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In Romania (maybe more than elsewhere) there is a high degree of diversity in terms of public administration programs, regarding their vision, curriculum and ways of delivery. This difference may be attributed to different mission statements or to specific perception values, individual or organizational perceptions, and values on public administration as a field of study. Mission statements might be rather the aggregate vision of individual members of the academic department than an empty official pronouncement. The aim of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of three leading Public Administration (PA) programs in Romania in terms of mission statement, underlying principles and their embedment in practice, in accordance to several variables: vision on the field of public administration, perception on the profession, curricula, demographic and work-related factors (such as the presence or absence of an enabling work environment etc.). Data was collected through a questionnaire applied online to the members of the departments in charge of these three PA programs (at Bachelor and Master levels): AES (Academy of Economic Sciences) Bucharest, National School of Political and Administrative Studies (NSPAS) Bucharest and FPACS (Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences), Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport efficiency cannot be imagined outside of strategic management – an aspect to which universities, part of the „triple helix” model, pay close attention. As the complexity of public organizations has increased and mobility has become a key issue for their efficiency, several universities in Romania have developed their own fleets to meet the needs of moving people or delivering goods. Based on data collected through a series of interviews, this article proposes a comparative analysis of some aspects of the strategic management of the car fleets of the Babeș-Bolyai University, the West University of Timișoara and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. The results indicate that the fleets tend to be more efficient the newer the vehicles are, i.e. not older than 10 years. The paper also underlines the fact that fleet efficiency can only be achieved through a regular analysis of the factors that generate additional costs and their elimination as part of a broader strategic management strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2007 represented for Romania an important moment in terms of the development possibilities of local communities. This aspect is due to the fact that our country has acquired the status of a member state in the European Union, the new opportunities being a direct consequence of the possibility of accessing and implementing non-reimbursable European funds. Local public institutions play an important role in the mechanism of attracting these funds, which are so necessary for the development of communities and also for increasing the quality of life of citizens. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of attracting and implementing non-reimbursable European funds. The research used two methods: the analysis of the documents, and the application of an interview guide to the people who occupy management positions within the City Hall of the municipality of Carei. The goal was to identify the number of European projects with non-refundable funding for which a funding request was submitted, respectively the number of projects approved and implemented in the two cycles: 2007- 2013, 2014-2020. At the same time, the following indicators were also of interest: the share of revenues from non-reimbursable financing in the total revenues of the local budget, respectively the financial allocations within the U.A.T. Carei for the development-investment chapter of co-financed projects. This study may present a certain degree of usefulness to decision-makers in the municipality of Carei because it offers a retrospective of the financing situation of investments from European funds in the last 14 years through the lens of a quantitative and qualitative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through this paper, we intend to perform an analysis of the legal provisions on the drafting and transcription of civil status documents of Romanian citizens obtained abroad, taking into account the importance of civil status documents, as an attribute of identification of individuals and as the main mean of proof of marital status. In addition to this, in the context of exercising the right to free movement of European Union citizens, we pay attention to the problems encountered by the Romanian citizens in their relations with national or foreign authorities, in interpreting and applying the legal provisions regarding the procedure of preparing and transcribing the civil status documents. Moreover, we considered necessary to focus on some practical cases, an approach that highlighted the need for qualitative improvement of the relevant legal provisions and for the simplification of the procedure analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more local public authorities are aware of the role of communication, information, administrative transparency and public involvement in the decision-making process. The need and desire to make publicly known local issues is increasingly part of the strategy of promoting the activity of local public administration. Democracy in the true sense of the word is impossible today without the implementation of effective communication and information techniques, which are the cornerstones of both public relations theory and practice. The role of communication itself in the administration has long been recognized and emphasized in the literature, to the point where it has been said that “it is obvious that without communication no organization can exist” (Laxmiksnth, 2002, p. 167). All the more so now that new communication and information techniques are being put into operation, an integral part of the reforming nature of changes in public administration everywhere. Through this paper we have tried to analyze the impact and importance of public relations procedures in shaping the perception and attitude of citizens towards public activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1998, the law on ministers' cabinets institutionalized the position of special advisers to the dignitaries, which allowed the prime-minister, ministers, secretaries of state, prefects, mayors, presidents of county councils and other dignitaries to hire personal counsellors to assist them in their activities. The paper investigates the background of these advisers. We aim to grasp a better understanding