School Management in a Decentralized Context - A Comparative Analysis Romania – the U.S.A

Basically, decentralization of educational system represents the transfer of authority, responsibility and resources needed to make decisions and to ensure general and financial management to schools and local communities. Through decentralization schools become the main decision educational maker. This paper presents comparison two educational systems from the perspective of decentralization, US system and Romanian system, emphasizing the roles of different actors involved in the educational process. In US educational system there are three types of authorities: federal or national, state, and local educational authorities. The federal government has no direct authority on pre-university system; its role is limited by the American Constitution. The decision making and control center is a local one. Romania initiated the process of moving from a centralized educational system to a decentralized one and now the decision makers are looking for equilibrium between authorities at different levels.decentralization; educational system; educational authorities; school as local decision maker; local responsibility.

THE ISSUE OF MUNICIPAL BONDS, A CHALLENGE FOR THE ROMANIAN LOCAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS

This paperwork studies the municipal bond loan issue situation on the Romanianfinancial market and its relation with the local financial decentralization. We discussed also aboutthe opportunity of the municipal rating in selling local bonds and the advantages gave by this kindof financial instruments, both for the issuers and the investors.municipal bonds, local public administration, decentralization, rating;

Long read: Trump's electoral rhetoric has become self-interested, nativist policy

In 2016, Donald Trump unexpectedly won the White House following an anti-elite populist election campaign which emphasised an exceptionalist and nativist view of America’s place in the world. Reviewing the president’s tweets and speeches in the lead up to the 2018 midterm elections, Corina Lacatus finds that Trump’s far-right populist rhetoric now links closely with his administration’s policies, including pursuing a harder, more self-interested line on immigration, US international commitments and trade relationships

Is Romania at risk of backsliding over corruption and the rule of law?

When Romania joined the European Union in 2007, a 'Cooperation and Verification Mechanism' was established to assess the country's progress in implementing judicial reforms and anti-corruption measures. However, the latest report published on 15 November raised concerns over potential backsliding, particularly in the area of judicial independence. Corina Lacatus assesses how Romania can respond to the concerns raised in the report and what they mean for the overall effectiveness of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism

Explaining institutional strength:The case of national human rights institutions in Europe and its Neighbourhood

<p>National human rights institutions have spread rapidly across Europe and its Neighbourhood consolidating their powers to protect human rights. Yet, we know little about the causes for change in the strength of national human rights institutions over time. We propose an analysis of institutional strength along two dimensions of safeguards – durability and enforcement – based on original data for 50 states. We illustrate the quantitative analysis with two case studies – Hungary and Poland. We find that European Union membership conditionality is the strongest predictor of increased strength in national human rights institutions. Additionally, we find evidence of democratic ‘lock-in’, as newly democratized states seek to increase the durability of their institutions. The influence of the United Nations and the European Union, through state networks, increases the strength of national human rights institutions, particularly their durability. The Council of Europe has a positive impact on the institutional safeguards for enforcement.</p

The local descentralisation and the issues of municipal bonds in Romania

This paper work analyses the connection between local financial decentralization and the potential of local public administration to sustain the local economic and social development by its own forces by taking part to the capital market. Next to the ordinary financial sources, which are the local taxes, the local collectivities resorted last years more and more to the loans, by issuing municipal bonds. As an effect of the local autonomy and financial independence, these kinds of financial instruments gave the chance to the local public administrations to answer all community needs in efficiency and efficacy terms. Very attractive for investors because of the rate of return offered, up to the level of the reference rate of interest fixed by the Romanian National Bank, the municipal bonds are used to reduce the risk of their portfolio.local autonomy, financial decentralization, local public revenues, municipal bonds, local public administration, Hunter’s index

For Donald Trump, campaigning by Twitter limited the public's access to his policy positions and strategies

Each day, much of the political world wakes up and asks "What has Donald Trump tweeted now?" While Trump's use of Twitter defines his presidency, it was also integral to his 2016 election campaign. Cora Lacatus analysed more than 47,000 tweets and over 500 press releases from Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders from the 2016 election campaign. She finds that Clinton was largely concerned with issues of equality, Sanders was an anti-establishment figure, and that Trump limited his own press releases, curtailing the public’s access to his policies in favor of using Twitter to attack opponent and to push his “America First” rhetoric

Creative Economy-Feasible Option for România

The paper’s objective is the scientific foundation of the necessity to implement the topic of creative economy in Romania. The term of creative economy is widely used in the context of the knowledge-based society. Its importance to sustainable development, wealth and prosperity is commonly recognised mostly due to the amplified crisis effects. The creative communities and industries have moved from the fringes to the mainstream. The special needs of creative industries are reflected more in policy development at national, regional and microeconomic levels. The paper presents part of the results obtained within the research project “IDEI 1224”: “The creative economy and knowledge-based society. Challenges and opportunities for Romania” The general perspective of this paper is aimed at presenting our vision regarding the most important challenges and opportunities for Romania on its road towards a knowledge-based society and creative economy. Creative economy is crucial for Romania while it is facing the global crisis. In order to manage the current crisis (its complex nature derives from the fact that it is much more than just an economic crisis) in a competent way we have to seriously take into account the opportunities creative economy can provide. According to the authors’ vision, creative economy is a feasible option for Romania. The creative economy has to foster a holistic vision of development including socio-cultural, economic and environmental dimensions, offering new opportunities for Romania on its road towards a knowledge-based society.creative economy, creative class, creative communities, creative cities