The study focussed on two professional groups: the public notary and the bailiffs' profession... more The study focussed on two professional groups: the public notary and the bailiffs' professions. Indeed, these groups fulfil a particular place within society, which is among other things manifested by the fact that they are subject to a code of confidentiality and the privilege of non-disclosure. Although the main thrust of this article is on their contribution to the rule of law, this article will also highlight the various manifestations of administrative mechanisms borrowed from the civil service system and how these two professionals execute the law. The article presents shortly each one of them tasks, professional standards and the legal framework. After the introduction of each professions, there is a discussion of a number of factors that may influence the execution of the law. Thirdly, the article gives an overview of their contribution. Finally, attention is paid to their Romanian and European organisation within Chambers, Unions and European Union Councils.
The year 1987 represented for us, scholars, the turning point for the Europeanization of high deg... more The year 1987 represented for us, scholars, the turning point for the Europeanization of high degree studies. The European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) is a European Union student exchange program which has proved its utility in the last two decade. The public administration and law studies are two of the fields of studies which have benefited from the ERASMUS Programme. In this respect we will try to learn the lesson of internationalization from the European contact through ERASMUS programme. The ‘win win’ for students is not just in the increase of knowledge in the area of administrative sciences and law, but also in the share of cultures. The ERASMUS gives students a better sense of what it means to be a European citizen. In addition, many employers highly value such a period abroad, which increases the students’ employability and job prospects.
A new democratic tool, the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), starting with April 2012, wil... more A new democratic tool, the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), starting with April 2012, will allow one million European Union (EU) citizens to ask the European Commission to propose EU legislation. The ECI could thus create a new space inside the EU policy-making machine for ordinary EU citizens. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the early implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon provisions concerning citizens' initiative. At the level of the European Union, member states in their fundamental laws set up the democratic initiative of the people. The following Member States have citizens' initiatives at national level: Austria, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and The Netherlands. These initiatives differ considerably in scope and generally operate according to different procedures. Because at EU level, there is no experience to build upon this, we will analyze the national citizens' initiative and the problem...
The European treaties allowed the European Union to be seen more as a political and economic area... more The European treaties allowed the European Union to be seen more as a political and economic area and less as a space with a common culture and values. However, in order to become a member state of this community, every country should respect such values as democracy, the rule of law, individual freedom and the market economy principles. Now, according to article 2 of the Treaty of European Union, the EU values are established and they are granted the binding force of the law. Therefore, ‘the Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States ...'. That is why values are at the heart of the European project. Croatia and the fYRoM have a special status - candidate countries of the EU, but in order to become member states they have to reach the same values as the EU27. In our study we will find out which the European values are and we will try to determine how the people from the Balkan countries - Croatia and fYRoM - are aware them. We will continue to see, based on the Eurobarometers results, what the EU represents for them, in terms of values. For this reason, we will put together the items obtained in the last years and we will see in the end if the Western Balkan citizens are ready to become EU citizens.
ABSTRACT Is there a European administration, are we witnessing a new order in administration, or ... more ABSTRACT Is there a European administration, are we witnessing a new order in administration, or only a mechanism aiming at ensuring co-operation between national administrations? The trend of enlargement of the European Union bears the influence of public administration that behaves as an inner actor, finding itself in the process of becoming a federal State.The direct impact of the EU on the administrative systems of member States is quite limited. In fact, EU does not have any direct competence in this field. Administrative organization of member States is a matter that falls under the competence of member States. Anyhow, there are numerous ways of indirect influence upon member States and those States that desire the integration.Existing administrative structures and national characteristics of member States, the fact that those structures are closer to the newly created situations (after the revolutions), and to the people they are responsible for and also the structural framework of the EU, were those elements that led to reforms in administration.Taking into account the problems occurring in the process towards integration, Romania was among those countries the most severely criticized.The poor quality of administration is considered to be a major element when explaining the political and economic crisis. Too much corruption, present in administration, is one of those elements destroying the development of a professional, stable and impartial public administration.Generally speaking, the ability of public administration to implement the acquis communautaire is quite small, and this is the factor that restricted the possibilities of negotiations for Romania’s integration to EU.The trend of evolution of the Reform in the public sector followed a winding line. We must say it that none of the models used so far has not produced the expected results. Political factors and administration showed a permanent confusion in the measures they have taken. Lack of decision, instability, improvisation and lack of coherence in the decisions taken led to a mistrust of Romanian people and foreign organizations in Romania’s capability to self-governing.
The transparency and integrity of public administration is a major condition for Romania’s passin... more The transparency and integrity of public administration is a major condition for Romania’s passing from a totalitarian regime to democracy and prosperity and for its integration in the economic, political and security systems of the Euro-Atlantic community. There is a unanimous consensus as far as this necessity is concerned in the Romanian society.Despite all this, the lack of transparency and the corruption in public administration structures have constantly affected Romania’s economic, social and political developments and its relation with the European and Atlantic institutions, as well as its possibility of integration in these structures. The last years have been characterized by a severe worsening of the situation and the most recent internal evaluations, as well as those made by international institutions, strengthen this conclusion.In terms of international undertakings, Romania ‘has been very active’, signed and in some cases already ratified various treaties on the fight ...
In the discussion of the future of national states there are two mistakes that must be avoided: t... more In the discussion of the future of national states there are two mistakes that must be avoided: the first is to consider nation states as institutions that are in decline or disappearing, or that they are losing all political or economic power as a consequence of the process of capitalist globalisation; and the second is to believe that the defence of a nation and of national sovereignty is the only, or the principle, line of defence against the catastrophes brought on by the globalise market.The national states continue to play a decisive role in political and economic fields and it is obvious that the national state has a role to play in the resistance to globalisation.However, the juridical literature constantly emphasized that the notion of the Rule of law has its own universal dimension, as it was expressly attested in many international and European documents. The existence of the rule of law essentially depends on the national realities, those which contributed to the definit...
Reforming the state and the public administration are two concepts well known for the Romanian ma... more Reforming the state and the public administration are two concepts well known for the Romanian mass-media. Public administration is the stability factor of a state and is called to satisfy the citizens’ requirements. To change public administration we must invest in people. For this, the educational system in administrative science is considered very important. The Romanian public educational system has an important role in shaping educational marketing. Marketing activities come in all forms, but the traditional definition is the most used. Our study will take into consideration the price of education, because for the Romanian citizens the price is important and it doesn’t indicate only the quality but also the accessibility.
The Romanian society, the state, the administration and the judiciary are facing several essentia... more The Romanian society, the state, the administration and the judiciary are facing several essential challenges of the contemporary world, and these challenges have to be approached as soon as possible. The position and the role of the Public Prosecutor’s Office within the rule of law should be clarified since it is a well known fact that the judiciary and public administration systems are not yet capable to manage the changes necessary for its integration in the European juridical space. With the advancement of the Romanian public administration reform, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the public administration have become the two main actors involved in the struggle against corruption. Corruption is considered to be an important factor underlying the inability of the public administration and the judiciary systems to act and to meet the citizen’s needs. The Romanian citizen has been facing the burden of corruption and bureaucracy, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office is one of the i...
