Suchergebnisse

A disszertáció célja annak körüljárása, hogy miként jellemezhető a társadalombiztosítási rendszeren keresztül támogatott gyógyászati segédeszközök hozzáférhetősége Magyarországon, a felhasználók választási szabadsága szempontjából. A feltáró elemzés elméleti kerete az Amartya Sen nevéhez kötődő képességszemlélet (Capability Approach), a jóllét és a fejlődés normatív elmélete, ami a fejlődést az emberek képességeinek és arra való tényleges lehetőségeinek – szabadságainak – bővülésében látja, hogy olyan életet éljenek, amilyet okkal tartanak értékesnek. A segédeszköz elosztást amentén vizsgáltam, hogy az mennyiben személyre szabott, és mennyiben bővíti a felhasználók tényleges lehetőségeit a számukra értékesnek tartott, jó életre: a segédeszközhöz jutás folyamatában mennyiben jelennek meg az érintettek véleményei, értékei, hangja, a "semmit rólunk nélkülünk" elv, milyen garanciákat vállal a jogalkotó és a folyamatban résztvevő többi szereplő annak érdekében, hogy az érintettek tudatában legyenek a valódi választási lehetőségeiknek. A kutatás során – szociálpolitikai alapelveken, nemzetközi tapasztalatokon, három európai tanulmányúton és a képességszemléleten alapulva – elemzési indikátorrendszer készült. A szakirodalom áttekintésén és a jogszabályelemzésen túl, a támogatórendszer gyakorlati működését szakértői és érintetti interjúk (n=52) segítettek feltárni. Magyarországon nincs nemzeti stratégia vagy program, ami bizonyos mértékben biztosítéka volna a támogató technológia hozzáférhetőségének. Több mint ötven jogszabály érinti a gyógyászati segédeszközöket, ezek ugyanakkor kevésbé védik a felhasználókat. A jogalkotó elsődleges célja, hogy megelőzze a túlköltekezést. A gyógyászati segédeszközök mellől elmaradnak a kapcsolódó szolgáltatások, ami nem csak az egyén szintjén teremt problémát, és eredményezi sok esetben az eszközök kihasználatlanságát, hanem csökkenti a gazdaságilag racionális működés valószínűségét is. A támogatott gyógyászati segédeszközök rendszerének jelenlegi működésében az akadályozottság ...

One of the most important diplomatic debates of the 1990s evolved around the eastern enlargement of the NATO. In the early years of the foreign policy of the Middle-Eastern countries by now free from soviet influence one major issue was to adapt themselves to the post-cold war world order. All of the countries involved – the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary in the first round – soon realized that their only option was to get integrated into the western organizations, to NATO in particular. The leading politicians of this organization had their doubts about these countries' capability to adapt to the already developed system of the organization. This is mainly illustrated by the fact that until the middle of the decade there was a lack of real commitment to the enlargement of the alliance. The PfP document of January 1994 may be regarded as a breakthrough. The diplomacy of Moscow became more and more dismissive as to the idea of the eastern enlargement of the NATO. Within a few months an attitude that regarded Russia joining the NATO as a possible perspective gave way to the total rejection of the enlargement. This study aims at exploring the determining points of this debate mainly in the light of the most important documents. ; One of the most important diplomatic debates of the 1990s evolved around the eastern enlargement of the NATO. In the early years of the foreign policy of the Middle-Eastern countries by now free from soviet influence one major issue was to adapt themselves to the post-cold war world order. All of the countries involved – the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary in the first round – soon realized that their only option was to get integrated into the western organizations, to NATO in particular. The leading politicians of this organization had their doubts about these countries' capability to adapt to the already developed system of the organization. This is mainly illustrated by the fact that until the middle of the decade there was a lack of real commitment to the enlargement of the alliance. The PfP document of January 1994 may be regarded as a breakthrough. The diplomacy of Moscow became more and more dismissive as to the idea of the eastern enlargement of the NATO. Within a few months an attitude that regarded Russia joining the NATO as a possible perspective gave way to the total rejection of the enlargement. This study aims at exploring the determining points of this debate mainly in the light of the most important documents.

