Majority-minority relations in the Ukraine

'Majority-minority relations in Ukraine, as in any other country, are a complex phenomenon. What differentiates the Ukrainian case from many old polities and from some recently established ones is that the identities of both majority and minority groups probably have been settled to a much lesser degree than is usually the case in Europe. The process of defining what it means to be a majority or a minority group in Ukraine goes along with all the other identity-related processes that a newly independent country has to face. The fact that the identity of both majority and minority is still 'in the making' has numerous implications for how the Ukrainian state positions itself with regard to various international standards and mechanisms of minority protection and how international bodies - both intergovernmental and nongovernmental - approach the issue of Ukraine's adherence to these standards and mechanisms.' (author's abstract

Representation and democracy in Eurasia's unrecognized states: the case of Transnistria

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht, wie verschiedene institutionelle Mechanismen für die legislative Repräsentation die ethnische und soziale Zusammensetzung der gesetzgebenden Versammlung beeinflussen. Das Papier liefert zuerst ein Gesamtbild der ethnischen Repräsentativität des rumänischen Parlaments. Dabei beschäftigt es sich mit der Proportionalität der ethnischen Repräsentation und diskutiert kurz, wie die rumänischen Daten einige der liberal-demokratischen theoretischen Bedenken hinsichtlich der Gerechtigkeit von Mandatsreservierungen für Minderheiten illustrieren. Es wendet sich dann der Diskussion darüber zu, wie Daten über das ethnische Profil der parlamentarischen Vertreter das Herangehen der Mainstream-Parteien an die Rekrutierung von Minderheiten und, allgemeiner, den Wettbewerb um die Unterstützung von Minderheiten erhellen. Der letzte Abschnitt untersucht, wie inklusiv die Abgeordnetengruppen, die durch verschiedene institutionelle Kanäle gewählt wurden, in Bezug auf Geschlecht, beruflichen Hintergrund und andere soziale Merkmale sind. Das Papier fasst am Ende zusammen, was die rumänische Daten über ethnische und soziale Repräsentation aussagen über die Auswirkungen alternativer Wahlmechanismen auf die soziale Inklusion und welche weiteren Beweise erforderlich sind, um Hypothesen zu bestätigen oder zu widerlegen, die durch das Studium der rumänischen Erfahrung entstanden sind. (ICD

Real and "virtual" elements of power sharing in the post-Soviet space: the case of Gagauzian autonomy

'Various efforts to assess the effects of autonomy arrangements on the prospects of achieving stability and democracy in ethnically heterogeneous societies receive a lot of attention both in academic and policy-making communities. This paper argues that the analysis of the actual implementation practices of autonomy settlement agreements should be an integral part of such efforts. Taking implementation practices seriously means going beyond the analysis of grand formal provisions listed in the autonomy's constitutional law or statute, which is usually adopted at the end of the conflict settlement process. The actual implementation process can produce an autonomy regime whose functioning is far from the model autonomy arrangement envisioned in the autonomy's founding documents. Successes and failures in securing stability and democracy then can be better accounted for by studying the effects of these implementation practices rather than by attributing democracy and stability outcomes to formal autonomy provisions.' (author's abstract

Representational consequences of special mechanisms for ethnic minority inclusion: evidence from Romania

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht, wie verschiedene institutionelle Mechanismen für die legislative Repräsentation die ethnische und soziale Zusammensetzung der gesetzgebenden Versammlung beeinflussen. Das Papier liefert zuerst ein Gesamtbild der ethnischen Repräsentativität des rumänischen Parlaments. Dabei beschäftigt es sich mit der Proportionalität der ethnischen Repräsentation und diskutiert kurz, wie die rumänischen Daten einige der liberal-demokratischen theoretischen Bedenken hinsichtlich der Gerechtigkeit von Mandatsreservierungen für Minderheiten illustrieren. Es wendet sich dann der Diskussion darüber zu, wie Daten über das ethnische Profil der parlamentarischen Vertreter das Herangehen der Mainstream-Parteien an die Rekrutierung von Minderheiten und, allgemeiner, den Wettbewerb um die Unterstützung von Minderheiten erhellen. Der letzte Abschnitt untersucht, wie inklusiv die Abgeordnetengruppen, die durch verschiedene institutionelle Kanäle gewählt wurden, in Bezug auf Geschlecht, beruflichen Hintergrund und andere soziale Merkmale sind. Das Papier fasst am Ende zusammen, was die rumänische Daten über ethnische und soziale Repräsentation aussagen über die Auswirkungen alternativer Wahlmechanismen auf die soziale Inklusion und welche weiteren Beweise erforderlich sind, um Hypothesen zu bestätigen oder zu widerlegen, die durch das Studium der rumänischen Erfahrung entstanden sind. (ICD

Addressing the Transnistrian conflict: competing stances of Moldova's political parties and expert community

