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The Evolution of Ideas About Freedom of Thought. Philosophical-Legal Approach "Thought is free," said Marcus Tullius Cicero in the first century BC. The international society managed to give legal content to the famous quote only at the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th century. Thanks to the titanic efforts of the notorious personalities of all time, philosophers and jurists, mankind has included freedom of thought in the list of fundamental freedoms and civil rights, which belong to every person from birth and which the state cannot deprive. Freedom of thought is an essential condition of a democratic society, of a rule of law. Moreover, this absolutely justified can be considered as the most important value of a prosperous society. Being fully exploited freedom of thought brings benefits only to the individual and to society as a whole. "Gândirea este liberă" afirma Marcus Tullius Cicero în secolul I î.e.n. Societatea internaţională a reuşit să dea conţinut juridic celebrului citat abia la sfârşitul secolului XIX, începutul secolului XX. Datorită eforturilor titanice ale personalităţilor notorii ale tuturor timpurilor, filozofi şi jurişti, omenirea a înscris libertatea de gândire în lista libertăţilor şi drepturilor civile fundamentale, care aparţin fiecărei persoane din momentul naşterii şi de care statul n-o poate priva. Libertatea de gândire este o condiţie esenţială a unei societăţi democratice, a unui stat de drept. Mai mult, aceasta absolut justificat poate fi considerată drept cea mai importantă valoare a unei societăţi prospere. Fiind valorificată plenar, libertatea de gândire aduce doar beneficii, atât individului, cât şi societăţii în ansamblu.

This article deals with the emergence of a new type of crime prevention in
interwar Romania. Inspired by the Italian school of criminal law and by the
Italian Criminal Code "Rocco" (1930), the Romanian Criminal Code "King Carol
II" (1936) formulates a new type of criminal sanctions, explicitly designed to
address and combat the social dangerousness. Regarded as a major challenge to
the classic criminal system based on free will and guilt, the "security measures"
were formalizing new types of offenders defined as such not by their criminal
acts but by their criminal potential, redefining the scope and the goal of the
criminal prevention. Major debates in the epoch reveal the possible threats this
new type of criminal sanctions and of a criminal policy orientated towards risk
prevention, seen as closely connected with authoritarian tendencies, carried for
individual freedom and the rule of law. The legal issues discussed in the epoch prove significant for the current debates regarding the negative consequences the
preventive War on Terror have for individual freedom and the rule of law.

The positive, unifying ideological resources of liberal and progressive Islamic interpretations deserve more than ever to be exploited in the contemporary socio-political context. Their conceptual tools, principles and theses could solve the conflictual cleavage, politically manipulated, between Islam and Western modernity, without repudiating the references to an Islamic paradigm. Therefore, liberal and progressive Islamic understandings could avoid the recent superficial oscillation between two ideological -artificially constructed- extremes, namely either confining the discussions to the secular, colonialist or postcolonialist perspectives, or promoting the defensive opportunist neotraditionalist Islamic approaches, specific to the nationalist movements of the last century so-called Islamic revival. Liberal Islam does not fully adopt all liberal theses and does not obediently imitate Western philosophy. Liberal Islamic understandings are defined by the opposition against teocracy and by supporting the democracy. Women, minorities and non-Muslims' rights in Muslim-majority countries, freedom of thought and trust in human progress, are other essential tenets that are fundamented on contemporary understandings of the major Islamic sources. Trying to correct some excesses that the liberal Muslims were accused of, but maintaining the reformist tendencies, progressive Muslims' approach is centered on a "multiple critiqueˮ ‒ a simultaneous critique of the diverse discourses and communities in which Muslims are situated. Not only the authoritarian constructions of literalist, puritanist Muslims, the violation of human rights, freedom of expression and of religion, the oppression of women in some Muslim countries are condemned and deconstructed, but also some political, economic, intellectual hegemonic Western aspects of modernity. In Romania these contemporary tendencies of interpreting Islam are not yet represented at a community level.

This article is based on three hypotheses. First, the legal requirements for
establishing political parties in Romania are among the most restrictive in Europe.
Second, electoral participation decreased globaly during the last two decades;
however, when a party succeeded in registering and endorsed a non-ideological
position, the electoral participation slightly increased; so, if the legal requirements
will be relaxed, new parties might emerge and a greater participation to the
elections might be taken into consideration. Third, the current legal procedure
for registering political parties contradicts the constitutional provisions on the
freedom of association and the right to be elected. In the light of this findings, the
article suggest a revision of the current legislation.

This article reviews the importance of national interest in the context of democratic transformations. The Republic of Moldova has to define its national interests as an opportunity to demonstrate that it has committed itself to respecting the values of freedom and tolerance, to demonstrate that it is open to bilateral and multilateral dialogue and cooperation and it tends to become a reliable security partner also by that gaining more audience and credibility. Even if the national interests of the Republic of Moldova are of a regional character, because its political and economic potential is limited, so it can not claim global roles in the world arena, the national interests synthesize the trajectories on the basis of which the Republic of Moldova conceives its present and the future. In democratic transformations, the role of state power in contemporary conditions does not diminish, but vice versa complicates and increases. Regardless of the social model that our society develops on, the state is the most important instrument for increasing people's well-being, building civical and political activity as well as strengthening the sense of citizenship. Thus, the course and results of democratic transformations are to a large extent determined by the quality of state leadership. The national interest is a well known determinant of political behaviour which motivates and stimulates different actors to develop political goals, to take actions that address both the political sphere as well as other social spheres. Starting from the premise that we are still doomed to governments formed by coalition, we consider absolutely necessary for all political formations to place on the first place the national interest, democratic transformation, sovereignty, human dignity, rights and freedoms, and not the narrow interests of the party or group.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an essential reference to human rights and freedoms. Both the Declaration and the Constitution obliges authorities, especially justice and therefore constitutional justice to respect fundamental rights and freedoms, including those through which is ensured protection of personality's spiritual side. The right to a fair trial has a special place among the fundamental rights in a democratic society, whose level should be inherent in any system of law. The right to a fair trial in an independent and impartial court is recognised in customary international law so that those states that have not yet ratified the international instruments are also bound by law and the judicial system to adapt their legislation appropriately. The right to a fair trial has several components such as access to justice, a fair and public case in a reasonable time, examination of the case by an independent and impartial court, established by law, advertising delivery decisions. The right to be tried by an independent and impartial court is so elemental, exciting Human Rights Committee status as an "absolute right not bear any exception". The right to a fair trial also means a reasonable opportunity to expose any part of his case to the court in a manner that does not disadvantage the opposing party, which is achieved by ensuring its rights of defense. Parties have the right to be assisted by an attorney, elected or appointed by office. Realisation of the right to defense is ensured by the organisation and functioning of the judiciary, which is based on the principles of legality, equality of parties, gratuity, collegiality, publicity, immutability and the active role of the court. To enact a law the court as part of a fair trial takes into account the competence to hear the case, both materially and territorially. In this context, statutory legislation provisions are clear and precise, clearly delineating the powers of courts, the costs involved in the administration of justice. To understand and respect the provisions is of paramount importance in realisng the right - a prerequisite to the existence of balanced and harmonious society.

This article discusses the case of Ion Grigorescu, and of his ambiguous relationship with the communist regime, which he registered through a form of "documentary realism". Through his "realgrams" Grigorescu documented real life experiences in an innovatory approach to the majority of Romanian artists of the time using photographs of his everyday environment, and being inspired by his social and political context. Grigorescu is thus an artist committed to the public space and assuming a critical stance without it being discursive, pedant or moralizing. The approach of this study is descriptive, based on the artists' artworks and self-descriptions, and seeking to situate Grigorescu's approach in the context of the communist regime and its transformation after 1990 into a democratic regime. The conclusions show that Grigorescu's artworks are anti-system, criticizing any establishment, no matter in which regime he finds himself. His contestation is specific to a committed artist that chooses to express his freedom of expression beyond his own studio.

The European continent, under the urge of the events generated by the process of building Europe that has led to an enlargement of the external European Union borders towards the east, undergoes a process of alteration. No matter on which side of the EU border they may be, the citizens of the European countries are entitled to enjoy the fruit of welfare, security and freedom. The development of a coherent neighbourhood policy in Brussels becomes an imperative resulting from the need for communication and cooperation amongst people and countries.
No matter the view on the European Union external border, the dialogue on all levels of the society through the means of inter-university cooperation is a factor providing the communication needed for good neighbourhood. Thus, the stiff borders fade away. By setting up a university network comprising both partners from within and outside the European Union, a bond is established over the external border of the community. From this point of view, inter-university cooperation at the external borders of the European community turns into a promoter of good neighbourhood values.

This article intends to analyze the role of religion in the public sphere in Habermas's theory. Despite the fact that the concept has been launched in a book published in 1961, only in 2005 the well-known German thinker has dealt explicitly with this issue. Even the critics of his public sphere model do not mention the lack of religion from the whole paradigm. Some of Habermas writings related to religion prior to 2005 are discussed. The role of religion in the public sphere is, according to Habermas, related with the issue of religious freedom and the State- Church separation, a model opposed to French laicïté. For Habermas, the state must not only be neutral to the religious discourse, but it must also encourage the participation of political organizations to public life. Another issue that is discussed by Habermas is the relationship between religious majorities and minorities. Habermas does assume a middle position between laicïté and the refuse of the modernity-imposed borders between religion and politics. The article takes an insight into the way Charles Taylor deals with the role of religion in the public sphere, a helpful argument for showing that the debate on this issue is only at the beginning.

Choosing arbitration as a way of resolving legal disputes, it involves the guarantee of principle regarding contractual freedom. This principle is also established in ECtHR's jurisprudence. In this situation the question is whether the court can impose or sanction an arbitration decision that violates the ECtHR rules. Under the ECtHR's jurisprudence, it is not necessarily an arbitration decision to be canceled because it did not correspond to all the guarantees of Article 6. Each contracting State, in principle, can decide the reasons an arbitration decision should be annulled or not. An arbitration agreement, reached between the parties, restricts voluntarily the right to access to courts and dispute settlement in accordance with their rules of procedure. Thus, the parties to an arbitration agreement must be "fully aware" of giving up this fundamental right and once validly waived this right, they cannot plead infringement of it. European Convention on Human Rights is binding on judges only indirectly, only the proceedings of the court in connection with the arbitration proceedings are subject to the European Court of Human Rights, but not the arbitration procedure itself. So, ECtHR in Article 6 (1) of the Convention is not directly imposed to arbitration courts, but obliges courts of contracting states to establish appeal against arbitral order to verify the correctness of the arbitration proceedings and to quash decisions that disregard the fundamental procedural guarantees laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights.

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.

The article is an attempt to draw a brief historical comparison between censorship in interwar and in communist Romania respectively. Paradoxically, there are not too many genuine scientific studies on censorship, in a country well-known for its repressive approach against culture during its recent and not so recent history. The analysis uses the works of the novelist and historian of religions, Mircea Eliade, as an illustrative case study among other prior to 1989 examples, especially in order to prove the much harsher nature of the communist regime.