This paper discusses the experiences of the implementation of LEADER approach from the perspective of effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability. In the late 1980s, the EU's rural development policy shifted towards endogenous development, as introduced into the practice of rural development in the framework of the LEADER programme. The LEADER as the new model of rural development policy, the new paradigm of development focuses on participation, cooperation and utilization of the local resources. The basic institutions of implementation of the LEADER programme are the LAGs (Local Action Groups as local partnerships), which have a great role in the local development with their proactive operation. The impact assessment of the implementation of the LEADER approach showed that in spite of several positive examples, there are many factors which hinder the wide adoption of the features of the programme into practice, thus realization of results and impacts expected from it in the process of local development. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to maintain and strengthen the factors of success and to avoid factors which weaken or hinder the effective adaptation of the method. Thereby it can be hoped that the possibilites provided by the LEADER approach can be utilized in the local rural development.

Regions and regionalism are rather flourishing in Europe. But what do regionalism and the expression "Europe of regions" exactly mean? There are three approaches to the question: first, the concept of cross-border interregionality between the Member States of the European Union; second, the effort to make regions the basic building blocks of European integration instead of states; and finally, the objective to introduce a three-tier structure to the European Union which would extend the already existing tiers of the European Union and the Member States with a third one, the territorial units within nation-states. The first approach (interregional cooperation) has long been adopted; the second approach (the vision of Europe made up of regions instead of states) is rather utopian. The third one is subject to fierce debates: a three-tier European Union with European, nation-state and regional levels. Although the form, motives and causes of movements promoting regionalism may vary greatly, 1 their purpose is the same for autonomous, federalist and separatist movements alike: to relativise the existing central nation-state. Thus, advancing European integration has become a natural ally for them as – from their perspective – it meant the disfunctionality of traditional nation-states. A supranational and therefore multinational and multicultural community promises much more room for development than a classic nation-state.

One of the aims of the new electoral law of Hungary has been to define a fairer apportionment into voting districts. This is ensured by a set of rules slightly more premissive than those laid out in the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters of the Venice Commission. These rules fix the average size of the voting districts, require voting districts not to split smaller towns and villages and not to cross county borders. We show that such an apportionment is mathematically impossible. We make suggestions both to the theoretical approach to resolve this problem, study the properties of our approach and using our efficient algorithm and the data of the 2010 national elections we determine the optimal apportionment. We also study the expected effect of demographic changes and formulate recommendations to adhere to the rules over the long term: increase the number of voting districts to about 130, allow the number of voting districts to change flexibly at each revision of the districts and base the districts on regions rather than counties.

A régiók nem csak a közelmúltban jelentek meg az európai politika színpadán, mint önálló szereplők, tevékenységüket már évtizedek óta jegyzik. Ennek középpontjában mindenekelőtt a régiók határokon átnyúló együttműködése áll, ezt egészítették ki a régiók transznacionális megállapodásaival, amelyek arra szolgáltak, hogy a nemzetállamok kormányaival valamint a nemzetközi szervezetekkel, különösképpen az Európa Tanáccsal és az Európai Közösséggel szemben érdekképviseletüket gyakorolják. Az utóbbi időben a régiók egyre energikusabban és követelőbben hívták fel magukra a figyelmet. Tevékenységük súlypontja jelenleg nyilvánvalóan az EU és az integrációs folyamatokon belül helyezkedik el. A régiók mint az EU-kontextus politikai tényezői igen sokrétű tevékenységet mutatnak fel, amelyek az "Európa régiói" megjelölésben foglalhatók össze. Az elnevezésből, mint sokszor használatos szlogenből azonban hiányzik egy egyértelmű és ugyanakkor közös megegyezéssel alapuló, elfogadott tartalom. Regions appeared as autonomous entities on the European political stage not only in recent years. The activity of regions has been recorded for decades. It focuses above all on the cross-border cooperation of regions, and was supplemented by the trans-national agreements of regions, which served to practice their representation against the governments of nation states as well as international organisations, in particular, the European Council and the European Community. Most recently, regions have drawn attention to their presence more and more and when doing so have found increasing attention. Their centre of activity is now obviously located within the EU and the integration processes. Regions as the political factors of the EU context show a wide range of activities that can be summarized under the label of 'the regions of Europe'. The name, as a frequently used slogan, is lacking a clear and at the same time jointly agreed, accepted content. Regions and regionalism are rather flourishing in Europe. But what do regionalism and the expression Europe of regions exactly mean? There are many approaches to the question, the concept of cross-border interregionality between the Member States of the European Union, or the effort to make regions the basic building blocks of European integration instead of states, and the objective to introduce a three-tier structure to the European Union which would extend the already existing tiers of the European Union and the Member States with a third one, the territorial units within nation states. The first approach has long been adopted, the second approach is rather utopian. The third one is subject to fierce debates: a three-tier European Union with European, nation state and regional levels.

