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Broadens the regulations regarding the energy providers' contracts stated in Decree No. 397/007.

This legislation aims to promote the sustainable use of energy by optimizing its use in all its processes and activities, including the exploration, production, processing, distribution and consumption.

Under this mandate, the National Electricity Board (CONELEC) has a maximum of thirty days to approve new tariff schedules to set the flat rate to be applied to electric distribution companies for each type of electrical energy. It also includes other provisions relating to the electricity sector.

Modifies Art. 2, III) of Decree No. 77-006. Only certain power stations will be affected by this article.

This essay examines the cultural dimensions of state administrative formation. Revisiting the organization of early U.S. state school administrations in the decades before the Civil War, I emphasize the culturally peculiar vocabularies of universal salvation and motherly care in which early administrators outlined an apparatus of state "designed, like the common blessings of heaven, to encompass all." Self-consciously distinguishing themselves from a republican governing tradition that depended upon localities to administrate state policy, the Unitarian Horace Mann and his liberal Protestant allies imagined a unified state "like a mother … taking care of all its children." Drawing from a cultural preoccupation with a motherly and infinitely forgiving God, these Massachusetts state administrators articulated a vision of a department of state government that would directly recognize all persons, and all schools, "within every part of the Commonwealth." Such words were more than metaphor, though metaphor was crucial to the project. Rather, the organizational logic of the "motherly state" unfolded in the matrices of responsibility and communication, of surveillance and discipline and labor policy that constituted the foundational systems of early comprehensive state administration. By bringing together the insights of institutional development with the methods of cultural history, this essay ultimately suggests that government itself can be understood as a cultural artifact.

By placing lawmaking power directly in the hands of citizens, Progressive movement reformers hoped to undercut the ability of political parties to pursue their policy objectives. This article tests the expectations of reformers by examining whether direct democracy alters the ability of partisan legislative majorities and governors to shape the size of the U.S. state public sector. Using a large dataset, I estimate the determinants of state tax effort and compare across jurisdictions the effects of variables that measure the partisan control of government. The results demonstrate that while the partisanship of elected officials is an important predictor of tax effort in pure representative jurisdictions, the relationship between party and policy disappears among initiative states. This analysis not only adds to our understanding of U.S. state budgeting, but also suggests the widespread adoption of direct democracy as a possible explanation for the weak party effects observed in studies of state fiscal policy. Adapted from the source document.

Explores the phenomenon of explosive increases in antisocial behavior in societies newly freed from an authoritarian regime, asserting that such behavior will not subside on its own. Pertinent statistics & trends from Russia, China, Afghanistan, & Iraq are briefly recounted, what might be done to help newly liberated states maintain a reasonable level of social order is considered. It is argued that law enforcement is necessary but insufficient & ought to serve as a backup & last resort, while a moral culture is essential in fostering security as it provides a legitimating authority to law enforcement. Focusing on Islam & Afghanistan & Iraq, it is contended that religion is a key source of such authority. In this light, several policy recommendations for the US are presented: change public diplomacy, focus on leaders & opinion makers, include religious figures in exchange programs, teach values in schools, & support moderate Muslim political parties. D. Edelman

Prior studies of challenger entry in Senate and gubernatorial elections provide inconclusive evidence that challengers consider incumbents' electoral vulnerability when deciding whether to run. The reason for this is primarily methodological: These studies analyze only general-election challengers, and in so doing overlook the dominant share of candidates who enter races. Additionally, the manner in which incumbent vulnerability affects challenger entry varies with the challenger's party status and electoral strength. Incumbent-party challengers run against incumbents who did poorly in the previous primary election, whereas out-party challengers run against incumbents who did poorly in the previous general election. Finally, the entry decisions of weak out-party challengers are not directly related to incumbent vulnerability; rather, they avoid facing strong out-party challengers in the primary election. These hypotheses are tested using data from Senate and gubernatorial elections from 1976 to 1998; the hypotheses are supported. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2008.]

Elsewhere I have argued that measures of U.S. state legislative professionalization assess individual and organizational capacity to generate and evaluate information in the policymaking process. In this article, I adapt my measure of state legislative professionalization to state courts of last resort, attempting to assess the informational capacity of those bodies in making legal decisions. Specifically, I examine judicial salaries, a court's level of control over its docket, and the number of law clerks employed by the justices. After presenting four variants of the court professionalization measure and investigating their validity, I examine explanations for their observed variance across the states. I conclude by comparing my indices with existing indices and speculating about the utility of such measures. Adapted from the source document.