of the special advisers, such as their educational background, former professions, number of years in the office, and the roles they perform within dignitaries' cabinets. A key focus of the paper is on analyzing the expertise they provide to the dignitaries, as previous research on Romania showed that they are carriers of political and administrative roles. We explore whether they are facilitators of communication process in a multi-level network of policy making, and whether they perform co-ordination responsibilities on the dignitaries' behalf on some day-to-day activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper discusses the main challenges encountered in the process of accessing public interest information in Romania. The case study is part of a more comprehensive research of the PhD thesis that analyses the criteria and the associated scores used by the local authorities to prioritize the allocation of social housing. Keeping axiological neutrality, the study is more of an exercise made from the perspective of a potential beneficiary of social housing for which access to such public interest information makes the difference between having a home and staying on the streets. For this reason, the paper presents the identification of ex officio information and the written request for public interest information experiences from a critical perspective and focuses rather on the process, human interaction and the capacity of the Romanian administrative system to be open, especially in relation with people belonging to vulnerable groups. The analysis has shown that access to public interest information in Romania remains far from being an instrument of public participation, especially if we are to relate to vulnerable groups. Both the online identification process and the written request for this information are complex procedures that require 'digging' skills on poorly organized local government websites, endless discussions about who should answer, and whether it should answer and resistance to stress factors caused by sometimes hostile reactions of civil servants in Romania. From an administrative perspective, the mechanism for requesting data of public interest under Law no. 544/2001 is relatively functional. With determination, after more than one year, 82% of Romanian urban localities responded to the request for public interest information. The case study, although referring to a single theme, is exhaustive, includes a significant number of local public authorities (all mayoralties) and brings new information about the organization and availability of public interest information in the online environment, and how the request for data of public interest functions and how the legal provisions are interpreted and implemented by civil servants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a radiography of cultural labor from multiple perspectives, aiming to identify the key factors that determine the fragile position of independent artists and cultural workers in Romania. It presents data on cultural employment in the European Union, on the socio-economic conditions and the models of organization of cultural work in Romania. A series of structural problems that generate and maintain the lack of sustainability of the sector are identified. Creativity, resilience, collaboration, multiple specializations and the ability to work at the intersection with other disciplines that are characteristic of the work in culture are increasingly important competences in the knowledge economy. In this context, understanding and addressing systemic problems that create precariousness within the cultural ecosystem is important both to be able to define cultural policies that strengthen the status of cultural workers, but also to adapt the labor market in general to the challenges of the future of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses a current problem, regarding the approach of the taxpayer’s behavior in the fiscal field. In this paper, we analyzed the main factors that influence the behavior of taxpayers, as well as the importance of digitizing public finance services. Taxpayer behavior research in Romania is a new and necessary area of investigation in order to establish the best strategy for raising and strengthening the voluntary compliance of taxpayers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One consistent element of the environment in which organizations currently operate is change. Regardless of the size, sector or nature of the activities, organizations are compelled to constantly adjust their modus operandi in relation to the dynamics of the external environment. From the perspective of the organizational leadership, this challenge falls within the responsibility of the leadership. Today's leaders are in a position to perform in a dynamic, unpredictable environment, which requires the development of internal mechanisms and tools that allow the organization to adapt. In this context, the concepts of organizational resilience and resilient leadership become extremely relevant to understand how organizations can overcome the adversities they face. This paper is a brief analysis of the concept of resilience from the perspective of the organizational leadership and the reasons why leaders should take into consideration the factors that impel the resilience of a system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Once migrants have settled in a country of destination, most of the times they tend to adhere or even establish migrant associations or organizations. Such voluntary associative structures can enlist members in various initiative groups, informal organizations, cultural and artistic clubs, charitable organizations, and professional foundations. Through such organizations migrants collectively maintain a link with their home country while also contributing to its development by engaging in different transnational practices, initiatives and activities that can be of political, economic or civic character. In this paper, by using the example of migrant organizations from Republic of Moldova I illustrate how in time a group of migrants can change its statute and role from being an ethnic group located outside of its country of origin into a branch of the civil society of their own country, as such becoming a „delocalized” civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to analyze the impact of the most important legislative amendments to local elected public integrity framework, adopted by the Parliament in recent years. European Commission Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) Reports on Romania (2007-2017), as well as EU Anticorruption Report (2014) emphasize the need for consolidation and for a raised sustainability of public integrity legal framework in order to increase the efficiency of prevention and to curb incompatibilities and conflicts of interests in public sector. One of the main priorities of the newly adopted National Anticorruption Strategy (2016-2020) is assuring the stability of legislative and institutional framework in fighting corruption processes and procedures. Recent CVM Reports on Romania (2016, 2017) state that Romania has comprehensive public integrity legislation and an independent institution (National Integrity Agency - NIA) to assure the implementation of legal sanctions and specific regulations. In the same time, legislative amendments aiming only to restrain the legal competencies of NIA and reduce dissuasiveness of some legal sanctions have been adopted by the Romanian Parliament; others, with similar object, are pending in the legislative processes within the Parliament. The paper analyses the most important such legislative amendments brought to the integrity framework, highlighting the negative consequences regarding guarantees of protection of local elected mandates from potential conflicts of interests. The study aims to identify possible solutions for granting stability to the legislative framework and raising public integrity standards in local public administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyzes the legislative overlaps in the social insurance system and the social assistance system in Romania, and the effects of the competences applied identically from the methodological point of view by the institutions empowered to exercise the medical expertise or evaluation of people with various health or disability problems. The paper also analyzes how the national social assistance system intervenes in a subsidiary or, as the case may be, complementary to social insurance systems as component parts of social security, through the levers of social benefits and social services. The analysis of the current situation of the social security system in Romania shows that for a long time the emphasis was placed on the financial side needed for treatments and medication as a way to alleviate the condition of the invalid or disabled person, but too little attention was paid to the integration of these persons in the life of the society and the use of these human resources as potential generators of surplus value in the family and society. It is possible that these social policies involuntarily accentuate the feeling of worthlessness, social exclusion, inappropriateness alongside stereotypes and prejudices towards people with disabilities that have oscillated over time from marginalization and ignorance to compassion and respect. The legal and procedural framework of social insurance and social assistance are analyzed in correlation with the evolution of the number of beneficiaries and with the main weaknesses of the social security system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the construction of local development strategies for the rural areas of the Cluj-Napoca metropolitan area. It identifies the steps during the planning process from the state of the initiative, to implementation, and monitoring. In the context of the exponential growth of Cluj-Napoca and of the villages from the metropolitan area, there is a constant need for clearly articulated, comprehensive, and accurate strategies. For this we analyzed a series of factors such as the involvement of stakeholders and citizens, the assessment methods, the efficiency of the implementation, evaluation and monitoring plans, and the strategic document as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper is the result of the approach and theoretical research of two aspects of the Romanian administrative framework: the reality - which is intended to focus on the historical evolution of the governmental reforms related to administrative capacity and the issues that appeared, and perspectives - Romania’s political possibilities to improve its administrative capacity. The study of the literature offered a good insight into the ongoing administrative reform based on regionalization and decentralization, about the current situation in Romania and it also signaled the lack of concrete steps made in the reform process. The questionnaires sent to several institutions demonstrated that there are different approaches concerning regionalization, but generally the regionalization is considered the most suitable solution for the country's needs. Thus, the paper argues that Romania has to solve a „multilemma” in this regard, because there are plenty of administrative reform proposals, but this multitude seems to slow down the decision and, therefore, the change. To speed up the course of actions, the paper is proposing a plan for Romania’s regionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The undertaking of a territorial and administrative reform is one of the main topics in both public and scientific debate these years. The political debate is focused on some specific issues such as: how many regions Romania must have, which cities should be the centers of those regions or what kind of institutions should be created. From this point of view, this paper presents a new perspective about the process of regionalization. The goal of this paper is to analyze the theoretical and empirical bases of the actual system of the rural localities. In Romania there are more than 2800 rural localities, but only a small part of them have the financial strength to sustain the development policies by their own. The vast majority of the communes are dependent upon the public allocations. On one hand, the most developed rural localities, situated with predilection in peripheral areas of important urban centers have important competitive advantages relying on the size of the population and the specificity of the economic activities. On the other hand, communes from poor areas have a significant deficit of public utilities and infrastructure caused by the absence of financial resources. Therefore, the coordinates of the local budget of revenues and expenditures represents the main determinant in the process of development of the communes. This paper argues that a serious analysis of the regionalization process should take into account the reform of the actual rural administrative system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities' economic impact and their importance to the surrounding area constitute an old and well-established discourse in the Western countries, yet almost entirely absent among Romanian universities. The paper aims at summarizing some of this international debate and its roots, presenting some methodological approaches in investigating the economic impact of a university to a certain area. Such a complex subject certainly has triggered the interest of various researchers, who have identified a series of factors that underline the imperative of investigating the subject. The severe underfunding, the lack of legislative consistency, the demographic realities and the economic crisis make the necessity of investigating the economic impact among Romanian universities even more prominent nowadays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are accountable for more than 63% of the total number of deaths worldwide. National-level policies represent important approaches in reducing the burden of NCDs. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which Romanian policies addressing the prevention and control of NCDs align with the objectives of World Health Organization (WHO) 2013 - 2020 Global Action Plan for the prevention and control of NCDs. National policies on the prevention and control of NCDs were identified through searches of Google, Google Scholar and official websites. The alignment was determined through content analysis of the documents identified in the first phase. Twenty-two NCD prevention-related policies were identified. The study reports complete alignment for objectives one and three; partial alignment for objective two (8/10 mechanisms), six (4/6 mechanisms) and five (1/6 mechanisms); no alignment for objective four (0/5 mechanisms). National program and strategies are the policies that align with the highest number of mechanisms, and are some of the most recent policies, indicating that the Romanian authorities have been taking initiative in addressing prevention of NCDs by focusing on a broader approach rather than separate initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reached a moment when we need to realize how important it is for the rural space to find an alternative for rural development under the present economic conditions. The present paper points out the need for new approaches regarding the sustainable development of rural space and aims at recommending the most appropriate strategies and projects that need to be implemented in order to develop tourism in the Beliş commune, Cluj-Napoca county, Romania. Rural areas in Europe are becoming more and more varied in what concerns elements like demography, social and economic structures, thus the perspective about rural areas has to change. Rural areas are sites with numerous resources, which could be capitalized not only for agricultural purposes. The purpose of this paper is to develop strategies for expanding tourism in poor rural areas, even though these regions are considered areas of a less touristic quality. Practicing tourism in these areas may be considered an instrument for rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is trying to present the most important elements regarding economic indicators at EU 28 level. The total number of indicators studied is 15, ranging from GDP to direct investments. This study is realized for a period of 14 years ranging between 1999 and 2012, while the research methodology used is document analysis. We are also underlining the most important findings regarding these indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Romanian public and private (or non-governmental) organizations developed multiple forms of collaboration in the last two decades, none of these joint projects/programs/actions or activities took the form of a legally established public-private partnership (PPP). This policy failure becomes even more problematic considering that the initial legal framework for PPPs was developed and enacted since 2010 (Law no. 178/2010) and both public institutions as well as private or non-governmental organizations often showed openness to such partnerships (at least at a declarative level). Although a new legislation was adopted at the end of 2016 (namely Law no. 233/2016), looking back at the previous legislation can shed some light on this less than successful attempt at reforming and innovating Romanian public administration and the provision of public services. Going beyond a simple review of the theoretical underpinnings of PPPs, this paper analyzes specific administrative developments in Romania as well as the previous legislative approach set to provide legal foundations and backgrounds for public-private partnerships, while also taking into account similar developments at the European level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transversal studies on emerging European communication are quite few in number, while the approach to the policies and strategies launched by the European Commission ever since 2005 is still very specific or contingent. Our aim is to conduct a comprehensive study on what are still the early stages of the concept of 'emerging European communication'. The article investigates four programmatic documents of the European Commission, the White Paper on a European Communication Policy, the Action Plan to Improve Communicating Europe, the Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate, and the Strategy Europe 2020, as well as one resolution of the European Parliament, Journalism and new media - creating a public sphere in Europe, all describing the new European communication policy. The analyzed key-directions relate to the reference point of all these debates and initiatives - the Eurobarometer, an unbiased tool of sociological measurement, which fully confirms the communication breakdown between European citizens and the institutions which represent them - the 'favorable' premise of a communication policy for the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using evaluations for the socio-economic and development programs, the European Union (EU) played a decisive role for the introduction of evaluation as a management tool in Romania, as well as in the other Member States. A proper management of the implementation of the EU programs has been a constant concern of the Romanian administration. Since its accession to the EU on January 1, 2007, Romania became responsible for administrating the evaluation of EU funded programs, under the Extended Decentralization Implementation System (EDIS). The paper is trying to examine how the experience gained throughout the independent evaluations of the pre-accession funds generated knowledge for learning and could further contribute to the development of the public policies evaluation practice in Romania. The hypothesis is that experience generated by independent evaluation use of pre-accession EU funds will contribute to further expansion of the evaluation practice to the national public policies. The methodology employed in