There were two significant milestones in the lives of Central and Eastern European countries. One was the political, social and economic change of regime during which the former centralized system was demolished. The other was the accession to the European Union, which provided an opportunity for this macro region for convergence as well as a social, economic and regional cohesion in Europe. Both of them had a significant effect on the development policy of the countries, thus that of Hungary as well. The exclusivity of the top-down policy ceased. Nevertheless, due to the learning of democratic patterns, the lack of balance in political power and the lack of funds a kind of reflection period was characteristic of the development policy the result of which was a kind of mixture of top-down and bottom-up policy. By joining the European Union clear external rules and mechanisms of action came into effect. Significant funds became accessible that strengthened the centralization and the top-down approach in the Hungarian development policy. The regional dimensions of the development endeavours appeared in many different ways in our country, but finally the regional formations that were suitable for serving the top-down development policy strengthened. The individual areas were affected miscellaneously by the regional dimension of the development tendencies. While funds were provided by the European Union for them, the bottom-up initiatives were not sufficiently welcomed. Such an area is in many ways that of Lake Balaton, which is homogeneous as far as tourism is concerned but administratively, thus from the perspective of development policy, it is split. Due to the top-down approach as well as the strengthening of the bureaucratic development policy the role of this area in the development policy is fading. This can later have a negative effect on the valuable, unique character of the region.

This study describes the Habsburg officials and commission members appointed to conclude a peace treaty between the Habsburgs and Ottomans between 1627 and 1629 at Szőny (Hungary). Furthermore, by relying on a database of about 2,000 records drawn from diplomatic and administrative sources and utilizing a quantitative approach, it outlines the channels and focal points for communication between the Habsburg appointees, as well as the direction and intensity of the exchange of information. The analysis of the database leads to the conclusion that the Hungarian palatine, Miklós Esterházy had a major role in the negotiations and that the Imperial Court and War Council played an intermediary role between the palatine and the members of the treaty commission. Furthermore, it points out that the palatine maintained contact with the beylerbeyi of Buda, Murteza pasha, which may have had an impact on the negotiations at Szőny.

Considering the recent series of events and intensified diplomatic and economic relations, many experts envisage a new Cold War between the two superpowers of the twenty-first century. Although the Chinese-American relationship over the last half-century has experienced some great moments, it has mostly been characterised by less amicable or even hostile attitudes, as well as economically volatile competition. The pragmatic realist approach and diplomatic appeasement of the 1970s and 1980s served mutual interests for the two countries against their common foe, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, concerning their political values and visions, the democratic US and the Marxist-Maoist People's Republic of China have proven to be two irreconcilable political and social experiments, worlds apart from each other's spheres and paradigms. Within the context of the drastically altered global political milieu of the new millennium, the two great powers have manoeuvred themselves into heated confrontational positions over the last decade, not even excluding the possibility of a severe clash of interests in the future.

This paper is aimed at analysing the impact of the crisis of the liberal international order on the transatlantic relations. Both the EU and the US have vital interest to maintain the existing international order, however regarding certain foreign policy goals we witness an increasingly divergent approach to world politics. This is the case with the Middle East, where the EU acts as a global player based on historical ties, while the United States have recently started a gradual disengagement from the region. The so-called post-American Middle East have its own opportunities as well as challenges for the European diplomacy. This article focuses on the differences between the EU and the US foreign policy goals related to the Middle East. It primarily addresses the Iranian nuclear program and the Middle East Peace Plan recently launched by the US. The author argues despite some differences in interests, the EU and the US do not perceive the region in an entirely different way.

