The EU may have a democratic deficit, but national governments are facing an even greater legitimacy crisis

Trust in the EU has declined in several countries since the start of the financial crisis in 2007. Using Eurobarometer data, Besir Ceka compares trust in the EU with the trust citizens place in the national governments of EU states. He notes that while both have declined during the crisis, most states still show higher levels of trust in the EU’s institutions than they do in national governments. This suggests that concerns over the EU’s democratic deficit should be expanded to include the legitimacy of governments at the national level

The meaning of democracy changes for Europeans depending on their education status, income and national context

Most Europeans value democracy, but do all citizens have the same conception of what democracy is? Pedro C. Magalhães and Besir Ceka assess variations in how Europeans conceive of democracy and analyse the various factors which underpin different interpretations. Their findings indicate that there are a wide variety of conceptions of democracy across Europe. The key mechanism explaining this variation is that individuals in high education and high income groups tend to more readily support the kinds of democracy which represent the ‘status quo’ in their country than citizens from lower education/income groups

Understanding Collaborative Performance: The Case of Illinois 9-1-1 Emergency Call Service

This dissertation empirically tests the effects of system context conditions such as political dynamics, legal framework, and conflict history on collaborative performance in the context of mandated collaborative governance regimes (CGRs) at the local level, namely the Illinois 9-1-1 Emergency Telephone System Boards (ETSBs). More specifically, this study examines how system context conditions affect the decision-making capacity of the Illinois 9-1-1 emergency call service and whether the system context and formative conditions affect the 9-1-1 ETSB’s productivity performance expressed through collaborative capacity to manage and marshal financial resources. The results suggest that more importance should be given to the influence of the system context constraints on collaborative outcomes, such as collaborative decision-making capacity and goal agreement as well as financial sustainability, specifically in the mandated CGRs, as they are vulnerable to the political and stakeholder pressures. This research contributes to the studies on networks and collaborative governance by identifying the nature of system context constraints and the extent to which they can limit collaborative decision-making and resource-management capacities. This dissertation used both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to provide insights on factors affecting performance in mandated collaborative governance regimes that will be of interest to both policy makers and researchers interested in collaborative public management

Climate Change Impacts on Society and EU Political Process Towards Security Implications

Scientific evidence, as well as human testimony exists on climate change. Its implications may affect resource availability, human health, and security, posing a threat to economic development, as well as to social and political stability. Projected climate change is expected to affect European society in all economic sectors, goods and services, with largest impacts coming indirectly from Mediterranean region. Developed countries may succeed with mechanisms, although costly, to deal with these impacts and to minimize the difficulties caused by climate change. Countries that are already facing poverty, social and political instability are expected to be more vulnerable to the negative consequences of climate change. Social innovation is a recommended tool for addressing those consequences. By the beginning of the new millennium, climate change has been increasingly addressed by EU policy-makers and analysts as a security concern. While climate change impacts have, so far, been of no major concern for the EU environmental policy, security implications of climate change have increasingly become more important for the European Commission. Hence, climate change is being intensively discussed as a human and environmental security issue in European or regional forums. Furthermore, in a world of globalisation, environmental consequences are overcoming the conventional borders. Hence, environmental cooperation and political integration in the framework of climate change are appropriate policies.În privința schimbării climatice există atât dovezi ştiințifice, cât şi mărturii umane. Implicațiile acesteia se răsfrâng atât asupra disponibilității resurselor, cât şi asupra sănătății oamenilor şi securității, fiind o amenințare la adresa dezvoltării economice, ca şi la adresa stabilității politice şi sociale. Această schimbare climatică se aşteaptă că va afecta societatea europeană în toate sectoarele economiei, de bunuri şi servicii, cu cel mai mare impact venind în mod indirect dinspre regiunea mediteraneeană. Prin anumite mecanisme, costisitoare, țările dezvoltate pot face față acestor schimbări şi pot minimaliza dificultățile generate de ele. Inovația socială este unul dintre mecanismele adresate acestor consecințe. De la începutul noului mileniu, schimbarea climei a fost considerată din ce în ce mai mult, de către analişti şi artizani ai politicilor sociale, ca fiind o chestiune de securitate. Deşi impactul schimbării climei nu a fost, până acum, o preocupare majoră pentru politicile de mediu ale UE, implicațiile în domeniul securității au devenit din ce în ce mai importante pentru Comisia Europeană. Astfel, schimbarea climei a devenit un subiect intens discutat ca o chestiune privind securitatea mediului şi a oamenilor la forumurile regionale şi europene. Mai mult, într-o lume a globalizării, consecințele la nivel de mediu trec peste convențiile de frontiere. Astfel, cooperarea în domeniul mediului şi integrarea politicii în cadrul instituțional al schimbării climatice sunt politicile ce trebuie urmate