this paper relies on empirical research of all relevant documents related to the both interim evaluations: Phare and Structural Instruments. The opinion of the key stakeholders on the evaluation practice was also considered, by applying a specific questionnaire regarding the evaluation use, combined with interviews of the key stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there a uniform set of mechanisms to ensure the quality of scientific papers before publication? What are the most common criteria used to evaluate the quality of academic articles? The aim of this paper is to answer these questions. The paper was divided in two sections, a literature review, and an empirical research on the criteria used by 189 journals indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index. The findings show that there appears to be little attention paid to the peer review process, given that the majority of the journals do not provide any information on this topic to the public. Moreover, only a small proportion of journals use structured guidelines to help reviewers in evaluating manuscripts. It was also observed that these checklists use both scientific evaluation criteria and criteria relating to ethics. The most used criteria are related to the originality of the paper, the quality of methodology and the quality of literature review. The conclusion is that there is no consistent method for assessing the quality of the manuscripts. However, due to the limited availability of data, we are cautious when stating this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper quantitatively explores the patterns that shape popular conceptions of national belonging in the European Union member states and their implications in terms of public preferences for specific immigration control policies. By using the most recent data from the European Values Study (2008), this paper points to the similarity of the structure of individual conceptions of national belonging in the 27 countries analyzed and identifies three main ways of articulation between representations of nationality and preferences for different immigration control policies: the maximalrestrictionist type, the elective-conditional type and the minimal-liberal type. These types are configured by both the content of "popular" models of national belonging and the salience of specific criteria of national membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dialogue is considered to be the opposite of rhetoric. This is true, especially when it comes to social dialogue, meant to prevent conflicts and to ensure social peace. But is social peace a goal? And which are its particularities when it comes to public servants? The paper aims to analyze the participation of public servants to social dialogue and their right to collective bargaining, under Romanian law. There are taken into account, in a comparative context, the success of collective bargaining, which is the conclusion of collective agreements, and the failure of collective bargaining, which leads to the possibility of strike. The paper contains a number of de lege ferenda proposals, meant to create a special regulation of social dialogue in case of public servants, and to eliminate the application of common law in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is an attempt to describe and explain the evolution of the state and in particular in Western Europe, an area were the modern democratic regimes originated. As in the early stages of the political thought wast stated by Aristotle, men is a "political animal". Still, being aware about the constraint resulted from the living under the strain of the rules imposed by the forms of human association called states, the question is what were the motives that determined the human beings to accept and even develop such kind of organizations. Also, it is important to understand why the modern democratic political regimes developed in a such narow geographical area as Western Europe and what were the conditions that favorized this particular kind of evolution. As is presented in the paper, the Western European societies evolved from a stage characterized by a high level a desorder and violence to what the french author Francois Guizot is designing as "the Government and the Country". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enactment of the Code of Fiscal Procedure in 2003 represents a major step toward the unification of the Romanian fiscal legislation. Unfortunately, the Romanian Fiscal Law continues to be scattered by the enactment of a plethora of legislative acts and regulations which intend to complete or modify the Code of Fiscal Procedure. This paper studies chapter I of the Third Title of the Code of Fiscal Procedure entitled "General Procedural Provisions". This chapter provides for the general jurisdiction of the fiscal bodies (Art. 32 to 36 of the Code of Fiscal Procedure). The authors define concepts such as jurisdiction of the fiscal bodies, general jurisdiction (Art. 32 of the Code), territorial jurisdiction (Art. 33 of the Code), jurisdiction on the secondary seats (Art. 34 of the Code), territorial jurisdiction of the fiscal branches of the local public administration (Art. 35 of the Code) as well as special jurisdiction (Art. 36 of the Code) by inference from the same notions used by the Civil Procedure Law (that is the common law for the interpretation and completion of the Code of Fiscal Procedure). The authors indicate which are the fiscal bodies with jurisdiction on the fiscal claims management as well as the fiscal bodies entitled to regulate the application of the legal fiscal provisions and to exercise the fiscal control. The paper highlights the legal gaps to be found in the provisions of Chapter I, Title III of the Code of Fiscal Procedure and tries to fill these gaps by de lege ferenda proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the institution of the President of Romania in reference to the constitutional provisions and emphasizes the fact that some regulations represent a disadvantage for this institution, especially in relation to another supreme body of the Romanian people, the Romanian Parliament. Among other aspects, it is pointed out that the Parliament, and not the Constitution, establishes its own competence in its relationship with the President of Romania. The paper attempts to draw attention upon the necessity to reconsider some constitutional provisions in order to eliminate the possibility of interpretation of certain regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper emphasizes the conceptual need for an agreement on reassigning priorities of competitive development from policies aiming at reducing regional differences