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The issues related to the territorial organization of public power have existed from ancient times to the present. The territorial organization of public power has a special importance in the process of building a democratic state in the Republic of Moldova.
It is necessary to clarify the essence of the concept of public power in order to reform the current system of territorial organization of public power. The author has analyzed the scientific publications from the Republic of Moldova that were designed to study the public power. The research results have found that the scientific publications do not offer competent answers to the existing problems related to the territorial organization of public power; the experience obtained in the process of reforming the territorial organization of the public power has not been systematized in theory; it is very important to give a scientific definition of the concepts related to that field for the efficient functioning of the system of public power; in the contemporary world, there is a growing interest about this issue, especially in the context of regional development, strengthening the local autonomy, deconcentration and decentralization.

In dem Beitrag wird das Thema der Elitebildung in historisch-vergleichender Perspektive und konzentriert auf drei Aspekte diskutiert: Zunächst werden 1.) die historische Genese und die unterschiedlichen Verfahren der Auslese beim Übergang von den Schulen zu den Hochschulen in Frankreich, England und Deutschland skizziert und ihre weitreichenden Folgen für die Stellung, Ausgestaltung und Wahrnehmung aller anderen Schulen und Hochschulen als Teil unterschiedlicher nationaler Kulturen betont. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird 2.) aufgezeigt, wie sich die Stellung, Funktion und Legitimität der verschiedenen Systeme der Elitebildung im Prozess der säkularen Bildungsexpansion verändert haben und abschließend 3.) die Herausforderung der nationalen Systeme der Elitebildung durch aktuell zu beobachtenden Prozesse internationaler Konkurrenz und Standardisierung diskutiert. (DIPF/Orig.).;;;This contribution provides a historical-comparative perspective on three aspects of elite education. First, the author outlines the historical roots of formal selection and admission processes into tertiary education in France, England and Germany and highlights their far-reaching impact on the standing, structure and perception of secondary schools and universities in their respective national cultures. In the light of this, he shows how the position, role and legitimacy of different modes of elite education have been transformed by the secular expansion of access to education. Finally, he discusses the challenges to the different national processes of elite selection and education posed by the observed emergence of international competition and standards. (DIPF/Orig.).

Aufgezeigt wird, dass und wie familiale Pflege und Fürsorge für hilfsbedürftige alte Angehörige diskursiv als "Angelegenheit der Frauen" interpretiert und institutionalisiert wird, ohne die Frage der Geschlechtergerechtigkeit zu thematisieren. In diesem Beitrag wird dies durch eine Re- und Dekonstruktion der These verdeutlicht, die Zukunft der Altenfürsorge und -pflege sei prekär, weil Frauen in ihrer Bereitschaft zur Übernahme von Verantwortung nachlassen würden. Kritisch diskutiert werden dabei die Orientierung an der traditionellen Generationenethik, die Verknüpfung von Generationen- und Geschlechtervertrag, die Modernisierung von Lebensentwürfen, die Dilemmata rationaler Lebensplanung, sowie die Konflikte pflegender Frauen. (DIPF/Orig.).;;;How and why familial care for needy older relatives in different discourses is mainly discussed, analysed and accordingly institutionalized as issue of women without even bringing up questions on gender equality or justice is critically analysed in this article. In re- and deconstructing this assumption, it becomes clear that the future of care work for the elder generation is getting more and more difficult because women become increasingly unwilling to take responsibility. The author discusses traditional concepts of an ethics of generations as well as the interdependence of gender and intergenerational contracts. Furthermore the modernisation of concepts of living, the dilemma of rationally planning the individual future as well as the conflicts of care giving women are carefully reconsidered. (DIPF/Orig.).

"Whether they are called outside experts or referees, scholars asked to evaluate larger grants, institutes or new academic programs generally are given opportunities to dine together. All the while asserting their 'purely' scholarly evaluative task, their decisions set the course for research innovations or continuities and are thus profoundly political in terms of academic agenda setting. Table talk is framed by the social customs of meals and allows for a confidentiality of content separate from the official evaluation setting. Drawing from a sample of interviews about evaluation events, the author is able to Show how joint meals assist in establishing a measure of social cohesion among individuals thus far unknown to one another who, however, are all fully aware that a certain level of consensus regarding the matter to be evaluated will allow for a more effeclive process. The evaluation of big research proposals is fraught with uncertainties; the joint meal thus renders an important service in the Weberian sense: the meal as a social institution is characterized by different social rules than is the evaluation as social situation. During the meal, informal assessments and thoughts can be voiced without compromising the scholarly habitus ruling over the official evaluation meeting." (publisher's description)

