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With 2857 km in length, the quiet Danube quietly tells Europe’s history. We only must be aware of its story. Since ancient times it was connected with empires, expansion, and navigation. The Romans fully understood its role, and proceeded accordingly. They made it their border, but used it for transporting goods and military, too. After the Dark Ages, all European affairs have been in one way or another connected and influenced by the Danube. Romania’s modern history was influenced by the evolution of international problems connected to this river. The Moldavia and Wallachia 1859’s unification in a single state – Romania – had lot to do with the Danube and it was involved in London’s interests in the Oriental Question. The paper presents shortly the way the legal framework regarding the Danube was developed, and what was Romania’s role in facilitating navigation on the Danube. The main data which inspired this work – regarding both the political-legal aspects, and the technical solutions used to facilitate navigation on Danube – are based on earlier writings and studies of Romanian thinkers such as Antipa, Baicoianu, Dascovici and Gogeanu. The evolution of these aspects has a direct or an indirect connection with the evolution of political events and the economic development in all European states, but their importance is crucial especially for those countries which are located in the Danube’s basin. The main text regarding the political aspects related to the Danube is the Belgrade Convention, which has been the general framework under which riparian countries come together to collaborate and to solve the technical impediments for navigation, such as those imposed by the building of the Iron Gate System. At the same time, this paper signals the role of education in understanding the Danube’s role for riparian countries, and for their possible evolution in connection with this river.

A dam, in most cases is a large, impressive concrete structure. A commanding number of large dams exist with over 45000 estimated in the world. It is important to understand such a concrete structure not only from a technical perspective, but also from the view of local community in the region of the dam. Also, it is important to know the international impact of a dam on a river basin and the measures necessary for implementing a dam, as well as the positive and negative effects of dam construction itself. Preliminary measures aim to characterize a river regarding natural, geological, geographical patterns, human geographical distribution, and food production. Prospective trends, such as the need for augmented water volumes for a water-fed agriculture, industrialization, energy, and river transportation, can influence decisions connected to dam building. Recently, climate change, a phenomenon considered as human-induced, at least partially, and the prospect of a water-stressed world, are another elements that affect decisions about build dams, especially regarding water security and green energy and a renewable resource under threat. This paper presents the main administrative requirements for a team involved in dam construction, including their specific tasks and interactions. The main aim of this paper is to establish political meaning of dams, and their capacity to influence economics, society, and the environment in an interconnected world.