PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES IN ROMANIA AND REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA. GUIDELINES

In light of recent conflicts on the issue of minorities and European regulations, the issue of the protection of minority rights appears to be increasingly more important in a world of multiculturalism, which should be a world of dialogue and respect of human rights as well. The fundamental principles of protection of minority rights in Romania and Moldova are reflected, first, by the constitutions of both countries. In this article we analyze comparatively the two fundamental documents and we focus on the reflection of the principle of nondiscrimination based on race or ethnic origin in the national law of the two states.minority rights, principle of nondiscrimination, international law, human rights Romania

Culture and Society

The present book “Poland – History, Culture and Society. Selected Readings” is the third edition of a collection of academic texts written with the intention to accompany the module by providing incoming students with teaching materials that will assist them in their studies of the course module and encourage further search for relevant information and data. The papers collected in the book have been authored by academic teachers from the University of Łódź, specialists in such fields as history, geography, literature, sociology, ethnology, cultural studies, and political science. Each author presents one chapter related to a topic included in the module or extending its contents. The book contains the extensive bibliography

Models of Party Democracy : Patterns of Party Regulation in Post-War European Constitutions

This article investigates the ways in which political parties are codified in modern democratic constitutions, providing a unique cross-sectional and longitudinal overview of the patterns of party constitutionalization in post-war Europe. Although the constitutions of western liberal democracies traditionally have paid little attention to the role of parties, evidence suggests that in contemporary democracies, both old and new, they are increasingly accorded a formal constitutional status. Little is known, however, about the substantive content of their constitutional position or about the normative connotations of their constitutional codification. In this article, we demonstrate that there is a clear correlation between the nature and the intensity of party constitutionalization and the newness and historical experience of democracy and that, with time, the constitutional regulation of the extra-parliamentary organization and the parties’ rights and duties has gained in importance at the expense of their parliamentary and electoral roles. The analysis furthermore suggests that three distinct models of party constitutionalization can be identified – Defending Democracy, Parties in Public Office, and Parties as Public Utilities – each of which is related to a particular conception of party democracy

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality

Re-thinking Europe vol. II

The second volume of the series Re-thinking Europe offers an extended and revised version of a collection of papers selected from those presented at the third edition of the workshop Rethinking Europe held on 19th December 2014 at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and organised by the Centre for Ethics and Humanism in collaboration with the Centre for Critical Philosophy of Ghent University. As the reader will see, the present volume examines a diversity of topics (cosmopolitanism, fraternity, the burqa ban debate, political theology, human rights and democracy) from very different perspectives, methodological strategies and scientific backgrounds. Nevertheless, all papers share the same ultimate horizon of meaning: Europe as an on-going challenge of permanent reflection on the limits, constraints and possibilities of critical thinking

Report on the International Scientific Conference ‘The protection of religious freedom in Central and Eastern European countries’ organised within the framework of the Central European Professors’ Network

The scientific conference under the title ‘The protection of religious freedom in Central and Eastern European countries’ was held on 26 November 2021 in the Ministry of Justice of Hungary as the third element of the closing events of the Central European Professors’ Network. The event hosted a book launch as well: the members of the research group titled ‘Freedom of conscience and religion in Europe’ presented their book entitled ‘Religious Symbols in the Public Sphere’ which summarizes their results. Professor Sobczyk, the head of the research group, introduced the two main issues which the research group focused on, namely: ‘the presence of religious symbols in public space’ and ‘protection of religious belief in East-Central European countries’Konferencja naukowa pt. „Ochrona wolności religijnej w krajach Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej” odbyła się 26 listopada 2021 r. w Ministerstwie Sprawiedliwości Węgier, jako trzeci element wydarzeń zamykających działalność Sieci Profesorskiej Europy Środkowej. Jednym z ważniejszych punktów Konferencji była prezentacja książki, która powstała w wyniku prac członków grupy badawczej „Wolność sumienia i religia w Europie”, zatytułowanej „Symbole religijne w sferze publicznej”. Profesor Sobczyk, przewodniczący tego zespołu naukowców, przedstawił dwa główne zagadnienia, na których skupiła się praca badaczy, tj.‘obecność symboli religijnych w przestrzeni publicznej’ oraz ‘ochrona przekonań religijnych w krajach Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej