“europe 2020”: some problems of development in romania and bulgaria
TRANSCRIPT
MAXIMIZING COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF CROSS-BORDER REGIONS
(THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION OF ROMANIA AND BULGARIA: PROBLEMS AND ISSUES)
A Thematic Collective Book
Devoted to the 50th Anniversary of St. Cyril and St. Methodius University
of Veliko Turnovo
2013
2
MAXIMIZING COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF CROSS-BORDER REGIONS
(THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION OF ROMANIA AND BULGARIA: PROBLEMS AND ISSUES)
© St Cyril and St Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, 2013 © Editor: Prof. dr. Vihren Bouzov, 2013
Format: 60/84/16
10,5 print quires
Printed by “EX-PRESS” Ltd., Gabrovo
ISBN 978-954-490
3
CONTENT Vihren Bouzov, New Prospects for Bulgarian-Romanian Cooperation..............................................................5
Marius Hriscu, The Universities A.I. Cuza from Iasi and St. Cyril and St. Methodius from Veliko Turnovo. Past and Present ........7 I. ON THE PROGRESS TOWARDS THE COMMON
EUROPEAN STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
Vihren Bouzov, “Europe 2020”: Some Problems of Development in Romania and Bulgaria.....................................................15
Flora Chipea, S. Stanciu, The European Social Fund (ESF): Presentation of the Project Practice Programme for Students........................22
Teodora Kaleynska, EU funded projects implementation in the municipalities of VelikoTurnovo oblast – challenges and risks (Financial period 2007-2012)........................................33
Marius Hriscu, A Threat to World Security: The Terrorist Organizations ...........................................................................44 II. CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION AND REGIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Cristina Frasie, Local Development in the Cross Border Area....................50
Angelina Markovska, Methodology of Citizen’s Participation in Local Governance and Cross-Border Activities ........................................60
Sebastian Chirimbu, The Balkans and the Cultural Interference at the Border of the European Civilization ....................................................73 III. TOWARDS A NEW SOCIAL AND ETHNIC MODEL
Violeta Stoycheva, Educational Inequalities and Challenges to Minority Integration in Bulgaria in the Context of the EU Strategy 2020 ....................89
Venka Kouteva-Tsvetkova, Demographic Trends and Labour Market in Veliko Turnovo Region..............................................97
Daniela Tassevska, Model for Social Change, Social Independence of the Gypsies’ Children ............................................106
Dobrin Dobrev, A Critical Review of the Bulgarian Ethnical Model ........122
4
IV. LANGUAGE AND POLITICAL CHANGES
Viorica Banciu, The Role of Foreign Languages in Developing International Projects............................................................132
Adina and Sebastian Chirimbu, Boundaries of Culture and Language in the Context of Globalization.............................................145
Jireghie Angela and Rodica Biris, Strong Influences of the Language Used by the Politicians upon Mass Media News and their Audience................................................158 About the authors ......................................................................................166
5
NEW PROSPECTS FOR BULGARIAN-ROMANIAN COOPERATION
Prof. Vihren Bouzov, PhD
Dean of Philosophical Faculty 2003-2011 St. Cyril and St. Methodius University, Bulgaria
This thematically collective book is an overview of and a comment on certain new prospects for Romanian-Bulgarian co-operation. They are related to our inter-university collaboration on projects supported by European funds. Its publication highlights the successful completion of our joint international project MIS-ETC Code 408 “Maximizing Comparative Advantages of Border Regions”, Romania-Bulgaria Cross Border Cooperation Program 2007-2013 – 18 months (01.01.2011-01.07.2012), lead Partner – The University of Craiova, 486000 euro. Some of its authors are members of the team for this major project. Fulfilling the plan for work on it we have set up two Centers for Cross Border Studies, in Craiova-Romania and in Veliko Turnovo-Bulgaria. They are research institutions with activity oriented to monitoring of the impact of European integration on border regions and to providing data for and recommendations to various stakeholders in the two countries` cross --border regions and in national and European institutions. We have realized a common training program on problems of regional development. The results of our collaboration are published in five textbooks, one of them with recommendations in it, and in the Proceedings of a European Conference held in Craiova in 2011. Included in this book are also contributions by representatives of other Romanian academic institutions: The University of Oradea The University of Arad, The University of Iasi, The Romanian Academy of Sciences – Iasi Branch, and The Spiru Haret University in Bucharest. They are our partners in our joint work We have signed an agreement on cooperation with The Romanian Academy of Sciences– Iasi Branch, an Erasmus agreement with The
6
University of Oradea and The Iasi University. We would like to set up a permanent Bulgarian- Romanian team to work together in the search for solutions to problems facing our two countries.
Romania and Bulgaria became members of the EU in 2007, but they still do not take advantage of this membership even at a satisfactory level. We are living in two countries ranking among the least developed ones in Europe trying to find a way out of the rampant economic and social crisis by neoliberal means. How can we change this situation for the better and what could be the role of academic cooperation in such a process? These are the most important issues of our collective research.
I wish to express sincere thanks to the following persons for their valuable participation in our common work in the field of Bulgarian-Romanian academic cooperation: Florin Pasatoiu, project leader of the Project MIS-ETC Code 408 ( The University of Craiova) and to the team of experts from Bulgaria (Teodora Kaleynska, Angelina Markovska, Venka Kuteva-Cvetkova, Dimiter Cvetkov, Violeta Petrova, Tania Velikova) and to the Romanian part of it (Radu Petcu, Cristina Pasatoiu, Cristina Ilie-Goga, Cristina Frasie), Dan Simbotin and his team, (Romanian Academy-Iasi Branch), Viorica Banciu and Simona Stanciu (University of Oradia), Prof. Mircea Dumitru, Rector of The University of Bucharest, Prof. Romulus Brancoveanu, Dean of the Philosophical Faculty, The University of Bucharest and last but not least, Sebastian Chirimbu (The Spiru Haret University, Buharest)!
02.01.2013
7
THE UNIVERSITIES ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA FROM IASI AND ST. CYRIL AND ST. METHODIUS UNIVERSITY FROM
VELIKO TURNOVO – PAST AND PRESENT1
Marius Hriscu
Postdoctoral Fellow, Romanian Academy, Iaşi Branch
Abstract. The Univerities Alexandru Ioan Cuza from Iasi and St. Cyril and St. Methodius from Veliko Turnovo are some of the most prestigious higher education institutions in Romania and Bulgaria. We intend to present the main landmarks of the past and present of these two universities. "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" celebrated this year, 152 years after its inauguration on 26 October1860. Alexandru Ioan Cuza University is the largest higher education institution in the country with ancient tradition and quality of teaching. A higher education institution ranked as in summer I made it a post-doctoral research training under the supervision of Professor Vihren Bouzov is the University St. Cyril and St. Methodius from Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria. In size and academic prestige, it was the second university in Bulgaria. It is currently ranked first in terms of fine arts and humanities. This year, University St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Veliko Turnovo will celebrate 50 years of existence.
Keywords: “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Iaşi, „St. Cyril and Methodius”
University, Veliko Turnovo, history, present, academic excellence.
The Universities Alexandru Ioan Cuza and „St. Cyril and St. Methodius” from Veliko - Turnovo are some of the most prestigious higher education institutions in Romania and Bulgaria.
In the following we intend to present the main landmarks of the past and present of these two universities.
„Alexandru Ioan Cuza” celebrated this year, 152 years after its inauguration on 26 October 1860. At its inauguration entry was by invitation2.
1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: “This paper was made within The Knowledge Based Society Project supported by the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development (SOP HRD), financed from the European Social Fund and by the Romanian Government under the contract number POSDRU/89/1.5/S/56815.” 2 In The Fund of the Special Collections from Central University Library “Mihai Eminescu” I discovered the solemn inauguration of the University Program and Ticket - call on which Minister Mihail Kogălniceanu attended the festival - Fc 338, 339.
8
Attended this ceremony attended Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who signed a decree establishing3 and Minister of Religious and Public Education, Mihail Kogălniceanu4. The University of Iaşi became the first modern institution of higher education in Romania and a symbol of national identity. When there were only three faculties establishment Law, Philosophy and Theology5. These three faculties of the University of Iaşi, for example in the academic year 1863 - 1864, taught a number of personalities such as Simion Bărnuțiu, G. Marzescu (Faculty of Law), Nae Ionescu, Titu Maiorescu (Department of Philosophy) Father Episcopal Vl. Suhopanu (Faculty of Theology)6. The first Rector was Professor Ion Strat, specialist in economics7.
After the Education Act of 1864, were organized four faculties: Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, Faculty of Physics, Mathematics and natural, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Medicine. The latter was inaugurated only in 1879.
Following a new law on education in 1898, the University of Iaşi has expanded its activity 8.
In 1897 the University was inaugurated Copou Palace, one of the iconic landmarks of Iasi, which was built between 1893 to 1897. Following his inauguration was an expansion and strengthening of material base for higher education Iasi
9. During the past times until the World War I and the interwar period, the
University of Iaşi has grown and diversified its profile in accordance with the 3 Decretul de înfiinţare a Universităţii din Iaşi (26 octombrie 1860),Biblioteca Centrală Universitară “Mihai Eminescu” din Iaşi, Fondul Colecţii Speciale, Fc – 17 c. 4 Aurel Loghin, Maria Platon, Gheorghe Platon, Universitatea “Al. I. Cuza” Iaşi, Bucureşti, Editura Litera , 1971, p. 59. 5 http://150.uaic.ro/istorie/ 6 Universitatea de Iassi, Programul cursurilor pe anul scolasticu 1863 – 1864, Fondul Colecţii Speciale, Biblioteca Centrală Universitară “Mihai Eminescu” din Iaşi, Arhiva Doc. 170_ 1. 7 http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/University/Prezentare#3 8 Ibidem. 9 Gh. Platon, Universitatea din Iaşi în istoria României Moderne, în “Anuarul Institutului de Istorie şi Arheologie A.D.Xenopol din Iaşi”, XXII/1, 1985, p. 240 – 241.
9
requirements of the Romanian society at the time - more universal values comparable with the model of university developed in Europe 10. Thus, following the Education Act of 1932, 1937 and 1937 has been the development of science and development departments: Medicine and Pharmacy, Sciences, Law, Philosophy and Letters, and Agriculture
11.Progress has been possible due to outstanding teachers who taught during this period. For example, for the academic year 1935 - 1936 we can count on: Alexandru Boldur (aggregate), Stefan Ciobanu, Petru Constantinescu, Valeriu Iordăchescu, Nicolai Popescu - Prahova (Dean), Ioan Savin (Faculty of Theology - Chisinau) Neculai Dașcovici, Traian Ionaşcu, Florin Sion (Dean), Tabacovici G., Valeriu Bulgaru, Gheorghe Zane, Vasile Gr Iamandi (Faculty of Law), Petru Andrei, Ioan Botez, George I. Bratianu, Traian Bratu (Rector), Iorgu Iordan, Ilie Minea, Andrei Oțetea, Ioan Petrovici, Mihai D. Ralea, Orest Tafrali, Dan Bădărău, Octav Botez (Faculty of Letters and Philosophy), Grigore T. Popa, Ștefan Graçoschi (Dean), Alexandru Slătineanu (Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy Education) , Petru Bogdan (Dean), Radu Cernătescu (aggregate), Ion S. Atanasius, Neculai L. Cosmovici, Octav Mayer, Alexandru Myller, Ștefan Procopiu (Faculty of Science); Haralamb Vasiliu (Dean), Agricola Cardaș, Nicolae Florov (Faculty Agricultural Sciences – Chișinău)12.
To note that once established they were only three faculties in the academic year 1935 - 1936, the University had six faculties, two in Chisinau.
After the end of the Second World War, in a few years, there has been the communist regime in Romania; the Romanian universities are required to provide an education based communist education reforms in the years 1948, 10 Gh. Platon , Universitatea din Iaşi, simbol al spiritualităţii româneşti, în “Analele Ştiinţifice ale Universităţii Al . I. Cuza din Iaşi “, (serie nouă), secţiunea III, Istorie, Tomul XXXI, anul 1985, p. XVI. 11 http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/University/Prezentare#3 12 Profesorii titulari, Profesorii agregaţi şi Conferenţiarii definitivi de la Universitatea Mihăileană din Iaşi 1935 – 1936 , Fondul Colecţii Speciale, Biblioteca Centrală Universitară “Mihai Eminescu”din Iaşi, Doc.74.
10
1968, 197813.As a result there have been significant changes in the Romanian university from which was no exception nor the University of Iaşi. Such were censored or eliminated a number of courses were removed some teachers, especially in humanities faculties was felt academic freedom and academic activities were verified by the Romanian Communist Party bodies. Despite these realities, humanist and scientific traditions of the University of Iaşi could not be stopped, it continues and through contacts with Western European universities such as those in Leuven and Freiburg14.
In the communist era, the increased need by specialists in economics, was established, in 1962, Faculty of Economics. Many years have lectured on Political Economy, Economic Doctrine and Public Finance at the Faculty of Law. Therefore, for example, in the academic year 1968 - 1969 at the University of Iaşi worked eight faculties: Mathematics, Mechanics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Law, Philology, History, Philosophy, Economics. In 1974 after seven faculties remained exchangeable Faculty of Chemistry at the Polytechnic Institute
15. After the Revolution of 1989 which led to removal of the communist
regime in Romania Romanian higher education has received considerable opening again to a normal university life in accordance with the realities of the time. Were changed following elements: curriculum, organizational structure, human resources, communication. They added their autonomy and discretion16.
Nowadays, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University has 15 faculties: Biology, Chemistry, Law, Economics and Business Administration, Physical Education, Political Philosophy and Social Science, Physics, Geography and Geology, Computer Science, History, Literature, Mathematics, Psychology and Educational Sciences, Orthodox Theology, Roman Catholic, who all 13 http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/University/Prezentare#3 14 http://150.uaic.ro/istorie/ 15 http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/University/Prezentare#3 16 http://150.uaic.ro/istorie/
11
three educational levels: bachelor, master, doctoral and European Studies Center for cycle master.
Also it has over 30 000 students, 800 teachers, is an important national and international reputation working with over 260 universities abroad
17. All these made "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" is the most important institution
of higher education in the country, the old, tradition and quality of teaching. A higher education institution ranked as in summer I made it a post-
doctoral research training under the supervision of Professor Vihren Bouzov is the University „St.. Cyril and St. Methodius” from Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria. In size and academic prestige, it was the second university in Bulgaria. It is currently ranked first in terms of fine arts and humanities18
On September 15, 1963 was established „Brothers Cyril and Methodius Institute of Higher Education”. On 14 October 1971 it gained university status. This year was chosen specifically chosen because 600 years ago, in 1371, the last Bulgarian patriarch, Euthymius, returned from Mount Athos Turnovo Literary School established which had a strong influence in spreading literature and alimbii loterare in Russia, Serbia and Romania and also significantly influenced the philosophy and practice of religious institutions in these countries19. At that time, 1971, there are a number of 340 students in the following majors: Bulgarian Studies, Russian studies, history and fine arts. The first rector of the University "St.. Cyril and St. Methodius "was professor Alexander Burmov and vice-rector Professor Penio Rusev. Besides these faculty consisted of the following academics: Georgi Dimov, Ivan Gulubov, Ivan Duridanov, Stancho Vaklinov, Christo Danov, Velizar Velkov, Strashimir Dimitrov, Nikola Kozhukharov, Vasil Stoilov20. 17 http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/University/Prezentare#3 18 www.uni-vt.bg 19 Hristo Berov, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo. Calendar 2012. See Bulgaria in Europe!, Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria, Abagar JSC Publishing House, 2012, p. 1. 20 St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo, Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria, 2011, p. 5.
12
The University now has nine faculties, 42 departments, 60 majors and two affiliated colleges Pleven and Vratsa. Currently the university has over 14,000 students both Bulgarian and foreign.
The University St.. Cyril and St. Methodius of Veliko Turnovo is accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council of Ministers of Bulgaria, in accordance with Article 76 of the Law on Higher Education of the Bulgarian state. University offers accredited degree programs consistent with national standards such as Bulgarian and European: the three educational levels: bachelor, master and doctoral student mobility through the accumulation and transfer of credits, certification of quality management system DIN EN ISO 9001: 2000. The nine faculties of the university aunt following: Foreign Languages, History, Law, Economics, Arts forehead, Education, Philosophy, Orthodox Theology, Mathematics and Computer Science21.
The academic staff includes 600 teachers including an academician, 70 professors, 220 associate professors. More than 300 lecturers were obtained doctoral degrees. The University also has invited foreign teachers from Austria, Albania, Germany, Spain, Italy, China, Poland, Romania, Japan, USA, France and Slovakia22.
The University St.. Cyril and St. Methodius is a member of many international associations: European Conference of University Rectors (CRE), International Association of Universities (IAU), Black Sea Universities Network (BSUN), Eastern European University Network (AIMOS). Currently, the university has established links but more than 50 universities in the world. Also isa granted university status Erasmus and signed over 150 agreements mobility of students and teachers. One of the
21 Hristo Berov, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo. Calendar 2012. See Bulgaria in Europe!, Veliko Turnovo, Abagar JSC Publishing House, 2012, p. 315. 22 St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo, Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria, 2011, p.37.
13
most important international programs held in this university Sumer The Annual International Seminar in Bulgarian Language and Culture 23.
The University complex is composed of the main campus, a hall for festivities with a capacity of 500 seats, rooms for courses, main library, a sports center, canteen and hostel plus three campuses located in downtown equipped with libraries, canteens and dormitories . There are 200 classrooms and laboratories. The University has also a center audio - visual, a television studio and a center for information technology. There is a central library and eight branches with over 500 000 books in Bulgarian and foreign languages, 400 periodicals of which 222 in foreign languages..Its six reading rooms offers for over 350 students.
The quality of education is guaranteed curricula and academic programs that are consistent with state law, highly qualified teachers and high academic and research standards 24.
These high achievements of the University St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Veliko Turnovo are real fact and I had them throughout postdoctoral research internship that I made this prestigious institution of higher education.
This academic year 2012-2013 the University St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Veliko Turnovo celebrates 50 years of existence.
The two brothers universities - Alexandru Ioan Cuza and St. Cyril and St. Methodius of Veliko Turnovo are located on the podium of academic excellence.
23 Ibidem, p.41. 24 Ibidem, p.43.
14
REFERENCES
1) Berov Hristo, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo. Calendar 2012.
2) See Bulgaria in Europe!, Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria, Abagar JSC Publishing House, 2012.
3) Decretul de înfiinţare a Universităţii din Iaşi (26 octombrie 1860), Biblioteca Centrală Universitară “Mihai Eminescu” din Iaşi, Fondul Colecţii Speciale, Fc – 17 c.
4) http://150.uaic.ro/istorie/ 5) http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/University/Prezentare#3 6) www.uni-vt.bg 7) Loghin Aurel, Platon Maria, Platon Gheorghe, Universitatea “Al. I. Cuza”
Iaşi, Bucureşti, Editura Litera, 1971. 8) Platon Gh. Universitatea din Iaşi, simbol al spiritualităţii româneşti, în
“Analele Ştiinţifice ale Universităţii Al. I. Cuza din Iaşi”, (serie nouă), secţiunea III, Istorie, Tomul XXXI, anul 1985.
9) Idem, Universitatea din Iaşi în istoria României Moderne, în “Anuarul Institutului de Istorie şi Arheologie A.D.Xenopol din Iaşi”, XXII/1, 1985.
10) Profesorii titulari, Profesorii agregaţi şi Conferenţiarii definitivi de la Universitatea Mihăileană din Iaşi 1935-1936, Fondul Colecţii Speciale, Biblioteca Centrală Universitară “Mihai Eminescu”din Iaşi, Doc.74.
11) St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo, Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria, 2011.
12) Universitatea de Iassi, Programul cursurilor pe anul scolasticu 1863-1864, Fondul Colecţii Speciale, Biblioteca Centrală Universitară “Mihai Eminescu” din Iaşi, Arhiva Doc. 170_ 1.
15
I. ON THE PROGRESS TOWARDS THE COMMON EUROPEAN STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
“EUROPE 2020”: SOME PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPMENT IN ROMANIA AND BULGARIA
Prof. Vihren Bouzov, PhD St. Cyril and St. Methodius University, Bulgaria
Abstract. In this paper are discussed certain problems of development in Romania and Bulgaria, associated with their efforts to live up to the objectives of the new EU strategy. Taking into account the present-existing inequalities and economic imbalances in the EU and the bleak situation of Bulgarian and Romanian economy one can say that we are faced up with a new utopian project. Because these objectives cannot be fulfilled on the basis of a neoliberal economic policy– such policy cannot secure social welfare and has no potential to be a path to economic growth.
Key words: “Europe 2020”, development, inequalities in the EU.
Europe 2020 is the main strategic document of the EU for future development of its members. This Strategy is aimed at the attainment of a growth that is smart, sustainable and inclusive. Smart – trough more effective investments in education, research and innovation; sustainable, or ecological – on the basis of a decisive move towards a low-carbon economy. The idea of an inclusive economy requires emphasis on job creation and reduction of poverty. The realization of this program will boost the development of the EU as a dominant player in the world economic rivalry.
16
In this paper are discussed certain problems of development in Romania and Bulgaria, associated with their efforts to live up to the objectives of the new EU strategy. Taking into account the present-existing inequalities and economic imbalances in the EU and the bleak situation of Bulgarian and Romanian economy one can say that we are faced up with a new utopian project. Because these objectives cannot be fulfilled on the basis of a neoliberal economic policy– such policy cannot secure social welfare and has no potential to be a path to economic growth. However, precisely such policy dominates in our societies today and the EU development as a whole. Our two countries cannot overcome the present existing economic and social crisis and achieve growth by means of neoliberal steps leading to financial stability and social constraints. They need fundamentally new solutions for economic growth and social justice. Our Romanian-Bulgarian cross-border cooperation under EU programs is a good tool in this context It could be instrumental in a search for a new and better socially grounded strategy for growth and social justice. Today it is of paramount importance to create a “social Europe” and we need to develop co-operation on the basis of fair principles.
Discussed below are the main problems of development in the two countries through an analysis of their prospects for fulfillment of the objectives in the program Europe 2020. The data used here are based on official information o from Eurostat (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/) and are presented in tables.
1. Job Creation
First target of the EU: Employment of 75% of the people in the 20-64- year age bracket.
17
Countries Present State 20-64-old % employment
% Unemployed Target EU 2020 75%
National goals
Bulgaria 63,9 (decreasing)
12,6 76%
Romania 62,8 (decreasing)
7,4 70%
According to the data above there exist distinct downward trends in employment among the target group. The financial and economic crisis in the context of our peripheral capitalism1 steadily decreases the number of jobs and destroys small and medium business. The trend of global capitalism to restrict employment and to reduce jobs manifests itself in a very severe form in our region. It seems that in this context the national goals for so high rate of employment are completely unfeasible.
2. More Effective Investments in Research&Development
The next important objective is to have 3% of the EU’s GDP invested in R&D. The neoliberal model of development is extremely counter-productive in that area. Remember here the Lisbon Strategy of the EU .It has failed in its intention to make member-countries set aside 3% of their GDPs for investment in R&D (2% of them from private business). This target is on the agenda for Europe 2020! It is a very problematic target for Bulgaria and Romania – in the crisis rampant in them today we have spent about 0,4-0,5 % of our GDPs on R&D.(China spends a two-digit percentage of its GDP on such activity). The conclusion is that the EU`s following neoliberal strategies spells out losing ground if compared with other more dynamically developing parts of the world. See my interpretation of the official information: 1 Ljubisa Mitrovic, Tranzicija u periferni kapitalizam., (Beograd: Institut za politicke studie, 2009).
18
Countries Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D %
Existence of R&D Strategy
Target EU%3
National Goals
Bulgaria 0,6 (2001-2010: 0,51-0,6!!!!)
NO 1,5 (until 2015)
Romania 0,47 (2001-2010: 0,37-0,47!!!!)
Yes 26
priorities?
2!!!!
There are some additional facts that might be a hindrance in an analysis
by critical observers. The ratio of the state institution participation and the part of private business participation in the formation of this rate of investment is 90:10. The domination of the private sector in our economic life is a staggering fact in the existing situation! It does not have investments in the key sectors of the present day technological progress – information and communicative technologies, high-tech sectors and industry. Its structure is quite parasitic! It is unable to support effectively the development of our science and higher education. Its critical claims to them are absolutely unjustified.
3. Climate Change: Efforts of No Avail
Climate change is a subject of serious discussions in the present day world. One could say that the ambitions of the world community to reduce poverty and stave off environmental hazards have relatively no effective means of realization in our divided world. Rather, they entail serious conflicts owing to the pressing demand of developing countries to have no restrictions in their prospects for economic development, rooting in assertions that advanced countries sought to reduce emissions and do away with harmful effectsof the global warming. The Copenhagen Climate Summit in December 2009 was the first major arena of this deepening conflict. It is also true that rich countries are not prone to let poor
19
competitors have any access to hi-tech achievements. They refer to alleged environment concerns in order to allow no dynamic economic and social development of the latter. No doubt, debates on this matter will become ever more complex and critical as time goes by.