to policies encouraging functional integration of a development area. The underlying rationale in shifting the analytical focus rests on the political-economic and socio-cultural characteristics of a habitat that indeterminably amplify or scale down the benefits of economic activities. The permanence of spatial developmental disparities suggests that the strategic directions of any initiative targeting regional competitiveness should follow the lines of (1) maximizing its competitive impact and (2) matching the territorial specificity. According to this perspective, the paper discusses an original theoretical construct and points to graphical representations of operational forms that may configure a policy of territorial development along four co-existent levels: (1) urban fields, (2) clusters, (3) development areas, and (4) disadvantaged areas. The main implication for public policy initiatives resides in smoothing the progress towards building up such a potential for growth. A selected list of recommendations is therefore advanced in compliance with the expeditiousness imperative, namely: (1) adjusting public policy interventions to geographically variable areas of development; (2) prioritizing financial assistance according to integration difficulties specific to a certain area of development, whose coordinates are described along variable geographical scales (local, regional, national and, possibly, international) and functional potentialities; (3) enhancing the complementary role of private and community interventions in developing the programming capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I build a new version of the precautionary principle in environmental policies which includes, inter alia, efficiency considerations in the morally relevant informational set. To this end, I formulate and defend a hypothetical-compensatory precautionary principle, which relies on the satisfaction of the Kaldor-Hicks efficiency criterion, and I show that the new interpretation provided avoids a series of objections raised against classical precautionary principles, also pointing out that it entails other secondary advantages by comparison with the classical versions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labour market policies have become a necessity given that unemployment remains a worldwide problem. The issue of social protection for the unemployed and employment is addressed generally by two types of social policies: passive labour market policy measures (representing financial support for the unemployed) and active labour market policy measures (whose objectives are to assist the unemployed in finding a job). The increased emphasis on active labour market policy measures is noted even in Romania, and their success stems from the attenuation of the institutional factors, the demographic ones or from the correlation between demand for qualifications and the educational system offer, and the characteristics of the unemployed person, as well as from the number of people who were employed after participating in them. This paper highlights the important role of active policies that aim towards increasing employment in the labour market, underlining the importance and impact on the ability to rapidly adapt to changes that occur in the labour market in Romania; concurrently, applying the same measures in the counties and finding differences in measures depending on the unemployment rate, differences that confirm the matching between existing needs and offered services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although limiting the access of women to the labor market and especially to upper managerial (decision-making) positions hinders the growth and development potential of modern societies as an important part of their human resource is not used at its maximum potential, such practices and traditions still plague our globalized world. When such discriminative practices manifest in the public sector, especially in public administration, the adverse effects are even more worrisome, as equal representation in public administration decision-making positions can be connected with a more responsible and effective government, inclusive and democratic governance, sustainable and appropriate public policies, as well as higher levels of citizen trust. As such, this paper analyzes the representation of men and women in central public administration institutions in European Union Member States. Using 2014 data for 420 ministries and similar organizations of the 28 EU states, the results support previous research findings that women are still underrepresented in central public administration institutions, the phenomenon being more prevalent at upper organizational levels (level 1 administrators). Furthermore, the data also provides evidence for the existence of sectorial segregation, as there are consistently more women decision-makers in institutions tasked with Socio-economical functions than there are in those with Basic, Economic and Infrastructure functions (according to the BEIS typology/ classification system). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A referendum is a form of direct democracy. A constitutional system becomes functional first of all due to the indirect, representative democracy, but complementary and subsidiary, the referendum may be used also. The constitutional institution of the referendum is a manifestation of the national sovereignty of the people. This article proposes to present an analysis of the referendum's institution, especially of the consultative referendum regulated by the article 90 of the Romanian Constitution. After presenting some theoretical issues related to direct democracy, the paper analyzes different aspects related to the consultative referendum in matter of national interest. The analyzed issues are the following: discretion about the referendum of the Romanian President, meaning of the consultancy, will of the nation, meaning of consulting the Parliament, juridical aspects of the presidential decree, and extending the scopes of national interest issues. In conclusion, some already formulated ideas about modifying the existing regulations are presented and further discussion topics and proposals related to the institution of the referendum are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational culture is a very important topic for both the organization management and the academic research. This paper tries to analyze the existing literature on organizational culture in Romania. The objective is to see how popular the topic is among Romanian researchers, which theoretical approaches and methodology they use and how similar the conclusions they reached