ABSTRACT For over a generation, the trend of world politics is to weak statehood. In the twentiet... more ABSTRACT For over a generation, the trend of world politics is to weak statehood. In the twentieth century, many states were too strong and committed acts of aggression both on its own population and the neighbouring states.However after September 11, 2001, the main problem of global politics was not to find ways of restricting the state, but to building it. For individualistic societies (USA) and the global community, rendering the state outside the arena was not a prelude to utopia, but the beginning of a global crisis. Despite the many concerns about the loss of power in a global world, the State remains the key actor in the domestic as well as international arenas. The many “challenges that we confront today are beyond the reach of any state to meet on its own. At the national level we must govern better, and at the international level we must learn to govern better together. Effective States are essential for both tasks and their capacity for both needs strengthening” (United Nations, 2000). Since its inception, the national state has guaranteed internal and external security; underpinned the law; funded national welfare systems; provided the structures for popular representation; instituted public accountability; and built the framework for economic and social activities. During the last century, the responsibilities of the State have expanded in all these areas. The general configuration of state responsibilities has changed and this has introduced important modifications both in the policy arena and in the State’s requirements for high-level skills, qualitatively and quantitatively. Even, developing countries have made tremendous progress toward reforming the state in the last decade. As Fukuyama noticed in his book ‘State – Building. Governance and world order in the 21st century’ the absence of a state-building agenda and an appropriate institutional framework, and also the capture of the state in the globalization movement (n.a.), brought it in an even worse situation after liberalization, than if this would not be produced at all. Starting from the distinction created by Fukuyama between the two dimensions of stateness (scale and institutional capacity/strength) we will try to place Romania in the stateness matrix considering the range of the state functions and their arrangement. In our study we will try to determine the state functions in times of crises taking into consideration that Romania is a state in transition, a state under reform. In times of crises the state must react and his reaction, in most cases, produces effects in economical and social sector. Therefore, often the main lever of state intervention in economy is public administration. For example the financial credits of the state are managed by the government, more precisely by public administration. But even in this area, there are a variety of ways of doing things. Thus, once we have identified the state functions we will try to determine public administration functions when the state is in economic crisis. On the state leaders agenda, at the request of IMF, is compulsory to take into account the reduction of the expenses of budgetary payments. In this situation the state must react and choose either the disposal of the civil servants either of sending them home in non-payment. One important point is to see if the state manages to keep the civil services at the same level of quality without budget, salaries or trained human resources (The Romanian Government announced disposals of 20% of civil servants even we can see that at local level it is a lack of trained human resources). In these conditions, is public administration capable to react? When it is “accused” of being bureaucratic, corrupt and short in civil servants? So, we will emphasis the idea that during the financial and economic crisis the state is as strong as public administration is capable to react and manage such a complex situation.
The European treaties allowed the European Union to be seen more as a political and economic area... more The European treaties allowed the European Union to be seen more as a political and economic area and less as a space with a common culture and values. However, in order to become a member state of this community, every country should respect such values as democracy, the rule of law, individual freedom and the market economy principles. Now, according to article 2 of the Treaty of European Union, the EU values are established and they are granted the binding force of the law. Therefore, ‘the Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States ...'. That is why values are at the heart of the European project. Croatia and the fYRoM have a special status - candidate countries of the EU, but in order to become member states they have to reach the same values as the EU27. In our study we will find ...
The study focussed on two professional groups: the public notary and the bailiffs' profession... more The study focussed on two professional groups: the public notary and the bailiffs' professions. Indeed, these groups fulfil a particular place within society, which is among other things manifested by the fact that they are subject to a code of confidentiality and the privilege of non-disclosure. Although the main thrust of this article is on their contribution to the rule of law, this article will also highlight the various manifestations of administrative mechanisms borrowed from the civil service system and how these two professionals execute the law. The article presents shortly each one of them tasks, professional standards and the legal framework. After the introduction of each professions, there is a discussion of a number of factors that may influence the execution of the law. Thirdly, the article gives an overview of their contribution. Finally, attention is paid to their Romanian and European organisation within Chambers, Unions and European Union Councils.
The year 1987 represented for us, scholars, the turning point for the Europeanization of high deg... more The year 1987 represented for us, scholars, the turning point for the Europeanization of high degree studies. The European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) is a European Union student exchange program which has proved its utility in the last two decade. The public administration and law studies are two of the fields of studies which have benefited from the ERASMUS Programme. In this respect we will try to learn the lesson of internationalization from the European contact through ERASMUS programme. The ‘win win’ for students is not just in the increase of knowledge in the area of administrative sciences and law, but also in the share of cultures. The ERASMUS gives students a better sense of what it means to be a European citizen. In addition, many employers highly value such a period abroad, which increases the students’ employability and job prospects.
A new democratic tool, the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), starting with April 2012, wil... more A new democratic tool, the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), starting with April 2012, will allow one million European Union (EU) citizens to ask the European Commission to propose EU legislation. The ECI could thus create a new space inside the EU policy-making machine for ordinary EU citizens. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the early implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon provisions concerning citizens' initiative. At the level of the European Union, member states in their fundamental laws set up the democratic initiative of the people. The following Member States have citizens' initiatives at national level: Austria, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and The Netherlands. These initiatives differ considerably in scope and generally operate according to different procedures. Because at EU level, there is no experience to build upon this, we will analyze the national citizens' initiative and the problem...
The European treaties allowed the European Union to be seen more as a political and economic area... more The European treaties allowed the European Union to be seen more as a political and economic area and less as a space with a common culture and values. However, in order to become a member state of this community, every country should respect such values as democracy, the rule of law, individual freedom and the market economy principles. Now, according to article 2 of the Treaty of European Union, the EU values are established and they are granted the binding force of the law. Therefore, ‘the Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States ...'. That is why values are at the heart of the European project. Croatia and the fYRoM have a special status - candidate countries of the EU, but in order to become member states they have to reach the same values as the EU27. In our study we will find out which the European values are and we will try to determine how the people from the Balkan countries - Croatia and fYRoM - are aware them. We will continue to see, based on the Eurobarometers results, what the EU represents for them, in terms of values. For this reason, we will put together the items obtained in the last years and we will see in the end if the Western Balkan citizens are ready to become EU citizens.
ABSTRACT Is there a European administration, are we witnessing a new order in administration, or ... more ABSTRACT Is there a European administration, are we witnessing a new order in administration, or only a mechanism aiming at ensuring co-operation between national administrations? The trend of enlargement of the European Union bears the influence of public administration that behaves as an inner actor, finding itself in the process of becoming a federal State.The direct impact of the EU on the administrative systems of member States is quite limited. In fact, EU does not have any direct competence in this field. Administrative organization of member States is a matter that falls under the competence of member States. Anyhow, there are numerous ways of indirect influence upon member States and those States that desire the integration.Existing administrative structures and national characteristics of member States, the fact that those structures are closer to the newly created situations (after the revolutions), and to the people they are responsible for and also the structural framework of the EU, were those elements that led to reforms in administration.Taking into account the problems occurring in the process towards integration, Romania was among those countries the most severely criticized.The poor quality of administration is considered to be a major element when explaining the political and economic crisis. Too much corruption, present in administration, is one of those elements destroying the development of a professional, stable and impartial public administration.Generally speaking, the ability of public administration to implement the acquis communautaire is quite small, and this is the factor that restricted the possibilities of negotiations for Romania’s integration to EU.The trend of evolution of the Reform in the public sector followed a winding line. We must say it that none of the models used so far has not produced the expected results. Political factors and administration showed a permanent confusion in the measures they have taken. Lack of decision, instability, improvisation and lack of coherence in the decisions taken led to a mistrust of Romanian people and foreign organizations in Romania’s capability to self-governing.
The transparency and integrity of public administration is a major condition for Romania’s passin... more The transparency and integrity of public administration is a major condition for Romania’s passing from a totalitarian regime to democracy and prosperity and for its integration in the economic, political and security systems of the Euro-Atlantic community. There is a unanimous consensus as far as this necessity is concerned in the Romanian society.Despite all this, the lack of transparency and the corruption in public administration structures have constantly affected Romania’s economic, social and political developments and its relation with the European and Atlantic institutions, as well as its possibility of integration in these structures. The last years have been characterized by a severe worsening of the situation and the most recent internal evaluations, as well as those made by international institutions, strengthen this conclusion.In terms of international undertakings, Romania ‘has been very active’, signed and in some cases already ratified various treaties on the fight ...
In the discussion of the future of national states there are two mistakes that must be avoided: t... more In the discussion of the future of national states there are two mistakes that must be avoided: the first is to consider nation states as institutions that are in decline or disappearing, or that they are losing all political or economic power as a consequence of the process of capitalist globalisation; and the second is to believe that the defence of a nation and of national sovereignty is the only, or the principle, line of defence against the catastrophes brought on by the globalise market.The national states continue to play a decisive role in political and economic fields and it is obvious that the national state has a role to play in the resistance to globalisation.However, the juridical literature constantly emphasized that the notion of the Rule of law has its own universal dimension, as it was expressly attested in many international and European documents. The existence of the rule of law essentially depends on the national realities, those which contributed to the definit...
Reforming the state and the public administration are two concepts well known for the Romanian ma... more Reforming the state and the public administration are two concepts well known for the Romanian mass-media. Public administration is the stability factor of a state and is called to satisfy the citizens’ requirements. To change public administration we must invest in people. For this, the educational system in administrative science is considered very important. The Romanian public educational system has an important role in shaping educational marketing. Marketing activities come in all forms, but the traditional definition is the most used. Our study will take into consideration the price of education, because for the Romanian citizens the price is important and it doesn’t indicate only the quality but also the accessibility.