The Use of Technology in Educational Teaching

Today, Information and communication technology has become a way of life in which children are drawn. Today's children are beginning to use digital tools at a very young age, so that the school should respond to the needs of students. Also today it is impossible for any profession performs without the help of information technology. The computer and the Internet gives us endless possibilities and resources in improving the quality of work.Even in education, computer skills and additional equipment are needed, because they create great opportunities for teachers and inspire curiosity, imagination and interest of students.Teachers should not oppose change, but they should use new technology for better quality teaching and make it more interesting. The use of technology will positively improve results faculty and students.Teachers must carefully plan the use and integration of technology in teaching. How to integrate technology into teaching mainly depends on how many computers has at its disposal. Keywords: technology in education, computer in teaching, use of technology, integration technology

The Role of Parents in the Education of Children

The ‘home education’ as a term, represents educational impact of the family on children. It has been proved that in various family environments, children do acquire a variety of experiences, through performing various activities and is constantly exposed to a range of influence and expectations from the people he/she cohabits. In this paper we will analyze the influence of the parents over their children’s education within family environment.   It will focus issues why each family has different educational potentials.  In nowadays social circumstances, the family has a huge and very tough responsibility; as it has to take proper care on their health, their physical development, their overall education, the development of their intellectual affinities, as well as creation for a better moral values and convictions and attitudes, habits to a firm and well behaved cultural relations in the family itself as well as in the society where the child lives. On the other hand, the family as an institution has to create conditions for development of positive relationship towards work, which as such is a predisposition towards a better establishment of a realistic approach for a better development of the children’s personality. Keywords: children, education, family relationship, father’s role, mother’s rol

Evaluation of Public Administration Reforms in North Macedonia from the perspective of European Commission’s Annual Progress Reports

Public administration of the Republic of North Macedonia is constantly under evaluation in the Annual Progress Reports prepared by the European Commission. The main recommendations from the European Commission refer to the systematic change of laws, but there is no argument as to how these changes will contribute to the elimination of fundamental problems. Although a considerable number of laws have been ammended and accepted under the motto of reforms, all of them lack the result, which is the creation of a public administration that is able to satisfy the needs of a democratic country. This paper analyzes all the European Commission’s Annual Progress Reports of the 2005-2021 period and their recommendations. The finding is that there are repetitions of the same shortcomings in almost all Annual Progress Reports. This leads to the conclusion that the reforms are unsuccessful – they are misused either for political needs, or are applied selectively. The support of the political opposition should be sought to assure that there is any real progress. This is possible only if all the politicians gain the conviction that the reforms are in the service of the citizens and not of the political conjunctures in power. There is still a lot of work to be done to improve the country’s image on the road to the EU, while the challenges related to the public administration reform must be seriously addressed by all decision-making structures

RULE OF LAW IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA OVER THE LAST DECADE EVALUATED BY INTERNATIONAL AUTHORITIES

As the Republic of Macedonia (RM) is on its way to the European Union (EU), we consider it important to analyze the level of rule of law as one of the preconditions for membership. The issue of rule of law in the RM has been debated by other scholars over the years, but not from a ten-year perspective involving the evaluation of relevant international authorities. The purpose of this research paper is to analyze the shortcomings in the functioning of the rule of law in RM. As a framework of this research, the relevant data on the rule of law in the countries of Southeast Europe, the annual progress reports of the European Commission on the rule of law in the RM, the evaluations of other international actors, the results of previous research, such as government documents and institutional reforms devoted to the rule of law are used. The critical assessment of the functioning of the rule of law in the RM in this research should create a positive and motivating effect for the political authorities to reform the justice system in accordance with the needs of the citizens and the key Euro-integration processes. Finally, we will draw conclusions and make suggestions to serve the wider academic community, policymakers, and stakeholders who may raise issues as a problem that requires appropriate treatment