Suchergebnisse

Analyzing the course of reforms in Bulgaria the author notes that the processes of delimitation of powers, decentralization, formation of local self-government and civil society are taking place simultaneously. Difficulties in creation of effective administrative and territorial state structure are connected with implementation of legislature concerning delimitation of powers, the lack of real independence of communities in issues of formation of their own budgets, the lack of traditions of interaction between authorities and civil society structures. For Bulgaria, an important aspect of delimitation of authorities between levels of power is the creation of the second level of local self-government and, accordingly, the creation of more precise and legally established criteria determining the competence of local self-government. ; Analyzing the course of reforms in Bulgaria the author notes that the processes of delimitation of powers, decentralization, formation of local self-government and civil society are taking place simultaneously. Difficulties in creation of effective administrative and territorial state structure are connected with implementation of legislature concerning delimitation of powers, the lack of real independence of communities in issues of formation of their own budgets, the lack of traditions of interaction between authorities and civil society structures. For Bulgaria, an important aspect of delimitation of authorities between levels of power is the creation of the second level of local self-government and, accordingly, the creation of more precise and legally established criteria determining the competence of local self-government.

The author addresses current arguments attempting to explain the terrorist attacks of 11 Sept in terms of: (1) globalization; (2) US culpability or "guilty America"; & (3) a global clash of cultures pitting Islamic fundamentalism against Western modernity. Each cause, the author claims, is more an explanation than an attempt at understanding. To blame globalization is to ignore the 9/11 terrorists' own antipathy to social democracy as well as their largely upper-middle-class backgrounds. To blame wrongheaded US foreign policy is to yoke together two unrelated phenomena: the failure of pan-Arabism & the legitimacy of US military response under the just war doctrine. Lastly, to single out Islamic fundamentalism distorts Koranic teaching, ignores the extremism of Christian & Jewish fundamentalism, & confuses national identity (largely Saudi Arabian) with religious identity. The genealogical components of postmodern global terrorism are a fundamentalism that can be either religious or secular, organizational totalitarianism such as was operative in Leninism & Nazism, & wide-scale &/or indiscriminate bloodshed. Osama bin Laden & Al Qaeda may be situated along a genealogical continuum that includes non-Middle Eastern terrorist groups from both Left & Right with which they share a hatred of a liberal-bourgeois status quo, stated devotion to a demagogic figurehead, a commitment to quash pluralism within & without their ranks, & a mythologized enemy. Ironically it is the apparatus of global/technological power that enables Al Qaeda to wage its war & elude apprehension. K. Coddon

The statute of the Galician Autonomous Community, constituted in Spain in 1981, the autonomys powers, functions and services and the personnel assigned to them are described in the article. The institutions that ensure the self-government of the Galician autonomy are the Parliament and the Autonomous Gov e rnme nt. Apart from the autonomous institutions, Galicia has local administrations: city councils and provincial councils. The Galician self-government bodies enjoy a wide range of powers, exclusive or shared, in accordance with the Spanish Constitution. The procedures implemented by the autonomous Administration of Galicia in the process of the administrative reform are emphasized in the article. In this connection the author comments on the role played by the Galician School of Public Administration. ; The statute of the Galician Autonomous Community, constituted in Spain in 1981, the autonomys powers, functions and services and the personnel assigned to them are described in the article. The institutions that ensure the self-government of the Galician autonomy are the Parliament and the Autonomous Gov e rnme nt. Apart from the autonomous institutions, Galicia has local administrations: city councils and provincial councils. The Galician self-government bodies enjoy a wide range of powers, exclusive or shared, in accordance with the Spanish Constitution. The procedures implemented by the autonomous Administration of Galicia in the process of the administrative reform are emphasized in the article. In this connection the author comments on the role played by the Galician School of Public Administration.