The Jews of Romania were a particular ethnic group which, during history, had to bear a lot of discriminations. In modern epoch they could attend schools only by paying substantial fees, very few of them had the Romanian citizenship until 1918 and they could not be active in all professions. The interwar period meant for the Jews the time when they had the most rights in Romania, while, during the war, the anti-Jewish laws, forced labour, deportations in Transnistria were established, and the Jews from North-West Transylvania were sent by Hungarian authorities in German concentration camps. Romanians often displayed feelings of hostility towards the Jews, mostly in periods when the situation of their country was precarious. This paper will also present a few negative features used by Romanians in order to define the Jews. Last, but not least, the author wanted to show how the Holocaust was regarded by historians and politicians. And here, I noticed that in communist times, when the political elites had the intention to assimilate the Jews, it was considered that during the Holocaust several democratic groups were persecuted or, later, the responsability for Holocaust was put only on Germans. During post-1989 period, integral or partial negation of Holocaust, or its trivialization by comparison, continued to exist.

"The use of the concept 'underclass' has been the subject of considerable debate among scholars of urban poverty. Many question the meaning of the term and its value as a social category, and react critically to the way the term has been appropriated by those intellectuals and journalists whose ideological views and orientations strongly influence their perceptions of the urban poor (Hughes 1989; Aponte 1990; Katz 1993; Gans 1995; O'Connor 2001). However, in their critical commentary the scholars of urban poverty do not address, in theoretical terms, the scientific import of the concept 'underclass;' that is, its role in the description, explanation and prediction of social behavior. Rather they object to the way the term is used to label a subgroup of the urban poor whose cultural traits are thought to be different from those of the larger society. In this paper, the author considers whether a theoretically defined concept of underclass - as opposed to the nonsystematic and atheoretical usages - can be helpful in social scientific discourse. But first, by way of background, let him examine briefly the various ways the term 'underclass' has been used in published writings down through the years." (excerpt)

There are examinated the aspects of practical realization of the principles of local autonomy and the particularities of the local public administration reform making in the Republic of Moldova. This study also analyses the correspondence between the rules laid down in national legislation on local autonomy and the European standards. The particularities and the consequences of creating the autonomous territorial unit with the special legal status - Gagauzia have been presented. The prerogatives of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia and in particular to adopt the "local laws" have been critically examined. There is no such category of "local laws" under the Constitution, in the Republic of Moldova. The constitutional text expressly provides that the laws can be: constitutional, organic and ordinary. The author mentions the fact that the areas where the Gagauz People's Assembly is empowered to adopt "local law" are regulated by organic laws. One insists on the fact that the local autonomy is a general principle of democratic administrative policy, whose application can not be subject to ethnic or other criteria. Local autonomy serves all citizens, provides more resources, and amplifies the local administration's initiative to improve the living standards. Using the principle of local autonomy as an opportunity to encourage the ethnic autonomy is a prerequisite for separatism and segregation, acts contrary to democratic society.

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.

By signing and ratifying the Association Agreement, Republic of Moldova reconfirmed its willingness to adjust itself to European values and standards of living. The implementation of the Agreement provisions requires extensive work to reform all spheres of life and areas of activity. These changes depend heavily on the ability of central and local public authorities to realize and carry out the imminent reforms. Thus, for a successful implementation of reforms, itis necessary to reform the administrative system itself that will put into practice the achivements of the provisions of the Association Agreement.
An important role in the well functioning of public authorities has the territorial organization of public power. A clear division of powers within the framework of the public power decentralization is one of the factors that contributes to the harmonious development of society. An effective decentralization will foster regional development and contribute to strengthening local territorial communities, and this fact will allow the provision of quality services locally.
The aim of this study is to elucidate the problems regarding the territorial organization of public power in terms of implementing the Association Agreement. Does the application of the Agreement provisions require the territorial and administrative delimitation reform of Moldova, or is it likely to make reforms in the administrative-territorial division of Soviet origin revived by the 2003 anti-reform?
The author have studied the provisions of Moldova-EU Association Agreement and documents related to it, the experience of some European countries regarding the territorial delimitation of public powers and political parties' visions on the territorial administrative division of Moldova to answer this question.

The subject of the analysis presented in this article is the legal context and political debates regarding access of illegal migrants to health care assistance and institutions of public health. Consequences of non-regulated legal status significantly impair or even deny illegal migrants the most basic access to medical care. The main condition of entitlement to specialized medical care is legal residence within a state in accordance with its legal provisions. Fearing a growth in illegal migration and increased expenditure, EU countries are not interested in extending social benefits to irregular migrants. Fearing deportation, dismissal from work and the enormous costs of private health care, they usually do not ask for professional medical assistance. By analyzing the most important health risks for migrants the author has also highlighted the current legal and political debates on this issue. Lawful residence based on migration status and rules governing the welfare state must be coordinated with migrants' access to health care on the basis of universality and non-discrimination. In many EU countries such as Sweden and Denmark, the right of undocumented migrants to free emergency care and more advanced health care is restricted and may be subject to payment. Examining international treaties and explanatory documents from the Council of Europe and the United Nations, I try to analyze relevant international laws affecting several groups of undocumented migrants concerning the right to health and access to health care institutions. This article also highlights activities undertaken in recent years by NGOs with the aim of establishing access to health for undocumented migrants in EU countries and placing this issue on the international agenda.

"The current European Commission policies are guided by the 'Europe 2020' strategy paper under which the 'Innovation Union' forms one of the mayor policy flagship initiatives for the years to come. These policies are led by the Commissioner of Research and Innovation. The Innovation Union document understands innovation in a much broader sense than it was traditionally the case with seeing innovation as a technology-based process. This recent policy consensus includes social innovation as an integral part of the Innovation Union Flagship Initiative and the documents foresee a monitoring of innovation in order to control the progress made by innovative actions at European Union and at Member State level. Measuring innovation and in particular social innovation is quite a new and challenging approach in methodological and practical terms. Therefore, the author reflects on the feasibility of measuring progress caused by social innovations and on pre-conditions to monitoring policy impact in relation to social innovations at international level. Currently, innovation monitoring chiefly is applied with an economic focus although social data base developments have been funded by the European Commission research and development programs over years. The paper presents selected EU research activities as well as the method and policy relevance of two innovation monitoring approaches targeting the economic dimension in the EU: the Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS) and the Community Innovation Survey (CIS). The approaches shed some light on how monitoring instruments of social innovation may be developed. The paper concludes that a high obstacle to monitoring social innovation is its proliferation of targets in various policy fields. Therefore, the notion of social innovations may be blurred too much in the current policy debate in order to be instrumental for measurement. Consensus needs to be reached on the point of view if either targets of specific policies (innovation, security, health, social, environment, transport, etc.) shall be monitored to which social innovation is instrumental, or if social innovation is a subject in its own to be monitored." (author's abstract)

The present article is a summary of a quantitative Social History in three volumes (can be obtained directly from the author) treating of the 24 cathedral chapters of the Old German Empire in the 17th and 18th Century. The research on the cathedral chapters which were as well spiritual as secular corporations, until now is rather traditional in its methods, i.e. focusing on the constitutions and the biographies of the canons. Actually there are only a few monographies. Our study which comprehends all chapters examines 5 725 cases. The case-unit is not the person, but the prebend. The following variables are taken up: name (locality) of the chapter, dignitaries, degrees (for commoners), the ways of applying to and retiring from the chapters, social status (seven categories for the nobility, two for the commoners), advancements in rank, origin, cumulations. The completeness of the data is generally more than 90%, often towards 100%. All data is published in form of chronological lists of the canons in every chapter, besides an index of names is given. Therefore our work serves as a reference-book too. The data were processed with SPSS, crosstabulations and other statistics are published also. For regional inquiries the chapters were classified into three groups: Northern Germany, the chapters of the Knights of the Empire (i. e. Rhineland and Franconia), Southern Germany and Austria. To show the chronological development we divided the entire period (1601-1803) into four periods of about fifty years. The article presents some important results for every variable. Some general Statements are possible. From the viewpoint of social history the hypothesis of three regional types has been verified. Chapters at the border of the Empire form a particular group which shows more and more deviations to the Standard. On the other hand the chapters in the center assimilate. Spatial mobility decreases, local recruitment increases. There are tendencies to closeness and occasional provincialism. Cumulations increase in the second half of 18th Century. Canons from the middle and lower classes were almost completely eliminated during the two centuries. Thus the European feudal reaction can clearly be demonstrated using the example of the German cathedral chapters. Our research shows that the chapters get into a crisis in the late 18th Century. They could no more accomplish their functions as providing institutions for the German nobility. For many reasons the run to the prebends grew as well as the commoners' criticism influenced by the Enlightenment. They disapproved the loss of the chapters' spiritual functions, the prevalence of the nobility, the grewing exclusion of the commoners and the enormous cumulations. Proposals to a reform failed. The difficult Situation in the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars forced the secularization (1803) which brought the end to the old German cathedral chapters.