are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we had done an extensive analysis of the arrears recorded by corporate taxpayers. Our research is concentrated on the structure of taxes, including social security contribution due to the Social Security Budget and contributions to the Health Insurance Budget. We consider that an extended analysis of the structure and collection of arrears will generate more resources to the public budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at summarizing the form and sources of financing for public universities in Romania, its specific legislation and changes that occur on national education level, such as the continuous decrease in the total number of students. University's finances are placed in the context of the economic crisis, the period under analysis being 2007-2013. Facing a situation of acute underfunding and a lack of legislative consistency, an economic crisis can have much stronger effects in the long run. The situation of higher education in Romania is presented in the European context; some particularities of Babeș-Bolyai University's revenues are presented on national scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is trying to present the influence of public choice on the economy and it also details the concepts of: budgetary policy, fiscal policy, expenditure policy, adopting budgetary policies and the actors involved in budgetary policy. The budgetary policy is the policy by which the economic relations in cash that arise in the distribution of gross domestic product are established in relation to the administrative functions and duties of the state. The actors that participate directly or indirectly in making budgetary policies are: voters, politicians, political parties, interest groups and pressure groups, and the technical apparatus of local and central government. Adopting a budgetary policy must consider local fiscal and budgetary policy, without mentioning whether it should be adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational culture has become one of the most important aspects of organizational management. It is so important for the organization's success that big multinational organizations spend tremendous resources (especially financial) to build and maintain a culture that translates into performance and efficiency, one that allows the organization to be flexible and able to permanently adapt to a rapidly changing environment. There has been a lot of progress and research in this area in private organizations but not so much in the public sector, very few in universities and almost none in Romanian universities. This paper tries to answer some questions about the organizational culture of Romanian universities (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca) using Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn's Competing Values Framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in the use of quality-driven approaches in healthcare is imposing new challenges for healthcare professionals and patients, as well. Despite the fact that diverse models are available, dental care has a long road ahead of benefitting from implementing quality management standards and procedures while providing dental care to patients. In this study, we explored the perceptions and practices of Romanian dentists with regards to patients' participation in the delivery of dental care, by using a quality management approach. We surveyed 1.239 Romanian dentists, of whom 120 returned the completed surveys (a response rate of 9.68%). The survey assessed their knowledge of, attitudes about and practice of quality management. For the purpose of this paper, we analyzed those questions which required dentists to assess patients' involvement in the quality assurance process. Almost half of the participants (45.4%) have been working for between 11 and 20 years. 89.8% of them have managerial roles in their dental offices. Although only 32.5% of the dentists have taken part in a Continuous Medical Education course, most of them see in patients an active partner in assuring and improving quality. However, dentists identify the lack of quality management and poor regulation of quality as being main barriers for which so few dentists are implementing quality management systems (40% of our respondents). Our data suggest that, despite dentists' availability to implement quality management principles and involve patients in the process, an improved framework is needed to transform availability into daily practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resistance to change is one of the most fundamental obstacles in the implementation of any organizational change. The aim of this article is to offer a theoretical model that will enable any organization and its management to measure and assess the level, type and causes of its resistance to change and, on this basis, to tailor its organization development program accordingly. This theoretical model was tested on six public institutions from three different counties in Romania, and the presentation and discussion of the results represents the bulk of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is an analysis and a review of online communication of the city halls and local councils from the county seat municipalities of Romania. First, we conducted a full analysis of the legal framework consisting of regulations regarding the online communication and we clarified some basic concepts. Based on the regulations we conducted an analysis regarding the hard indicators rooted in the legislative framework and the soft indicators that are the effective communication, transparency and accessibility. Based on an analysis of the criteria, we created a matrix having a scale referring to the volume of the information content and a scale referring to the efficiency of the communication and to the accessibility. The matrix was used to classify public institutions from county seat municipalities of Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I challenge the concept of 'transition to democracy' ideology that led to the policy of the 1990s. I lean especially on forest land allotment, revealing both the intricacies of this process and its effects. In Romania, the property regime has a complex tradition, given the fragmented nature of the various entities that made up the Romanian state in 1918, and specific associative property forms, as joint property, compossessorates, border guards' forests and communal forests. The situation is even more complicated due to environmental issues because forests, regardless of ownership, can be viewed as an issue of national security. I argue that, even at the discursive level the interwar period was taken as a