The EU would like to achieve the following results in its efforts to overcome negative trends in climate change:
- Greenhouse gas emissions 20% (or 30% if the conditions are right) lower than in 1990;
- 20% of energy coming from renewable sources; - 20% energy efficiency growth.
Existing condition in the world today are not favorable due to the economic crisis in it and vigorous opposition of some great forces (USA, Russia, China) against the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. The impact of EU activities on the climate change in the world is only about 10-15% effective
Is it rational to search for a sustainable growth without existence of working industry? For countries like Bulgaria and Romania that have wiped out their economic structure from the age of industrialization these targets are meaningless. Their only function is the one to institute a new rich set of people by producing expensive green electricity. After the politically- motivated rejection of the Belene Project in Bulgaria, one could justifiably ask the following question: Why should the Bulgarians pay higher prices for expensive energy from renewables?
4. Unattainable Levels of Higher Education
The following two targets pertain to educational development. The EU would like to reduce school dropout rates. It seems that Bulgaria is closer to its achievement:
20
Countries Early Leavers from Education
%
Target the EU Below 10%
Bulgaria 12,8 11 Romania 17,5 11,3
The two countries have good plans to approach this percentage. But we have a great reason to doubt this result – the failure of efforts for Roma inclusion in both societies. These early leavers from education are mainly Roma people and their rate will increase with the growth of the Roma population living in poverty and misery. How can we find motivation for minority (Roma) families to leave their children in school? And last, but not least - why we continue to close down schools and to dismiss teachers due to lack of money? There exist a visible trend of increasing illiteracy and long-term unemployment in our societies!
The more important target here is to have a rapid and sharp increase in the percentage of people with higher education. The EU would like to have until 2020 year at least 40 % of 30-34 old European citizens completing higher education. The present existing situation is illustrated below.
Countries Group 30-34 Age
2011 % Target the EU 2020
At least 40% Bulgaria 27,3 36 Romania 20,4 26,7
It seems that this target is even more inadmissible. Moreover, our system of higher education is subjected to harmful effects by various factors – negative birth rate, unfair competition from foreign and private universities and lack of resources. They have determined a constant trend of emergency existence. The existing neoliberal scheme of funding our universities multiplies all negative phenomena. Only inter-academic cooperation and joint work on European projects are the means of overcoming these trends.
21
5. Reduction of Poverty and Social Exclusion in a Period of a World Crisis
The last target of the EU is the reduction of poverty and social exclusion. Over 20 million European citizens are now living at risk of poverty and social exclusion. No doubt, Bulgaria and Romania are leaders in this process, especially in the period of a world economic crisis. As a result of the crisis, poor people get poorer and rich people become much richer.2 That is why social criticism and radical attitudes are constantly growing in our societies. Global injustice and reduction of poverty are one of the most important challenges of the present day world. The deepening of economic imbalance on our planet is a lasting result of the ongoing neoliberal globalization.
6. Some Ways to Follow in Solving Problems
In conclusion I would like to note some ways for our countries that can help them solve existing problems. If they want to be good members of the European family they must take decisive action to realize effective and socially responsible rule.
First, they need to reject the neoliberal policy. Romanians are closer to this aim after the democratic removal of the right-wind parties from power in their country. The EU should not be a club of rich countries only – it should be developed on the basis of communitarian principles and values.
Secondly, it is necessary to promote a more intensive cooperation between our two countries and their peoples. The Cross Border Cooperation Program Romania-Bulgaria must become a more effective instrument to this end. The third goal is to develop a real knowledge-based society – through a more active participation of our universities in research work and debates on major social and economic problems facing our countries. 2 Vihren Bouzov, Rationality, Norms and Decisions in the Globalization Era (Essays in Practical Logic)., (V. Turnovo: IVIS, 2011), 73-75.
22
THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND (ESF):
PRESENTATION OF THE PROJECT PRACTICE PROGRAMME FOR STUDENTS
Prof. PH.D. Floare Chipea Associate. Prof. PH.D. Simona Stanciu
Faculty of Social-Humanistic Sciences/ University of Oradea, Romania
Abstract. The paper aims to present the European Social Fund (ESF), the latest available EU-wide data analyze and previewed ESF changes over the period 2014-2020. The current Romanian Operational Programmes of the ESF in 2007-2013: Human Resources Development and Administrative capacity are introduced. We briefly present the project Practice Programme for students in the framework of the Programme Human Resources Development conducted by the University of Oradea.
Key-words: European Social Fund, Romania, Bulgaria, project.
1. European Social Fund (ESF): 2010 data and ESF changes in 2014-2020
The European Social Fund (ESF) priorities are employment, education and social inclusion. The ESF is one of the European Union’s Structural Funds which aims to reduce differences in living standards European Union-wide, to promote education and lifelong learning, stimulate employment, and develop public administration to face global challenges. These targets are sustained over the period 2007-2013 with 75 billion € distributed to the EU Member States and regions (European Commission, European Social Fund website).
In order to promote the cooperation EU-wide and between Romania and Bulgaria in particular, and to seek for new project ideas, the latest available situation of EU projects could offer useful information. The 2010 ESF official database provides statistics on the projects co-funded by the ESF during the period 2007- 2010, but the Commission cannot guarantee the
23
completeness of the data. We will present the participation in ESF-funded projects according to some indicators such as age group, educational attainment, labour market status, vulnerable groups, Member State, and Operational Programme. European Commission, European Social Fund website).
Table 1. Participation by Age Groups. EU- 2010
Age group Young people
(15-24 years)
Other people
(25-54 years)
Older people
(55-64 years)
No. of participants
%
4515057
28.82%
10276927
65.59%
875304
5.59%
Source: European Social Fund website.
The statistics show that most participants are 25-54 years old, twice as much as the young people, and ten times more then the older participants EU-wide over the period 2007-2010.
Table 2. Participation by Educational attainment. EU- 2010
Educational
attainment
Primary or
lower secondary
education
(ISCED 1 and 2)
Upper
secondary
education
(ISCED 3)
Post-
secondary
non tertiary
education
(ISCED 4)
Tertiary
education
(ISCED 5 and 6)
No. of
participants
%
5.496346
44.69%
3.646437
29.65%
736.839
5.99%
2.419341
19.67%
Source: European Social Fund website.
Considering the Educational attainment, almost half of the EU participants achieved Primary or lower secondary education (44.69%) and
24
around 30% of the participants have Upper secondary education degrees, but we should take into consideration the fact that a significant number of projects are having pupils as target groups. 6% graduated Post-secondary education and almost 20% of the participants are higher educated.
Table 3. Participation by Labour Market Status EU- 2010
Labour Market
Status Unemployed Employed Inactive
No. of participants
%
4906286
31.32%
5779570
36.89%
4981432
31.8%
Source: European Social Fund website
The participation of the unemployed and the inactive population is almost similar, but the employed people represent the highest number of participants, more then a third part (37%).
Table 4. Participation by Vulnerable Groups. EU- 2010
Vulnerable
Groups
Migrants Disabled Minorities Others Not vulnerable
groups
No. of
participants
%
815800
5.21%
597649
3.81%
463082
2.96%
926520
5.91%
12864237
82.11%
Source: European Social Fund website
The representation of Vulnerable Groups in ESF programmes is the following: migrants (5.21%), persons with disabilities (3.81%), minorities (2.96%), others (5.91%). The not vulnerable people are the beneficiaries of 82 % projects. This situation may suggest the necessity of focusing more on
25
social cohesion as a EU target through increasing the number of projects addressed to vulnerable persons.
Table 5. Participation by Member State. EU- 2010
Country No. of participants Country No. of participants
Austria 156670 Italy 1699225
Belgium 253349 Lithuania 159158
Bulgaria 220610 Luxembourg 4790
Cyprus 3702 Latvia 166334
Czech Republic 1104681 Malta 29795
Germany 931443 Netherlands 179452
Denmark 8626 Poland 1672539
Estonia 157655 Portugal 1822719
Spain 2572407 Romania 127476
Finland 103354 Sweden 74736
France 970027 Slovenia 89375
Greece 633203 Slovakia 541641
Hungary 718151 United
Kingdom
1112890
Ireland 153280
Source: European Social Fund website
26
Table 6. Participation by European Social Fund Operational Programme. EU -2010
Administrative
Capacity
Human Resources
Development Bulgaria No. of participants
6426 214184
Romania No. of participants
5267 122209
Source: European Social Fund website
The Bulgarian participants are more significant in numbers then the Romanian ones, especially in the Human Resources Development Programme, where the participation is almost twice as much in Bulgaria then in our country, showing a highest interest for the ESF, or perhaps more stimulations and better implementing mechanisms in the country. The poor amount of the European funds absorbed through grants and structural projects is a known fact in Romania, and hopefully, with a sustained governmental and better instrumental support, the new ESF will give more opportunities for more and better projects’ implementation.
For the period 2014-2020, the European Commission proposes the new ESF that will continue to support EU citizens “to find a job, or to progress in their current job”. The ESF aims are the core of the Europe 2020 strategy “by supporting economic recovery, upgrading skills, creating jobs, opening up opportunities and lifting people out of poverty” (European Commission website: The ESF and the future). All the EU regions will continue to receive support, and the top priority remain the less developed regions (whose GDP per capita is below 75% of the EU average). More than 72 million European live in transition regions (whose GDP per capita is between 75% and 90% of the average) and still need support under the "convergence" objective. 20 regions are expected to become more developed regions in 2014 (European Commission website: ESF 2014-2020).
27
Some innovations are proposed for the ESF. National commitments will be set out by Partnership Contracts between the European Commission and Member States. The EU's top priorities will apply to all funds (also rural development and fisheries) in a Common Strategic Framework and Member States will be allowed to combine "multi-fund" programmes. In order to ensure that EU funding contributes in fact to the 2020 objectives, new conditions will be introduced. After the examination by the Council and the European Parliament, the new ESF proposals are expected to be adopted by the end of 2012, and will be incorporated in the EU’s future cohesion policy (European Commission website: ESF 2014-2020).
2. European Social Fund in Romania
The National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) 2007-2013 is the document which establishes the priorities for the Structural and Cohesion Funds and links national priorities with European ones – the cohesion strategy and the revised Lisbon agenda. The document was adopted by the European Commission in June 2007 (Ministry of European Affaires, 2007a).
The Operational Programmes through which NSRF is implemented are Convergence Objectives (of the Structural Funds) and European Territorial Cooperation Objectives (of the Cohesion Fund). During the reference period, the European Commission is allocating to Romania about 19.67 bn Euro, of which 19.21 bd Euro for Convergence Objective and 0.46 bn for the European Territorial Cooperation Objective. The previewed national co-financing is 5.53 bn Euro from public sources (73% out of the total co-financing), and private ones (27%) (Ministry of European Affaires, 2007a). The distribution of the NSRF allocation by Operational Programmes is the following: Human Resources Development 18.1%; Administrative Capacity Development 1.1%; Increase of Economic Competitiveness 13.3%; Transport 23.7%; Environment 23.5%; Regional 19.4%; Technical Assistance 0.9% (Ministry of European Affaires, 2007a).
28
According to the European Social Fund official website, in the framework of the Human Resources Development Programme (Programul Operational Sectorial Dezvoltarea Resurselor Umane) at the end of 2009 (30.11. 2009) 523 contracts were signed, of which Strategic ones: 40.53 % (212 contracts), Grants: 58.69% (307 contracts), and AT (Technical Assistance) contracts: 0.76% (4 signed contracts). The list of funded beneficiaries is subject to ongoing updates (European Commission website: European Social Fund Romania).
The Human Resources Development Progamme comprises national priorities which are organized following seven main directions or Axes (each of them having several Major Domains of intervention): • Priority Axe 1: Education and professional formation for economic
growth and development of knowledge-based society (Educatia si formarea profesionala in sprijinul cresterii economice si dezvoltarii societatii bazate pe cunoastere)
• Priority Axe 2: Correlation of lifelong learning with the labour market (Corelarea invatarii pe tot parcursul vietii cu piata muncii)
• Priority Axe 3: Increase adaptability of workers and enterprises (Cresterea adaptabilitatii lucratorilor si a intreprinderilor)
• Priority Axe 4: Modernize Public Service for Occupation (Modernizarea Serviciului Public de Ocupare)
• Priority axe 5: Promotion of active occupational measures (Promovarea masurilor active de ocupare)
• Priority Axe 6: Promotion of social inclusion (Promovarea incluziunii sociale)
• Priority Axe 7: Technical assistance (Asistenta tehnica)
According to the Report of the National Management Authority for the Administrative Capacity Operational Programme, even the financing in 2010 overpass 26 % of the requests for financing, so far only 4.9% of the
29
funds for the period 2007-2013 were allocated (National Management Authority for the Administrative Capacity, 2012).
The direct beneficiaries of the ESF in Romania are very diverse, from governmental institutions, Ministries, local and central administrative bodies, agencies, foundations, associations, NGOs, schools, universities, institutes (f.e. the National Opera of Bucharest, the National Syndicate Block, the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the National Agency for the work force, the National Anti-drug Agency, the National Administration of Penitentiaries, the Society of Contraceptive and Sexual Education, the National Agency for Roma, the Bishop’s office, the University of Oradea, the University of Cluj, the University of Craiova etc.).
3. Presentation of the project Practice Programme for students The University of Oradea/ Faculty of Social-Humanistic Science,
Romania, is currently conducting the project: Practice Programme for students: Child Protection – from theory to practice (Programul de practica pentru studenti: Pritectia copilului – de la teorie la practica) in the framework of the Operational Programme Human Resources Development. The project is co-financed during the period 2011-2013 by the EU through the European Social Fund, Priority Axe 2: Correlation of lifelong learning with the labour market (Corelarea invatarii pe tot parcursul vietii cu piata muncii, Major Domain of intervention (MDI): 2.1. Transition from school to active life (Tranzitia de la scoala la viata activa).
The general objective of the project is to facilitate the students’ transition from university to active life, from theory to practice, through increasing competitiveness of the educational system and effectiveness of practice in order to answer the labour market demands. The specific objectives are to: • promote and consolidate the interregional partnership between universities
on one hand, and the local partnership between universities and public
30
and private institutions - potential beneficiaries of graduates, in order to facilitate the transition of future professionals in the domain of child protection on the other hand;
• increase the chances of the graduates of the BA and MA programmes participating in the Practice Programme to employement;
• develop the practical abilities in child protection of the students in following Social-Humanistic specializations: Social Work, Sociology, Psychology, Psycho-pedagogy;
• enhance counseling and professional orientation services; • motivate the institutions for students’ practice through tutoring
programmes, exchanges of good practices and professional reunions; • sustain excellence and performance of the students in the Practice
Programme through exchanges of experience abroad, enhancing professional contacts etc;
• permanent access to resources and professional assistance on the PractiPASS electronic platform, where students, professionals and specialists meat and exchange information and professional results (www.practipass.ro).
The stakeholders are: the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Protection – the authority of management, Bucharest; the National Centre of Development of Professional and Technical Education – the intermediary authority, Bucharest; the University of Oradea/ Faculty of Social-Humanistic – Studies – the beneficiary. There is a number of 13 partners in three regions (namely the regions around Oradea, Arad and Bucharest). In the project, there are two target groups: students (600) and tutors (54) and tutor - coordinators (6).
Some of the activities and subsequently expected results of the project are: • Professional orientation and counseling of students (300) in the counseling
centre for professional orientation; • Establish a data base on the project web-site for students and employers;
31
• Training the tutors (60); • Organize the practice in the institutions (18 locations): the students
participate in 3 periods of practice during 3 semesters (3 h/week) and a compact practice (60 h); elaborate the instruments for practice (Practice Guide; Practice Notebook; Observation and Evaluation Fiches; Observer Scales for institutions; Guide for Carrier);
• Enhance the knowledge sources: 300 books and several other professional publications in the project library;
• Develop employability as a result of implementing the project and monitoring of students’ employment during up to 10 month after the end of the project;
• Exchange good practices with a EU Member State (60 students and 30 specialists);
• Disseminate the results (Information available also on the Practice Programme for students: Child Protection– from theory to practice project website www.practipass.ro).
Another Human Resources Development project conducted by the University of Oradea is the strategic project: Romanian competitive researchers through modern and efficient Doctoral programmes (Cercetatori romani competitivi prin programe doctorale moderne si eficiente), Priority Axe / Major Domain of intervention 1: Education and professional formation for economic growth and development of knowledge-based society (Educatia si formarea profesionala in sprijinul cresterii economice si dezvoltarii societatii bazate pe cunoastere)/ MDI 1.5 Doctoral and postdoctoral programmes supporting research (Programe doctorale si postdoctorale in sprijinul cercetarii).
We also mention the strategic project having as beneficiary the Universitaty of Oradea/ Faculty of Economics: Antrepreneurship and equality of chances (Antreprenoriatul si egalitatea de sanse. Un model inter-
32
regional de scoala antreprenoriala pentru femei), Priority Axe / Major Domain of intervention 3: Increase the adaptability of workers and enterprises (Cresterea adaptabilitatii lucratorilor si a intreprinderilor)/ MDI 3.1 Promotion of the antrepreneur culture (Promovarea culturii antreprenoriale).
Another grant of the Universitaty of Oradea is entitled: Sustaining the transition from engineering education to competitive economy through enginery competition (Sprijinirea tranzitiei de la educatia inginereasca la economia competitiva prin inginerie concurenta), Priority Axe / Major Domain of intervention 2: Correlation of lifelong learning with the labour market (Corelarea invatarii pe tot parcursul vietii cu piata muncii)/ MDI 2.1 Transition from school to active life (Tranzitia de la scoala la viata activa) (European Commission website: European Social Fund Romania).
References
• European Commission. European Social Fund, Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/esf/main.jsp?catId=35&langId=en. 25 May 2012.
• European Commission. ESF 2014 – 2020. Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/esf/main.jsp?catId=62&langId=en. 23 May 2012.
• European Commission. The ESF and the future, Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/esf/main.jsp?catId=445&langId=en. 25 May 2012.
• European Commission. European Social Fund Romania. Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/esf/main.jsp?catId=31&langId=en. 23 May 2012
• Ministry of European Affaires (Ministerul Afacerilor Europene). National Strategic Reference Framework 2007-2013 (Cadrul Strategic National de Referinta 2007-2013) (2007a). Retrived from: http://www.fonduri-ue.ro/documente-programare/csnr. 30 May 2012
• Ministry of European Affaires (Ministerul Afacerilor Europene) (2007b). National Strategic Reference Framework 2007-2013- Executive Summary. Retrived from: http://www.fonduri-ue.ro/documente-programare/csnr. 30 May 2012.
• National Management Authority for the Administrative Capacity Operational Programme (Autoritatea de Management pentru Programul Operational Dezvoltarea Capacitati Administrative) (2011). Annual Report of the implementation of the operational programme Administrative Capacity 2010 (Raportul anual de implementare a programului operational Dezvoltarea Capacitatii Administrative, 2010). Retrieved from: http://www.fonduriadministratie.ro/rapoarte. 20 May 2012
• Practice Programme for students “Child Protection– from theory to practice. www.practipass.ro.
33
EU FUNDED PROJECTS IMPLEMENTATION IN THE MUNICIPALITIES OF VELIKO TURNOVO OBLAST –
CHALLENGES AND RISKS /Financial period 2007-2012/
Teodora KALEYNSKA, PhD
Veliko Turnovo University Faculty of Philosophy
Abstract: The article discusses the attitudes of the Bulgarian citizens and institutions of VelikoTurnovo region in the period 2007–2012, based on data gathered in a research survey, made by a group of experts from VelikoTurnovo University. An analysis is made of the trends in the development of the absorption of EU funds in the implementation of different type of projects within the territory of VelikoTurnovo oblast and of the public opinion on fundamental European solidarity ideas, the knowledge of the role of the European institutions and local community actors for the level of efficiency of project implementation. Keywords: European Union, expectations, EU funds, projects, absorption.
The article discusses the attitudes of the Bulgarian citizens and institutions of VelikoTurnovo region in the period 2007–2012, based on data gathered in a research survey, made by a group of experts from VelikoTurnovo University. An analysis is made of the trends in the development of the absorption of EU funds in the implementation of different type of projects within the territory of VelikoTurnovo oblast and of the public opinion on fundamental European solidarity ideas, the knowledge of the role of the European institutions and local community actors for the level of efficiency of project implementation. The paper presents the trends, evaluations and expectations of the citizens and institutions of VelikoTurnovo Oblast towards absorption of funds for implementation of community projects funded by the European Union.
The interest towards the EU structural funds and possibilities to absorb funds for development and implementation of community projects on the territory of VelikoTurnovo is comparatively high. Till April 2012 138
34
projects are confirmed and granted by the executive bodies of the seven different operation programmes in Bulgaria and 170 contracts are signed and entered into force. From the total of 170 contracted projects, 60 had been successfully implemented, 4 are blocked and 19 have been cancelled. In April 2012 41 of the contracted projects are still in a process of implementation. 89 companies and institutions are project beneficiaries and 1/3 of them are municipality administrations. Compared to them, the local companies and the local non-governmental organizations are not as active and successful to project presentation and implementation. The Municipality of VelikoTrunovo has managed to enlist 57 contracted projects for over 54 mil BGN; GornaOryahovitsa – 25 mil for 14 contracted projects; Municipality of Lyaskovets – 13 mil BGN with 8 contracted projects. The lowest level of enlisted projects and funds are registered in Suhindol Municipality (105 000BGN); Municipality of PolskiTrumbesh (483 000BGN) and Municipality of Zlataritsa (828 000BGN).
The hugest amounts of funds are entitled towards infrastructural projects related to road reconstructions, electrical efficiency infrastructure and change of sewage and water supply system in the Municipality of VelikoTurnovo. Prioritizing the sectors for investment and funds absorption we need to list the modernization and development of social infrastructure; development of road rehabilitation on the territory of the oblast; increase the efficiency of the electrical systems and effectiveness of public properties; development of alternative tourism and creation of new tourist destinations and attractions; investments in the social infrastructure and social inclusion of the marginalized groups in the region and strategic investment in the development of the human resources, development of the labour force and youth development and activities. All municipalities have designed, developed and adopted strategic plans for absorption of EU funds and implementation of EU funded projects, have agreed on the priorities for community development and have started organizational municipal structures for project design and management.
35
The role of local communities, the local authorities and Oblast government is crucial for the process of project development and project implementation and management. Under the structural funds and the operational programmes, the local authorities are the basic beneficiaries and more than 75% are dedicated for the development of the local communities. At the same time the survey clearly showed a basic need to build the local authorities capacity in several thematic fields at least. The local authorities need to join and implement a large education programme on community development and networking, involving all local actors. The administration still stays apart from community and other local actors than itself. The process of capacity building that now stops at the level of mayors and civil servants, specialized in European integration, needs to be transferred to more flexible programmes and flexible programs and implementing innovative approaches to capacity building - improving communication in teams of municipal administration in an efficient allocation of roles and responsibilities, ensuring long-term presence of advisory teams in the municipalities to perform „job training” of the administration projects aimed at forming partnerships with organizations and institutions within the municipalities, so that some functions be delegated to the partners (local NGO), etc. Even in some municipalities there are formal community councils for municipal development and European integration (VelikoTurnovo, Lyaskovets, Svishov) still the local actors are excluded from the process of decision making, prioritizing the community problems and needs, clear time planning and community involvement in project implementation. Thus the community potential for active involvement and participation is extremely limited.
In the oblast of VelikoTurnovo the practice of municipal partnering and project joint application and communication is not quite popular, as showed by the research done. The communication on the level of municipality administrations is rare or does not exist at all. The communication is either on the personal level of mayors or it is difficult and practically does not exist
36
on the level of civil servants or municipal departments dealing with the same subject. The only case of cooperation and local municipalities’ partnership in VelikoTurnovo oblast is the founded local group under LEADER programme “Lyaskovets-Strazjica”. The local group is active and has a broad influence at all levels of decision making process in the two communities. The group had already organized a local competition among local actors and institution on design and implementation of community projects. Several community development forums had been organized for planning and designing the community developments in the two municipalities. A serious debate on the region’s development, on the strategic planning and strategic development and management had taken place in the municipalities, guaranteeing that the whole local audience is participating in the decision making. Local actors such as kindergardens, schools, citizen’s groups, NGOs had already participated in the project competition and had successfully implemented their granted projects. The dialogue on local municipal level gives possibility to create and build an atmosphere of cooperation and strategic thinking, presenting common joint goals of the communities, easy mobilization of resources and fundraising for local causes, builds a strong civil society. Even the good practice is widely recommended and shared in the community, still the Lyaskovets-Strazjica case is the only existing one.
Another interesting actor that might have a positive approach on the absorption of EU funds and raising the awareness on the EU funding possibilities and the level of capacity of the local authorities in VelikoTurnovo oblast is the Association of municipalities “Yantra”. Registered in late 90th, the association had a crucial role for supporting the democratic development and change in the oblast. Thanks of the USAID through association’s funded projects, the local authorities were taught on democratic development, building a community, citizen’s forums. The partnership approach and networking were part of the contribution of raising
37
the awareness of the local authorities. Series of events and networking happenings had taken place in the region. The most valuable support of the association had been the long term training on project management, project circle, finance, monitoring and devaluation. Special trainings had taken place on the EU project development and EU funding specifics. Recently, since 2007, the association had stopped its activities and vital life. It has a formal organizational life but no added value to the community and the municipal and regional development might be reported. The participants themselves (mayors and municipal councilors) don’t have a clear vision for the necessity and effectiveness of the association.
In the era of Internet to discuss the lack of information, lack of exchange of information and lack of communication might be a littleodd. The research had found that many civil servants are totally unprepared to act within a network and in partnering. Many respondents shared that European partnerships communication, networking, participation in international forums and seminars on EU funds, good practice study visits, etc. are entitled only to a very limited circles at the municipal level. Even there are many different opportunities for cooperation, the information still stays among a few actors. That is a serious obstacle for EU funds absorption on local municipal level.
Serious point on the raising the effectiveness of EU funds absorption on municipal level is the analysis of local private-public partnerships and the level of commitment of the different local actors in the success of the partnership. The results of the survey show a low level of efficiency of private-public partnership. We need to start with the fact that their number is very limited. In the municipalities where they have been founded and are announced to exist, they are vital thanks to the activity of the NGOs and media that are partners. The partnerships connections between the administration and the local actors are inefficient and weak, sporadic and occur for a limited and specific occasion. Even the partnerships are
38
announced as highly important for local development the relations are weak and formal. Many obstacles still characterize the local actors – different level of awareness of new technologies, low speed of Internet connection, lack of knowledge and skills on new market economy and project management circle, flexibility to react quickly and independently to regional and international partnership proposals. The unequal role of the different actors in the partnerships forms lack of interest, formal participation and refuse to share responsibilities in the project preparation circle or stay in the partnership only as partner without contributing to the project idea development.The local development should be based on strong networking
partnership between local stakeholders. However, the local development is still
seen primarily as an external process and the role of local government in this
process is implementation. Necessaryis the transformation
oflocaladministrationinan ctiveparticipantincreatingandimplementingprogramsand
projects. Dialogue among partners is of great importance. The lack of dialogue and strong partnership approach on local level
blocks the successful international exit of the municipalities. Some of them rely on the ”twinning” relations or on the ex-partners connections. They usually don’t initiate international or broad European dialogue, and rely and participate only on operational application procedures and possibilities. One reason for this approach is the comparatively low level of knowledge of foreign language in order to finalize the whole circle of project management – from project idea to the project evaluation with international partners. That obstacle is even more dramatic and huge concerning the trans-border cooperation where language Bulgarian-Romanian barrier is very high and serious. In a long term perspective that lack of international partnering and joint application will cause a serious problem to the municipalities from VelikoTurnovo oblast. That keeps the communication is a very limited territory and blocks the solidarity process.
39
There are some good examples of successful networking on EU funded projects and developing a local atmosphere for specific opportunities and potential for cooperation. More than positive are the existing forms of cultural exchanges need to continue to develop and enrich. In the field of tourism is good to go in the line of shaping a common destination based on an analysis of tourist markets - both domestic market and the nearest European markets. On this basis can be formed vision for the development of destination and based on this vision to trigger investor interest and to establish a portfolio of specific small projects to give into the hands of local entrepreneurs, NGOs, museums. Development of a joint tourist product will do best to the existing tourist market and map. European funds might provide the municipalities the possibility to have European added value in the process and to attract and absorb serious investment interest and European funding in support to that idea.
The survey, analyzing the challenges in the municipal actors on the absorption of EU funds paid a special emphasis on the level of competence of the human resources and civil servants, working at the municipal administrations. The existence of stable and competent human resources is the key to the success of any administration for the implementation of European projects. In many of the interviewed administrations, the staff is insufficient and very flexible and short term contracted. The municipality very difficultly secure and keep the qualified staff due to the much higher salaries that the private business offer and open positions for. Usual system of hiring staff only for the duration of the project blocks the municipality in the offers on career development of the qualified staff, which usually leave the administration after the end of the project. That causes serious career development problems in the administration, let to high level of leaves. Possible ways of solving that hole and build a real European administration is provide opportunities for career development within the system, to use the availabilities of Life long education, to ensure the process learning effect by
40
possibilities for sharing good practices, exchange of know-how, looking for a strategic long term partnerships, development of expertise and experience among all actors and free channels of communication and exchange. The long process of training and educating the own staff is to secure a long-term effect of municipal development and success in the EU project funding and implementation and absorption. The municipalities are to work for securing long-term expertise in EU project management and expert team development. The investment in the human resources are reasonable, secured and guarantee the increase of production. Some of the municipalities and the Oblast Council for sustainable development have started the process of creating strategies for development of human resources by introducing the process of evaluation of the servants’ qualification, deep analysis of the training and educational needs, life-long education, continuing education.
Analyzing the challenges of successful EU absorption of funds by municipalities shows the fact that the municipality administration still don’t use enough efficiently the resources and capacities of the partners. The development of big and large partnerships will increase the level of communication, exchange of best practices, usage of the experience of the partners, overcoming the obstacles and weaknesses of project implementation. The municipalities may refer to the training, moderation expertise of the partners such as NGOs, to authorize them for trainings, seminars and informal education project activities. Many of the municipalities use that approach specially in the process of provision of social services (VelikoTurnovo, Svishov, GornaOryahovitsa, Lyaskovets). They delegate the implementation of social infrastructural projects to licensed NGOs. That partnership and networking approach have a dual effect in the local communities and many positive follow-up effects. Still the possibilities, knowledge and know-how of the Universities (VelikoTurnovo University, High Economic Academy, High School for Agricultural Technologies), that are situated on the territory of VelikoTurnovo region is
41
not efficiently used by the municipalities. There is no example of joint project between municipality and University in the research period. The Universities might develop project labs, data based libraries, collection of strong and weak project implementations, etc. The lack of linkage among experience and theory still is an obstacle for successful and efficient absorption of EU funds in the oblast of VelikoTurnovo.
The issue of the financial capacity and potential of the municipalities turned out to be crucial for the successful project management and implementation. There is a sharp need for increasing the financial capacity of the municipal budget, specially for the small municipalities (Suhindol, Strazjitsa, PolskiTrumbesh, Lyaskovets) but all municipalities in VelikoTurnovo oblast reported such problem. The slow and uncertain process of reimbursement in the operational programmes keep the municipalities away from application and enthusiasm to apply. The average period of reimbursement, reported by the interviewed civil agents working on EU projects, is 18 months. That long period doom some municipalities to financial liquidity and problems that blocks the regular community life. For that reason some of the municipalities (VelikoTurnovo, Svishov and Lyaskovets) have developed a special fund to be used only as pre-advanced fund for implementation of contracted EU funded projects. Some possibilities for successful overcoming of that issue is careful process of budget planning and evaluation and audit of the project budgets implementation. Many potential might be found in the development of private-public partnerships and shared responsibilities in the social responsibility of the private business towards the development and success of social services in the community, use the system of co-financing and contribution to social causes, etc. The existence of clear financial framework with data base on the implementing projects, capacities, partners’ contributions and punctual time frame of financial flows might be of key point for the success of the municipal projects.
42
The access to information and its analysis took an important place in the research study. It is important to mention that not only the access to information, but also the usage of different resources, the type and content of the information received by the municipality actors might be of key importance for the project implementation and success. On one hand the correct and punctual communication, based on organizational culture and loyalty with the executing agency, is very important. The web and on-line consultations, the maximum acceptance of the recommendations is of great importance for the follow up of the initiated and contracted projects. Within the interviews, proposal from the field had been raised for development of a nationally based website for sharing not only the best practices cases, but also the misleads, the mistakes, the problems and solutions found in the process of implementation of EU projects on municipal level.
The partnership has a special task to do in the process, shared all interviewed. Still not all municipalities have an actual and detailed data base of potential partners, their capacities, specifications and possibilities to keep the partnership built. The process of mutual exchange of weak, strong and potential sites by all partners may be carried on by seminars, training, information stands and fairs, etc. Good practices is to share VelikoTurnovo and Lyaskovets, who are having annual fair of community contributing projects, developed and implemented by different type of actors. VelikoTurnovo has started an annual initiative for funding small project ideas from small communities from the municipality. There is a tendency the fund to increase and for the research period is has increased from 80 000 BGL in 2008 to double 150 000BGN in 2012. Many small citizen’s initiatives had been funded under that funding and had changed the community lives and environment in small villages. The NGOs have a special role in that process. They have to be considered as one of fundamental reforms of governance system. According to some researchers the reform should be based on the following three principles such as: NGOs
43
should have a right to participate actively in the definition of public tasks which implies the obligation of the local stakeholders to inform them about its strategies and programmes (partnership). Another important issue is that the stakeholders should create effective mechanisms of transfer to the third sector of these social tasks which can be realised by self organising civic society (subsidiarity). The suppor, also financially, and developing the civic society institutions by the stakeholderswill contribute in long term to reduce its expenditures and to attenuate social tensions (efficiency).
Conclusion
The municipalities, the companies and the social actors from VelikoTurnovo oblast use the possibilities of the existing different European programmes to apply on different thematic priorities. As adopted in the Regional Strategy for Sustainable Development till 2020 and following the national priorities on the development of the strategy Bulgaria 2020, different regional hot issues and priorities are listed. Some of the most important and strategic ones are the investment in the human capital and creating intelligent economy, introducing and developing of green economy, development of human resources on the basic of Life-long education and process of qualification and requalification. The understanding that the EU funded programmes of all types (horizontal and vertical) may contribute and might be the key element for reaching the goals is basic in all municipal and oblast documents. That understanding puts the strategic goal for development of new type of civil servants and administration open to communities and formal and non-formal community actors. Europe provides chances, being active is the goal of local municipalities. For that reason there is a great effort to overcome all challenges, listed in the research and being analyzed in the paper.
44
A THREAT TO WORLD SECURITY: THE TERRORIST ORGANISATIONS
Marius Hriscu
Faculty of Communication Sciences, „Apollonia” University of Iasi Abstract. The terrorist organisations represent a serious threat to world security. Terrorism represents the means of reaching certain purposes by the undiscriminating and unreasonable use of force. The aims of these organisations vary from a case to another and can be divided into some categories: achievement of a political goal considered as an obligation towards ancestors and followers; public awareness of the opinion towards a purpose or over a necessity of solving some conflicting situations from various countries or areas; undermining the authority of the political regime in some states by creating a state of international tension, insecurity ; release of some imprisoned fellow citizens; intimidation and exerting a certain influence on some personalities, institutions or governments; revenge on certain personalities or governments for the measures previously adopted. On the international level, the struggle against terrorism has been materialized by a relatively clear and operational legislation in the field, the requirement that is asserted further on being that all states and nations to agree with the legislative instruments adopted to ban terrorism and provoke a global reaction against it. The terrorist organisations are numerous and various depending on their way of action, the period of time for which they are made up of, the financing sources and the followed aims. Keywords: terrorist organisations, threat, violence, claims, world security.
The terrorist organisations represent a serious threat to world security. Terrorism represents the means of reaching certain purposes by the undiscriminating and unreasonable use of force (Servier 2002: 140).
Terrorism can be seen as a reaction of the weak against the strong (Văduva 2002: 30). In principle, most actions of the weak against the strong are preparing for a long time and takes place on the territory of the strongest within the powerful blows are tight, or in its most vulnerable points or in its strongest areas (Onişor 1999: 382) for example terrorist attacks in the United States of America from 11 September 2001.
45
Atrocity of the terrorist attacks and increasing interest in the rights and freedoms have led the international community to join efforts in trying to eradicate this phenomenon.
Starting time of the fight against terrorism can be placed after the First World War when he was born The League of Nations, an institution whose main role was to keep the general peace. This goal is circumscribed and the initiative undertaken by the international organizations to fight to prevent and combat terrorism, the shares represented at that time right-wing forces. (Hriscu 2011:25-37 2010: 74).
The doctrine (Văduva 2002: 66) raised the question if the terrorist organisations represent a social accident, a social anomaly or, on the contrary,it represents a specific phenomenon for a certain period of time.within the dynamics of the evolution of society.
From the point of view of the social anomaly, the terrorist organisations represent ways of violence polarization., of selecting the violent individuals or ready to start violence and their gathering on motivations and systems of reactions. But terrorism is first of all a political movement, a way of applying certain politics; as a result it cannot be regarded as a work of some criminals.Criminals can be just instruments of terrorism, not only its cause.
From this perspective, terrorism assigns the following functions: discouraging, punishing, taking revenge and catching attention.
Almost all the terrorist acts have been claimed except for the one on the 11th of September in the United States of America. The fact that the attempts are claimed proves that even terrorism strikes from the shadow, the respective organisations wishing to be known that they exist, threat and want to be taken into cosideration.
The terrorist organisations are numerous, various, extremely violent, som ecreated ad-hoc for certain missions, then disappearing, others are created on long term, following complex aims.
46
Most of the terrorist organisations were made up in the eighth even ninth decades of the 20th century and wear, in their way of acting, strong ideological imprints.Although similar through ferocity, the nature the terrorist organisations is very complex. If reported to the most recent confrontation at world level-The Cold War-the terrorist organisations are divided into: organisations appeared before the World War; organisations created during the Cold War as its instruments; organisations created after the Cold War (Văduva 2002: 68).
The importance of this classification is explained on the one hand on the intensification of the terrorist phenomenon in the period of the increase of the confrontation risks and on the other hand there are created confusions regarding the delimitation of terrorism from the fight of national liberation or democracy.
From the point of view of the financial resources, the terrorist organisations are divided into: organisations financed by certain states; organisations financed by circles of interest, foundations, national or international corporations; organisations that are self financed (Pop 2003: 53).
The terrorist organisations are not mass phenomena, do not have many members. They are made up depending on certain interests, gathering people capable for everything.
The aims of these organisations (Pop 2003: 28) vary from a case to another and can be divided into some categories: achievement of a political goal considered as an obligation towards ancestors and followers; public awareness of the opinion towards a purpose or over a necessity of solving some conflicting situations from various countries or areas;undermining the authority of the political regime in some states by creating a state of international tension, insecurity; release of some imprisoned fellow citizens; intimidation and exerting a certain influence on some personalities, institutions or governments; revenge on certain personalities or governments for the measures previously adopted.
47
Sometimes the actions are ended successfully.They mean: getting the power or changing the political regime; getting the internal support that alows terrorists to reach a higher level of insurgency1; catching international attention on the injustice they are subject to; getting legitimacy2; winning political concessions3.
This year we celebrated 10 years since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, when the fight against terrorism has intensified. On 12 September 2001, the Committee of Ministers condemn the attacks of unprecedented violence committed against the American people, expressing solidarity with him at the same time.
At the Conference held in Strasbourg has reaffirmed its determination to act to combat terrorism in all its forms of expression through all means available.
In the period immediately after the Parliamentary Assembly adopted the „Resolution 1258” and „1534 Recommendation”. The Resolution stresses the need for a new type of reaction to the terrorist threat, given its international character. It also warned that any action against terrorism can not involve discrimination on ethnic or religious community nor be against such a community as a whole.
Target resolution and the possibility of organizing a military response, setting out certain conditions to be met: to have clearly defined objectives, to avoid killing civilians, to respect international law (Jura 2004: 286). On the other hand, claimed Recommendation Member States to ratify all the conventions on combating terrorism and to lift its reservations upon ratification. It also requires cooperation between states and international
1 Attitude formation is favorable to terrorists causes in populations which suffering from terrorism, but have nothing to lose from fulfilling their desire. 2 Kurds, Croats, kaşmirienii, Albanians have gained legitimacy and international support. 3 Separatist organization ETA has obtained the decision of Spain to secure the Basque province wide.
48
collaboration with other bodies to ensure coherence and effectiveness of the Council of Europe activities against terrorism.
In 2002 two other recommendations were adopted. The first is titled „Air transport and terrorism. How to strengthen security? „And the second” Combating terrorism and respect for human rights. „Throughout their recommended accelerating international cooperation against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Another institution involved in the fight against terrorism has been since 1999, North Atlantic Treaty ultimate organization. By launching in 1994 of the Partnership for Peace, NATO has contributed to international efforts to combat terrorism by facilitating cooperation between the major diplomatic and military euro countries - Asia, setting the stage for the establishment of bases in that area that could be used during anti-terrorist operations.
The position adopted by NATO has raised some concerns about that would marginalize its role and also that it will turn into a political forum, losing the character of common defense organization.
Secretary of NATO, Lord Robertson sought to allay these anxieties. After the Prague Summit Plan of Action was taken against terrorism of the Euro-Atlantic area. His goal was to help create an environment unfavorable development and expansion of terrorism, to enhance the decision of states to cooperate and act to prevent and combat terrorism in all its forms and assistance to countries that request it in addressing risks and consequences terrorist attacks.
On the international level, the struggle against terrorism has been materialized by a relatively clear and operational legislation in the field, the requirement that is asserted further on being that all states and nations to agree with the legislative instruments adopted to ban terrorism and provoke a global reaction against it.
49
In conclusion, we can state that the terrorist organisations are numerous and various depending on their way of action, the period of time for which they are made up of, the financing sources and the followed aims.
REFERENCES
1. Hriscu, Marius. 2010. “Une perspective critique sur l’activité diplomatique de Nicolae Titulescu (1932-1936)”, in Transylvanian Review, Cluj –Napoca: nr. 4.
2. Idem. 2011. “Nicolae Titulescu şi relaţiile româno – sovietice (1932-1936)”, Cuvânt înainte semnat de Gh. Buzatu. Iaşi: Editura TIPO MOLDOVA.
3. Jura, Cristian. 2004. „Terorismul internaţional”.Bucureşti: Editura All Beck. 4. Maxim, Ioan. 1999. „Terorismul”. Bucureşti: Editura Teora. 5. Onişor, Constantin. 1999. „Teoria strategiei militare”.Bucureşti: Editura
Academiei de Înalte Studii Militare. 6. Pop, Octavian.2003.„Aspecte criminologice privind terorismul intern şi
internaţional”.Timişoara: Editura Mirton. 7. Servier, Jean. 2002. „Terorismul”. Iaşi: Editura Institutul European. 8. Văduva, Gheorghe. 2002. „Terorismul. Dimensiune geopolitică şi geostrategică.
Războiul terorist. Războiul împotriva terorismului”. Bucureşti: Editura Academiei de Înalte Studii Militare.
50
II. CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
LOCAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE CROSS BORDER AREA1
Phd. Assoc. Prof. Cristina Frăsie
Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences University of Craiova, Romania
Abstract: In this article I defined the SMEs according to the specialists' opinions, I presented the Territorial Office for Small and Medium-sized and Corporation Enterprises from Craiova that coordinates the next counties: Dolj, Gorj, Mehedinţi, Vâlcea and Olt that, through the undertaken activities wishes the preparing of SMEs for the harmonization to the legislation and the business environment established by the European Union. I also presented both to the Local Board and to the Small and Medium Enterprises from Craiova that promotes and defends the economic, production, commercialization, financial, juridical interests of the small and medium-sized enterprises from Craiova and Dolj County, but also the Strategy of economic-social development for Craiova during 2007-2013, with the three stages. Key words: local development, strategy, SMEs, employees.
The SMEs are defined according to the number of employees who are chosen for all the activity fields. This approach is met in the countries of the European Union, including Romania. According to it, the small enterprise is “that company that owns under 49 employees. In this class is delimited the micro-enterprise that has between 1-9 workers. The medium enterprise has 50 to 249 employees. It is considered that the companies with over 250 workers are large companies. In some countries, among them are also
1 Pieces of information from this article are also found in the manual of the project Maximization of Comparative Advantages of Border Region
51
delimited the very large companies, starting, usually, with 1000 or 2000 employees”2.
The SMEs can be classified according to 8 criteria, among which: the age of the company, the title of property, the nature of the practiced management, the organizational structure, the realized production, the industry to which the company belongs, the place of the company, the profile of the relation product/market3.
The criteria according to which most of the times it is appreciated the size of a company, as comparing to others, can be exemplified as: the turnover, the number of employees, the values of the dues, the market quotation of the company, the relations with the competition4.
The economic function of Craiova and of the suburban communes, according to the structure of the active population in 2002, presented certain features. Thus, can be evidenced the function of tertiary and services town that Craiova gained during 1989-2002, the population included in this sector being of over 58%. In the tertiary activities, the highest share is represented by the commercial activities, by the cars and appliances repairing and preserving – 27%. It is followed by health and social activities – 17.8%, public administration – 15.4% and education – 14.5%, recognized as budgetary activities. It can be noticed that the quite increased share of the public administration, in a way explicable thanks to the quality of urban polarizing and representative centre for Oltenia that Craiova has. The transportation and communication activities own 12.6% of services, Craiova
2 Ovidiu Nicolescu, Managementul întreprinderilor mici şi mijlocii (Bucharest: , Editura Economica, 2001), 75 3 S.Birley, P.Westthead, ”Growth and Performance Contacts between Types of Small Firms”, in Strategic Management Journal, vol.1, 535-557 (1990), apudO.Nicolescu, op. cit., 78. 4 EugenBurduş, Tratat de management, (Bucharest: EdituraEconomica, 2005), 171.
52
being an important railway and road junction and a logistic (storage) centre, a quality that it obtained during the last years5.
“Dolj is the most developed county among all the counties that make the South-West Oltenia region, this thing being reflected in the number of economic units, the size and the turnover, the activity fields and the human, material and financial resources engaged in the economic activities. The most important activities are carried on in the next sectors:
- the energy industry - RA Termoficare SA Craiova, UzinaTermicăCalafat (contributes decisively to the atmosphere pollution, through the important quantitatively emissions of: SO 2, NOx, CO, CO2, COV, CH4, N2O, NH3, PM and heavy metals: As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, Zn);
- the machine building industry – Electroputere, Intreprinderea de UtilajGreu, MaşiniAgricoleşiTractoare (MAT S.A.), Intreprinderea de Reparaţii Locomotive, etc.;
- the electrotechnical industry – Electroputere Craiova; - the chemical industry – S.N.P. Petrom - SucursalaDoljchim
(characteristic emissions of: H2S, SO2, COV, PM, NOx and CO); - the extractive industry – ForajSonde Craiova, S.N.P. Petrom-Schele de
Petrol Stoina-Vrateju; - the food industry – Fabrica de Bere, Lactido, Frigorifer, Bachus S.A.,
etc. (characteristic emissions of: COV - ethanol, acetaldehyde, esters, acids); - the textile industry – Fabrica de ConfecţiiTexmodel,
SteilmannModexim S.A. - The building materials industry – Elpreco Craiova; - the arms and ammunition production – UzinaMecanicaFiliaşi;
5 Prof. Dr.PompeiCocean – project leader, PLANNER: BABES-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF GEOGRAPHY, STRATEGY OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FOR CRAIOVA, Project no. 61030/11.08.2006, 86 (December 2006)
53
- the furniture industry – S.C. Metal-Lemn S.A.(characteristic emissions of: COV, SO2, NOx, PM);
- cars and plane building industry – Ford, S.C. Avioane S.A.; - agriculture and zootechny – especially in the Danube and Jiu river
meadow: Cervina S.A. Segarcea, Comcerealis S.A., SemromOltenia S.A., Zootehnica S.A.
- The size class of the companies, expressed in the number of employees, preponderant in Oltenia region is represented by micro-enterprises with 92.05%, over the national average of 90.5%. The share of the large enterprises is of 0.16% in Oltenia. From the total number of 1.613 large enterprises that function at the level of the national economy in 2006, the South-West region has only 4.2% (68 large enterprises)”6.
The Territorial Office for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Cooperation from Craiova7 was inaugurated on the 14th of September. TOSMEC from Craiova has in its suborder the next counties: Dolj, Gorj, Mehedinţi, VâlceaşiOlt. Among the main attributions can be mentioned: “the implementation and the monitoring of MIMMCMA programs at regional level; granting of consulting services for the SMEs' access facilitation to services of online informing such e-governing or e-business; access mediation to financing for the small and medium-sized micro-enterprises; stimulation of the business environment by organizing specific activities; preparing the SMEs for their adaptation to the general impact of lining to the legislation and the specific business environment specific for the European Union; drawing-up, managing the official data regarding the small and medium-sized enterprises from its area.” 6 Study no. 1, “STIMULATION OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT AND THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT THROUGH THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE ENTERPRISES PERFORMANCES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MANAGERIAL SKILLS”, Analyses and studies regarding the productive and emergent sectors for discovering the entrepreneurial opportunities, 45-46 7 According to the information taken from the site http://www.aippimm.ro/otimmc/craiova/articol/cine-suntem-/
54
Among the programs operated in 2012 we can underline8:
• The Program for the development and the modernization of the activities for commercializing the products and the market services;
• MihailKogălniceanu Program for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises;
• The Program for stimulating the founding and development of the micro-enterprises by the young enterprising people;
• The multiannual national program for the period 2002-2012 for supporting the craftsmanship and the artisans’ work;
• The multiannual national program for the period 2005-2012 for the development of entrepreneurial culture among the women managers;
• UNCTAD/EMPRETEC Romania Program for supporting the development of the small and medium-sized enterprises;
• The Program for the development of the entrepreneurial skills among the young people and facilitating the access to the START financing.