The Romanian society, the state, the administration and the judiciary are facing several essentia... more The Romanian society, the state, the administration and the judiciary are facing several essential challenges of the contemporary world, and these challenges have to be approached as soon as possible. The position and the role of the Public Prosecutor’s Office within the rule of law should be clarified since it is a well known fact that the judiciary and public administration systems are not yet capable to manage the changes necessary for its integration in the European juridical space. With the advancement of the Romanian public administration reform, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the public administration have become the two main actors involved in the struggle against corruption. Corruption is considered to be an important factor underlying the inability of the public administration and the judiciary systems to act and to meet the citizen’s needs. The Romanian citizen has been facing the burden of corruption and bureaucracy, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office is one of the i...
ABSTRACT For over a generation, the trend of world politics is to weak statehood. In the twentiet... more ABSTRACT For over a generation, the trend of world politics is to weak statehood. In the twentieth century, many states were too strong and committed acts of aggression both on its own population and the neighbouring states.However after September 11, 2001, the main problem of global politics was not to find ways of restricting the state, but to building it. For individualistic societies (USA) and the global community, rendering the state outside the arena was not a prelude to utopia, but the beginning of a global crisis. Despite the many concerns about the loss of power in a global world, the State remains the key actor in the domestic as well as international arenas. The many “challenges that we confront today are beyond the reach of any state to meet on its own. At the national level we must govern better, and at the international level we must learn to govern better together. Effective States are essential for both tasks and their capacity for both needs strengthening” (United Nations, 2000). Since its inception, the national state has guaranteed internal and external security; underpinned the law; funded national welfare systems; provided the structures for popular representation; instituted public accountability; and built the framework for economic and social activities. During the last century, the responsibilities of the State have expanded in all these areas. The general configuration of state responsibilities has changed and this has introduced important modifications both in the policy arena and in the State’s requirements for high-level skills, qualitatively and quantitatively. Even, developing countries have made tremendous progress toward reforming the state in the last decade. As Fukuyama noticed in his book ‘State – Building. Governance and world order in the 21st century’ the absence of a state-building agenda and an appropriate institutional framework, and also the capture of the state in the globalization movement (n.a.), brought it in an even worse situation after liberalization, than if this would not be produced at all. Starting from the distinction created by Fukuyama between the two dimensions of stateness (scale and institutional capacity/strength) we will try to place Romania in the stateness matrix considering the range of the state functions and their arrangement. In our study we will try to determine the state functions in times of crises taking into consideration that Romania is a state in transition, a state under reform. In times of crises the state must react and his reaction, in most cases, produces effects in economical and social sector. Therefore, often the main lever of state intervention in economy is public administration. For example the financial credits of the state are managed by the government, more precisely by public administration. But even in this area, there are a variety of ways of doing things. Thus, once we have identified the state functions we will try to determine public administration functions when the state is in economic crisis. On the state leaders agenda, at the request of IMF, is compulsory to take into account the reduction of the expenses of budgetary payments. In this situation the state must react and choose either the disposal of the civil servants either of sending them home in non-payment. One important point is to see if the state manages to keep the civil services at the same level of quality without budget, salaries or trained human resources (The Romanian Government announced disposals of 20% of civil servants even we can see that at local level it is a lack of trained human resources). In these conditions, is public administration capable to react? When it is “accused” of being bureaucratic, corrupt and short in civil servants? So, we will emphasis the idea that during the financial and economic crisis the state is as strong as public administration is capable to react and manage such a complex situation.
The European treaties allowed the European Union to be seen more as a political and economic area... more The European treaties allowed the European Union to be seen more as a political and economic area and less as a space with a common culture and values. However, in order to become a member state of this community, every country should respect such values as democracy, the rule of law, individual freedom and the market economy principles. Now, according to article 2 of the Treaty of European Union, the EU values are established and they are granted the binding force of the law. Therefore, ‘the Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States ...'. That is why values are at the heart of the European project. Croatia and the fYRoM have a special status - candidate countries of the EU, but in order to become member states they have to reach the same values as the EU27. In our study we will find ...
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Papers by Mihaela Carausan