International audience ; The article questions, in a skeptical and prospective way, the institutional outcomes of this major trans-national trend of administrative reformism known as "New Public Management". In our view, the main cross-border legacy of the process of acclimatizing NPM precepts and recipes to various national configurations consists essentially in institutional rearrangements and in a repertoire of managerial tools and recipes, embedded into different institutional orders and hybridized with many other key features of various administrative cultures. Backing up major administrative reforms started several decades ago, the NPM rhetoric claimed to furnish the universal cure for the "bureaucratic" disease which was supposedly affecting the developed states at the end of the 1970s. From then on and although it never acquired the inner coherence of a real doctrine, it spread all over the world at the point of becoming both a "policy paradigm" and a "praxeologic". However, once implemented and in order to endure, the NPM-inspired logics, instruments, and methods have fatally begun to suffer a process of routinization which transformed them significantly. Hence, far from achieving their initial goal of "de-bureaucratizing" the state, NPM reformism became part of the endless processes of bureaucratic reproduction inescapably affecting modern states and ensuring their resilience.
The purpose of the monograph is to investigate the territorial organization of the local collectivities of the Republic of Moldova based on the paradigm of the territorial organization of the public power. The monograph aim is the reconfiguration of the framework for the analysis of the phenomenon of the territorial organization of local power by deliberately opting for the territorial organization approach of the public power from the perspective of social sciences, in general, and of political science, in particular, as well as the rigors imposed by the principles of the contemporary democracies relative to the realities of the Republic of Moldova. The fundamental idea of the monograph is that the existing territorial organization of the local power, being established without taking into account the needs and interests of the local collectivities, does not provide the premises for the development of the society, in general, and of the local collectivities, in particular. Identification and implementation of an optimal territorial organization system of the local power will create the necessary conditions for the affirmation of the local democracy and ensure the prosperous development of the Republic of Moldova.
Local power is carried out within the territorial boundaries of local municipalities that are delimited by each other through clearly defined borders and their degree of autonomy and vitality and depends, to a large extent, on the principles underlying the territorial organization of this public power. The author considers that the territorial organization of the public power in the Republic of Moldova must be carried out on the basis of the following principles: a) respect for human rights, b) respect for historical, national and local traditions, c) economic and financial sufficiency, d) ensuring the participation of the population in the management of local public affairs, e) maximum proximity of the local public authorities to the inhabitants, f) population consultation on issues related to the territorial organization of the public power, g) legality, h) respect of the scientific achievements. It was concluded that there is no strict dependence on the process of the territorial organization of public power to the objective criteria for creating territorial systems for the exercise of public power. Unlike other systems, the system of territorial organization of public power is much more static. This is a necessary condition for the proper functioning of the public authorities, which must have a permanent and clearly defined territorial area of activity. The territorial organization of power in the Republic of Moldova was influenced by the factors of social, economic, organizational, national, historical, political nature. Each of the listed factors can determine the most important aspects of the territorial structure at certain stages of state development.
Drawing upon the first Romanian journal devoted to the broad promotion of hygiene and health education -The Sanitary and Hygiene Handbook- the article investigates the interaction between politics and medicine, politicians and doctors in modern Romania. Published uninterruptedly between 1899-1907 and considered "essential for the rural sanitary service", the journal shows the evolution and predicaments of the position of the medical profession: as public servants, the physicians were agents of the various territorial sanitary administrations; however, by virtue of their medical expertise and field experience, they were also harsh critics of local and central authorities, claiming a special status in both the design of health policies and their implementation on the ground. This dual and conflictive nature of the medical profession added to the increasing polarisation of the medical profession and of the sanitary staff as a result of the salient "proletarization" of its members in the rural areas, as opposed to the elitist character of the corporation in the capital, well represented among MPs. At the beginning of the 20th century, the debates hosted by the journal testify for the transformation of hygiene and medicine from a doctor-to-patient relation to a generally acknowledged policy sector.
This article reveals the institutional characteristics of local public administration in the Republic of Moldova - local autonomy, decentralization of public services, eligibility of public authorities, and consultation of citizens in issues of major interest. From institutional point of view, the local public administration in the Republic of Moldova is insufficiently developed. Local autonomy is performed with long postponement. Most of the population is still under the influence of the idea that all the problems are solved at the central administration level, while the local public officials are just some executive agents at the local level. Options related to decentralization as a requirement of administration's approach by the administratives, have been manifested more as a way of the central authorities to get rid of the problems that they themselves can not solve. Citizens' behavior in Moldova shows on a limited degree of control that can occur in connection with the social and political process. Forms of realization of the principle of consultation of citizens in matters of particular interest are consultations, public hearings and conversations. Although legally regulated, the referendum failed to materialize itself into a viable institution of participation. In this connection it is necessary to take into account the fact that the structure of the resistance of local public administration consists of its institutional roles, and assimilation of these ones is achieved on the basis of access to media materials.
In: Analele Universității București: Annals of the University of Bucharest = Les Annales de l'Université de Bucarest. Științe politice = Political science series = Série Sciences politiques, Band 5, S. 15-25
One of the essential objectives of this work is to change the optical approach of the local power phenomenon, opting for the approach of the territorial organization of local power from the perspective of the realities of the contemporary world. Within the thematic framework of the paper, I have pursued that the territorial organization of local power to be treated from the perspective of political and administrative sciences, referring to the Moldovan realities, but also to the influences of the integration in the European space. In order to solve the theoretical and practical problems related to the efficient territorial organization of the public power, I have used the paradigm of the territorial organization of the public power as the basis of the phenomenon investigation. The key idea of the paradigm is that the phenomenon of public power in the contemporary democratic state must be tackled not only in relation to the state but more broadly in the aspect of the existence of both the public power of the people and the existence and functioning of the local collectivities' public power as a power that has the same social nature but is different as form and content from the state one. These communities have their own public power, based on two essential elements: the local population and the local electoral system through which its representative bodies (decision-making and executive) are elected. The chapters of the papers imply complex researches regarding the territorial organization of the local power, in the idea that they would allow to identify a model of territorial organization of the local power in terms of the interests and needs of local collectivities in the Republic of Moldova. The final objective of the paper was to develop a theoretical vision of the reform of the territorial organization system of local power in accordance with the new realities and that would meet the political, social and economic challenges facing the Republic of Moldova. Reforming the territorial organization of the local public power on the basis of the recommendations made in the paper will help to overcome the negative tendencies that occur in the processes taking place in the society. Searching solutions to solve or identifying possible ways to resolve a problem does not necessarily mean finding an undoubtedly mean to solve the problem or a definite answer to the existing issue. In many cases, scientific researches does not put the end point in a scientific dispute or in a contradictory approach of a phenomenon, they only develop it, broaden the knowledge space and update it, providing research space to other researchers concerned about that issues and opportunities of choice and documentation for political decision-makers.
In: Analele Universității București: Annals of the University of Bucharest = Les Annales de l'Université de Bucarest. Științe politice = Political science series = Série Sciences politiques, Band 13, Heft 2, S. 21-34
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 article takes issue with the deeply entrenched historical conception about the shaping of social policies in pre-communist Romania, which indicates socialist politics and socialist-enlisted worker trade-unionism as the only significant agents of change, also depicting the non-socialist political forces of the time as participating to the process by merely employing the strategy of stern resistance and piecemeal concessions. The alternative view offered stresses the pivotal roles performed in the context by the ideological trend of socially-minded liberalism, by the movements of professional representation with petty entrepreneurial and white-collar constituencies and by the corporatist design for the representation of professional interests. The successive stages of the inquiry leading to the formulation of such interpretative theses - and inaugurated as a research on the relation between fascist modernism and the corporatist vision of rapid economic growth under an authoritarian political cover in the local milieu - are disclosed all throughout.
