Suchergebnisse

The article examines a few episodes during the 1866-1871 legislatures of the Romanian Parliament. The debate on the annual budget for 1867 represents a good opportunity for the members of the Parliament to define politics as a matter of opinion, with negative connotations, in opposition to the face-value and clearness represented by the mathematical percentages and figures. The latter ought to guide, in their opinion, good governance, which does not belong to the realm of politics. According to such a mental scheme, the members of both Chambers of the Parliament appear to be convinced that majoritarian politics and the fragmentation of the political parties must be utterly rejected in order to adequately realize representation. The difficulty of the Romanian members of the Parliament to define politics influences their difficulty to define their own role, namely the nature of political representation.

This article compares the ideas of two political thinkers representative for their time and region - Kautilya (of ancient India) and Machiavelli (of modern Europe). The analysis reveals important similarities and differences, and offers potential explanations for the findings. Most significantly, the similarities between Kautyla's Arthasastra and Machiavelli's Prince are visible particularly when it comes to their treatment of war, 'state' administration, diplomacy, monarchy and the features of a good leader. Such similarities suggest that the development of modern European philosophy has been influenced by other cultural spaces, including Ancient India.

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.