THE IMPLICATIONS OF GROSS FIXED CAPITAL AND UNEMPLOYMENT RATE GENERAL GOVERNMENT DEFICIT. EMPIRICAL STUDY AT THE EUROPEAN LEVEL

In this paper we evaluate the influence of the modification of public investment level and unemployment rate on the general government deficit at the European Union level. We create a regression model that shows that a sustained and increased investment policy and the reduction of unemployment rate have a favorable effect on the objective of minimizing the budget deficit. In the last years European Union’s countries had to face a difficult problem concerning fiscal policy. They have to make public investments to stimulate economic growth and in the same time they have to meet the convergence criteria’s of public deficit. On the other hand, EU has to deal with a higher rate of unemployment. Through our model we try to see how European Union countries should implement their political strategies on unemployment and investment with the main objective of reducing the general government deficit.general government deficit, gross fixed capital, unemployment rate, correlation, regression

THE LABOUR MARKET AND THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF ECONOMIC CRISIS

The globalization phenomenon and the creation of an economically and structurally strong Europe could not last forever. Knowing the economic phenomena’ cyclicity, the following question arises: Which will be the starting point of a new global crisis? Identifying the causes and culprits upon which the international committees and economic and political analysts focus on, we briefly deal with them in this article, because it is essential to concentrate on the measures and the crisis impact over social security. The goal of this article is to illustrate the crisis impact over the social security and labour market fields, the measures took in this field in Europe, around the world and in Romania. We bring in a synoptic table of the causes, effects, measures taken and incurring tendencies. The labour market’s issues and the Social Security System’s difficulties can be solved by vigorous measures, of which the authors recommend the ones resulting from the comparative study realized on a group of European countries and from Romania’s economic tendencies. How will the new economy look like, which will the new world leaders be, these do not matter for the small and vulnerable economies. We conclude that intelligence and professional qualification should outrun over the measureless accumulation of wealth and properties, which in our opinion means that a global economic crisis has its purpose and that it was predictable.Social security, labour market, economic crisis, unemployment

The Creation of State-Level Regulatory Systems: A Case Study of Post-Prohibition Alcoholic Beverage Regulation

To better understand the way in which local and national forces operate to influence the design of subnational regulatory systems, this paper analyzes the development of alcohol regulation in the post-prohibition era. In particular, I examine why, in the period between 1933 and 1935, some states adopted a monopoly system of alcohol regulation and others a license system of alcohol regulation. I use fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and case-based research to identify causal pathways leading to each regulatory outcome. I draw on state-level demographic, religious, and voting data, as well as measures of alcohol industry prevalence and prohibition enforcement to test hypotheses of alcohol regulatory origin and variation. My study shows that while the emergence of two universally adopted models of alcohol regulation was largely the design of capitalist elites, state-level variation reflected individual population and government preferences. I find the following conditions to be among those relevant to a state’s choice of framework: Canadian heritage population, conservative religious population, immigrant population, and popular as well as government attitudes toward national prohibition. My analysis points more broadly to a hegemonic relationship between elite generated priorities and agendas at the national-level and (limited) pluralist based legislative processes at the local-level

3D Printing in the Apparel Sector: How Environmentally Sustainable is it?

3D printing is a process of making three dimensional (3D) solid objects from a digital file. The object is made using an additive process, which means that successive layers of material are laid down until the object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object. The process enables complex shapes to be produced, using less material than in traditional manufacturing methods.3D printing processes are being used in manufacturing, medicine, architecture, custom art and design. Appli-cations in textiles range from fashion and sportswear to medical devices and aerospace

Textiles Sustainability and Communications

The Industrial Revolution paved the way for industrialisation, economic growth and innovation, and resulted in the availability of an increased range of goods and services, improved life expectancy, and many other benefits. However, the rapid development has come at a cost which has not yet been settled. The earth’s natural resources are being used at a rate that cannot be sustained by the natural ecosystem and, according to the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK government in 2009, we are heading for a “perfect storm” where a growing world population will demand yet more resources from an earth which simply cannot sustain demand

On the nature of the Romanian political regime: reflections on the recent jurisprudence of the constitutional court