SUMMARY:
Juliette Cadiot examines Russian censuses in order to understand how the state controlled and organized its multinational population. Looking at the census of 1897, the author surveys the debate around language and nationality, in particular the differences between scholarship and a bureaucracy that paid attention to only the most important languages of the empire. The census of 1926, on the other hand, took place against the background of official korenizatsia policies, as reflected in the recording of not only language, but also nationality as part of the census. Debates surrounding the 1926 census reflected the endless process of singling out dialects and languages and witnessed an increased role for ethnographers and linguists. Conflict emerged between Moscow-based scholars and politicians – searching for traces of ever-smaller nationalities – and local authorities who often represented titular nationalities in the Soviet Union's constituent republics. The interests of the state prevailed over ethnographic interest in the census of 1939. This census, conducted against the background of the persecution of the organizers of the canceled 1937 census, strictly followed Stalin's ideas on the number of nationalities in the USSR. In 1939, the list of nationalities was shortened to maximally correspond to the number of titular nationalities in the Soviet Union and its autonomous republics. According to the author, the censuses in a multinational state reflect the desire of the state to understand, control, and bring order to the numerous national and ethnic groups.

The author analyzes the feasibility of the call for a European constitution. It is thought that there is something that may be called European constitutional principles, as defined in various agreements, & also a legal & institutional system that derives its validity & viability from those agreements. Although the Treaties of Rome do not include an explicit catalogue of fundamental rights, they nevertheless guarantee four economic freedoms: those of the movement of people, goods, capital, & services. However, the character of the European Union as a legal community is based on individual constitutions. Two questions arise from this: (1) The member countries remain the masters of the integration, which makes the EU more similar to the late medieval legal condition of partial juridization of political rule than a community with a modern constitution. (2) The European Union does not have pouvoir constituant. This fact has been criticized by the advocates of the idea of a European constitution who think that the EU needs a constitution to establish & maintain links among its citizens. According to them, this would represent the initial impetus for the political community. The author concludes that a European constitution could pave the way for the institutions that create a feeling of togetherness or unity of the citizens. On the other hand, one should not expect anything less. Adapted from the source document.

Max Weber, Clifford Geertz, & Rudolf Bultmann are often cited by anthropologists & sociologists who are trying to determine the essence of human sciences through a deep analysis of the subjective meanings that the actor sets to his/her behavior. This article provides an analysis of theoretical & epistemological conceptions of the three thinkers mentioned above, & the author concludes that each of them uses the construction of subjective justification in a different way. Weber distinguishes behavior itself from its meaning, which is constituted by a subjective reference to the values of the actor, & also of the recipient (or researcher). In Weber's point of view, someone else's meaning of behavior is eventually undeterminable, & the researcher can only come close to the subjective meaning through an ideal-typical construction, although Weber eventually does not refuse such ideal-typical constructions behind the cognitive possibilities of the actor. Geertz's attempt at an orientation of a description according to the actor primarily leads to the view of cultural & social facts from a bird's eye perspective, to a presumably deeper understanding than the actor is able to have. In this article the author argues that the differences between Weber's & Geertz's theoretical constructions originate in their contrasting conceptions of the nature of culture. Another such case is Bultmann, owing to the fact that he does not concentrate on the subjective meaning of action in a narrow sense, while he aims at, in his eyes, all human existential experience of reality.

The author examines the role of workforce development—in the form of skills upgrading and training—in integrating and embedding foreign direct investment (FDI) in the economy of Wales. He finds that by far the most important deciding factor in choosing Wales as an investment location is the availability of the government grants and subsidies that facilitate the initial location process. If this assistance were not available then the majority of FDI projects would not be attracted to Wales. The perception during the location decisionmaking process by potential FDI plants of the availability and quality of skilled labour in Wales is good compared with that of other potential regions. However, upon locating it appears that there is a significant shortfall between this perception and the actual quality of skilled labour available. Although the large majority of FDI plants utilise 'aftercare' training and skills-development initiatives facilitated by regional institutions and agencies the programmes in place in Wales are not always of the standard required by inward investors. The author finds that training budgets are significantly higher among FDI companies in Wales than comparably sized businesses in the United Kingdom as a whole, indicating that their contribution to regional workforce development has been underemphasised. It is concluded that, despite some recent restructuring, inward investors in Wales have attempted to act as 'local' agents, exerting an influence on and having an interest in the socioeconomics of their residing localities, suggesting an increasing degree of embeddedness.