benchmark, the complications of restitution process, communist legacy imprinted on public policy and the new configuration of actors involved in the process, all worked together on setting a unique system of property usage and ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this research is to determine the characteristics of twinning relations and develop an instrument that would facilitate a hierarchy regarding this type of relations. Using national survey data, this paper seeks to identify the main characteristics of sister cities relations developed by Romanian cities. The results show that Romanian cities are involved only in one-way twining relations and they develop a high number of twinnings that cannot be handled properly by public institutions. The quality of twinning protocols is low mainly because lots of twinning relations become inactive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban development strategies in Romania seem to systematically ignore the significant potential of public lighting in the field of public space design. The general impression is that the municipalities are primarily considering public lighting as a measure for crime prevention and traffic fluidization, an approach that very often has a negative effect upon the ambiance and identity of the public space. This is the context in which the present paper is proposing a new role for the public lighting system, a role in which the light is actively contributing to the revitalization and the attractiveness of the public space. The evolution of public lighting technologies has made it a lot easier for the urban designers to emphasize the identity of the urban landscape in the night, to create and influence behaviors and attitudes within the users and in the same time to provide the traditional functional role in a much more efficient and environmentally friendly manner. It is the reason for which public lighting should be integrated into all the local strategies that involve intervention within the spatial and psychological profile of the public space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is focused on the analyses of two interconnected dimensions of rural Romania: economic life and employment. Using statistical data, it explores the main characteristics of the rural economy in the last two decades. The results identify employment problems and traditional agriculture as the main barriers in the development of the rural areas. For many villages, the non-farming working sector is underdeveloped, while traditional agricultural practices are widespread. Subsistence farming practices exploded after 1990, as a consequence of the transition period, turning the rural Romania into one of the most difficult areas across Europe. The actual coordinates of the rural life need a major policy reform. In this direction, the current system of land ownership represents one of the main areas of intervention (support for land consolidation initiatives and support policy for small farmers being absolutely necessary). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I will try to establish (1) if the social impact of public administration studies is positive or negative and (2) a profile of successful graduate of the Public Administration Department; both objectives derive from a quantitative research developed between 1st of February and 1st of September, 2012. The final databases used for this study contain: (1) approximately 540 bachelor and master degree students (for the first objective), and (2) approximately 30 bachelor and master degree students (for the second objective). The paper has three main parts. The first part approaches the theoretical framework referring to the subject matter. The second part analyses the collected data and highlights the main findings. Last but not least, the third part presents the conclusions and the recommendations elaborated based on the data analysis and theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Romanian public sphere a fault line is noticeable between the two pillars of public communication: the citizen and the public authorities, despite the fact that we live in a time of extensive development of communication means and also that, in its essence, public communication means more than simply to inform the public. Also, in the economy of the process of building the public immage of a public institution, all registers of public communication bring their contribution, but external communication, especially media relations, are of strategic importance in realizing this goal. From both perspectives, the present paper shows that there is a large diversity of instruments available to public institutions in working with the media (press release, press conference, interview, etc.) and that the media can fully contribute to the realization of all forms of public communication, provided there is instututional willingness for this matter. To conclude, between any public institution and the media there must exist professional colaboration relations, based on mutual respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The choice of a tourist destination is facilitated, among other things, by the brand. In many cases, the experience has shown that promoting tourism has helped building the brand of a country, region or city in order to provide an identity through the formation of a real image, positive and attractive. Tourism can create an "umbrella" brand that encompasses marketing efforts for economic development, the increase of investments and exports. Furthermore, a strong brand is a factor of growth for competitiveness of tourist destinations. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show how tourism has contributed to the development of a country brand for Romania. In this context, the evolution of Romania as a tourist destination is presented and market segments from the recent years are described. The quantitative analysis was achieved through the study of some suggestive indicators of the theme in question, such as the number of tourists, tourism receipts and tourist reception facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-Government represents an important step in public administration reform and it involves a digitization process which aims to facilitate the interactions between public authorities and citizens through information technology applications. The implementation of electronic government encountered some problems, therefore in this paper we aim to identify those factors which significantly influence the adoption and development of electronic government, through a study regarding the European Union Member States and candidate countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]