The participation to the European Council, an issue that generated many debates in the framework of the cohabitation between the President and the Prime Minister, couldn't be decided by an agreement between the two heads of the executive, but only by the decision of the Constitutional Court no. 683/2012. For the purpose of solving the case, the Constitutional Court has raised the issue of the nature of the Romanian political regime and has decided that it is semi-presidential. This decision has been followed by another one, no. 784/2012, where the Constitutional Court reiterated the same conclusion about the nature of the political regime. The public law and political science authors analyzed in this article could not agree about this issue. The main characteristics of the semi-presidential regime have been either partially implemented or modified in the Romanian Constitution and this leads to the opinion that this is an "attenuate" or "parliamentarized" version, or that is a parliamentarian regime, or even that it will transform itself into a presidential one. The Constitutional Court has solved the case but the debate about the nature of the Romanian political regime is not over yet

Turkey in the European Union: the end of the secularist modernization project?

Turkey adopted from its very beginning an original project of modernity seen as an alternative both to Westernization and Islam. It seems that this "third way" does not help enough in order to achieve the democratic standards of a European country. This paper analyses not all Turkey modernity aspects, but only secularism, mainly because this was considered for a long time the most successful one. Turkish secularism is based not on a separation between State and Church, but on putting all religious practices and institutions under the control of the State. In order to see what the meaning of secularism in Turkey is right now, this paper addresses the historical background of political parties in Turkey, starting with Refah Party and ending with the latest developments of AK Party of the current Prime Minister Erdoğan. This party tries a unique experiment in Turkey, willing to adapt traditional Islam values to modernization and giving a new meaning to secularism. This paper discuss many issues related to the role of religion in society, either Islam ("the Muslim veil" interpreted by ECHR in Leyla Şahin v. Turkey - 2005, the Alevi community, Imam Hatip schools), or Christian (the new 2008 legal framework on associations acknowledging the right of property of the religious associations, mainly Christian, the ECHR decision on Ecumenical Patriarchate v. Turkey - 2008, the status of the Theological School of the Ecumenical Patriarchate from the island of Halki). At this moment, the question if a Muslim majority country could Member State of the European Union is not at stake, but in what extent the European Union may be involved in changing the current Turkey approach on religious freedom, taking into account that there is no European model on Church-State relations. This is the reason why, even in his last 2008 Report, European Commission relies not on the acquis communautaire, but mainly on enforcing ECHR decisions. The question of Turkey belonging to the European Union is addressed in this paper also from the perspective of different types of Europe borders - geographical, institutional, cultural and transactional (formal). No matter the type of border considered, Turkey is still a problematic case. Its European aspirations accelerated the debate on what is and what should be the European Union: a construction based on Western civilization and Christianity or a polity based on democratic values without reference to history or even geography. The paper conclusion is that it is in the very interest of the European Union to accept Turkey and it has to act in such a way that at a certain moment Turkey will transform itself into a country with a similar approach to religious freedom as all other existing Member States

The autonomy of religions from the state: the normative framework

The principle of the autonomy of religious cults from the state is found in many of the Constitutions of European states and it has also been asserted by ECHR. In the case of Romania, this principle was noted for the first time by the 1869 Organic Statute of the Romanian Greek Orthodox Church of Hungary and Transylvania. This was not the case after 1918 when the term autonomy cannot be found in the 1923 Constitution, the 1928 Law on the general regime of religions or in the 1925 Statute of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The period of the communist regime marked the same absence of Church autonomy from the state in constitutional or canonical law. Only with the 1991 Constitution this principle is constitutionally guaranteed by Article 29, paragraph 5. This Article investigate the principle of autonomy from the perspective of Constitution and canon law comments, taking into account also the Law no. 489/2006 on the freedom of religions and the general regime of cults and the 2008 Romanian Orthodox Church Statute. A particular aspect of the autonomy, the right of religious denominations to have their own jurisdictional bodies is discussed by analyzing relevant provisions of the law and the Statute mentioned above and also the interpretations of the courts and the Constitutional Court. The conclusion is that the idea of autonomy is shaped in such a way to mirror a reflection in the canon law of the way in which the separation and balance of powers are conceived in constitutional law