AbstractThis essay argues that the ethical standards for leaders should not be different from those for everyone else. Leaders are carved out of morally fallible humans who are put in positions where they are expected to fail less than most people. The author believes that understanding the moral challenges distinctive to people in leadership positions is fundamental to understanding the very nature of leadership. This essay discusses a few of these ethical challenges including self‐interest, power, discipline, and trust. In the end, the author suggests that we may gain more insights into leadership development by studying ethical failures of leaders than by studying their successes.RésuméCet article soutient la thèse que les normes de conduite des chefs (d'entreprise) ou dirigeants devraient être sen‐siblement les mêmes que ceux des effectifs de tous rangs. Les chefs sont faits d'humains peccables que l'on a placés dans des situations où l'on emit qu'ils réussiront mieux que le commun des mortels. L'auteur emit qu'une meilleure compréhension des difficultés morales qu'af‐frontent les chefs en particulier est essentielle pour une compréhension de la nature même du travail de direction. L'article passe en revue quelques‐unes de ces difficultés, dont l'avantage personnel, le pouvoir, la discipline, et la confiance. En conclusion, l'auteur suggère que l'étude des manquements de conduite, plutôt que des réussites, tend à nous renseigner davantage sur le déve‐loppement des capacités de "leadership."

• Summary: This article draws on research with young people affected by immigration controls (Jones, 1998), other studies and relevant literature to examine the conditions and treatment of children and young people who seek asylum in the UK. • Findings: The findings highlight the detention and impoverishment of young asylum seekers and inadequacies in local authority provisions as evidence of discriminatory treatment. The author argues that contradictions between law and policy relating to children and those concerned with immigration control, negative social constructions of 'refugee' and 'immigrant' and the masking of social inequalities in dominant discourses of children's rights are factors which contribute to this situation. • Applications: The focus of current child care policy within the UK is to improve the quality and consistency of services to children in need, to improve outcomes for children looked after (children separated from birth parents) and to eradicate child poverty. The challenge for social work is to extend this concern to children affected by immigration controls. The author suggests that social workers have a major part to play in reclaiming and revisioning children's rights as a more inclusive concept in order to address the impact of structural inequality and discrimination on the achievement of rights. Although arising from work in the UK, the findings are more widely applicable in that the need for harmonization of domestic legislation with international agreements is highlighted and in the appeal for a rights-based approach to social work.

Although partnerships are emerging as a central feature in governance arrangements in advanced capitalist societies, much discussion has taken place on the value and effectiveness of the approach. In recent years this debate has come to the fore in Northern Ireland, as a plethora of partnerships have been increasingly applied across a wide range of different government programmes at different levels of governance. Using a map of partnership arrangements in Northern Ireland, the author examines three case studies with a view to analysing the value and importance of partnership and assessing the activities that they do best. From this analysis, the author then discusses the future of partnership governance, outlines a number of areas for new research, and presents an agenda for development. As the case studies suggest that too much emphasis has been placed on developing a 'process', to the detriment of product outcomes, it is argued that partnerships need to adopt a dual approach to development by combining an inclusive process with greater strategic focus. At the regional level, however, a partnership framework is needed to facilitate coordination, reduce duplication, and improve understanding between partnerships, and between partnerships, local authorities, and government departments. Moreover, by adopting an inclusive approach, a partnership framework has the potential to provide a voice for the socially and politically excluded and to encourage participative planning and pluralist policymaking.

An analysis of the relations among the government departments traditionally responsible for American foreign policy at the dawn of the Cold War during President Harry Truman's mandate, enables us to draw tentative conclusions regarding the policies & activities of the administration of today's President George W. Bush II. Bush's administration is expected to come up with an urgent definition of the new direction of US foreign policy, & provide the corresponding means & resources required for its implementation in this era of globalization, post-militarism, & the singular role that US plays in world affairs. Using as his starting point the assumption that without an awareness of the significance of a transformation of state power (the transformation carried out by the Truman administration), it is not possible to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the direction & the speed of the changes the Bush administration is to initiate in the foreign policy arena. The author first reviews the genesis of the goals of the US foreign policy during Truman's presidency, then looks into the manner & the forms of identification of foreign policy objectives &, finally, deals with the strategies mapped out for the realization of the identified foreign policy goals. By reviewing this important period in the history of US foreign policy, the author outlines all the major issues confronting the designers of today's American foreign policy & thus provides some cumulative & comparative insights. Adapted from the source document.

Focuses on the ethnic structure & the system of protecting the rights of national minorities in an ethnically plural Slovenia. According to the 1991 census, 87.8% of the country's population is Slovenian, & the rest are Croats, Serbs, Muslims, Italians, Hungarians, Romanies, members of other smaller ethnic groups, ethnically uncommitted persons, & individuals with regional identities. The Slovenian Constitution guarantees to all individuals, not only to Slovenian citizens, the right to expression & protection of ethnic identity. In line with the Constitution, the author distinguishes several basic categories of ethnic communities: the Slovenian people, the autochthonous minorities (Hungarians & Italians), the Romanies, the nonautochthonous (immigrant) minority groups whose members are Slovenian citizens, &, finally, the members of immigrant groups who are not Slovenian citizens. The Slovenian concept of the protection of autochthonous minority communities guarantees to the members of these minorities collective & individual rights. Their political representation in the Slovenian national parliament is guaranteed. The ethnic community of Romanies enjoys a high level of protection of their minority rights, allowing for a number of specific features of their social structure & taking into consideration their territorial dispersion & a low level of organization. The rights of the nonautochthonous ethnic communities are protected in a somewhat lesser degree. The author concludes that in Slovenia the constitutional & legal protection of ethnic minorities & their members is exemplary & can serve as a model to other countries. 1 Table, 17 References. Adapted from the source document.

The article briefly examines the main theoretical problems that are mentioned in the works by an outstanding Italian political scientist and sociologist G. Mosca. The article highlights his understanding of such categories as "political class" "middle class", their composition and structure. The author of the article enumerates several objective difficulties arising in the process of critical historiographical studying of Mosca's works. The article examines Mosca's interpretation of social historical reality via category "political formula". The article analyses the main methods of recruiting the elite, the types of political governing and tendencies typical of them. Basic arguments used by Mosca as means of theoretical criticism of democracy as one of the forces of governing are described. ; The article briefly examines the main theoretical problems that are mentioned in the works by an outstanding Italian political scientist and sociologist G. Mosca. The article highlights his understanding of such categories as "political class" "middle class", their composition and structure. The author of the article enumerates several objective difficulties arising in the process of critical historiographical studying of Mosca's works. The article examines Mosca's interpretation of social historical reality via category "political formula". The article analyses the main methods of recruiting the elite, the types of political governing and tendencies typical of them. Basic arguments used by Mosca as means of theoretical criticism of democracy as one of the forces of governing are described.

The central theme of this paper is the role of the new, entrepreneurial private sector, established after the fall of communism, in output recovery, and, more generally, in economic expansion of post-communist economies.This role is considered specifically in the context of the successes in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.The author notes a substantial difference between the performance of the new private sector and the privatized sector in the short to medium run (3-7 years) from the start of privatization.New private firms typically enter the economic game with well-established de jure and de facto property rights and with industrial relations based on market economy rules. Unlike the public sector or privatized firms, the labor force of these firms is not demoralized by the change to market-economy rules.As a result, they often perform better and are quick to increasing their share of aggregate output.This also helps the economy as a whole emerge earlier from transitional recession.The author discusses two hypothetical paths of recovery and expansion; one with and one without a dynamic new private sector.The determinants for establishing and growth of new private firms are considered.In addition to the specific rules and general framework of transition, the study concludes that broad institutional fundamentals of political liberty, law and order, and trust contribute to the successful emergence of this new entrepreneurial sector.