European Union Approaches to Human Rights Violations in Kosovo before and after Independence

This article examines European Union (EU) approaches to the question of human rights violations in Kosovo before and after its proclamation of independence, in February 2008. While the 1999 NATO-led humanitarian intervention in the region was often justified as necessary due to the continuous abuses of human rights, perpetrated by the Serbian forces against the ethic Kosovo Albanians, the post-interventionist period has witnessed a dramatic reversal of roles, with the rights of the remaining Serbian minority being regularly abused by the dominant Albanian population. However, in contrast to the former scenario, the Brussels administration has remained quite salient about the post-independence context – a grey zone of unviable political and social components, capable of generating new confrontations and human rights abuses within the borders of Kosovo. Aware of this dynamic and the existing EU official rhetoric, it is possible to conclude that the embedded human rights concerns in Kosovo are not likely to disappear, but even more importantly, their relevance has been significantly eroded

The fireman’s ball in Bulgaria? A comparison between Sergey Stanishev and Boyko Borisov

This chapter analyzes the case of Bulgaria by comparing the leaderships of Sergey Stanishev, leader of the major center-left Bulgarian Socialist Party (2001–2014), and Boyko Borisov, leader of the main center-right party, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (2010 onwards). The study shows that their personality traits have a noticeable negative impact on the electoral support, internal party cohesion and activity, especially in periods when these leaders concentrated power around themselves. In contrast, it was the times when both leaders shared internal and/or external authority that were of major electoral and organizational benefit for the two parties. Furthermore, this chapter shows that the impact of the leaders’ personality traits could not be understood without analyzing also their roles as officeholders. In Stanishev’s and Borisov’s cases their positions as prime ministers and leaders of the opposition illuminated their personality weaknesses and had significant effects for their parties

Europa unita e didattica integrata. Storiografie e bibliografie a confronto

Il volume attraverso i contributi di un gruppo di studiosi in European Studies provenienti da varie università europee e legati da attività comuni promosse dal Centro,tenta di porre le basi di una riflessione sulla storiografia sull'integrazione europea, tenendo conto dei differenti approcci nazionali e di porre le basi di una Bibliografia comune per la didattica di questi stud

Strategies for In Situ Home Improvement in Romanian Large Housing Estates

Socio-economic and physical change have visibly affected post-socialist cities, yet the state of decay of their inherited large housing estates has only deepened throughout the 1990s, despite the change in tenure through policies of large-scale privatisation. Housing disrepair has now reached a critical stage that requires rapid private and public intervention. This paper examines the extent to which Romanian block residents have been able to improve in situ their housing conditions since 2000, the strategies they employed and the challenges they faced. It focuses on the often ignored private domain of housing, flats and blocks, where changes are also likely to be less visible. By analysing the process of individual utility metering and the practice of collective block management, I argue that besides economics, the unregulated housing context and a relaxed legal culture have challenged individual and collective action and have generated a framework of housing privatism.PostprintPeer reviewe