In: Buletinul Științific al Universității de Stat B. P. Hasdeu din Cahul: The scientific journal of Cahul State University B. P. Hasdeu. Științe sociale = Social sciences, Heft 1, S. 4-30
The implementation of the principles of local democracy has proven to be one of the most complicated tasks of the political and administrative reform in the Republic of Moldova. To overcome this situation, it is important to develop and substantiate theoretically such concepts as "local power", "the subject of local power", "local territorial collectivity". A clear scientific definition of those notions would serve as a foundation for developing an appropriate legal framework and public policy in the field. In order to elucidate the notions mentioned above, the existing essential approaches in the contemporary social sciences regarding the public territorial collectivities have been analyzed. The factors affecting the formation and existence of the local territorial collectivities have also been emphasized. Two types of authorities: private and public have been briefly considered. This paper analyzes the concept of "local authority" in contrast to the term "territorial administrative unit" with which the legislator operates in the Republic of Moldova. It was concluded that the concept "local collectivity" is more acceptable because it is the appropriate expression of the phenomenon of the territorial organization of public power in general, as opposed to the concept "administrative unit" which refers only to the territorial organization of state public power. So, from this point of view, the territorial administrative units and the local territorial collectivities are two different phenomena. In a strictly legal sense, the territorial-administrative unit is an inhabited territory which has no heritage (in the territory there is the state property or another kind of heritage) and it is administered by an official appointed by the state. The local collectivity has its own heritage that is managed on its own account and in order to solve local problems. The issues belonging to state power can be delegated to local authorities by sending financial and material resources needed to achieve them. A territorial community of the residents becomes local authority if it possesses and uses democratic institutions, creates bodies of self administration on the basis of the elective principle, takes binding decisions for the community, and has its own financial and material resources in order to regulate the internal life. These indicators make public territorial collectivities to be different from the territorial administrative units, in which only administrative methods of management are used. The defining elements of the identity of a local collectivity, such as: a) name, b) territory, c) population, d) the public authority of the eligible authorities, e) the Statute, f) the distinctive insignia of the local collectivity, have been identified. These elements make the local territorial collectivity to be distinguished from other similar collectivities.
At the begining of the 19th century, the political authorities of Wallachia were using two apparently different approches, but in complementary, regarding the beggars, namely social care and repression. Their common denominator is that they intended to unconditionally forbid begging. By examining public archive documents, we intend to present the theoretical organization of a new public social care institution (the beggars' institute) and the way it practically functioned. The beggars' institute was an establishment with a double mission: care and repression. Different records and documents about the institute's functioning (administrative correspondence, demands of confinement or releasing, etc.) allowed us to examine the beneficiaries of this type of social care and the confinement procedures; the institute's internal organization (its security or its curative capacities); the abuses authorities sometimes committed when hasting to keep beggars away from the public space; releasing conditions from the institute; perceptions (of ordinary people or of authorities) on the institute and the beggars.
In: Analele Universității București: Annals of the University of Bucharest = Les Annales de l'Université de Bucarest. Științe politice = Political science series = Série Sciences politiques, Band 14, Heft 2, S. 87-95
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.
In: Reformarea administraţiei publice locale - imperativ al modernizării Republicii Moldova: Materialele conferinţei ştiinţifie internaţionale din 10 noiembrie, 2017, S. 63-80
From August 2009 and till present, the Republic of Modova is governed by the "pro-European" coalitions. This period has been marked by instability and, the governments have succeeded very often. The purpose of the study is to investigate the content of government programmes regarding the territorial organization of the local government. There were analyzed the actions that are tangent/relevant to the territorial organization of the public power. Also, the election programs of the electoral contestants, that in the 2014 parliamentary elections have passed the electoral threshold, have been examined.
The article presents the way the first Associations and Foundations are set up in Romania, focusing on the tight circle of people dedicated to the domain and specialized on the road, staying forever in the NGO sector, moving from one organization to another or working for more than one at the same time. From lack of legislation to unclear regulations, NGOs struggle on their path with logistical issues which influenced their performance, public image, their projects and mostly their results. The author identifies the outcome as determined by the struggle to access grants, the NGO agenda versus financer's agenda, the absence of grants for a specific type of issues, the shortage of the professionalized staff, the challenge of working with volunteers, the compulsory annual reports and financial reports to the Government authorities.