Education and Decentralization

Decentralization aims to enable the citizens, either directly or indirectly, to be more involved in the decision making process in a wider number of areas such as education, urban and rural planning, health, culture, and local economic development. The Republic of Macedonia, upon adopting the Law on Local Self-Government in 2002, commenced this challenging process of transferring responsibilities from the national to the local/Municipal level. Both elementary and secondary education came under the Municipal jurisdiction starting July 1, 2005. This transfer means that the Municipalities assumed ownership over school buildings, and other property related to elementary and secondary education, as well as responsibility for the maintenance of school buildings, and the payment of salaries for auxiliary staff. As the process evolves further, the Municipalities will receive additional responsibilities. The process of decentralizing education involves the participation of many stakeholders including school directors, parents and students. The domain of primary and secondary education is covered by the Law on Local Self-Government, the Law on Primary Education and its amendments, the Law on Secondary Education and its amendments, the Law on State Education Inspectorate, and the Law on Financing of the Local Self-Government Units

The Policy of the European Union toward the Yugoslav Successor States 1996–1999: Stabilization through Regional Cooperation

The policy of the European Union aimed at reconciling the stabilization dimension with the prospective integration of the states of the Western Balkans seems to have produced few results in recent years. In this paper the authors attempt to provide an account of the short historical period in which the EU developed a coherent regional policy towards the Balkans for the first time. This policy, called a ‘Regional Approach’, was designed by the EU’s institutions for the region in late 1995 and was pursued until the Kosovo crisis of 1999. This policy placed a paramount emphasis on the stabilization of the region during a post-conflict period. The analysis in this paper is centered on the questions of the scope of states covered by the ‘Regional Approach’ policy, its objectives, the principle of conditionality it employed and the reasons for its limited success. The argument contributes to the wider debate about the features of the EU’s policy designed for the stabilization and integration of the Western Balkans. The paper also attempts to identify the points in which the ‘Regional Approach’ departs from the usual features of the EU’s regional policies. In particular, comparisons are made with the EU’s policy toward the region of Eastern and Central Europe, developing at the same period of time as the ‘Regional Approach’. In addition, the paper also contributes to the general discussion about the modalities of the EU’s regional policies. Key words: Regional Approach, European Union’s regional policy, Western Balkans Introductio

Racism and xenophobia on internet: conceptual dilemas with the special focus on on the instruments of the Council of Europe

In this article are elaborated conflict of rights- freedom of speech and right of equal treatment. Hear is explain xenophobia and racism on internet and forms of protections in the framework of Council of Europe

Балканските војни- Сто години потоа: Користење на Историјата во функција на политичката мобилизација на Балканот

Појавата на нациите и национализмите во Османлиската империја, особено во нејзиниот европски дел, се врзува за развојот на стереотипите кои ги развивал останатиот дел од светот во однос на балканските жители, но и перцепцијата за себе која ја развивале народите во овие региони. Наметнувањето на негативните стереотипи за регионот ќе биде поткрепено со Балканските војни, кои го одбележаа подеднакво како почетокот, така и крајот на 20-от век. Проекцијата на Балканските војни (1912-13) денес во различните Балкански држави зависи од историската дискурзивна форма на интерпретација детерминирана од перцепцијата на различните национални историографии. Преку антрополошка анализа на балканската документаристика на различните нации- држави за нивната улога во Балканските војни, се прави обид да се согледаат различните перцепции за истите. Притоа интердисциплинарниот приод вклучува синтеза на основните теоретски знаења поврзани со политичките теории (аспекти на политичка мобилизација) и теориите за национализмот, со денес познатата фактографија за Балканските војни и селективното претставување низ националните документаристички проекти во Турција, Бугарија, Македонија и Србија. Во продолжение ќе се задржиме на неколку аспекти на различно гледање и интерпретацијата на Балканските војни. Клучни зборови: Балкански војни, Македонија, Балкански сојуз, историски мит, колективен идентитет, документаристик

A Photographic Map of Drosophila hydei Polytene Chromosomes.

uploaded by Plazi from Taxodro

Effect of Income on Trust: Evidence from the 2009 Crisis in Russia

This paper draws on a natural experiment to identify the relationship between income and trust. We use a unique panel dataset on Russia where GDP experienced an 8 percent drop in 2009. The effect of the crisis had been very uneven among Russian regions because of their differences in industrial structure inherited from the Soviet times. We find that the regions that specialize in producing capital goods, as well as those depending on oil and gas, had a more substantial income decline during the crisis. The variation in the industrial structure allows creating an instrument for the change in income. After instrumenting average regional income, we find that the effect of income on generalized social trust (the share of respondents saying that most people can be trusted) is statistically and economically significant. Controlling for conventional determinants of trust, we show that 10 percent decrease in income is associated with 5 percentage point decrease in trust. Given that the average level of trust in Russia is 25%, this magnitude is substantial. We also find that post-crisis economic recovery did not restore pre-crisis trust level. Trust recovered only in those regions where the 2009 decline in trust was small. In the regions with the large decline in trust during the crisis, trust in 2014 was still 10 percentage points below its pre-crisis level