Suchergebnisse

The collapse of communism has had an enormous influence on the development of Central and Eastern European states. Although, the transition period in these countries was accompanied by several distinctive features, all these states had a general orientation to the west. This was the case in Romania too, which saw transition to democracy as a "return to Europe", and specifically accession to the European Union. The author strongly believes that the leitmotif of democratic transformations in Romania is its orientation and accession to the European Union, which is why the author will investigate its impact on constitutional reforms in the country. However, it is beyond the framework of this article to cover all areas of social, political and economic life of Romania, where there have been significant changes as a result of the EU's influence, so I have focused only on minority rights, as this issue is very important for maintaining stability and democracy in the region.

"Political representation of ethnic minorities in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The article is devoted to the investigation of the political representation of different ethnic groups in multinational Kazakhstan. With gaining the independence, the Republic became home to more than 100 nations, which in turn raise the question of their equal representation in political and social spheres. The general theory on political representation, which was developed in the political literature, is investigated in the article. However, the work is mainly focused on the opportunities for all citizens' representation, where the legal basis and the political context in the society
play a crucial role. For that purpose the Political Opportunity Structure approach is seen as the most suitable, while the special attention is given to the analysis of three components of this method – electoral system, citizenship regime and political party." [author's abstract]

"Development of post-communist parliamentarism in Kazakhstan and Romania: a comparative analysis. This study compares institutional development of legislative bodies in post-communist Romania and Kazakhstan. Despite having shared a communist past experience, Kazakhstan and Romania have followed a quite different path in their post-communist political order: Kazakhstan is unwillingly accepted the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 and peacefully declared its independence, while Romanian Revolution of 1989 was the most bloody of all in East Central Europe. However, in spite of their geographical remoteness, different cultural and historical backgrounds, various ethnic and religious compositions, as well as different economic profiles, Romania and Kazakhstan have shared some common elements of communist legacy and its side-effects during the post-communist development of political institutions. It does not necessarily mean that their respective experiences with communist rule and transition to democracy were the same. The parliamentary development in the two countries differs from each other, both in terms of stability and the level of institutionalization. The goal of this article is twofold. First and foremost aim of the paper is to explain parliamentary development in post-communist Romania and Kazakhstan from historical point of view and to identify what contributes to changes and different outcomes in legislatures of the respective countries. Second goal is to compare two parliaments and identify similarities and differences with making some inferences about the strength of legislatures compared to each other and to other major political institutions."

Kazakhs constitute the majority of the population (over 63%) in Kazakhstan and their predominance in all spheres is understandable. However, there is a disparity in the percentage of Kazakhs in government and in the population of the republic. The case analyzed in the article is ethnic factor in state power in Kazakhstan. The argument of the article is that such disproportion between Kazakhs and other ethnic groups is rather the result of imperfection of personnel policy, impact of clan, tribal and family ties to personnel management, and language barriers in employment, than the result of discriminatory policy of the state. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s2p20