Suchergebnisse

Joining the European Union (EU) has changed the nature of democracy in the new member states. The EU's membership has complicated the structure of democratic decision making by making it more multilayered & multicentered. EU membership has enhanced the powers of non-majoritarian institutions such as the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, & various regulatory agencies. National parliaments tend to be less powerful democratic players after a country joins the European Union -- and even before, as the EU accession process has shown. EU membership has also broadened the democratic public space. As a consequence, democratic decision making within the European Union has to accommodate a more diversified set of interests & cultural orientations. Providing citizens with greater access to the European decision-making process seems to be most urgent in the new member states from Central & Eastern Europe, whose citizens feel particularly detached from this process. The article tries to suggest some ways of achieving this. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2007 by the American Council of Learned Societies.]

Joining the European Union (EU) has changed the nature of democracy in the new member states. The EU's membership has complicated the structure of democratic decision making by making it more multilayered and multicentered. EU membership has enhanced the powers of nonmajoritarian institutions such as the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, and various regulatory agencies. National parliaments tend to be less powerful democratic players after a country joins the European Union—and even before, as the EU accession process has shown. EU membership has also broadened the democratic public space. As a consequence, democratic decision making within the European Union has to accommodate a more diversified set of interests and cultural orientations. Providing citizens with greater access to the European decision-making process seems to be most urgent in the new member states from Central and Eastern Europe, whose citizens feel particularly detached from this process. The article tries to suggest some ways of achieving this.

In the paper, the author indicates the key achievements and weaknesses ofthe security sector in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia,Montenegro and Serbia, and also what kind of effect so called democratictransition had on systems of those countries. The European security and defensepolicy represents a component part of common commercial and security policy.For the European Union it should ensure the development of its own civil andmilitary capacities for managing crises and preventing conflicts on internationallevel. In that way, this security policy should assist to maintain peace andinternational security. It is stressed in the paper that official cooperation andexchange among the Western Balkan countries are significantly improved in thelast several years, but that this transparency of managing security business isstill insufficient in the entire region. Development of mutual trust and enablingnational monitoring of security sector are necessary for regional cooperation inthis sector, which is however quite delayed, for the reason of transparency, justmentioned above.Also, the author pays significant attention to the problem of Kosovo and Metohija,as to a significant factor of maintaining peace and stability in the Balkans. Thesecurity in the Western Balkan countries and their preparation for joining theEuropean Union can only be ensured by applying the unique policy and byavoiding double standards for the same problem. Special reforms of the securitysector directed towards citizens will especially contribute to this and will enableparticipation of citizens and organizations of civil societies in monitoring securitypolicies, which will contribute to legitimization of the security institutions.

This article aims to compare the change of living standard in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia after joining the European Union. The characteristics of living standard are analyzing before joining the EU and after 2004. It is also compared changes of living standard characteristics after the economic crisis. Indicators of living standard, such as the average monthly gross wages, consumer price index, purchasing power, unemployment rate, at-risk-of-poverty rate and others are calculated and compared. The three Baltic states are not only compared with each other, but are also analyzed in the context of the EU. Thus, it can be stated that among the three Baltic States, Estonia is distinguished by highest living standard. Although before the integration Lithuania was ahead of Latvia, but now Lithuania was lower than Latvia by particular characteristics of living standard.Key words: living standard, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, European Union.JEL CODES: I31, J31, J64, R13, R 23DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/rfds.v14i3.875

The specifics of international organizations stated in the paper contain a particular reference to global financial institutions. It refers to the support of the development of countries in transition. It also states their reconstruction under the patronage of subjects of international law. The authors indicate the importance of the foundation and historical development of international financial institutions, especially the International Monetary Fund, along with its connection with its growing influence in the field of project financing, both regionally and globally. In the second part of the paper, the focus is on the participation of the International Monetary Fund in the reconstruction and revitalization of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the end of the war conflicts in 1995 until today. The comparative review points to the most significant areas that had the support of the International Monetary Fund in the financing of projects but also draws attention to the political side of this support through the imposition of conditions for financial resources to be approved. Through an overview of stand-by arrangements, the authors analyze the connection between the approval of projects by international financial organizations and their relation with the insistence on the implementation of specific reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This paper provides new insights on the effects of the enlargement of the European Union (EU) and European integration by investigating the issue of scientific collaboration within the new EU member states vis-à-vis the old EU member states. The question addressed is whether the EU membership following the two enlargement waves 2004 and 2007 has significantly increased the co-publication intensity of the new member states with other member countries. The empirical results based on data collected from the Web of Science database and Difference-in-Difference estimations point towards a conclusion that joining the EU indeed has had an additional positive impact on the co-publication intensity between the new and old member states and, in particular, within the new member states themselves. These results give tentative support for the successfulness of the EU's science policies in achieving a common 'internal market' in research. We also find evidence for early anticipation effects of the consecutive EU accession.

Despite the very few studies regarding FDI in Portuguese regions - especially regarding its effects - FDI can be an important catalyst for regional economic development and growth. This work studies the existing FDI in the Portuguese regions, analysing its distribution by NUTS III, the sectors in which FDI has more weight in each region, as well as it evolution between 1986 and 2009. Although the relative weight of FDI firms in Portugal remained constant over the years analysed (around 1%), at the same time, these firms spread to all regions of the country, besides the main economic and services agglomerations (Lisboa and Porto). The regions attracted FDI not only for the sectors in which they have already been specialized, but also for other activities, diversifying the regional productive structure of the country. The increase and diversification of FDI coincided with the tertiarization of the economy, being closer to the productive specialization pattern of the country, while continuing to focus mainly on manufacturing. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersion