Suchergebnisse

This article deals with the Europeanization of the German parliament as a difficult process of finding a relationship between the German government (Bundesregierung), upper chamber (Bundesrat) & lower chamber (Bundestag) concerning EU-related affairs. One of the results of the recent process of Europeanization is the loss of influence of parliaments in EU member countries. The decision-making process within the Council of the EU can hardly be followed by parliaments & parliamentary committees. This has led to adaptation processes within the polities of EU member countries. This article follows the development of EC & EU-related institutions & committees in both chambers of the German parliament, as well as agreements & changes to the German constitutions adopted in order to assure that the parliament would not lose its influence in EU-related affairs during the period from 1957 to 2006. The conclusion is that there were differences between both chambers of parliament in the way they tried to secure their interests. However, both chambers partly lost their influence although they changed their structures & negotiated new agreements trying to secure their positions. Adapted from the source document.

This article examines the relationship between transitional justice and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The author aims to answer the question how, to what extent and on the basis of what mechanisms transitional justice contributes to reconciliation. In the first, descriptive part of the article she introduces the term and the mechanisms of transitional justice, and in the second, analytical part she examines their concrete form in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their contribution to the process of reconciliation, which is understood here as a renewal of relationships between individuals and a recognition of one's own responsibility for past wrongs. The author concludes that transitional justice contributes to the reconciliation process only in a limited way because of its low trustworthiness, its low visibility and the overly small investments in its measures. To bring about a societal change transitional justice needs to be implemented better, in a more thorough and sensitive way and especially visibly, above all in terms of restorative justice and truth telling. Adapted from the source document.

This paper introduces an alternative concept of corruption. The cornerstone of the analysis is the model of secret transactions for profit, in which the actors give priority to informal particular norms over universal norms of democracy. Further, a model of corruption as a process is constructed. This model is applied to the social conditions as they have developed in the Czech Republic after 1989. Corruption seems to be a stable part of the social organization of the Czech society. It closely relates to the influence of pre-1989 networks, clientelism & nepotism. The combination of a weak official system (that should assert universal norms) & strong unofficial systems of community interests (that encourage corruption) builds a strong corruptogenic setting in the macrostructure. On the micro-level this outcome is fostered by the weak loyalty of nationals to the state & their tendency to distrust & resist the authorities. 5 Figures, 27 References. Adapted from the source document.

The process of democratic transition & consolidation has established conditions for important Czech interest groups in which interest groups have begun to face the challenges of Europeanization. The article focuses on changes that trade unions have been undergoing during the Europeanization process in respect to their internal structure, interactions with other political actors both on the Czech & European levels, changes of advocated interests, strategies of action, etc... Appropriate attention is paid also to the reaction of Czech trade unions to new challenges driven by European integration. The authors conclude, using data from original long-term qualitative research, that Europeanization is a proper conceptual tool eligible for the analysis of Trade Union. Adapted from the source document.

This article focuses on the transition to democracy in South Korea in 1987. The aim of this work is to explain the causes & processes of this transition, using the theory of transition to democracy as well as the classification of transition in typologies developed by Samuel P. Huntington, Phillippe C. Schmitter, & Terry Lynn Karl. For this purpose, author deals with the role of mass mobilization in the process. Adapted from the source document.

The long-term sustainability of the public finance in the context of population ageing is becoming a hot topic in most of the European countries including the Czech Republic. Moreover the Czech population will be one of the oldest in the world according to the forecasts of different institutions (UN, OECD, etc.). It poses challenge for the Czech pension security scheme. This paper presents possible scenarios of the future development & illustrates future fiscal impacts of the ageing assuming a preservation of the current Czech pension security scheme in the period up to 2050. The analysis is based on a detailed one-year age structure. This allows us to simulate the influence of the changes in component parameters of the current scheme on its future situation (for example, changes in retirement age limits). The main conclusion is that there is a rather small impact of these parameters changes on the expected future imbalance of the Czech pension system. Therefore a more fundamental reform of the current pension system should be considered. Tables, Graphs, References. Adapted from the source document.

This text analyses the development of internal procedures within the European Parliament through modifications to the Rules of Procedure, & how this impacts the legislative powers of the institution. The work assumes that the treaty revisions must be studied in a wider context to fully understand its real impact on European institutions & the EU as a whole. For a complete understanding of the European Parliament's legislative role in the EU, it is not enough to chart formal increases to its powers in treaties; it is necessary to examine how these formal changes in law & treaties are reflected in the Parliament's internal reforms. The aim of the text is to examine revisions to the EP Rules of Procedure, provide its analysis in historical sequence & to verify the hypothesis that the Rules of Procedure present an instrument through which this European institution can maximize its potential in the legislative sphere. Adapted from the source document.