for an ethnic group in Romania. After its foundation in 1872, the University of Kolozsvár (Cluj) was regarded as a provincial higher education establishment within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, meant to satisfy merely regional demands. Although legally the two Hungarian universities (in Budapest and Kolozsvar) were considered equal in rank, government and society gave priority to the first one. It is only over time that the University of Kolozsvár proved its utility. This change of image resulted in a leading position, especially at the start of the twentieth century. After the outbreak of the World War I, the activity of the University witnessed disruptions due to the drafting of many professors and students into the Army. The end of the the war not only meant the achievement of 'national unity' for Romania, but also generated significant changes for Ferenc József University, beginning with the process of dismissing minorities from the public sector and replacing them with Romanians. After the Second Vienna Award, the University of Cluj became Hungarian once again. The historical lesson of the inter-war period on the treatment of minorities had to be prevented from repeating itself, and within the new geopolitical context the USSR seemed the guarantor for the final resolution of the ethnic rivalries and resentments. In this ideological context, on 29 May 1945 two royal decrees sanctioned the functioning of two distinct universities in Cluj; the Hungarian university János Bolyai officially opened its doors. The preservation of a representative higher education institution for the Hungarian minority in Cluj, adapted to the new political realities, was achieved. But after Stalin's death in 1953 the feelings of 'national specificity' resurged, and national histories were re-individualized and reconstructed. The events in Budapest in the autumn of 1956 offered further reasons for central authorities to rethink the 'national domain'. In the years to come, propaganda insisted on the futility of institutional separation between the Romanian and Hungarian students in Cluj. Hence, a meeting of the unification commissions, held in 1959 led to the fusion of the two universities. This evolution of the University of Cluj shows the constraints, openings, compromises, and 'avatars' of the most important institution of higher education in Transylvania, which continues to function as a source of symbolic prestige and social capital for both Hungarians and Romanians.