The essay deals with the territorial disparities of Poland and the new aspects of regional development. According to the general opinion, there are two types of explanation of the differences of the level of regional development. According to the evolutionist perception, the roots of the regional differences are the consequents of the cleavages coming from the historical past. On the other hand, the other opinion is based on the 'big bang' of the economic and political transformation. There are different perceptions of the phenomenon 'region', some of the authors concentrate on the regional identity and the region as a historical phenomenon. The regions have different historical past in the Central and Eastern European countries where the role of the central government had greater influence. Finally, the essay deals with the cleavages of Poland and the several approaches made in oreder to eliminate these differences, and the role of the regional development programmes and practices.

The fundamental principles of the EU LEADER Programme are common in every member states. However the Programme was fit to the national legislative framework, institutional culture and social features, thus it was implemented with significant differences in the different EU countries/regions. Our study examines the LEADER implementation in one of the Spanish autonomous regions, Andalusia, which has many parallels with Hungarian rurality in terms of political culture, rural economy and society. The Andalusian implementation of the LEADER Programme is especially advanced on various ways. Resulting from the genuine decentralisation of the programme, local action groups enjoy a great degree of independence. They act as paying agencies, make independent and fast decisions and provide tailored assistance for their local clients. The Andalusian implementation of LEADER clearly proves that it can be successful, even in less advanced socio-cultural circumstances. Many elements of this system could be usefully applied in Hungary too, given that we find a way to embed a similar approach to rural development in various levels of our institutional system. We recommend our study to all those who aim for a better rural development system for Hungary in 2014-20.

What we today call the international system was created by the West from early modern age. This term is often used in political theory, but less focused on how to classify integrative forces within the international system. In the context of this study, we are attempting to lay down some conceptual basis. How do we understand the linking and unifying factors within the international system? Initially, the emergence of the international system was largely attributed to political factors in theory, but we can also refer to other explanatory principles: one considers economic factors and civilizational factors are taken into consideration as essential aspects of the international structures. According to our viewpoint, inter-civilization dialogue seems to be a "third way" that goes beyond the expansive one-sidedness of Western universalism and the world-level confrontation of hostile civilizations. This "civilizational approach" incorporates the two previous aspects - economic and political - and this is what gives its importance. In our view, inter-civilization dialogue is the only viable way to create global ethos, and only the resulting "intellectual revolution" can make national and supranational economic and political institutions to operate in effective way under the conditions of globalization.

This paper aims to give a comprehensive picture of the objectives and perspectives behind the creation of the Central European Initiative (CEI). It also analyzes the role of CEI in the political, economic and social transition in the post-Socialist states. The article studies how CEI helped the integration of the Central European countries to the Western institutions, especially to the European Union (EU). The cooperation was founded in 1989 by Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Yugoslavia. It was unique and special in the era, as it had member states from totally different political and economic blocks. There are more approaches to explain the creation of this cooperation. According to the Liberal one, the founder states wished to create a flexible platform for the cooperation of countries from different blocks. This was also a political initiative to overcome on the divisions of bipolarity and the Cold War. The laid down political objectives in the official documents included the values represented by the European institutions. These values were adopted by the post-Socialist states. At the project level, the initiatives of CEI indirectly contributed to the economic and social transition in these countries. CEI and EU progressively built their close relations, and the support of EU integration became the mission of CEI. If we study the EU accessions in the region, we can state, CEI had a successful and important role in bringing closer the post-Socialist states to the EU.

The integrity advisers are the central actors of integrity management systems of the administrative organizational structure, whose main task is to promote the implementation of the integrity approach within state administration institutions. As a complementary part of this task, we can separate the tasks of corruption prevention and the improvement of organizational integrity, of which the latter being discussed in more detail in this research and presentation. Integrity advisers play a key role in the development of organizational culture among public administration bodies, such as bodies exercising administrative authority. Looking at the topic more closely, with regard to the activities of integrity advisers, it can be clearly established that one of the engines of their operation is the proper and deep communication, which is not only necessary within the public administration and inter-agency transactions, but it also means communication activities that can be interpreted in the relationship between the public and clients. Equally important is their training and other activities aimed at developing staff awareness, relationships, situation assessment and action practices, which, in addition to and in part within public service training, provide an opportunity to shape organizational culture. The presentation and the paper aims to show the role of integrity advisors in developing organizational culture and transparency in the administration based on recent research experience about online presence of integrity advisors and in-depth interview surveys.