'The Transnistrian conflict continues to be one of the most important issues facing political parties and the expert community in Moldova. Since the start of the post-communist transition period, political parties have routinely felt the necessity to articulate their approaches to solving the conflict. During both electoral and inter-electoral periods, the Transnistrian issue has occupied a special position on the country's political agenda. This has required political parties to take a stance on the issue. Similarly, the country's expert community, which includes academics, political analysts, and media commentators, has struggled with the need to explain and interpret the conflict to their audiences. In presenting such interpretations for the general public, they could not avoid formulating their own positions on potential causes of and solutions to the conflict. The authors here employ elite survey techniques as one approach to analyzing the variation in political parties' and expert communities' attitudes towards a host of problems related to the Transnistrian conflict. The paper provides a detailed description of the documented attitudinal differences and similarities on various aspects of the Transnistrian conflict among key Moldovan political parties that has been drawn from a diversified political spectrum. It also attempts to document the differences in parties' attitudes as they change over time. The recent origins of the party system in Moldova and rapid transformations in the domestic and international environment in which the parties operate make the evolution of the Moldovan party system a very dynamic process. While the paper focuses on the analysis of party positions through the eyes of both party functionaries and members of the expert community, it compliments this analysis through the discussion of the attitudinal disposition of experts themselves. Given the critical role that the expert community plays in forming public opinion such discussions are a relevant addition to the main focus of the paper.' (author's abstract

Неоадъювантная полихимиотерапия в комбинированном лечении больных раком слизистой оболочки полости рта

Polichimioterapia neoadjuvantă şi radioterapia în plan de tratament combinat preoperator a fost aplicată la 144 de bolnavi cu cancer al mucoasei cavităţii bucale. Metoda dată de tratament a permis a obţine devitalizaţia maximală a parenchimului tumoral şi efect clinic obiectiv la toţi bolnavii.Неоадъювантная полихимиотерапия в комбинированном лечении больных раком слизистой оболочки полости рт

Duverger, semi-presidentialism and the supposed French archetype

The concept of semi-presidentialism was first operationalised by Maurice Duverger. There are now 17 countries with semi-presidential constitutions in Europe. Within this set of countries France is usually considered to be the archetypal example of semi-presidentialism. This article maps the main institutional and political features of European semi-presidentialism on the basis of Duverger’s original three-fold schema. The most striking feature is the diversity of practice within this set of countries. This means that semi-presidentialism should not be operationalised as a discrete explanatory variable. However, there are ways of systematically capturing the variation within semi-presidentialism to allow cross-national comparisons. This diversity also means that France should not be considered as the archetypal semi-presidential country. At best, France is an archetypal example of a particular type of semi-presidentialism. Overall, Duverger’s main contribution to the study of semi-presidentialism was the original identification of the concept and his implicit insight that there are different types of semi-presidentialism. In the future, the study of semi-presidentialism would benefit from the development of theory-driven comparative work that avoids a reliance on France as the supposed semi-presidential archetype

Англійська мова для навчання і роботи. Навчальний посібник з англійської мови за професійним спрямуванням

A course book includes all the activities of students’ work at ESP course aimed at development of language behavior necessary for effective communication of students in their study and specialism areas. The tasks and activities given in the course book are typical for students’ academic and professional domains and situations. The content is organized in modules that covers generic job-related language skills of engineers. The authentic texts taken from real life contain interesting up-to-date information about students’ learning environment, peculiarities of study abroad, customs and traditions of English-speaking countries.У посібнику представлені всі види діяльності студентів з вивчення англійської мови, спрямовані на розвиток мовної поведінки, необхідної для ефективного спілкування в академічному та професійному середовищах. Навчальний посібник містить завдання і вправи, типові для різноманітних академічних та професійних сфер і ситуацій. Структура організації змісту – модульна і охоплює загальні мовленнєві вміння інженерів. Зразки текстів – автентичні, взяті з реального життя, містять цікаву та актуальну інформацію про особливості навчання за кордоном, традиції та звичаї країн, мова яких вивчається.CONTENTS PREFACE....................................................................................................6 INTRODUCTION ….…………………………………………………………….8 Unit 1 Getting to Know Each Other....……………………………...................9 Unit 2 Learning Experience.........................................................................19 Unit 3 Making Arrangements by Phone ......................................................28 Unit 4 Exchanging Information and ideas……………............………………39 Unit 5 Dealing with Problems.......................................................................47 Indicative Reading……………………………………………………………...5

Intra-Executive Competition between President and Prime Minister: Patterns of Institutional Conflict and Cooperation under Semi-Presidentialism

The article examines the dynamics of political competition over the control of the executive that shapes the coexistence of popularly elected presidents and prime ministers in semi-presidential regimes. It explores how variation in the political status of cabinet and the character of the party system, as well as differences in presidential and parliamentary powers over the cabinet, affects both the type and intensity of intra-executive conflict in democratic and semi-democratic environments. It demonstrates that presidents ’ and prime ministers ’ strategies in intra-executive relations in both types of political environment are systematically affected by the nature and extent of cabinet’s political support in par-liament, as well as by the degree of presidential control over cabinet. The post-communist transition led to the proliferation of semi-presidential regimes in East Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union.The coexistence of popularly elected presidents and prime ministers, which is a distinct feature of a semi-presidential constitutional framework, and which is often labeled as ‘intra-executive ’ coexistence, has proven to be prone to conflict in most of these regimes. Among the factors leading to conflict, scholars often cite personality, ideological differences magnified by certain party system configurations