The Local Council of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises from Craiova9
The Local Council of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises from Craiova (LCSMEC) is the name given to the reorganized juridical personality branch from Dolj of the Romania National Council of the Private Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (RNCPSME). Its mission consists of representing the SMEs interests from Dolj County in their relation with the local public institutions and their supporting for the development of the business. Craiova Local Council of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (LCSMEC) is an employers’ non-governmental and apolitical organization, the only organization representative at the local level.
8 http://www.aippimm.ro/categorie/programe/ 9 According to the information taken from the site: www.sme.ro/
55
LCSMEC from Craiova was created in 2001, as a branch of the Romania National Council of the Private Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and assured a local and sector complete covering from Dolj County.
The general objectives are: representing the interests of SMEs from Dolj County at the national level, representing the SMEs interests from Dolj at the local level in the tripartite commissions, supporting the SMEs from Dolj County through the grant of consultancy in the specific fields and the organization of manifestation with economic character.
LCSMEC from Craiova has as main purpose the promoting and the defending of economic, production, commercialization, financial, juridical interests of the small and medium-sized enterprises from Craiova and Dolj county, in their relation with other organs and organisms from the country and from abroad; stimulation through specific ways of the privatization process and of founding the small and medium-sized enterprises with autochthonous private capital and/or with the participation of the foreign enterprising people in conditions of advantageous profit for the business partners.
The Local Council of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises intended, during its 7 years of existence, the development of the business environment and the facilitation for lining the SMEs from Oltenia South-West region to the exigent requests imposed by the market economy and by the unique European market. The area for the development of the LCSME from Craiova allowed the consolidation of its credibility as representative of the SMEs' interests in Oltenia South-West Region and at cross-border level (Romania-Bulgaria) and also the creating and perfecting a team of specialists in the projects management and the supplying of adequate services to SMEs:
• Phare 2001 CBC - FCPM “Romania and Bulgaria – together towards Europe” Purpose: granting assistance in the cross-border region for the economic development at the standards of the European Union.
56
• Phare 2003 CBC - FCPM “The integration into the European Union and the private public partnership” Purpose: intensifying the common actions of the main local and regional actors in the Romanian-Bulgarian cross-border area (Dolj-Pleven) for sustaining the regional economic development and a better representation for the interests of the business environment.
• Phare 2004 CBC - FCPM “The Stimulation of the cross-border cooperation through the harmonization of the touristic offers and services with the EU requests, in the cross-border area Dolj-Pleven”. Purpose: sustaining the economic development in the Romanian-Bulgarian cross-border area through the promoting of cooperation in the tourism field of the main actors from the both sides of Danube.
• The development of the Danube touristic ports, starting from Mehedinţi-Vidin to Olt-Pleven. The Local Council of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises from Craiova in partnership with the Association of the Danubian Town-halls from Pleven implemented the project named „The development of the Danubian touristic ports, starting from Mehedinţi-Vidin, to Olt-Pleven”. The project is financed in the Phare program CBC 2005 Romania-Bulgaria, Priority 2 – Economic development.
The strategy of the economic-social development for Craiova during
2007-2013 has three stages10: In the first stage, priority by 2013, is a sub-stage of ultra urgent
interventions – “The red traffic-light” (2007-2009), in which the development will focus on the next coordinates:
10 Prof. PompeiCocean, Project no. 61030/11.08.2006, 154-156, and also: http://www.primariacraiova.ro/pcv/gallery/strategie-dezvoltare/obiective-strategice-III.pdf
57
• Establishing of a vision for the long term development that should remain set up and form the basis of any PUG revision of different plans for the territorial arrangements;
• Drastic stop regarding the reduction of the existent greens; • Bringing up to date of the PUG and RLU through a large process of
public polls; • Stopping the extension of the intra-village space as long as the
adequate leading team cannot be provided, meaning streets modernization, water-sewage system, gases system, electric system;
• Intervention on the patrimony areas and items; • Initiation of the metropolitan cooperation; • Optimizing the cars traffic flux through intelligent traffic lights; • Calming not streamlining the traffic into the traffic from the central
area of the town; • Elimination of the landfills on the river Jiu’s bank; • Development of the academic architecture and urbanism education; • Preserving the sports fields and the existent arrangements and stopping
their conversion into other constructions (malls, buildings etc.) • Development of the swimming pools (open air swimming pools); • Making the belt that goes round Craiova, on the south side; • The rounding road is not a street; • Elimination of all the illegal garbage platforms; • Repairing and modernization for the already existent water-sewerage
systems; • Measures for saving the water.
“Yellow traffic-light” sub-stage of urgent interventions 2009-2013 • Staging modernization of all the streets from Craiova • Accentuation for keeping and evidencing the visual architectural and
historical identity and of the specific landscape of the town;
58
• Continuing the process of creating compact pedestrian areas in the central zone;
• Widening and clearing the pavements; • Physic protection against the cars access on the pavements; • Creating under/over ground parking places; • Obligation of all the new buildings to have sufficient parking places,
including for the visiting public, not only for dwellers; • Extension of the airport; • Staged extension until 2013 of the Sewerage and drinking water
system; • Total separation from the sewerage between the fluvial – domestic
water. In the second stage – ‘The Green Traffic-light” – for 2022 – 2025, the
development will focus on the next coordinates: • The effective functioning as metropolitan pole; • The international recognition, inclusion in the MATRIX network; • Consolidation of the North-South development corridor, by
strengthening the relations with the other large towns from the country: Cluj, Timişoaraşi Bucharest.
In the third stage of development, whose render into practice can be
prolonged to 2025, will have the next objectives: • Connection of Craiova to the shipping system of Danube; • Transformation of Craiova into a transnational metropolis. STRATEGIC VISION: Craiova – transnational metropolis, innovation
Centre, a pleasant place in which to live, to work and to study, a city with responsible and open-minded local authorities, with active citizens and with a dynamic and involved business community.
59
REFERENCES
1) Ovidiu Nicolescu, Managementul întreprinderilor micişimij locii, EconomicaPublishing House, Bucharest, 2001;
2) S.Birley, P.Westthead, Growth and Performance Contacts between Types of Small Firms, in Strategic Management Journal, vol.1, 1990;
3) EugenBurduş, Tratat de management, Economica Publishing House, Bucharest, 2005;
4) STRATEGY OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FOR CRAIOVA, Project nr. 61030/11.08.2006, BENEFICIAR: PRIMÃRIA MUNICIPIULUI CRAIOVA, PLANNER: BABES-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF GEOGRAPHY, December 2006, Prof. Dr.PompeiCocean – Project leader,
5) STIMULATION OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT AND THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT THROUGH THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE ENTERPRISES PERFORMANCES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MANAGERIAL SKILLS, Study no.1 - Analyses and studies regarding the productive and emergent sectors for discovering the entrepreneurial opportunities,avizare: Universitatea din Craiova, coordonare: Instituto de Formacion Integral, realizare: Eulink Pro SRL;
6) Site: http://www.aippimm.ro/otimmc/craiova/articol/cine-suntem-/ 7) Site: http://www.aippimm.ro/categorie/programe/ 8) Site: www.sme.ro/ 9) Site: http://www.primariacraiova.ro/pcv/gallery/strategie-dezvoltare/obiective-
strategice-III.pdf.
60
METHODOLOGY OF CITIZEN'S PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE AND CROSS-BORDER ACTIVITIES
Angelina MARKOVSKA Assistant Professor, Ph.D.
St Cyril and St Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo
Abstract: The participation of citizens in the processes of decision making is a fundamental principle of democracy.Along with conventional forms of civil participation in modern democracies, there is also an effort for more widened citizen participation in the so-called.” daily management”, through which citizens influence the decisions of public policy at the stage of its preparation, implementation and evaluation. In this context, the report aims to outline the reasons and means (ie. methodology) of active citizen participation in local government. The ultimate goal is to improve their cooperation, to increase resources for effective citizens participation in cross- border initiatives at local and regional level.
Keywords: local governance, civic panels, citizens' juries, advisory councils, decentralization.
1. Introduction
In the recent years, more emphasis has been put on dialogue between European citizens and European institutions. In this regard, all key structures of the EU have approved its mechanisms, have precised standards for interaction with citizens, have placed similar demands on member states.Democratic governments are making systematic efforts to create conditions for development and improvement of forms for civic participation. The ultimate goal of which is to make citizens better positioned and better able to contribute with personal opinions and attitudes towards government’s policies.
In its Recommendation Rec (2007) from 14 October 2009, The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe recognized the "significant
61
contribution of NGOs in the development and realization of democracy and human rights, in particularly by raising awareness of civil participation in contribution to social life activities and accountability of public authorities * * * 2. Status quo of the problem in Bulgaria
In one of the fundamental documents of the European Commission EUROPEAN GOVERNANCE: WHITE PAPER" / Brussels, 25 July 2001/ we can read the following statement: „Political leaders in Europe today are facing the following paradox: on one hand they are expected to take decisions on current social issues, but on the other - citizens have less trust in institutions and policy decisions as a whole.So that's why one of the most important tasks of democracy institutions is to try to connect Europe with its citizens.”
The key direction for a change has been seen in the reforms that can make management efficient, transparent, open and accountable. In many developed European and international democracies the partnership between public authorities and civil society is not merely a fact of their own development, but has become a key factor of this development. In this regard, we can find enough good practices from which Bulgarian society can draw ideas, technology and experience.
In the last few years in its efforts for democratization, Bulgarian society started responsible and difficult process - decentralization from central to regional and local level. An example is the recently adopted Law on Municipal Budgets / amendment /Art. 4, AL. 2; Art. 5, Art.11, AL.1; Art.25, AL.2, Art.30, AL.4/.
Unfortunately, despite the attitude of Central Government to the decentralization and wider citizen participation in governance and decision-making, there are still not enough good practices and partnerships. Local and
62
regional authorities are not yet sufficiently prepared to assume the power and responsibilities, which have been transferred to them form the center. There is a lack of sufficient knowledge and experience in the implementation of new and more responsible functions of the local and regional government. All municipalities in Bulgaria have developed their own strategies for development. In this process a few of them joined the local community. Normally, the strategies have been developed at the expert level, usually by external experts without actually to engage the community in discussion and prioritization. Moreover - designed in such "artificial" way these strategies in most cases remained common documents. Due to this "out nature" of development, very few of these strategies have been implemented. Often teams, who are working on strategies focus on "grand" and not coordinated with the local environment goals. In most cases, municipal strategies are not bound by the municipal budget and other funding sources. * * * 3. Principles and methods of citizen participation in local government
Citizens' participation in the management of public affairs is a fundamental principle of any political system, defining itself as a democracy. Public has recognized the need for effective management, consistent with the interests and the growing needs of citizens in the modern state. By its content the Institution of Local Government is the most accessible form for realizing the right of citizens to participate in political processes. By its nature and scope, the local government provides the most immediate opportunities for effective implementation of fundamental civil and political rights. In countries with democratic traditions the local government has been called a "laboratory for democracy." Territorial limitations (the municipality) and defined by the law competences of the local policy make the local government very suitable for the introduction and implementation of new social models, for the conduct of local government, consistent with the
63
interests of public policy, without affecting directly the functioning of overall political system.
As a concept the "citizen participation in local government" includes the activities of citizens (group or individual) designed to influence the management of the political system. The scope of activities that have been qualified as public participation, includes activities that are carried out by the civilian control. "Civil control" means the actions of citizens whose purpose is tracking and correcting the actions of management regarding the appropriateness of decisions and their conformity with the interests and needs of the community (in this case - the municipality). Citizen participation in public life is different and it differs in each case as the citizen participates in various social roles. According to the Art. 17 AL.1 of the Legislation for Local Governance and Local Administration, citizens participate directly in the local government with the means of general meetings, referendums or through elected bodies that draws and implement local policies in accordance with the interests of the population. Undoubtedly, this rule of law brings to the foreground the question when and why citizens should participate in public affairs?
NGOs and civil organizations contribute mostly to the achievement of democracy and human rights. The main activities of NGOs are focused on social justice, human rights, democracy and rule of law.The aim of NGOs in these areas is to support causes and to improve people's lives.NGOs play a major part of participating in an open, democratic society by engaging large numbers of people.The fact that many of these people are voters, demonstrates the complementary relationship with the representative democracy. NGOs can contribute with knowledge and independent expertise to the decision making process. In order to promote constructive cooperation it is crucial, that NGOs and the public authorities at various levels are observing following general principles: Participation, Trust, Accountability and Transparency, Independence.
64
The levels, in which the management includes citizens, could be grouped into three categories: information, consultation, co-decision. The forms, which have been used are varied from public consultation, the establishment of advisory councils, committees, working groups, to conducting surveys, round-tables, conferences, and traditional referendums,as well. There is no single approach that could ensure the success of citizen participation. Therefore, governments that understand the need for citizen participation and wish to promote it, continuously improve their approaches. The three main forms of participation 1) informing citizens, 2) consultation with citizens and 3) co-decision can also be regarded as a three stage process of citizen participation.What is needed to be taken into account for the implementation of this three types of participation is that the ultimate goal means to achieve citizenship and transparency. 3.1. Information as a form of civic participation
This is a process whereby stakeholders and citizens are informed by the government for the plans on its further activities and decisions according the local budget and expenditure. The goal is to make the citizens aware of the government and local government's activities. If the information aims only this, so it is passive. In societies with developed democracy information becomes more active, ie. it is used widely to promote citizen participation. Citizens are advised how and under what conditions to participate in government and to express their opinion. Many municipalities around the world draw up guidelines for citizen participation in governance, information booklets about the management structure and decision-making. The websites of the ministries and municipalities, the Internet pages of politicians - MP in the National Assembly or municipal councils are provided with email addresses and telephone numbers for direct contacts. However, the consultation with citizens, and the joint decision-making can not be implemented without any taken in advance actions for full and detailed information.
65
Principles of effective information • Efforts for differential treatment to specific civil groups. • Using more than one channel for information. • Understandable language.
Means of information The most popular means of information are information meetings with
citizens, citizen panels, newsletters, websites, media materials, leaflets. Below we are pointing out some examples illustrating the Good European practices.
a) informational meetings for citizens In many structures of the central or local authorities level there are calls
for DAY OF OPEN DOORS, before implementation of various policy measures During the event promoters provide information on planned measures. In some cases, citizens are provided the opportunity to express their concerns and opinions about them. The most successful open sessions are those in which both parties express their views and further discussion takes place on them.
b) meetings at the building of the Local Municipality They are informal public forums in which anyone can participate in order
to express their views and to hear the responses of representatives of public authorities and elected councilors or MP. Meetings can be arranged either on the initiative of representatives of public authorities or NGOs. The meeting has to be announced in advance in electronic media, Internet (website of the municipality). Another method, which can be applied is the so called "from door to door" and thus leaflets are distributed with the topic, date, time and venue of the meeting. The conduct of the meeting don't have any specific rules. Its main objective is to enable as many as possible people to express their opinions. The method of holding the meeting could be diverse - begin with an open presentation, and then get into a discussion in small groups with a presentation of the general views of group work. May consist of a
66
presentation and brief statements of citizens and representatives of civic groups. It is important to remember that the time for specified statements is strictly observed, for example three minutes. As citizens should be informed in advance about the problem, they are expected to have prepared their speeches and to follow the same presentation format - pro or contra to the policy and / or proposed policy and what they will offer in turn. Their views are recorded and discussed further, and also taken into consideration in the municipal session, as well.
c) Civil Panel The method is suitable for large groups of people. It provides an
opportunity to inform the public about a planned project or planning process at the level of the community where it is necessary to gather views of citizens and their suggestions. It is suitable for informational purposes, and some expert advisory formats, as well. Citizen panels are usually hold locally, in order to discuss the specific issue at central level or as a permanent form of discussion about various arising issues.
3.2. Consultation as a form of civic participation This is a process in which citizens, lobbyists and representatives of
groups with common interest can comment on formal proposals and to contribute ideas and suggestions. The aim is to obtain information about the reactions of interested parties on proposals, plans, decisions, so that they can be considered in the final stages of decision making.
Principles of effective consultation • Clear goal and planning in advance. • Sufficient information. • Sufficient time to allow those, who have been consulted to prepare
meaningful responses. • Efforts and resources spent on a consultation, have to be proportionate
to the impact of decisions and the importance of the problem.
67
• Conducting opinion polls. • Providing comparable information from other national / regional /
municipal administration's sources. Means of consultation
The most popular means of consultations between institutions and citizens are: expert/ workshops, round-tables, public hearings, surveys of opinion, civil panels, civil jury, feed backs. Below we are pointing out some examples of Good International / European practices in the related field.
a) Encouraging survey of public opinions The method is suitable for large groups. In this type of study people
share their views and are encouraged to participate in proposing solutions. It is especially suitable when it is essentially to know the interests and the needs of citizens, and in additional to promote their political activity and confidence in the need for participation in decision making processes. The main steps for this are: making interviews with key stakeholders and evaluation of the collected information. Citizens shall be notified in advance about the study, trained interviewers are being used in order to collect information with the means of open questions and individual interviews. The aim is to identify the concerns, fears, hopes and desires of citizens. The survey results are evaluated and presented to the public, as the goal of this database is to identify steps for implementation. The specificity of the method is that unlikely to the conventional study, this research is not a single event, but a first step in a long process. The time required for the meeting is from few days to several months
b) Citizens' Panel Citizen panels provide an opportunity not only to inform about an issue
or policy, but also represent a form of consultation with citizens interested in or affected by a project, as well. It is important to choose a suitable time for the panel.
68
c) Workshop The workshop is an event on a specific issue. Civil and other experts,
administrators, politicians and other stakeholders discussed specific problem on it. The number of participants is different.
d) Civil jury This method of consultation is particularly suitable for the processes of
regional planning and for the development of comprehensive strategies in all cases where combination of expertise with practical experience and knowledge are needed. Although experts generally tend to express doubts about the validity of knowledge and evaluation of citizens, experience shows that practical knowledge of citizens is a great starting point for any policy. The main steps for its implementation are: 1) selection of participants and 2) a detailed information about an issue / project and providing an opportunity for comments, as well. Participants work together in small groups, and their conclusions are summarized in an evaluation report, which is submitted to the initiators of the advisory format. Participants in the civil jury are random selected. They do not represent anyone, bur make recommendations based on its viewpoint. Their work is supported by experts. This is a long and complicated method of consultation in which participants are compensated for their effort.
e) Advisory Councils.These are forms of consultation, involving high level of expertise of the invited participants. Their main purpose is to provide advice on the formation and development of policies. Their activities are usually governed by rules of action, establishing the procedures and manner of their operation.
3.3. Joint decision-making as a form of civic participation This is a process in which citizens and representative of citizens and
expert organizations work together with representatives of institutions and local authorities, thus directly affect decision making in a relation to legislation and / or specific policy measures.
69
Forms of participation: round-tables, advisory councils, civil jury, study groups.
a) Round Table The method is suitable for medium and large groups, by which
representatives of various interest groups are discussing a particular issue, trying to find a common solution.It is especially suitable for clarification of controversial issues. There is no standard procedure for conducting a round table. The main points for good round-table conduct are: the presence of independent impartial facilitators, recording the discussion, allowing each group to present an equal number of people entitled to vote regardless of their actual "relative weight". Specificity of the round-table is that to work well and to give good results all stakeholder groups affected by the problem must be involved. The round table can be used to smooth certain contradictions, but is not an appropriate form for resolving deep conflicts.
b) Advisory councils, civil jury These forms of civic participation are typical for the "co-decision"
method and the previous two - "information" and "consultation" with the public, as well.
* * *
EXAMPLE OF ACTIONS AIM AT WIDENING CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT, IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF CROSS-BORDER ACTIVITIES.
1. At the development stage of the project regarding the CBC. The involvment of citizens should start at this stage. The consultation process involve different manners:
- information for initiated procedure about development of the CB project;
70
- information for the budgetary calendar / deadlines and documents, which should be developed /;
For the dissemination of this information are used commonl communication channel, such as: Internet, newsletter, press releases and press conferences, other media, leaflets, etc.;
It is crucial, the survey of citizens priorities and expectations to begin at this first, development stage. The practice shows that the holding of general meetings in small settlements such as onces in neighborhoods of larger towns leads to very good results in terms of research expectations and citizen’s aspirations;
Any changes in terms of methodology for the implementation of the project should have been consulted with citizens and stakeholders before the final draft of the local budget for the next year. Good practice is the proposed project for CBC to be developed by the local Advisory Board / if there is any. Another good practice is the use of the forum - etc. forum, which should attract representatives of all stakeholders in the municipality. They build special working groups and accept strict working schedule for the implementation of the project. 2. In implementation
This is the stage, at which the specific project activities are laid out .The essence of the process required to carry out continuous monitoring in order to be aware of not only the financial streams, but also to make the necessary adjustments in order to provide quality services to citizens. Citizens participation in this stage is associated primarily with ensuring its transparency.This means that the results of any special sessions of the municipal council concerned with the problem should be broadcasted by the local media in appropriate way. In this way citizens become involved in the local effort to realize the project.In addition, these public statements help to
71
avoid the "sense of injustice" in terms of making decisions such as: temporary reallocation of resources, time delay in the implementation of the project agenda and even more. 3. In control and evaluation
The main possibility for citizens participation in monitoring and evaluation of the project is to organize the discussion of the results from the workshops in conjunction with monitoring implementation. - Press conferences, in order to announce the planned actions in relation to public partnerships, privatization, management of the municipal property. - Conduct neighborhood meetings. - Working with focus groups consist of citizens.The form is used to find out the perspective of citizens about changing the scope and quality of services. - Surveys. Completely useful, when feedbacks on the quality of provided services is needed.
The active citizen participation in the decision-making process and public policy is a new dimension of "government - citizens” relations. It is based on the understanding that citizens have a right to be a permanent and independent participant in the development of policies concerning them and the development of society as a whole.
The role of state and local governments is to provide regulation, institutional structures and mechanisms within which civil society, individuals and others interested in the implementation of a certain policy can organize their own partnerships effectively.
*
* *
72
REFERENCES ▪ Граждански проект за Бяла книга на гражданското участие в България, „Национална кампания чуй гражданите”, 2010.
▪ Европейска Харта За Местното Самоуправление, (Страсбург, 15.Х.1985 г.) ▪ Проучване на ефективни механизми и практики за консултативен процес с гражданите при изготвянето и провеждането на публични политики в България, Ф-я „Междуетническа инициатива за човешки права”, 2010
▪ Стандарти за провеждане на обществени консултации – МС на РБългария, 2009.
▪ Структурите на гражданското общество – ефективен партньор на институциите при правенето на политиките, Ф-я „Междуетническа инициатива за човешки права”, 2010
▪ Съвет на Европа – Кодекс на добрите практики на гражданското участие в процеса на вземане на решения, http://www.coe.int/t/ngo/Source/Code_Bulgarian_final.pdf
▪ Танев,Т. Анализ на публични политики, София: Военно издателство, 2008.
▪ Bullain, Nilda and Radost Toftisova, (2004): A Comparative Analysis of European Policies and Practices of NGO – Government Cooperation, ECNL, Final Report. Brussels.
▪ Fridli, Judit and Ildi Pasko (2000.): “Civil Organizations in the Legislative Process”, Publication of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Budapest.
▪ Hadzi-Miceva, Katerina, (2007): Legal and Institutional Mechanisms for NGO-Government Cooperation in Croatia, Estonia and Hungary, ECNL, Brussels.
▪ Aarhus Convention. ▪ European governance – A white paper. ▪ Citizens as Partners: Information, Consultation and Active Participation in
Policy-Making, OECD, 2001. ▪ Code of Practice on Consultation – UK Government, 2008 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management en.wiktionary.org/wiki/management wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governance en.wiktionary.org/wiki/governance internal-audit.web.cern.ch/internal-audit/method/glossary.html www.state.mn.us/portal/mn/jsp/content.do www.envision.ca/templates/profile.asp www.emro.who.int/mei/mep/Healthsystemsglossary.htm governance.tpk.govt.nz/utilities/glossary.aspx
73
THE BALKANS AND THE CULTURAL INTERFERENCE AT THE BORDER OF THE EUROPEAN CIVILISATION
Sebastian CHIRIMBU, PhD, Senior Lecturer “Spiru Haret” University/ CCRSE (Romania)
Abstract. Space creates civilizations and time creates cultures. The contemporary frontier does no longer belong to a certain owner, it belongs to all those who share it; the Roman limes which had the value of an institutions (even if this was only for them) becomes nowadays an institution administered by all the parties involved. As a rather recent geographical denomination, the Balkan Peninsula is regarded as a stable concept that has not changed its initial meaning. We may state that it represents a geographical area including more states, more nations and nationalities, more religions and as a whole it can be seen as a multicultural space. The Balkan Peninsula is undoubtedly part of the European continent; nevertheless the adjective “Balkan” may be regarded as opposed to “European”. The concept of Balkan space has become the object of numerous cultural, political and ideological frustrations, a set of negative characteristics and the landmark that led to the construction, by opposition and contrast of the positive, self content image of the European, of the western inhabitant of the continent. Key words: frontier/border, geographical space, Balkan Peninsula, cultural interferences.
“The womb–space, which is going to be hypothetically imagined, might be a window sash, to a certain extent common to an entire group of peoples, for instance the Balkan peoples“ (Lucian Blaga).
Introduction
While the Roman border made the transition from cultural delimitations to civilization ones (the Greeks), the development of the Islam and of the idea of nationality in the medieval space, the border is redefined as the delimitation between the European, Christian space and the Muslim space.
Later, colonialism and post-colonialism will enrich the meaning of the concept of border, connecting it to the issue of otherness, and the other,
74
represented by the foreigner. Transcending the concept of globalization and eliminating the meaning of delimitation. The border becomes less and less used to describe differences, but a means of referring to multi-/ pluri- / trans- cultural phenomena. The multicultural space uses today the notion of transparent borders, which means that spaces, regardless of their nature, shall communicate and interact among themselves. Therefore, in other words, the frontier does no longer mean a physical delimitation among spaces but a minimal delimitation of a non-physical essence, that can be changed and consists in cultural-historical specificities.
From Antiquity until the present the frontier has passed from a cultural-conceptual representation to a civilisational one; however, these stages were based on a strict delimitation between we and the others, between here and there, and on a perpetual conflict among different spaces. The contemporary frontier does no longer belong to a certain owner, it belongs to all those who share it; the Roman limes which had the value of an institutions (even if this was only for them) becomes nowadays an institution administered by all the parties involved.
As a rather recent geographical denomination, the Balkan Peninsula1 is regarded as a stable concept that has not changed its initial meaning. We may state that it represents a geographical area including more states, more nations and nationalities, more religions and as a whole it can be seen as a multicultural space. The countries that are included in this area vary, but generally they are Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Turkey (its European part), Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Sometimes, Hungary and Moldavia are also included in this area. Because of the variable geographical criteria some Balkan states refuse to accept their belonging to the Balkan space, identifying themselves more with
1 The German geographer August Zeune (in his work of 1808, Goea) was the first to use the term „Balkans”.
75
the Central Europe – as Romania tries to do – or to the Mediterranean space, such as Greece.
The Balkan Peninsula is undoubtedly part of the European continent; nevertheless the adjective “Balkan” may be regarded as opposed to “European”. The concept of Balkan space has become the object of numerous cultural, political and ideological frustrations, a set of negative characteristics and the landmark that led to the construction, by opposition and contrast of the positive, self content image of the European, of the western inhabitant of the continent.
Once the term Europeanism came into circulation at the beginning of the 1800’s, referring to all that was specific to Europe and later the verb to Europeanize around the 1830’s, it was a strong proof in favor of the assumption that Europe was considered the centre of the world and it was considered the best possible civilization. Forgetting their own history, characterized by internal fights, generated by religious, territorial reasons, the west Europeans have started to look skeptically, with great circumspection the Balkan part of Europe, which becomes the object of the modernization process a few centuries later than the West.
Europe’s Cultural Areas
The present time is characterized by a never-attained expansion of the communication means which, in turn, has great influenced the cultural profile of any region as it has led to the cancellation of the traditional borders among cultural manifestations, phenomenon caused by the rapid process of globalization. The extended use of modern technologies facilitated the apparition of digital literature which constituted a favoring factor for the visibility of regional cultures- literature in particular. Various peculiarities have become more visible as the utopic village, which has housed by an apparent harmony, if any, on the contrary, has revealed violent reactions.
76
The entire 20th century as the dawn of the 21st witness dichotomy that tear out Europe’s history with causes or pretexts that were deeply rooted in the past.
The differences between “great” cultures- those which identify themselves as a model for other cultures and “minor” cultures such as the Balkan cultures as viewed by the West have not disappeared; on the contrary, the gap has even deepened due to the 50 years of communist isolation. The reactions to this isolation and to the hegemonic role played by the Anglo-Saxon cultures made the local population defend their identity through preserving their idioms which will ever imply newspapers, magazines as well as the state’s support in developing educational programmes. Various European agencies invest funds for protecting to local identity and asserting their specificity. The voices of the Balkans have started to be heard lately: former Yugoslavia, the south- eastern part of Hungary, territories at the East or north of the Danube as Romania, Bulgaria. The southern part of the Peninsula (Albania, Greece), some belonging to the EU, some outside the Community are specific regions, each having their own peculiarities, all of them sharing certain common traits.
Great philosophers such Nietzsche or Heidegger were preoccupied with this issue which has been dealt with by the Italian philosopher and aesthetician Gianni Vattimo who underlines the way in which the postmodern aesthetics has made repeated attempts to establish a dialogue between the Western tradition and those regions generally view less or non favored, to launch a discourse which unfairly was regarded as peripherical. It was Vattimo who initiated the concept of “weak thinking” which legitimates open consideration of any region whatsoever. By this concept Vattimo marks the relationships between centre and periphery in the postmodern culture breaking the Eastern traditional barriers and the Western desacralisation. The end of the Eurocentrist prevailing discourse, Vattimo sustains marks the end of modernity. In the postmodern era, discourse become polyphonic,
77
multiaspectual; the minorities’ voices identify themselves as independent discourses as supported by the technological devices of the new communication media.
The Balkan Peninsula
The Webster Dictionary nominates the states which are included in the Balkan peninsula, namely FYROM (Yugoslavia), Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece and the European part of Turkey. It stands to reason that unity lies in territory, mainly; diversity is equally obvious as Yugoslavia (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia) along with Bulgaria are Slavic countries speaking while Romania is an Italic branch of old Indo-European; Greek belongs to the same kind of Indo-European languages together with Slavic languages and Italic languages. Albanian is an Indo-European language having a large vocabulary of Italic origin. Turkish, which was widely spread in the medieval time, is not an Indo-European language, having practically nothing to do linguistically with the common ancient origin with the languages mentioned before.
To conclude, we can undoubtedly observe that unity is manifested geographically, obviously with multiple consequences in the material as well as spiritual lines of the Balkan nations. Up to a certain extent history may be regarded as a unity factor.
In his 1490 Memorandum, Filippo Buonaccorsi Callimaco2. mentioned the fact the natives living in the proximity of Haemus Mountains called themselves after the name of the mountain (Barbu 2010:88).
Peoples living in the peninsula or in its close neighborhood shared- for a long period of time- a similar historical destiny. Since the ancient times, the Balkan peninsula has never made an independent political entity, at least until the 19th or even the 20th century, when the concept of “national identity” became the highest target which led to the birth of the independent states of 2 Philippus Callimachus, 1437-1496
78
Greece, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria or Albania. Older times were marked by the political dependence of these states on the empires or countries who ruled the region. Although sufferings were shared by almost every Balkan state one can hardly assert that their history is common. Fragmented, more dependent than sovereign, frequently conquered by barbarians, suffering from inside political fragmentation and outside invasions, these countries have had to make huge efforts to become “states”.
Inner contradictions along with outer conflicts have severely marked the history of these states. Geographically these countries share territory which has developed a certain culture.
Linguistically things are more complicated as the national states were intended to be confined to specific idioms which belong to different linguistic branches.
In spiritual terms, descriptions obviously lack comprehension. The past, although with common elements, has been unilaterally assumed. History has recorded – in the spell of time- various influences superposed on the inherited common traditions of spiritual life and socio-political organization mingling Thracic - Dacian – Getic - Romanic and Byzantine origin. Sharing a territory to live on and being interconnected for centuries, these peoples have felt the need to create political bonds as they must have had economic links. Common traits have been interwoven with strong specific national elements. People borrow from their neighbors material and spiritual assets. The great Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga commenting on the political circumstances that marked the previous century in the Balkans said: “Each of these peoples does influence the others as there is no nation not to give the others issues to think of”.
An issue of equal interest for each of these nations has been national independence. Their condition of almost permanent subordination increased the potential of interethnic violence and adversity. No wonder that for the western traveler or observer the area was perceived through negative epithets
79
such as uncertainty, misery, fragmentation, shallowness. The issue of the “Balkan identity” has been assumed by making painful efforts.
The Balkans between Culture and Geography
The word ‘Balkanism” has multiple connotations- geographical, political, cultural. Pilgrims, travelers in their way to the East-Jerusalem or Constantinople described this geographical area full of social and political customs and various traditions. Maria Todorova in her book “The Balkans and Balkanism” inserted comments on various forms of manifestations of the Balkan culture. Vesna Goldworthy (English writer of Balkan origin) ironically remarks: “Within the area people claim the Balkans are elsewhere, in the neighborhood of the Bosporus”.
In spite of the shallow definition, the word “Balkanism” has undergone an interesting international career. The semantic evolution of the word accurately reflects the tormented history of the countries in the region. Political issues change along with the evolution of the cultural understanding. The western civilization has manifested an intransigent superiority toward the Balkan culture. Linguistically the word “Balkan” covers various languages. The noun “Balkan” is used with flexionary endings. Among these flexionary forms an international career has made the word “balkanization”. Beside a geographical connotation there is however a pejorative meaning. John Steinbeck in “Travels with Charley” complains for his country being balkanized. The Romanian contemporary writer C. Ţoiu uses in his novels the word to suggest “picturesque”. In the Foreword to “Inventing Ruritania”, Vesna Goldworthy remarks that not only the westerns but also the natives use the word with a pejorative meaning, i.e. synonymous with savage, uneducated, violent, disorganized, and garrulous.
Beside the geographical meaning, it may have also meant an inaccessible area. A signet symbolic hint is always implied – myths, customs. Scientifically, Europe lies between Ireland and the River Don, between
80
Bosporus and Hercules’ Columns. Territories beyond the river Elba were considered south-eastern Europe, or in other words the Balkans. Eduard Said remarks that the Westerners have considered themselves superior to the Balkan populations giving the concept of Balkanism a negative and frustrating connotation. The territories situated in the east and south of Europe have been and are still viewed as backward, unsafe, unstable in relation with the western order introducing a simplistic and leveling image of the eastern area. The controversies raised by Said’s there refer to the pact that he attributed these representations a political connotation as a reliable excuse for the Western patronizing altitude.
Starting with the Illuminist epoch, the word “Europe” has been used synonymous for civilization, progress and welfare, the ideal model of normality, a system of reference in establishing the degree of superiority assimilated with the West and the US – as an extension of the western model.
Balkanism regarded as a status, a way of living
Geographical terms – such as Central Europe or South Eastern Europe, or the Balkans might emphasize the role played by the West in this imaginary geography. Some of the researchers in the field claim that the imaginary boundary is Elba. The major characteristic feature of the region seems to be its hybridization, fluid boundaries, combination between the eastern misery and disorder and expectation for a better and more civilized future. Symbolically, the countries in the region ought to learn how to evolve from their European cradle.
The word “balkanism” epitomizes peoples’ ability to cope with contrasting economic, social and political conditions, more often than not impossible to imagine and unbearable to live in. Such painterly antagonist reality has been reflected in literature, be it folklore or written literature.
81
Balkanism is regarded as a status, a way of living – covering both positive and negative features.
Geographically situated in the worthier point of the Balkan Peninsula, disconnected from the other Balkan States by the Danube River, the Romanian Principalities became independent states under the Byzantine influence, had been baptized in the Romanic Christian belief, later adopted the Orthodox belief 3. The Orthodox Christian belief kept them in close connection with Byzantium and they defended and protected their religion making impressive sacrifices under the Turkish yoke. A Romanian king4 and his children were beheaded for not denying his Christian belief. Such sacrifices tragically increased the number of martyrs who preferred to keep their religion rather than abjure.
Aware of the Latin origin of their language – like Italian, French, Spanish or Portuguese – the Romanian elites focused their interest on the western spiritual values. At the beginning of the 19th century, the model to follow was French culture. At the end of the 19th century Romania, which had been independent from the Turkish yoke, strengthened her relations with the western countries. The French cultural influence was probably the strongest. German culture, along with the French spirituality, was a new objective for the educated people. The German language started being taught and learnt by those intended to study philosophy, sciences or mechanics. The Byzantine tradition began to diminish although Greek was still taught in schools, many children were baptized with Greek names.
Romanian culture preserved even through trough the last two centuries her double origin: linguistic - of Italic origin since the first century. A.C. and Byzantine lifestyle and mentality since the Greek monks brought their Orthodox religion. This shift from the Roman-Catholic religion to the
3 Orthodox = Christian belief settled in Eastern Europe which accords primacy of honour to the patriarch of 4 Constantin Brâncoveanu – Romanian king (17th century)
82
Orthodox religion have greatly transformed to Romanians not only religiously but also economically, socially and most of all, politically.
In spite of their aphelion to the eastern Christian belief, some of the peoples in the Balkan Peninsula focused their interest on the western system of values simultaneously preserving their eastern traditions. But in the lapse of time the eastern traditions were regarded by the West as backward, valueless, a source of a potential unfavorable image or of illustration. The western lifestyle and values in general and the French one in particular would become the only model of civilized Europe to be followed. The East in general and the Balkans on particular have epitomized lack of civilization and culture. Educated people in the Balkan States undoubtedly mimic western manners but the deep Balkan traditions have not vanished away. It was at the end of the 20th century and more visibly at the dawn of the 21st century when a fresh interest toward the eastern rich spiritual legacy has resuscitated old customs, music and a new literature has been delivered pointing out the differences that separate each other.
A masterpiece of Romanian literature Mateiu Caragiale’s – “The Profligates” picks the Byzantine manners and lifestyle in Romania at the end of the 19th century and dawn of the 20th century.
In Bulgaria Maria Todorova skillfully describes the Eastern life – way of life, mentality and culture of the Balkan region.
Mass-media, especially in the 20th century used the word “Balkan” and its derivations indicating deficient behavior and character. Little attention is paid to Balkan literature and little attention is known about Balkan identity as reflected in literature, in terms of a painting that defines an epoch and a specific type of culture.
It is undoubtedly time the fact that the Balkan culture is by far richer by diversity than any other European culture. On an area smaller than the Iberic Peninsula one can find countries of various economic stages, speaking languages of difficult branches, with different political regimes.
83
Economically, Slovenia seems to be in the poll-position followed by Croatia.
Politically, only four of the Balkan States are members of the European Union, i.e. Greece, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria.
Linguistically there are three main branches of Indo-European languages: Italic by Romania and with some vocabulary influences Albania, Greek in Greece and Macedonia, and Slavic in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In the lapse of time these countries were grouped in various ways. After the 2nd World War Tito unified most of them in Yugoslavia. In the early nineties the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was divided into some political entities which fought to become independent. The process of division was painful involving not only political mean but also through tragically costly wars. Villages and towns were mirically devalished, thousands of innocent people were slaughtered. The wars inside the Peninsula were so cruel, so absurd and so painful as these reinvented by the Turk in the Middle Ages. No reasc was substantial enough to justify these wars, neither language, no religion. It was then when the word “Balkan” defined an epoch of serious turmeric.
Vesna Goldsworthy points out a phenomenon which epitomizes the Balkan culture and its connection to the West, which she considers as the cultural colonization. Some writers admit that the area has been culturally colonized.
Major influences in the area
G.G. Byron5 decided to live and fight for the Greeks paged the role of Columbus. He died there and his choice for this part of the earth has become a sort of Romanticist ideal.
5 George Gordon Byron = English poet and playwright (1788 – 1824).
84
Although the Turks dominated the peninsula longer than any western colonization, they did not influence significantly the Balkan literature. The authoresses’ concept of the Balkans being imaginatively colonized by the western culture is interesting on what concerns the analysis of the cultures known as the “ex-Yugoslavia”. Her theory is supported by the post-modern conception of multiculturalism, concept that unifies cultures which share most of their values and analyzes the relationships among neighboring cultures.
Otoman civilization is reduced to the stereotypes critical by the western imaginary in close connection with the exotic and mysterious East. The Turkish influence was however important in the 18th century until the 19th century when the Balkan peoples started fighting against the Turks. But, in spite of the French and English cultural influence, Turkish lifestyle, conceptions, attire, organization can still be detected. Numberless examples can be found in music, food, clothing, family hierarchy, a.s.o.
The Balkans within the European Family
The word “Balkan” seems to be culturally assimilated with the cause of frustrations in political, ideological terms, a handful of negative traits – briefly – negative features which fundamentally contrast with the concept of “European” or “Westerner”.
The book “The Balkans and the Balkanism” emphasizes the gradual process of building connections among the Balkan States and with the western countries. The effort the Balkan States make to align to the western lifestyle is a process of modernization.
The prevention of the word “Europeanism” around 1800 referred to what was specific to Europe; by the 1830s the word enriched with the verb “to europenize” which was meant to indicate the Old World’s (Europe) superiority in terms of culture and civilization. Hence, a hegemonic civilizing mission appeared simultaneous with the emancipation of the
85
backward barbarians and savages. This conception – which successfully and efficaciously crossed both the 19th and 20th centuries induced a subliminal idea of the superiority of the western civilizations. In this hegemonic content, the Balkans occur as an alien element. The East is misleadindingly associated with barbarism ignoring that Byzantium was the cultural cradle of the East in a time when the West was conquered by other barbarians. Mist kingly, the Balkans were considered non-European and denoting structural moral flaws such as passivity, misoginism, mess, dishonesty and cheap opportunism. Such flaws true to a certain extent and false when generalized - , deepen the imaginary gap between Western civilization and the post-Byzantine culture. Mark Mazower remarks that the Balkans occupy an intermediary cultural area between Europe and Asia, oriental lifestyle being still perceived.
In the chapter “Europeanization of the Balkan lifestyle”6 Barbara Jelavich draws the reader’s attention on the fact that in spite of the instability of the area and in spite of the scarcity of the resources, life in the Balkans has not been so dark.
The Balkan alignment to the European “family” has been hard, painful and not always successful. The lag in terms of development between the Peninsula and the West has often been evoked as an excuse for the underdevelopment of the region. In an interview with the Romanian historian Neagu Djuvara – he himself (from ancestors born in the area) remarked that “in the middle of the 19th century a German used the name of the mountains (Balkan) for the whole peninsula”. Since then the word “Balkan” has been used in the West when the political condition of the peninsula became rather troubled. The south-eastern pail of Europe was shaken by the wars against the Ottoman rule as it was troubled by interethnic wars making from the entire peninsula a breeding ground for aggression. Nobody was on friendly terms with any body and each citizen has been dreaming of fulfilling the 6 Barbara Jelavich – The History of the Balkans(2000)
86
ideal of expansion and unity, e.g. Great Greece, Great Bulgaria, Great Serbia.
The Westerners - ignoring their own intestine fights, on territorial or religious reasons, have looked suspiciously at this European region which started its modernization process a couple of centuries after the Westerners had done it.
Barbarians’ repeated attacks may have caused the delay in the economic and political development of the area. The distance in time mentioned by N. Djuvara has been caused by the Balkans’ location far from the cultural European centres. The capitals of the U.K., Germany, France, The Netherlands or Belgian established a certain distance from the “centre” to the periphery, each pole building its own identify. Mircea Mulhu places the Balkan in “a double periphery to the self-consolidating west and the declining Istambul”.
Carmen Andras writing travel literature, analyzes Romania’s image and considers the south-eastern European area as a “region of cultural interference”, i.e. prolonged oriental tradition and geographical position between Europe and Near East.
Larry Wolf explains how the occurrence of the territory division between East and West in the Illuminists operated in the mental perception of each participant. Wolf remarks that it was the Illuminists who built a new geographical perspective over Europe along a West-East axis. This axis - based on the centre – periphery pattern has created the dichotomy between the civilized West and the barbarian East. Wolf claims that “It is Western Europe that invented Eastern Europe as its complementary half in the 18th century Illuminist”. Moreover, the south-eastern Europe was mapped by the Westeners at the boundary between civilization and savageness. C. Andras remarks a knowledge-based imperialism – of British explorers who are not perceived as a genuine conqueror but as an emissary responsible for opening the way to new geographical territories.
87
Referring to Wolff’s West-East dichotomy, M. Todorova observes that even since ancient Grecee, the East evolved and developed as an ambiguous concept. What the authoress adds is the vector of time: “the time when the movement from past to present was not only a movement but also the evolution from simple to complex, from backward to developed, from primitive to cultivated. The temporal element has become decisive especially nowadays in the wag in which two spaces an perceived. The European periphery is mediated by an abstract element - TIME – which connects both complementary halves.
Crossing the West-East border reveals a temporal passage from one epoch to another. What has been considered normal or moral in the West was inexistent and non-applicable on the East and vice-versa. Travelers in Easterly Europe remarked how peasants were forced to labor and brutally beaten, which was a sign of bondage. It is obvious that these remarks were made in comparison with the western conceptions regarding labor relations imposed by force not contractually.
Andras is analysis on British travel literature points out that the British traveler is not only an explorer, adventurer or scientist but also a person who carries out a specific mission.
Conclusion A brief overview of the main events that fundamentally marked Europe’s
division is necessary for a better understanding of the term “balkanism”. A retrospective consideration is necessary to understand how the Byzantine complex civilization influenced every political entity in the Peninsula – in history, literature, music, and mentality.
In the laps of time the Balkan history has developed with mutually shared elements. Mentality is a unifying element. Other cultural trait, for example music, is also common. Permissibly developed within local cultures
88
and toward the Turkish elements. Common administration was less tormented, people would have been more tolerant.
It is only now that the peoples sharing the Balkan peninsula understand they ought to share the territory peacefully.
REFERENCES
Andraş,C. România şi imaginile ei în literatura de călători britanică. Un spaţiu de frontieră culturală, Colecţia Mundis Imaginalis (Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 2003) Barbu, M.R. “Balcanii şi istoria lor”, Analele Universităţii Creştine “Dimitrie Cantemir” seria Istorie, nr.1, anul I (2010) Blaga, L. Trilogia culturii, (Bucureşti: Humanitas, 2011) Glenny, M. The Balkans. Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804-1999, (New York: Penguin Books, 2001) Goldsworthy,V. Inventarea Ruritaniei. Imperialismul imaginaţiei, trad. de Luminiţa Cioroianu (Bucureşti: Curtea Veche, 2002) Ilcev, I. Are dreptate sau nu, e patria mea! Propaganda în politica externă a ţărilor balcanice (1821-1923) (Bucureşti: Curtea Veche, 2002) Iorga, N.Istoria românilor din Peninsula Balcanică (Albania, Macedonia, Epir, Tesalia etc.,), Bucureşti (1919) Jelavich, B Istoria Balcanilor. Secolul XX., Vol. II, Colecţia Sinteze nr. 38 (Iaşi: Institutul European, 2000) Mazower, M. The Balkans - a short history, (New York: The Modern Library, 2000) Olteanu, A. Homo Balcanicus. Trăsături ale Mentalităţii Balcanice (Bucureşti: Paideia, 2000) Pavlowitch, S.K. Istoria Balcanilor. 1804-1945 (Iaşi: Polirom, 2002) Prevelakis, G. Balcanii. Cultură şi geo-politică (Bucureşti: Corint, 2001) Todorova, M. Balcanii şi Balcanismul, trad. de Mihaela Constantinescu şi Sofia Oprescu (Bucureşti: Humanitas, 2000)
89
III. TOWARDS A NEW SOCIAL AND ETHNIC MODEL
EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITIES AND CHALLENGES TO MINORITY INTEGRATION IN BULGARIA IN THE CONTEXT
OF THE EU STRATEGY 2020
Violeta STOYCHEVA University of Veliko Turnovo “St. St. Cyril and Methodius”
Abstract. This text interprets the educational integration of minorities in the light of such a fundamental document for the European Community as the EU strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth – Europe 2020. It not only sets out the priorities of the ESF – employment, education and social inclusion, but also emphasizes the specific role of education for the disadvantaged as a means to overcome obstacles at work and against exclusion and poverty. Key words: minorities, Roma, integration, educational inequalities, EU Strategy 2020
Ethnic minorities integration, and more specifically – that of Roma, is one of the key priorities of the Bulgarian government for the next decades. This is predetermined by the fact that Bulgaria is one of the countries in the European Union having the most considerable number of Roma population. According to data of the Council of Europe1, the Roma are 10.33% of Bulgarian population, though the results of the last population census in 2011 showed a trend in diminishing the number of people identifying themselves as Roma2. The Roma community is the largest minority in the European Union3, which more and more often focuses the attention of intergovernmental institutions. Evidence of the importance of the Roma problem in the Member States is the Communication from the European Commission of 5 April 2011, entitled: “An EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020”4. It explicitly states: “First of all,
90
Member States need to ensure that Roma are not discriminated against but treated like any other EU citizens with equal access to all fundamental rights as enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.” Therefore, the need to overcome social exclusion and marginalization of minorities, first and foremost – of Roma, should be considered as a part of the long-term perspective for development of the European Community by 2020.
The purpose of this text is to interpret the processes of educational integration of minorities through the lens of such a fundamental document as the Europe 2020 Strategy for growth. The document not only sets out the priorities of the ESF – employment, education and social inclusion, but it also underlines the specific role of education for disadvantaged people as a means to overcome obstacles at work and against exclusion and poverty.
What areas are the educational inequalities between the minorities (mainly the Roma) and the majority revealed in?
As a democratic rule-of-law state the Republic of Bulgaria guarantees by the Constitution the rights of all its citizens. Antidiscrimination texts have been included in different laws, and since 1 January 2004 the Law on Protection against Discrimination (LPD) has been introduced, which has the purpose to ensure “equality before the law, equality of treatment and of opportunities for participation in the public life, and effective protection against discrimination”5. Measures6 for overcoming the discrimination against Roma are provided in the National Roma Integration Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria (2012-2020), approved by the Council of Ministers on 21.12.2011, as well as the adopted Action Plan for the implementation of the National Strategy, which first period will be completed with the completion
of the implementation of the National Action Plan for the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, updated in 2011. The second period of the Strategy covers the period 2014-2020 and is consistent with the next European Union programming period and the Operational Programmes for Bulgaria by 2020. It is a fact that Bulgarian legislation in the field of healthcare, social support,
91
labour and education sanction the actual social inequality between the majority and the minorities and strives to correct it, transforming it into equality in law (equality of rights)7.
One of the fastest developing part of social inclusion policies is the educational system. In this sphere several instruments and laws related to the improvement of Roma education are available. According to the existing Law on National Education, schools and kindergartens are obliged to accept children of Roma origin, children with special educational needs, with disabilities etc., as this corresponds to the principle of equality and equality of rights enshrined in the Constitution. The legal norm suggests cooperation on the part of the state in the education of Roma children so that they are equal to their peers.
The practice, however, shows that the access of Roma children to preschool education (kindergarten) is still restricted. Very often an obstacle to it is the required fee, which most Roma families cannot afford. In separate cases it may be the number of vacancies in these establishments, which are insufficient, as well as the policy of precedence for children of working parents. Even the access to the one-year compulsory preschool education is often impossible to Roma children mainly due to the available school facilities.
The low quality of education acquired by Roma children at the lower stages of the system creates many obstacles to them when moving to the next stages of the educational system – secondary schools and higher education establishments. Taken as a whole, there is no support, including financial, to the students preparing to apply for secondary schools or universities.
A negative impact on the quality of Roma children education has the existing system of segregated /or the so called “gypsy”/ schools, consisting predominantly or entirely of Roma students. And yet, when students are being moved from a segregated “gypsy” school to an ordinary one, new problems often arise, caused by protests of parents and conflicts with the majority of children in the class. The already established good practices
92
confirm that moving Roma children to ordinary schools requires an integral national desegregation policy and programme for action.
A serious problem is also created by the existing special schools. The majority of children in them is of Roma origin. A common practice is Roma parents to register their children not because they have some mental problems, but for the benefits of free food and clothing. Although the new policy of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Science supports reducing the number of special schools, this process proves to be very slow.
The education of adult Roma and their vocational qualification is also among the unsolved problems in the field of education. In the last few years adult training is provided only within different projects. The existing programmes cannot produce any positive effect as the results of the projects neither manage to improve the level of education of Roma participants, nor their chances to be employed, as they do not answer the existing problems on the labour market or the educational system.
The abovementioned problems acquire their well-defined outlines when the level of poverty and social exclusion among the population in the small settlements, mostly in the villages, where pockets of minorities are, is being commented. In the conditions of economic and financial crisis the low level of education proves to be one of the main factors of marginalization and social exclusion. In this respect, the data for the unemployment rate of people without or with low level of education, who constitute the largest group among the long-term unemployed, are indicative. In the last population census of 2011, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) reports for the first time the indicator “never attended school”. According to the received data, 1.2% of the population aged over 7 – around 81 thousand people, has never attended school. Alongside is reported that 1.7% of the population aged 9 years of over is illiterate – over 112 thousand people8. According to data of NSI in the 2010/2011 school year 14.5 thousand students dropped out from general schools, of which 12.3 thousand were at
93
primary school. The largest share of early school leavers are those for family reasons – 6.9 thousand or 47.5% of the total number, followed by those who had gone abroad – 31.8% and drop-outs due to unwillingness to study – 14.9%9. This alarming statistics confirms that the equal access to education for all children, irrespective of their social status, ethnicity and specific needs, is of key importance for the prevention of poverty and social exclusion. In this sense, reducing the number of early school leavers, ensuring the equal access of vulnerable groups, including vulnerable ethnic groups and children with disabilities, to quality education in general education environment, become the main challenges to the institutions and society10.
Can Bulgarian school become a key to the knowledge society and economy? What measures are needed to overcome inequalities and to achieve educational integration of minorities in the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy?
According to R. Plevneliev, the achievement of the long-term priorities in education and science should create a new adaptive middle class, which can answer the needs of the national economy. In the National Roma Integration Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria (2012-2020), both in its strategic vision and objective, the principles of equality and non-discrimination have been presented as a priority, and the vision explicitly states that “the integration of Roma and Bulgarian citizens in a vulnerable position, belonging to other ethnic groups, is an active two directional process of social inclusion, oriented towards overcoming of existing negative social and economic characteristics and towards future prosperity in society”11. The implementation of the integration policy should be one of the main priorities in the following programming period. A guarantor for that is the created Interdepartamental Working Group for provision of resources for Roma integration established to the Minister T. Donchev, members of which are the heads of the managing authorities of the operational programmes and
94
representatives of Roma organizations from the country. The idea is to search for integrated projects that can finance at the same time activities in the sphere of employment, education, social services, healthcare and housing.
Part of the “European criteria” in the field of education directly corresponding to the social measures/activities for reducing poverty and social exclusion, are:
- Percentage of early school leavers – below 10% by 2020; - Not less than 95% of the children between 4 years and the starting age of
compulsory primary education to participate in the early age education system by 2020;
- The percentage of 15-year olds with insufficient abilities in reading, maths and science should be below 15% by 2020. The average result of students in Bulgaria in reading literacy according to the 2009 Survey of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is 429 points (a result considerably below the average for OECD) and ranks 46th among the 65 participants. The overcoming of these negative trends is related both with ensuring a
good educational environment in schools and kindergartens and social support, which should be directed towards the efficient distribution of the measures for the risk groups under a strict control in funds spending. With regard to that the efforts should be directed towards investing in ensuring access to quality education12:
The recommended measures are: • Introduction of compulsory preschool education from the age of 4; • Monitoring the physical environment ensuring the compulsory preschool
preparation of children and ensuring additional support; • Supporting school attendance of students from vulnerable groups living
in remote regions, from poor families etc.; • Development of social services supporting the continuation of education;
95
• Priority participation of children from vulnerable groups in the all-day organization of the school day;
• Development of a national strategy for reducing early school leaving by 202013.
The Roma, 38% of who are young people, appear to be the unused opportunity of Bulgaria. Today one third of them are well-educated and integrated. According to Deyan Kolev, leader of Amalipe Center – Veliko Tarnovo, the challenge is how to involve at least part of them in the active implementation of social inclusion policies. The integration of minorities cannot be done without the participation of the people: on the one hand, the involvement of the Roma community is necessary, and on the other – of the majority, represented by national and local institutions, as well as civil society organisations, which should realize that social inclusion is a process that benefits all Bulgarian citizens.
NOTES 1 Анализ на политиките на МТСП. С., 30.12.2010 [Analysis of the policies of
the MLSP. S. 30.12.2010]; Пампоров, А. Ромското всекидневие в България. МЦИМКВ, С., 2006 [Pamporov, A. Roma Pamporov A., Roma daily life in Bulgaria, International center for research of minorities and cultural interactions, Sofia, 2006]. See also: http://www.nsi.bg/Census/Ethnos.htmм; http://www.euromanet.eu/facts/bg/index.html (site consulted on 21.05.2011). Roma Population (estimated): Open Society Institute, 2001, p. 16; Comment: In the Table II-1. (Estimates of Roma Populations in Selected Central & Eastern European Nations), four estimates are presented: independent estimates (500,000-800,000), Minority Rights Group (700,000-800,000), NGO estimates (800,000-1,000,000), and official estimates (600,000). The range 500,000–800,000 was chosen since it covers almost all estimates.
2 НСИ, Преброяване 2011 [NSI, Census 2011]. http://censusresults.nsi.bg/Census/Reports/1/2/R7.aspx (site consulted on 17.12.2012).
3 An EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020. COM(2011) 173, Brussels, 5.04.2011; Roma in the EU – a question of fundamental rights implementation. 2011, р. 11.
4 Communication from the Commission of 5 April 2011 on an EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020 (COM(2011)0173).
5 http://lex.bg/laws/ldoc/2135472223.
96
6 Roma integration is also dealt with in the following documents: National
Strategy for Equal Opportunities for Disabled People (2008-2015), Joint Memorandum on Social Inclusion of the Republic of Bulgaria, National on the Strategies for Social Protection and Social Inclusion of the Republic of Bulgaria (2006-2008), Operational Programme “Human Resources Development” (2007-2013), School and Pre School Education Development National Programme (2006-2015), Action plan for decreasing the number of students not going to school and school drop-out at the compulsory school age (2007-2009), National Plan for Integration of Children with Special Educational Needs and/or Chronic Diseases into the Mainstream Schools, National Strategy on Migration and Integration, (2008-2015), National Demographic Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria (2006-2020), National Strategy for the Child (2004–2006), Strategy for educational integration of children and students from the ethnic minorities, National Youth Strategy (2010-2020), National Action Plan for the Decade of Roma Inclusion (2005-2015), National Programme for Improvement of the Living Conditions of Roma (2005-2015), National Reform Programme (2011-2015) and others.
7 Богданов, Г. и кол. Доклад относно публичните политики за интеграция на ромите в България и основните проблеми на социално-икономическото включване на ромската общност. С., 2012, с. 14. [Bogdanov, G. et al. Report on public policies for Inclusion of the Roma Population in Bulgaria and the Main Issues of Social and Economic Inclusion of the Roma Community. S., 2012].
8 NSI. 9 NSI. 10 Национална стратегия за намаляване на бедността и насърчаване на социалното включване 2020. МТСП, С., 2012, с. 11. [National Poverty Reduction and Social Exclusion Strategy 2020. MLSP. S., 2012].
11 National Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria for Integration of the Roma (2012-2020).
12 Национална стратегия за намаляване на бедността..., 20-21 [National Poverty Reduction and Social Exclusion Strategy]; Стратегия за партньорство с България 2011-2013. Световна банка, 2011, с. 19, 64.[ Country Partnership Strategy for Bulgaria for the Period 2011-2013. World Bank, 2011].
13 Национална стратегия за намаляване на бедността..., с. 21 [National Poverty Reduction and Social Exclusion Strategy]; See also: Симеонова, М., Д. Коруджиева, Л. Петрова. Ромите в България: новите предизвикателства. С., 2007 [Simeonova, M., D. Korudzhieva, L Petrova. The Roma Population in Bulgaria: The New Challenges. S. 2007].
97
DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS AND LABOUR MARKET IN VELIKO TARNOVO REGION
Venka P. Kouteva-Tsvetkova
St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo
Abstract: This work examines the labor market in region Veliko Tarnovo and presents the recent trends and issues associated with it. Keywords: labour market, unemployment, Veliko Turnovo region.
The analyses and projections of the labour force and its reproduction
provide information about the characteristics of the labour force, regarding both its quantity and quality, which play an important role in the economic development of each country. At the same time, the overall status of the labour force is an indicator of the possibilities for its use by the economy and the degree of its adaptation to its requirements.
Today, the region of Veliko Turnovo is in the seventh place in the country with its population of 271 400 people.
If we go back to the distant 1991, the inhabitants in Veliko Turnovo region were 334 644, of which 164 642 men and 170 002 women. In the same year there were 3 049 live born children, of which 1 614 males and 1 435 females. In 1991 died 5 210 persons, of which 2 801 men and 2 409 women.
Ten years later, in 2001, the population in Veliko Turnovo region was 291 121. Of them 140 654 were men and 150 467 – women. The number of live born children dropped abruptly – 2 178, of which 1 137 male and 1 041 female. The number of deaths in this year was 4 653, of which 2 431 men and 2 222 women.
During the following years, the population in Veliko Turnovo region continued to decrease: in 2002 – 289 229; in 2003 – 287 011; in 2004 –
98
285677; in 2005 – 283 599; in 2006 – 280 883; in 2007 – 278 764 inhabitants.
In 2007 there were 2 352 births and 4 432 deaths. This trend of more deaths than births has been sustained over the last years as well.
In 2008 the population in the region was 277 520, of which 2 420 births and 4 610 deaths. In 2009 the inhabitants were 275 395, of which 2 503 births and 4 291 deaths.
In 2010 the number of the inhabitants in the region dropped down to 271 400, of which there were 2 379 births and 4 524 deaths.
As of 31.12.2010 the population of Veliko Turnovo region was distributed by place of residence and sex as follows. Out of the total 271 400 inhabitants, 130 080 were men 141 320 women. The urban population in the region was 185 019 persons, of which 87 972 men and 97 047 women. The rural population was 86 381 persons, of which 42 108 men and 44 274 women.
As of 31.12.2010, the population of the region was distributed by age groups as follows: 0 years – 2168, of which 1 141 men and 1 027 women; 1-4 years – 9 212, of which 4 729 men and 4 483 women; 5-9 years – 11 031, of which 5 698 men and 5 333 women; 10–14 years – 10 468, of which 5 285 men and 5 183 women; 15-19 years – 12 920, of which 6 549 men and 6 371 women; 20-24 years – 23 210, of which 10 980 men and 12 230 women; 25-29 years – 21 004, of which 10 408 men and 10 596 women; 30-34 years – 19 437, of which 9 823 men and 9 614 women; 35-39 years – 17 838, of which 9 210 men and 8 628 women; 40-44 years – 17 092, of which 8 500 men and 8 592 women; 45-49 years – 17 333, of which 8 622 men and 8 711 women; 55-59 years – 19 425, of which 9 388 men and 10 037 women; 60-64 years – 19 954, of which 9 413 men and 10 541 women; 65-69 years – 16 194, of which 7 228 men and 8 966 women; over 70 years – 35 675, of which 14 011 men and 21 664 women.
99
The distribution of the age groups by place of residence is also interesting. For instance, live born children in towns were 1 582 against 586 in villages. From 1 to 4 years of age there were 6 763 children living in towns, whereas in villages they were 2 449. In the age group from 5 to 9 years, 7 549 children lived in towns, whereas in villages – 3 482. From 10 to 14 years of age, 6 283 children lived in towns and 3 645 in villages. In the age group from 15 to 19 years, 8 950 were in towns and 3 970 in villages. In the age group from 20 to 24 years, the urban population already reached 18 801, whereas the rural was only 4 409. In the age group from 25 to 29 years, in towns there were 17 078 inhabitants, while in villages – 5 926. In the age group from 30 to 34 years, 14 767 persons lived in towns against 4 670 in villages. The age group from 35 to 39 years is distributed to 13 039 in towns and 4 799 in villages. From 40 to 44 years of age, 12 277 lived in towns against 4 815 in villages. In the age group from 45 to 49, the urban inhabitants were 12 373, whereas the rural – 4 955. From 50 to 54 years of age, 13 251 were in towns and 5 188 in villages. From 55 to 59 years of age, 13 495 were in towns and 5 930 in villages. In the age group from 60 to 64 years, the urban inhabitants were 12 894, and the rural – 7 060. From 65 to 69 years of age, there were 8 975 in towns and 7 219 in villages. Over 70 years of age, there were 16 397 persons in town and 19 278 in villages.
This statistical reference clearly outlines the trend for the lack of youth population in the villages and the large number of older people in them. The lack of jobs, as well as of living and working conditions there, make them a place, not preferred by young people in the region. On the contrary, as age increases, due to the low pensions and the worsening economic conditions, a considerable number of older people go back to the villages from the towns. These unfavourable trends for the population development in Veliko Tturnovo region have a direct impact on the economic activity of the population in the region and the labour market.
100
The size of the potential labour force will continue to decrease. This is not a new phenomenon for our region. This process has existed for almost two decades now (since 1989). The reasons for it can be divided in two arbitrary groups. On the one hand, these are the results of the current demographic processes. Besides, an increase of morbidity and disability has been registered, which, under the current socio-economic conditions in the country and the conditions in the labour market, is a very serious reason for the decrease in the size of the labour force. The second group of reasons is primarily economic in character. The most important among them that stand out are the extremely unfavourable for the active population demand conditions in the labour market in the country. The high rate of unemployment is the main reason for certain groups of the population to refuse increasingly to enter in economic activity (for instance, mothers and women from the middle age groups), as well for other disadvantaged persons to remain out of economic activity (people with disabilities or educated to a higher level, etc.).
Considerable aging of population is also observed in the recent years. Dominant part of this population consists of women. Aging of population has a negative impact on current and future reproduction activities as well as on the job opportunities.
The number of women in reproductive age is drastically decreasing. This is one of the major demographic factors negatively impacting the birth rate. Number of newborn continues further to drop down. Worsening of the age structure of the general population contributes to decreasing the number of young women up to the age of 29. While in the beginning of the century most of the women have being giving birth to their children during the entire fertile period, now most of the births accounts for the group of 16 to 24 year old women.
The number of born and raised children in a family is decreasing as well. Giving a birth just to one child is growing as a trend. Giving a birth to
101
second, or third child, or more children is constantly decreasing within the recent years. One child family is becoming a dominant model.
Reproductive behavior is influenced by many factors such as demographic, social and economic, psychological, political and others. The major demographic factors - worsened age structure, decreased number of marriages, increased number of divorces, have already a strong negative impact on the birth rate.
Drastic declining the birth rate in Bulgaria has resulted in part from a decrease in the proportion of women at a childbearing age and has been associated with lowering the female fertility. The strongest birth rate drop is observed among women from two groups – 20 to 24 years of age and 25 to 29 years of age. These are childbearing age groups providing for 80% of the births.
In the past years, births connected to extramarital relationships are becoming a serious social and economic problem. Among the Eastern-European countries, Bulgaria occupies one of the first places regarding number of children born outside of the family as a normative institution compared to the total number of children born in a certain year. Research results show that many of these children are born by teenage mothers and are unwanted.
Abortions, as a frequently applied method for a birth control, continue to be dominant regardless that after 1989 their number is dropping down along with declining birth rate. In the last years, the trend for the abortions to outnumber the live births is preserved. Approximately 90 % of the abortions are a voluntary personal choice.
Marriages influence both the birth decisions and the number of children in the family. Rate of marriages as a proportion between number of marriages and general population numbers is decreasing. General interpretations suggest that it is due, on one hand, to natural demographic factors, and on the other – to a number of social and economic, and
102
psychological factors. The first group of factors is connected with dropping down number of males and females at ages when decisions about life-style associated with marriage/starting a family are typically made. Other reasons are associated with changes in the personal value system, unemployment, uncertainty, etc. It is considered that the crisis country entered in the recent years contributes not only to reducing the number of marriages, but also causes delays in marital decisions. The number of people living together as partners but not as married couples is increasing.
Both the marital rate and the age at which marriage is entered influence the birth rate. Bulgaria is among the countries characterized by earlier marriages – a decision to enter a marriage is made 3 to 5 years earlier then in rest of the West European countries. In the recent years a trend regarding higher age at marriage is observed.
The major social and economic factors influencing demographic processes are: • Drastic increase the number of people at poverty level, dropping
household incomes; • Significant changes in purchasing power, rapid increase of expenses for
food, transportation, community services, electricity and heating (utilities); • High unemployment rate, especially youth unemployment, limited
access to the labor market and professional realization of youth; • obstacles concerning living conditions and social problems of young
families (accommodation challenges and other problems); • lack of adequate demographic policy, policy for birth stimulus and other
incentives for families raising children; • considerable growth of prices for children’s goods and food, increasing
fees for toddlers’ and pre-K institutions, introducing fees and taxes for education (paid education), etc.
103
Social and psychological factors also influence negatively the birth rate especially in transition to a market economy. Obstacles associated with material needs satisfaction, finding a job and entering successfully upon a professional career, change the dynamics of needs for children who are not any longer a first priority. These obstacles lead to delays in marriage, sometime even provoke decisions for non-marital or a singlehood life as an alternative to marriage and giving birth to the next child. Many young people delay in marriage and a first child birth.
Now, the goal for young families is to find a job and a source of income, to achieve a better professional and social realization, and provide a better future for their children. This goal determines family behaviors associated with delay in marriage, giving a birth to the first child, and a strong preference to a smaller number of children in the family.
The second important factor along with the birth rate, which influences dynamics and demographic changes, is mortality rate. In the recent years, mortality rate is increasing in a stable and relatively intensive way. This trend is associated with the process of fast aging population. Higher levels of mortality are observed among mid age groups especially among men, which accounts for higher mortality rate in general. A trend for a deeper gap in the mortality K for both genders is observed.
General mortality rate is impacted by the population age, as well as by the infant mortality rate. Along with these demographic factors mortality rate is influenced by a number of economic, social, psychological and other factors, including traditions, life style, labor environment and culture. In the recent years significant factors are rising criminal activities, poverty, job and life uncertainty, worsened labor conditions and increased job related incidents and illnesses.
Average life expectancy is decreasing and is significantly lower for men then for women.
Infant mortality rate continues to stay at a relatively high level and in the recent years it’s going up. Factors as quality of life, impoverishment of large
104
groups of population, malnourishment and others account for increased infant mortality rate, as well as for illnesses during the childhood.
Health care and quality medical services are viewed as factors reducing the infant mortality rate.
Important tasks for demographic policy should include but not to be limited to: • reducing infant mortality rate and unwanted abortions through
improvement of mother’s and child care; • reducing the number of births of children with severe disabilities through
extending pre-marital, marital and other consultations; • reducing illness and mortality rates; • stopping life expectancy decrease and others; • increasing control and sanctions regarding labor conditions for young
boys, pregnant women and young mothers; • reducing the number of unattended and homeless children, and
improving their social integration; • improving prevention and health care for young generations.
Solutions for regional demographic problems should be based on
development and implementation of strategies and specific programs for: • improving standard of living and infrastructure; • increasing occupational chances and reducing unemployment rate; • increasing youth employment; • improving the access to the labor market and education for young
people; • improving health care and social protection of elderly and people with
disabilities; • reducing health and social risks for elderly people; • introducing specific educational programs in the system of education;
105
• opening of offices at high schools for preparation of youth for a family life;
• integration of the program for a family planning with other health prevention activities.
To conclude with, the changes in the number and the main demographic structures of the potentially active population in Veliko Turnovo region are not favourable in general. The development of the potentially active population, as described above, results both from the long-term trends in the demographic development of the population as well as the overall economic situation in the country and the conditions in the labour market. The most direct link here can be searched between the emerging trends in the reproduction of the active population and the labour force needs in the labour market. This link has a critical impact on the economic growth in the region and the level of its social development.
REFERENCES
1. European Future of Bulgaria and Population Development. Center for
Population Research at Bulgarian Academy of Science, Sofia, 2005, 494 p. 2. National Statistical Institute. Sofia May 2011 <http://www.nsi.bg/>. 3. National Statistical Institute - Regional Statistical Bureau of Veliko Tarnovo.
Veliko Tarnovo May 2011 <http://www.nsi.bg/tsbbg.php?TSB=5>. 4. Regional Statistical Bureau of Veliko Tarnovo. Statistical information for the
region Veliko Tarnovo, 18 May 2011.
106
MODEL FOR SOCIAL CHANGE, SOSIAL INTEGRATION AND SOCIAL INDEPENDENCE
OF THE GIPSIES CHILDREN
Daniela Taseffska
“St. Cyril and St. Methodius” University of Veliko Turnovo
Abstract: In spite of the processes of stabilization in the soc concerning the difficult to democracy will still be ac. The reason is the occurred changes that the social con difficult to accept, mainly because of their untimely application of the social innovations which have remained, for a long understandable by the vast masses. This elaboration exam social change the social groups of people with gypsy origin, present research being their marginal status and their contemporary society. The interest about the problems of en globes all the social aspects – education, culture, protection researches are directed in satisfaction of the children’s gypsy socialization and a personal manifestation, the creation understanding, respect and tolerance to the dignities and personality.
In spite of the processes of stabilization in the society, the problems concerning the difficult transition to democracy will still be actual in the future. The reason is the occurred changes that the social consciousness feels difficult to accept, mainly because of their untimely application; the complexity of the social innovations which have remained, for a long period of time, non-understandable by the vast masses.
Seen from another side, the social change reveals an arena of opposition between different social groups and various interests. Even not always distinctively enough there can be standed out communities of supporters and opponents of the changes. At the same time they are accompanied by mass activity from one side and from another by changes at a personal level. The established situation of indefiniteness, of “ anomie ” according to Durkem’s words is sensitively disturbing the harmony in the interaction of the social structures.
107
This elaboration examines as object of social change the social groups of people with gypsy origin, the subject of the present research being their marginal status and their integration in the contemporary society.
Because the official strategy of assimilation regarding the gypsies had been acting until 1989, the process of integration, opening and democratization leads to its ultimate aim – “the melting of the ice” between the Bulgarian society and the gypsy minority. There are social groups and individuals, which belong to more than one community that determines the rules of their behavior. Examples can be given in all spheres of the public life, but the ethnic minorities are closest to these parameters.
To prevent being rejected they have to conform to the realities imposed by the country that accepts them. Very often some insoluble contradictions stand between the two social groups. Bearing in mind that the actions of these communities are carefully observed by the minority and often they are wrongly interpreted, we can understand what source of interpersonal conflicts, conflicts between persons and groups this phenomenon can hide. The marginal status may serve as an explanation of many processes connected to the realization of behaviors by the mentioned groups. One possible definition of the marginal status is:
a social position between two or more communities; those who occupy that position of people who are obliged to
conform to the norms of each community and are not approved by none of them.
This condition has strong influence on the personal characteristics of the people, fallen into its power.
Although the key words of the transitional period are “democracy”, “pluralism”, “polycultural development” and “integration”, till this moment the way through which this aim can be attained is not clarified – who must take part in the reform and who the educational policy are intended for.
108
The successful realization of the reform in the educational politics depends on both the support of the two participating sides – representatives of the educational institutions and the minority groups and on the acts of the teachers and the parents.
That is why an important step in the annexation of the marginal groups and the successful integration of the gypsies in the contemporary society represents the significance of the affirmation of the ethnical identity as an important factor for the collaboration of the ethnical groups in a harmonic society.
Speaking of this matter, during the last years in Bulgaria the accent falls rightly on the problem concerning the integration of the gypsy minority.
Facing the new realities we are trying to find out a new reason for living, a new rationality. It turns out that such a reason for collaboration is the dialogue.
The interest about the problems of the gypsy society englobes all the social aspects – education, culture, protection of health. The researches are directed in satisfaction of the children’s gypsy needs of an early socialization and a personal manifestation, the creation of a climate of understanding, respect and tolerance to the dignities and the rights of a personality.
The educational tendencies have three basic purposes: to examine and to analyze the educational situation of the gypsies; to cooperate for the collecting and the retaining in school of all the
children by special, more attractive and desirable programs; to increase the parents’ interest and motivation about the activities of
their children in order to use their support either for the retaining of the students and for the improving of the level of the educational success.
At the same time the tendency to achieve a collaboration and to associate with the alternative forms, loaded with an atmosphere of unification of the differences must appear as privileged for the education.
109
In that way the separate individual gets the possibility to remain in harmony with their personal identity and together with that to communicate fully with the others without admitting a recoil in the frames of their ethnocultural belonging.
It is exactly by the acknowledge of the other values that accompany us and the appreciation of their specific richness that a successful social integration of the gypsies minority can be realized.
Below is a model for social change and social integration of gypsies children.
I. BASICS OF THE ACCOMPANIMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
OF GYPSIES CHILDREN PLAN When you walk - do walk!
When you sit - do sit!
Above all do not hesitate!
Yun Mun
Hello! You have already made a review of your "personal development". You
have found out which the areas of independent life are, for which you are fully prepared and you have distinguished the ones, for which you lack knowledge and skills.
Now it is time to take up the process of planning your own future development. Awareness of one`s own resources will be furthered by investing in them, i.e. it is important for you to focus on the successes achieved up to now and to undertake consistent actions for their multiplying and building on them. This requires you to update, order by priority and make a plan of your intentions /the things you want to achieve/ based on the individual life experience acquired over the years. Only in this way will you ensure a long-term success during your independent life.
110
Working on this chapter will provide you with the opportunity to outline a set of steps, which will lead you where you want to be, and it will allow you to discover anew the opportunities for gaining independence and coping with everyday tasks.
Working out a plan will reveal to you opportunities for receiving /generating/ income, it will enhance your practical skills of self-organisation and stabilise your feeling of self-worth in life, i.e. you will be convinced that your life is in your hands.
Do it!
II. WHO CAN ACCOPMANY ME IN THE TRANSITION
TOWARDS ACHIEVING INDEPENDENCE AND SELF-DEPENDENCE?
/after leaving school/
Do you remember that we discussed what makes us more confident and sure in our everyday life /See Chapter 5/. The existence of A SOCIAL SUPPORT NET /it includes all persons and organisations, through which an exchange of information and resources is conducted/ may help us cope with a certain problem, i.e. improve our functioning as people. It may be formal and informal.
We have said that everyone establishes a circle of close people around oneself in one`s lifetime /an informal support net - it includes relatives, friends, acquaintances, with which a person communicates and from which he/she expects help, but not by means of their professional duties/ who support and understand him/her when taking decisions and upholding the life choices made.
Besides, we have defined the importance of knowing the functions of the local institutions /formal social support net - it includes all
111
institutions and organisations, with which a person communicates and from which he/she expects help within their professional duties, the people who work there/ with a view to using the resources of the community while achieving the individual life goals .
Now, when you are about to plan your future self-development you have to think who the people from your informal social support net are, who would spare time for you and your needs. They may be people you trust and rely on to give you specific help to develop fully your skills of independent life.
It is important to think what information you need and which are the institutions, where you can get it.
Apart from that, you may know that there are Municipal centres for supporting young people during their transition to independent life in most towns or there are operating non-governmental organisations, which provide similar social services.
If due to some reason you do not have close people / persons of reference from your informal support net/, or these people with which you can share your problems can not provide you specific help to develop skills of coping with independent life, you can seek cooperation from representatives of your formal social support net.
You should know that there are specialists working in non-governmental organisations or the established municipal centres for supporting young people, who know how to cooperate during the processes of your personal growth and enhancement of your feeling of confidence and security, after leaving secondary school. These are mainly social workers and psychologists.
What are the advantages /See Appendix No 11/, if you seek support from professionals when implementing your personal self-development plan and improvement of your skills of achieving success in independent life:
112
• You will contact a person who understands your needs;
• You will find a person of reference who will discuss with you the options of handling a certain problem;
• You will have a person beside you, who will enhance your skills of successful integration with other people;
• You will have access to up-to-date information on vacancies; on improving your professional qualification; on professional re-training, which will improve your professional fulfillment;
• You will maintain contact with a person, with whom you can plan activities for achieving objectives and evaluate regularly to what extent they have been achieved.
III. EMPHASIS ON THE THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO ME OR WHICH ARE MY PRIORITIES?
The period from leaving school to gaining security and confidence
about independent coping with the responsibilities of everyday life is a transition to personal independence.
The time is near when you will actually experience the feeling of freedom.
I/the young person/, with my
resources and needs
A person of reference with the
young person`s resources and needs
Discussion, planning and improving the young
person`s skills
113
Completing secondary education and obtaining a diploma places you in a new situation - you are the one who makes one`s own choices for fulfillment and organisation of your life.
Planning one`s life means to manifest one`s own activity in order to survive.
Planning fills the gap between the present and the future. Planning serves to become aware of the current position and to discover
abilities for achieving the desired future. Working out a plan provides an answer to two major questions:
1. What is the situation now?
2. What it should be? Analysing the current status is a process of consecutive "looking at"
one`s own interests, desires and ambitions. This process is a cycle consisting of three major stages, which accompany our everyday life, because they guide us to the things that are important for each of us. /See Fig.1./
Figure.1
STRUCTURING LIFE GOALS
FORMING THE IDEAS
CHOICE OF THE MOST
IMPORTANT IDEA
114
In the ordering priorities process /drawing out the leading needs/ it is important to think about the answers to the following questions:
Which are the important things which you are ready to put efforts in?
What are your available resources /knowledge and skills/ for achieving effective results from the implementation of your ideas for the future?
Which are the possible difficulties /risks/ for achieving the desired state?
What are the aims in order to achieve SUCCESS. Now it is time to try to answer the questions posed. To this end, it is
important to fill in the following table: Table №1
INTENTION
RESOURCES
FEARS
OBJECTIVES
TO START WORK
Desire for professional fulfillment. Professional qualification Liking the profession Job search and job application skills
People who have connections start work. There are no vacancies in my specialty. The remuneration /wages/ in my specialty is very low and it does not encourage me to start work
To register with the Labour Office. To find people who can provide guarantees about me before the future employer. To choose a form of professional re-training. To continue my education, so that I have chances of a more well-paid job.
115
IV. AREAS OF INDEPENDENT LIFE PLANNING Independent life planning is elaborating an individual style of
management of the present and future. You are already aware of your strengths, i.e. you have an idea of the
resources /knowledge and skills/ that you have. You have already understood that a person`s life is a road, which road
everybody walks to the end by his/her own steps. You have already pointed out the areas of life, which you are partially
or fully ready to handle on your own. Now it is important to concentrate on the way, in which you will fulfill
your expectations of self-development, i.e. achieving the desired future. It would be better if you bear in mind the following:
1. Look back at your score form the checklist of personal development. Remember in which areas of life after leaving school you are prepared enough to achieve success in coping with everyday activities and tasks.
2. Pay special attention to all statements, next to which you have not put a positive mark. These are areas of life in which you lack preparation, knowledge and skills of coping with activities and tasks /unsatisfied needs/ after leaving school. Note down in the table below your unsatisfied needs / in the column "Needs assessment"/.
3. Define your objectives for developing fully your skills of successful independent life.
4. Think of a person close to you, who you can trust /a peer or adult, specialist in a certain field, social worker or psychologist/, who can support you in the fulfillment of the objective set, mark it in the "Help form a friend" column.
5. Envisage a deadline for fulfilling the objective set.
116
Table №2
AREAS
NEEDS ASSESSMENT
OBJECTIVES /SKILLS TO
BE FURTHER DEVELOPED/
HELP FROM A FRIEND
DEADLINE
Everyday skills
1. I CAN (NOT) prepare meals for myself and for other people.....
2. I CAN (NOT) .................
To learn how to cook. To distribute the products into two or four dishes. ........................
Mrs. Mara from the first floor. My brother`s girlfriend. .................
March 2006
Relations with parents and relatives
Communication with the others
Attitude to learning
Proactive behaviour
Emotional health
Accepting the self
Job and profession
Knowledge of local institutions and use of social services
Physical health
Sexual contacts
Housing accommodation
117
V. ELABORATING AN ACTION PLAN OR WHICH ARE THE STEPS I HAVE TO MAKE?
Now when you have coped with the more difficult task, and namely, you have defined:
What you know and what you can do, and what you can count on in your transition to personal independence?;
What remains to be learned and developed as practical skills?;
Who do you think it is reasonable to seek support from?;
How much time do you need to achieve the aim of self-development set?
You only have to break down the achievement of the aims to objectives /small, feasible, measurable activities /steps/, which can be worked out separately and fulfilled in the area of your close self-development.
Elaborating an Action plan is a process in which an optimal distribution of the fulfillment of the objectives set is carried out.
The Action plan serves to concentrate on the sequence of initiatives, through which the development of the needed knowledge and skills /resources/ is practiced, for achieving success in independent life.
The Action plan identifies the activities for achieving the desired result.
To get a clearer idea of what an Action plan is, we suggest you a model plan with specific form and content.
In order for you to orient more successfully in the elaboration of an Action plan, we will resume our work on the long-term aim drawn above. /See Table No3/
118
Table No3
Aim (Long-term aim): TO LEARN HOW TO COOK /deadline: October 2012 г./
Objectives (Short-term aims)
Activities (Initiatives/steps)
Evaluation (result)
To learn how to cook soups /chicken soup, tomato soup, potato cream-soup, beef soup etc./. To learn how to cook main courses /types of dishes – stew, meat-and-vegetable hash, kebab, stuffed peppers, pork with cabbage, French beans etc./. To learn to prepare desserts /creams, sweets, cakes, fruit salad etc./.
1. Conversation with the person who can help me.
2. Money distribution. 3. Choice of soup
/chicken soup/ and buying the products needed.
4. Preparing the soup. 5. Tasting.
Evaluation of the result by criteria set beforehand/ quality indicators/: - did the activities on
the fulfillment of this objective start on time;
- was the cost incurred in buying the necessary foodstuffs appropriate;
- have there been hygienic conditions created for culinary activity;
- has the recipe been followed in the preparation of the chicken soup;
- to what extent the taste quality of the cooked soup etc.
119
Continue working on the elaboration of an Action plan of each of the aims you have set for the separate areas of life, after assessing your current needs.
Work together with a person whom you can rely on and share with trust the successes and fears concerning the implementation of each of the activities in the Action plan.
Make an evaluation of the achievements and if necessary redefine your aims and the respective objectives.
Celebrate when you are sure that you have developed a certain skill - the contribution is entirely yours and you deserve a reward.
REFERENCES: 1. Арънсън, Е., Човекът – социално животно, С., 2000. 2. Върбанов, Е., Европа, култура и реалност, С. 2002. 3. Градев, Д. и А. Маринов, Личност-нововъведение-промяна, С., 2007. 4. Шибутани, Т., Социальная психология, М., 1996. BIBLIOGRAFIIA 1. Arynsyn, E., Chovekyt – socialno zhivotno, S., 2000. 2. Vyrbanov, E., Evropa, kultura i realnost, S. 2006. 3. Gradev, D. i A. Marinov, Lichnost-novovyvedenie-promiana, S., 2007. 4. Shibutani, T., Socialьnaia psihologiia, M., 1996.
120
Aplikation № 1 PLAN OF INDEPENDENT LIFE PERSONAL DATA: Emil Krasimirov Boev 1192547494 9504143161
First name, Father`s name, Surname identity card, personal digital code MENTOR /person of reference/: Hristina Borisova Kirilova
First name, Father`s name, Surname COMMENCEMENT DATE OF PI: 4 November 2012
PARTICIPANTS: Emil Krasimirov Boev, Hristina Borisova Kirilova, other people close to the young person
AREAS SPECIFIC ASPECTS PROBLEMS AIMS/ACTIVITIES /skills to work on/
WHO /responsible monitoring/
DEADLINE
EVERYDAY LIFE Cooking
Washing clothes Ironing Budget distribution Home and clothes hygiene Small repairs at home
Encounters difficulties in the preparation of some main courses
Time distribution for chores, so that time for rest is left. Preparing meat-and-vegetable hash, cutlet, pancakes or other dessert (biscuit cake).
Hristina Borisova Kirilova Boryana Apostolova
30 November. 2012
HEALTH AND APPEARANCE
Clothes Hair-style Make-up Healthy lifestyle
Wants to get comprehensive information for separate nutrition
Books by Lidiya Kovacheva recommended
Hristina Borisova Kirilova Dr. P. Panova
31 December. 2012
STUDY AND WORK ACTIVITIES
Learning Professional courses/ retraining Work experience Seasonal activities for providing income
Does not intend to study more, to improve one`s skills in a certain profession (has a piano specialty). Wants to be a regular soldier. Wants to start a driving course for amateurs.
Developing skills of building a real assessment of his abilities, the nature of the work, the perspectives, duties. Research on the prices of driving courses (collecting offers).
Hristina Borisova Kirilova M. Mateev V. Koleva
30 November. 2012.
COMMUNICATIONAND HANDLING EMOTIONS
Communication with peers Contacts with adults Emotional expression
Open to new acquaintances, but hard to make such on his own, a little shy.
Increasing one`s self-assessment by getting to know his personal qualities, building good self-esteem.
Hristina Borisova Kirilova V. Koleva P. Dobrev
30 Nov. 2012
FAMILY AND RELATIVES
Knows his brothers, but does not seek closeness to them. Gets financial support from his mother, who is abroad.
Conversations for building relations of trust, support between him and his brothers, establishing close relations with them.
Hristina B. Kirilova V. Koeva L. Bakardzhieva D. Deyanov
31 December. 2012
121
INSTITUTIONS AND AUTHORITY BODIES
Attitude to the staff of the institutions Attitude to the professionals from the CSRI Attitude to the services in the community /mayoralty, CPD, Police department, Labour Office, etc./
Pessimistic view on the support he can get from the different institutions.
Building trust in the institutions by way of detailed explanation of the benefits he can obtain /explanation of individual rights/. Procedure and manner of presentation before the respective institution.
Hristina Borisova Kirilova K. Varbanova St. Stoykova
30 November 2012.
INTIMACY AND SEXUALITY
Contacts with the opposite sex Responsibility in intimate relationships Prevention from sexually transmitted diseases and from sexual exploitation
Says that he has a steady relationship and that he uses the necessary protective measures in the intimate relations
Conversations about the dangers of short-term relationships; about the responsibility in intimate relationships; personal life planning (future family life) - responsibilities, obligatons.
Hristina Borisova Kirilova V. Koleva Dr. P. Panova Angelin
constant
RELATIONS WITH THE COMMUNITY
Classmates Colleagues at the workplace Neighbours Attitude to the different social groupsTeachers Employers
Sometimes accepts the employer`s requirements as a negative attitude towards his personality. The same holds true for his relations with colleagues and neighbours.
Conversations about the rights and obligations at the workplace; about the limits of the personal and working relations at the workplace and outside it; developing tolerance skills, to colleagues, neighbours.
Hristina Borisova Kirilova P. Dobrev Mrs. Ivanka Todor Iliev D. Deyanov
30 December. 2012
LEISURE TIME Sports activities Cultural activities Tourism Others / hobby, interests/
Can not afford taking part in cultural activities or having a hobby. Wants to go to a gym.
Outlining the gyms in the town - where they are situated, charge, working hours (do they suit his working hours).
Hristina Borisova Kirilova V. Koleva
30 Jenua ri. 2013
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT /individual characteristics/
Temperament Adaptation skills Self-assessment Purposefulness / values and convictions/ Activeness and initiative Keeping promises
He adapts quickly in changing circumstances, but does not manifest initiative, self-initiative for changing his own life - for finding a permanent job for example. Has an attitude that somebody else is responsible for him.
Developing skills of self-knowledge and self-assessment, of planning the personal and social life, upholding his own standing (as a citizen).
Hristina Borisova Kirilova P. Dobrev D. Deyanov
30 Jenua ri. 2013
HOUSING ACCOMODATION AFTER EXPIRY OF THE PERIOD IN THE HALF-WAY HOUSE
Steady income Skills of searching and negotiating on a lodging Financial liability Psychological readiness to leave the Half-way house
Finding a permanent job is needed to have a source of steady income. Does not think about all advantages and disadvantages when negotiating on a lodging.
Finding and settling at a permanent workplace. Developing skills of searching and negotiating on a lodging, discussing options to find out the best one.
Hristina Borisova Kirilova P. Dobrev K. Varbanova T. Iliev
31 Dec. 2012
122
A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE BULGARIAN ETHNIC MODEL
Dobrin Dobrev
St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo
Abstract. The term „Bulgarian ethnic model” has often been used in recent years. It describes the existence of tolerance towards ethnic minorities in the country and the successful maintaining of religious and ethnical peace. This paper aims to analyze the parameters of this model. It is true that the Bulgarian ethnic model exists, but it is also true that it has many flaws and it is necessary much more to be done for the successful integration of ethnic minorities in the country. Key words: The Bulgarian ethnic model, ethnic minorities.
The term „Bulgarian ethnic model” has often been used in recent years. It describes the existence of tolerance towards ethnic minorities in the country and the successful maintaining of religious and ethnical peace. This paper aims to analyze the parameters of this model. The basis of the analysis are the results of the newest research of social distance and stereotypes for ethnical minorities in Bulgaria accomplished by a research team of Open Society Institute – Sofia (May-June 2008). The research is based on a regionally stratified nationally representative sample, which covered 1,144 people over 18 years, distributed in 232 nests. As research methods are used the adapted „Bogardus scale” and the modified version of „Katz and Braly’s test” (Пампоров, с. 25-26).
The correct interpretation of the results of the research required defining of the main defects of theoretical approaches, revealing the essence of personality dispositions, attitudes and stereotypes, and the methods used to measure them (Добрев, с. 180-188). The first strong argument here is that the different social situations determined differences in behavior, not the existence of social stereotypes (Mischel, 1968). This means that a person with a negative prejudice against the Gypsies is possible to demonstrate
123
cooperative, altruistic and receptive behavior towards them under the influence of the social situation and despite the stereotypes. The second criticism is related to the fact that stereotypes are nothing more than labels for different types of behavior that we think coincides with them. In other words, the prejudices are our fantasy ideas, but are not sustainable features of behavior. The third argument is related with the assumption that the behavior affects a human's personality rather than some existing stereotypes (Kenrick, Stringfield, 1980). The essence of this argument is that existing prejudices can predict the behavior (with high probability) only of these people in whom these attitudes have a leading position in motivation. Out of two people that both dislike the Turkish ethnic minority, discriminatory behavior is more likely to be observed only in the one in whom this stereotype is leading for choice of behavior. In addition to these general deficiencies in the methodology of dispositional approach toward the cited research of the Open Society Institute may be directed two more significant criticisms. In the first place, the authors of the research are based on the assumption that the existence of negative stereotypes is something unnatural and these stereotypes must be eliminated. This assumption is wrong because the existence of prejudices, either positive or negative, is part of the normal existence and functioning of the human person. The attempts of the society to form among its members a fixed number of „acceptable attitudes” leads to social engineering and totalitarism, which is at least unacceptable. The existence of a negative prejudice by itself is not inferiority or a disadvantage: people are arranged so as to see the bad beyond themselves (Айви, с. 15). In the second place, the stereotypes have a ternary structure, including cognitive, affective and behavioral component (Джонев, 1996, с. 213). The methods used in the research of Open Society Institute measured only cognitive and affective components. It follows that the existence of negative stereotypes toward ethnic minorities does not mean that they would automatically provoke real discriminatory behavior or practices.
According to the authors of the research, the results suggest that Bulgarian society supports significant racial and religious prejudices against
124
ethnic minorities in the country. Several clusters (positive answers in %) can be tagged regarding the attitudes to a marriage with representatives of other ethnic groups living in Bulgaria (the nearest of social distances). The smallest social distance (the highest level of liking) is observed among the citizens of the European Union (42.7%), English (34.4%) and immigrants from some Orthodox Slavic countries: Russians (36.9%), Macedonians (26.0%), Serbs (25.7%) and Bulgarians from Bessarabia (28.7%). A second cluster forming the so-called traditional minorities in the country - Armenians (24.2%), Greece (24.1%), Bulgarian Muslims (22.6 %), Turks (21.7%), Romanians (21,3 %) and Jews (20.0 %). This group includes Ukrainians (21.7%) as well. At the bottom of the social prestige with very similar results are new immigrant minorities – people of African origin from the USA, European Union, Latin America and Africa (10.3% -11.1%); Kurds (10.7%); Arabs (11.4%); Albanians (11.5%) and Vietnamese (11.5%). The Japanese (16.7 %), the Chinese (12.5%) and the Gypsies (16.7%) are in an intermediate cluster between traditional and new ethnic minorities. With few exceptions, these levels remain similar in the two other social distances – labor and education (Пампоров, с. 28-44). When from the nationally representative sample are taken into account only the answers of those, who identified themselves as Bulgarians, we can find several trends that are different from the previous ranking. The Gypsies and the Chinese fall in the group of the most disliked, when they need to be accepted as guests, neighbors or citizens of the same town. On the same indicators Bulgarian Muslims rise in the prestigious group of the most liked minorities. The Japanese rise up and receive liking from the rank of traditional minorities in the country, along with Romanians and Turks, which demonstrate stable levels of such acceptance.
Critical reading of the previous data allows several comments: First, the question, measuring the closest social distance, „Would you marry…?” must be reformulated, because it does not measure directly and only ethnic
125
stereotypes. For example, it is possible for respondents who have already married or are in retirement age to respond negatively (I would not marry ...) not because of the existence of a negative stereotype towards the minority, but because of their reluctance to remarry again. In the same way, the youngest respondents (aged 18-30) often prefer to live together or to have a relationship without marriage, and their reluctance to marry may reflect this trend, rather than an ethnic prejudice. Secondly, I can not agree with the conclusion of the authors from the Open Society Institute that the Bulgarians have deep religious prejudices. A proof of this is the fact that Bulgarian Muslims are among the most popular minorities. Thirdly, I must dispute the assertion that the racial and ethnic prejudices of the Bulgarians are as significant and deep as they are presented: the results regarding the social distance „lliving together in Bulgaria” show that different ethnic minority groups receive high acceptance - the difference between the first and the last in this ranking is only 10-15%.
According to the results of the cited research, the gender and the age do not have a statistically significant influence on the maintenance of social distances. However, a similar trend was observed for all ethnic minorities: people aged 31-45 are the most tolerant, people aged 46-60 have attitudes similar to the national average, while the youngest 18 - 30 years old and the oldest over 60 support the greatest social distance towards the ethnic minorities. As the most tolerant towards the ethnic minorities is emerging South Central Region of Bulgaria (Pazardjik, Plovdiv, Smolyan, Haskovo and Kardzhali). The largest social distances against minorities are measured in the North Central (Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Ruse, Targovishte, and Razgrad) and Northeastern region (Silistra, Dobrich, Varna, and Shumen). The type of the town plays a crucial role in the more intimate distances (such as the agreement for marriage) and has almost no influence on more distant categories (such as the agreement minorities to live in Bulgaria). Social distance towards the ethnic minorities in the capital and major cities are
126
smaller than in villages and small towns. The level of education of the respondents is in inverse proportion with the social distance related to the agreement for marriage: the higher educational level is related to fewer prejudices and vice versa. This trend remains with the other spatial categories - visits in the home, neighborhood, etc., as persons with university education showed a significant higher propensity to accept ethnic others in their social world (Пампоров, с. 44-46).
The examination of the contents of stereotypes of ethnic minorities allows the identification of four types of stereotypes: personal characteristics, lifestyle, physical characteristics, and cultural patterns, including associations of historical facts (Пампоров, с. 90). I will here present and comment the results only of a few ethnic groups.
The leading stereotypes about the Bulgarians are: “industrious” (30.8%), “hospitable” (14.2%) and “good-natured” (12.5%). There is a contradiction in autostereotype, as far apart „industrious” the Bulgarians describe themselves as „lazy” (8.1%). According to Pamporov, other negative attitudes about the Bulgarians are „envious” (10.8%) and „poor” (8.3%). The physical characteristics are summarized in the stereotype „beautiful” (5%) (Пампоров, с. 92).
Probably because one of the leading stereotypes toward Bulgarian Muslims is „brothers Bulgarians” (7.5%), the majority of attitudes to them coincide with those of the Bulgarians: „industrious” (45.1%), “good-natured” (10.9%) and „poor” (4.1%). There is an interesting accumulation of positive interrelated personal characteristics - „modest” (7.9%), „fair” (5.3%), „submissive” (4.5%), “reticent „ (4.9%). In contrast to the Bulgarians in stereotypes for the Bulgarian Muslims appear signs of their religious difference: they are perceived as „religious” (7.9%) and are described with the characteristics of their clothing – „yashmak / trousers” (4.9%) (Пампоров, с. 97).
There are lots of similarities in the structure of the generalized image of the Chinese with that of the Vietnamese. The Chinese are „yellow” (14.5%),
127
with „pulled eyes” (5.2%) similar to the Vietnamese, but the „short” characteristic of the Vietnamese has been replaced with „little” for the Chinese (7.4%). According to Pamporov, the presence of a similar trend toward the Japanese is evidence for the existence of a racial stereotype, which binds Asians with definitions „yellow” and „short /little”. Like the Vietnamese, the Chinese are considered as „industrious” (28.4%), „traders” (15.5%) and „poor” (2.6%). In the realm of cultural specifics the Chinese are presented with their meals, but in contrast from „dogs”, attributed to the Vietnamese food, here are observed definitions „rice” (5.8%) and „Chinese restaurants” (3.9%) (Пампоров, с. 102).
Leading stereotypes about people of African origin are: „black” (48%), „poor” (25.8%),”strong” (10.9%) and “curly” (4.3%), supplemented with the negative „underdeveloped” (5%), “sick” (7.2%) and „uneducated” (5.4%). According to the authors from the Open Society Institute, the combination between “black”, „strong” and “curly” shows the existence of racial prejudice in the same way as combination between „yellow” and „short / little”. About the people of African origin from the USA and European Union appears the stereotype „artists” and disappears the stereotype “slaves”, attributed to the Africans from Latin America and Africa (Пампоров, с. 105 - 107).
Notable stereotypes for the Romanians are „neighbors” (25.9%), „Gypsy” (14.3%) and „thievish” (13.9%). Comparing these data with the results of the Greeks, Macedonians, Serbs and Turks, enables the remark that measurement uncertainties might have occurred. It is possible that respondents have declared their opinion on the citizens of our neighboring countries rather than on the ethnic minority from these countries who live in Bulgaria. Interesting additions to the previous prejudices about the Romanians are the definitions „like us” (5.4%), „cheaters” (6.6%) and „jiggery-pokery” (3.5%) (Пампоров, с. 109).
The stereotypes toward the Turks are concentrated around their different religious backgrounds: „faith” (24.8%), “Ottoman rule” (15.1%), „yashmak”
128
(8.7%), „fanatics” (10.1%); but also more positive: „industrious” (14.4%) and „painstaking” (4%). As a whole, in the stereotype of the Turks recombinant various stereotypes typical for other Muslim groups in the research are observed (Albanians, Arabs), but the generalized image is not similar to any of the generalized images of the other groups (Пампоров, с. 112).
Obviously, the stereotype „thievish” (46.3%) is leading for the Gypsy ethnic group in Bulgaria. The other two main stereotypes are „lazy” (23.4%) and „dirty” (15.4%). The Gypsies are a minority associated with the largest number of negative prejudices: „lying” (11.2%), „uneducated/stupid” (8.6%), „poor/hungry” (7.7%), “revelers” (6.5%), „cheeky” (3.7%) and „crafty” (3.0%). The only positive in these data is the fact that many of these attitudes are weak and uncorrelated and can relatively easily be destroyed with an adequate politics (Пампоров, с. 110).
A disturbing conclusion that the research authors made is that the Bulgarians support strong and clear racial stereotypes (Пампоров, с. 120). In my opinion, this conclusion is incorrect and unfounded. To say that the Bulgarians support strong racial stereotypes, we must state in comparison with whom these stereotypes are strong or weak. In cited research does not present comparative data about the prejudices of citizens of the European Union or the United States. The existence of large social distances toward people of African origin and the Japanese can be explained by factors other than racism: the absence of a real contact or historical tradition in the interaction with these cultural communities; the presence of too few of their representatives in our country; the negative image of them created by the media, etc. The statement that the perception of the Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese as „yellow” and „short/little” (Пампоров, с. 102) and the people of African origins as „black”, „strong” and „curly” (Пампоров, с. 107) is a proof for negative racial stereotype, is incorrect. The majority of the Asians are actually short (for European standards) and the majority of the Africans are actually curly and with dark skin, so it is normal exactly these
129
characteristics to be fixed in our cognitive scheme. Even stranger and more absurd would be the statement that the Africans are blond and white skinned. In other words, the use of existing distinctive physical characteristics as part of the description of a group of people still does not make this description racial: the context and the sense the assessment are important. The used in the research method for measurement (associative question) does not allow a disclosure of this context. The other thing that the researchers from the Open Society Institute forget is that along with the negative, according to them, attributes, the Chinese are described also as „industrious”, „traders”, „poor”; the people of African origins also as „poor”, „diligent” and „athletes”; and against the Japanese there is no one negative stereotype. These definitions indicate the existence of empathy, compassion and acceptance by the Bulgarians rather than the existence of racial prejudice.
According to Pamporov, after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 global public opinion seemed to start equating between Islam and terrorism. The Myth of Islamic terrorism is directly reflected in the stereotypes of the Bulgarians toward ethnic minorities. All three new ethnic communities in Bulgaria, which come from regions with predominantly Muslim population: Albanians, Arabs and Kurds - are classified as „terrorists”, “fanatics”, “militant” and “aggressive”. According to the authors of the research, this is a great example of religious stereotyping (Пампоров, с. 120). Here I only partly agree with the above formulated conclusion. It is a fact that in the global society the image of terrorist-Muslim is spreading and this „threat” has justified a military intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. But it is also a fact that in contrast to the majority of the European and American citizens, the Bulgarians have shown remarkable rationality and not fall prey to the myth of Islamic terrorism. Evidence for this is that the Bulgarians does not place the brand „terrorists” on the two large Muslim communities in the country - the Turks and the Bulgarian Muslims.
Summarizing the data from the research, Pamporov notes: „The study of social distance and ethnic stereotypes aimed to check for the existence of
130
tolerance towards ethnic minorities in the country or to prove that this is a myth, called with the loud name „Bulgarian ethnic model”. The data shows that in Bulgaria deeply rooted racial and religious stereotypes exist, which are the reason for the maintenance of significant spatial, labour and educational distances toward the majority of ethnic minorities and potential immigrant communities.” (Пампоров, с. 118). I must call into question that generalized conclusion. In addition to the previously formulated arguments against this thesis, I must state a few more critical remarks. The significant defect of the research of the Open Society Institute is the interpretation of the respondents’ answers to the associative question measuring the content of ethnic stereotypes. The positive or the negative sense of the answers, given by respondents, is defined not by the respondents, but by the authors of the research. For example, does the definition „crafty”, used for 12 out of 24 ethnic groups, describe the negative or positive stereotype? Why definitions like “poor” (for the Africans, the Chinese, the Bulgarians, etc.), „drunk, vodka” (for the Russians), „nationalists” (for the Macedonians) and „usurers” (for the Jews) are accepted by the researchers of Open Society Institute for negative stereotypes? The random referring to positive or negative sense of the answers means that the researchers have measured not the attitudes of the Bulgarians, but their own. There is a tendency for manipulative presentation of the research results. The text describes only negative stereotypes toward many ethnic minorities, while positive attitudes are skipped to be mentioned and discussed. So the Romanians are described as „Gypsy” (14.3%), „thievish” (13.9%) and „cheaters” (6.6%), but the authors of the research did not mention that the Bulgarians also perceive them as „industrious” (6.6%), “good” (5.8%) and „farmers” (3.9%). They convince us that the Turks are perceived as „faith”, „Ottoman rule”, „fanatics” and „yashmak”, but they skipped the positive descriptions such as „traders”, „neighbours”, „good” and „progressive”. The situation is analogous with the already commented Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese and
131
Africans. An interesting fact that has escaped from the researchers’ interpretations is that the most tolerant towards the ethnic minorities is the South Central Region of Bulgaria (Pazardjik, Plovdiv, Smolyan, Haskovo and Kardzhali). This is the region with the highest concentration of compact Gypsy and Turkish ethnic communities. This proves that the Bulgarians living in areas where they really coexist with compact and large communities of Turks and Gypsies are more tolerant toward minorities than those living in areas where such coexistence is missing or minimized. Last but not least, a proof that the Bulgarian ethnic model of tolerance towards the ethnic minorities is not a myth, but an existing and well functioning reality is the fact that, unlike neighboring countries, in our country real and deep conflicts on religious or ethnic grounds have not been observed in the last 20 years.
Despite my critical remarks, the cited research is the best one planned and implemented in our country so far. It is true that the Bulgarian ethnic model exists, but it is also true that it has many flaws and it is necessary much more to be done for the successful integration of ethnic minorities in the country.
REFERENCES
1. Джонев, С. (1996), Социална психология, том 2, София. 2. Добрев, Д. (2009), “Сравнителен анализ на диспозиционните подходи към
личността”, Библиотека „Диоген”: „Психология 2008”, Университетско издателство „Св. св. Кирил и Методий”, Велико Търново.
3. Пампоров, А. (2009), Социални дистанции и етнически стереотипи за малцинствата в България, http://www.osf.bg/downloads/File/SocialDistancesReport.pdf
4.Томова, И. (1992), „Етнически стереотипи и предразсъдъци у българите”, Аспекти на етнокултурната ситуация в България, ЦИД, София.
5. Айви, А.Е., колектив (1999), Психологическое консультирование и психо-терапия. Методы, теории и техники, Москва.
6. Kenrick D. T., D. O. Stringfield (1980), “Personality traits and the eye of the beholder: Crossing some traditional philosophical boundaries in the search for consistency in all of the people.”, Psychological Review, 87.
7. Mischel, W. (1968), Personality and assessment, New York: Wiley. 8. Mischel, W. (1973), “Toward a cognitive social learning reconceptualization of
personality.”, Psychological Review, 80. 9. Petkova, K., V.Todorov (2002), “Bulgarien national stereotypes and national
identity”, Sociological problems, Special issue XXXIV.
132
IV. LANGUAGE AND POLITICAL CHANGES
THE ROLE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN DEVELOPING INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
Viorica Banciu, PHD, Senior Lecturer
The Faculty of Socio-Human Sciences University of Oradea
Abstract: During the last twenty years the countries of Europe have changes their political status and under the effect of globalization, multilinguism and new technologies have erased many existing borders. As political, economic and cultural boundaries between countries are dissolved, foreign language instruction has become more necessary than ever for linking with the rest of the world and for producing the new citizen of Europe able to function in today’s ever-changing world. Romania as a sovereign state within the European Union needs to preserve its own language and culture in the light of global culture, but also to encourage the study of foreign languages. The foreign languages have the power to promote understanding between people of different cultural backgrounds. The study of another language helps students develop a sense of cultural pluralism, an openness to and appreciation of other cultures is stated in the study What Does Research Report About Foreign Languages? 1. My paper intends to underline the importance of foreign languages study in developing international projects, which are crucial for our evolution in the era of mondialisation.
Key words: foreign languages, international projects, multilinguism, professional mobility, globalization.
Present-day requirements in language teaching are very different from what they used to be in the past. Experience in the first half of the 20th century showed that:
1 Carpenter and Torney; Hancock and Lipton et al.; Lambert and Tucker What Does Research Report About Foreign Languages?spanishschoolhouse.com/.../researchsays.pdf
133
- the learning of a foreign language consist in the aqusition of a set of habits arrived at by guided repetition, correction and drill.
- in learning a new language the main problem is not that of mastering the vocabulary. Mastery of words even in the native language is always limited, never complete. In the second language the problem is to find the result most useful in particular situations and not to leave the choice of the lexicon to chance.
The chief problem is first the mastery of the sound-system, to understand the stream of speech and to achieve an understandable production of it. Second, the mastery of the basic arrangemnt of utterances -structures- in a sequence of complative progression, step by step. Each step must be understood and mastered by the pupils and only then can they understood move to the next. Language is a complex system of levels, one resting upon another.
• The difficulty in mastering a foreign language arises from similarities or differences in the structure of the two systems: native language-foreign language. Conflicting structures have to be practised more.
• Everything taught has to be developed orraly first. • The effective teaching of languages has to be accompained by
analysis and synthesis i.e observations and generalizationsdrown from the sentences the pupils have already practised and understood throughtly.
• Language is a part of culture of a people and the chief means by which the members of a society communicate with one another.
Language learning includes learning the culture of the people speaking it. By culture we understand the literature, the great ideas and achievements, the characteristic way of the people: customs, traditions, behaviour.
o Audio-visual aids are used to an ever increasing degree in teaching a second language. Records and tapes are used in the so-called acoustic -preparation of the lesson; film, film-strips, flannel-board, drawing facilitate the process of listening and speaking.
134
o The most important factor in the teaching-learning process is the well-trained teacher who by bis own experience, skill and enthusiasm will keep the class Hvely and varied, will find, new ways of used the materials, will always be interested in improving his professional qualification with the latest investigation in the field of his spealty.
Language competence is a broad term which includes linguistic or grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic or socio-cultural competence and what might be called textual competence. Language competence is best developed in the context of activities or tasks where the language is used for real purposes, in other words, in practical applications.
Current changes in the international labour market require a new approach to higher education, including acquisition of advanced professional foreign language skills at universities. As it was emphasized in the initiative New Skills for New Jobs, the European Commission anticipated and matched labour market and skills needs: “A highly skilled and adaptable workforce both helps boost the competitiveness of the economy as a whole, and benefits employers and employees. Developing skills ensures greater employability in the long term, and can lead to better job opportunities, and wage increases. For employers, investing in skills is a way to enhance their employee motivation and productivity, and to boost capacities to innovate and adapt.”2
Nowadays, a large part of the global population can communicate in more than one foreign language. The long-range goal of the European Commission is to achieve general multilingualism in the EU so that, in addition to the native language, every EU citizen could communicate in at least two foreign languages [A New Framework Strategy for Multilingualism, 2005]. However, as testified by practice, a considerable
2 New Skills for New Jobs. Anticipating and matching labour market and skills needs, 2008. e-demos.iacm.forth.gr/.../149-new-skills-for..
135
number of member countries ignore this proposal because the role of foreign languages has not been sufficiently understood and appreciated by them. In accordance with the EC initiative, in 2005 The Eurobarometer conducted a survey in 25 member countries with the aim to identify the opinions of the population on several matters, concerning multilingualism3. The findings of the survey, in which almost 29,000 respondents participated, testified that approximately 50% of them considered that they could communicate in, at least, one foreign language. The most popular foreign language in the EU was English (as indicated by 38% of the respondents), followed by German (14% of the respondents) and French (14% of the respondents).
1. THE NEED FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY
Economic development
To be competitive on a global scale, the business world of tomorrow needs individuals who can work in a culturally diverse environment and who have strong skills in a foreign language. U.S. companies have committed many faux pas when attempting to market their products abroad. One such example involves a major American airline company wanting to advertise its new leather first class seats in the Mexican market. It translated its “Fly in Leather” campaign literally as “Vuela en cuero”, which means “Fly Naked” in Spanish. One can only imagine the embarrassment that must have ensued. Additionally, many businesses are looking for people who are proficient in other languages. Such skills are needed in service industries (hotel, tourism, food); publishers and entertainment industries (films, radio, and sound production); corporate offices with overseas accounts; and also in other areas such as medicine, law, business, journalism, and more general government
3 Europeans and Their Languages, 2006. ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf
136
work. Knowing another language provides a competitive edge in career choices in today’s and tomorrow’s world.
National security Once again, the connection between languages and national security has risen to the forefront. In the past decades, the US government has relied heavily on technical means for gathering intelligence; however, the events of September 11 have highlighted the shortage in the manpower needed to translate the messages gathered through intelligence. In the wake of September 11, there was a rash of requests for speakers of other languages. Lack of foreign language expertise will continue to undermine national security, because the only way to get the deep understanding of another country that is needed for intelligence operations is to master the language spoken there.
Cultural understanding A less obvious but nonetheless compelling reason to study another language is the power that languages have to promote understanding between people of different cultural backgrounds. The study of another language helps students develop a sense of cultural pluralism, an openness to and appreciation of other cultures4. Only through their languages can we understand other cultures.
Diversity In the world of work, managers who know how to deal with a diverse workforce will have an edge as minorities keep moving to North Carolina. The workplace of tomorrow will be a world of many cultures and languages. According to the Kiplinger Washington Editors, the Hispanic share of the workforce will increase by 25 percent by 2010, and the Asian share by around 50 percent. North Carolina is already being deeply affected by its growing non-English-speaking population. The last census reported a large increase in the Hispanic population of North Carolina. In addition, 60,000 4 Carpenter and Torney; Hancock and Lipton et al.; Lambert and Tucker
137
students who speak over 170 different languages are enrolled in our public schools.
2. BENEFITS TO STUDENTS
Academic benefits
The study of another language affects academic areas as well. Research has shown that children who have studied a foreign language in elementary school achieve higher scores on standardized tests in reading, language arts, and mathematics than those who have not5. The results of the Louisiana Report on foreign language and basic skills6 show that regardless of their race, sex, or academic level, students in foreign language classes outperformed those who were not taking foreign languages. Foreign language study has also been shown to enhance listening skills and memory, and the development of second language skills can contribute a significant additional dimension to the concept of communication. Furthermore, students who have studied a foreign language develop greater cognitive skills in such areas as mental flexibility, creativity, divergent thinking and higher order thinking skills7.
Data from the Admissions Testing Program of the College Board show a positive correlation between SAT scores and the study of a foreign language. Verbal scores of students increased with each additional year of language study. Interestingly, the verbal scores of students who had taken four or five years of foreign language were higher than the verbal scores of students who had taken four or five years of any other subjects.
Enhanced career opportunities As noted earlier, the knowledge of other languages will be a valuable
asset in the workplace of tomorrow. Workers will be called upon to 5 Masciantonio, Rafferty in spanishschoolhouse.com/.../researchsays.pdf 6 Rafferty in spanishschoolhouse.com/.../researchsays.pdf 7 Foster and Reeves; Landry; Rafferty; Ginsburg and McCoy in What Does Research Report About Foreign Languages?spanishschoolhouse.com/.../researchsays.pdf ).
138
cooperate with colleagues in other countries, crossing time zones, languages, and cultures.
3. ISSUES TO CONSIDER
One must not assume that language learning is quick and painless. To truly learn a language, one must have the opportunity to learn early. Neurobiologist Carla Shatz believes that there are windows of opportunity for learning that open and close throughout a person’s life. The implication is that if you miss the window of opportunity for learning a particular skill or concept, you are playing with a handicap. Obviously, learning continues to take place throughout a person’s life, but the optimum time for learning occurs until the age of 10 or 12, when the brain of young children is believed to be most receptive8 For this reason, early language learning is most effective when it is started early on in a child’s life. Researchers believe that the window begins to close around the age of 7 or 8. Another equally important factor in language learning involves the length of time devoted to it. To become proficient in another language, learners must progress through various overlapping stages spanning several years, just as they did when they acquired their first language. They must also consider the difficulty of the selected language. Some languages, such as Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, take longer for native English speakers to acquire than others more closely related to English.
If in the first part of the 20th century the assimilation process was not so harsh and selective, the emigration process, for those living in the Eastern Communist Block was quite difficult if not impossible to achieve. The state governed with an iron hand and was suspicious on everybody who favored or sympathized with the outsiders. Outsider could be a term used for those living in the Western part of Europe. Quoting the Germans, the Americans
8 Chugani, H. (1993). “Reshaping Brain for Better Future.” As quoted in Chicago Tribune, April 15
139
said: “better dead then red” referring to the fact that the communist society was an enclosed space where terms such as freedom or rights did not really exist or matter. It was normal for those living in such a society to want to flee. Taking the title of political refugees and requesting asylum these people were well received by their new countries where they impressed by telling their sad story. If politics was then the main reason for such an action today when most of the old borders are gone and people can travel freely from one space to another it is money and their economic situation that drives or motivates them.
Language, as a means of communication, always keeps pace with all the innovations that brilliant minds invent. Whenever something new appears it generates new words and new family words. These words are first used by specialists within closed circles, and then, slowly, by non specialists when whatever this novelty is, becomes known and popular. The 19th century is the period when many inventions have revolutionized industry, literature, and the arts. If this invention affects only a small group of connoisseurs it will be used strictly within this group. If, however, this new finding has a larger application, many more people benefiting from it, the coined term will be used more frequently and by more people. Such examples can be provided from arts, where new currents appeared as responses to the old ones, generating new types of works, be them literary or artistic.
The Romanian higher education has to face many challenges, including the tasks of remaining intellectually and culturally viable in a rapidly changing world. The Romanian higher education needs to prepare students to live competitively in the global market place and to face the global economic crisis and this competitiveness should be based on information and globalized knowledge. A possible response to such a challenge could be “…the internationalization of higher education”. Darla Deardorff, when speaking about the U.S. institutions of higher education, states: “the specification of anticipated outcomes of internationalization are often general
140
and vague, with goals stated broadly that the institution will become internationalized or that a goal is to graduate cross-culturally competent students or global citizens without giving further meaning to these phrases.” . This statement could be also applied to the European universities.9
Mobility is known to be a rather old feature that characterizes the human behavior. We can say that human mobility has caused radical alterations to civilization throughout the ages. Still even after such a long experience there continues to be a need that people to possess a set of competencies which are both personal and professional, in order to enable them to make the most of the opportunities of the world they live in. Thus being aware of intercultural competencies will help us become inter-culturally mobile. The objectives of creating a cross cultural education are:
• to increase teachers’ intercultural awareness, building up their competence to address cultural diversity in education -to educate with regard to a plurality of ideas (to consider human diversity in ethnic, racial, social and religious terms as a source for cultural enrichment);
• to defend equal opportunities; • to make the trainees aware of the necessity of the change from a
mono-cultural perspective to a multiple perspective (in every subject: history, literature, music, art, etc);
• to focus on developing a learning community where teaching and learning are conceived as an active and cooperative process, that inevitably occurs within a social context;
• to provide suggestions about how educators can acquire a greater intercultural competence.;
• to provide suggestions for linguocultural’ teaching’; • to familiarize the trainees with the concept of culture as a ‘fifth skill’
(which emphasizes the learner’s ability to perceive, to understand and ultimately, accept cultural relativity). 9 Deardorff, Darla K, (2004)In Search of Intercultural Competence, in International Educator Volume 3 issue 2
141
The ‘Common European Framework' introduces the 'Intercultural Dimension' into the aims of language teaching. Its essence is to help language learners to interact with speakers of other languages on equal terms, and to be aware of their own identities and those of their interlocutors. It is the hope that language learners who thus become 'intercultural speakers' will be successful not only in communicating information but also in developing a human relationship with people of other languages and cultures10.
Developing the intercultural dimension in language teaching involves recognising that the aims are:
1. to give learners intercultural competence as well as linguistic competence;
2. to prepare them for interaction with people of other cultures; 3. to enable them to understand and accept people from other cultures
as individuals with other distinctive perspectives, values and behaviours;
4. to help them to see that such interaction is an enriching experience.
Language teaching with an intercultural dimension aims at helping learners to acquire the linguistic competence needed to communicate in speaking or writing, to formulate what they want to say/write in correct and appropriate ways.
But it also develops their intercultural competence i.e. their ability to ensure a shared understanding by people of different social identities, and their ability to interact with people as complex human beings with multiple identities and their own individuality
Nowadays the world mobility and international cooperation projects have surfaced again and again being the main team of many transnational
10 Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures, Version 3, May 2010
142
programs, both on the main land and beyond. The year 2006 becomes the “European Year of Workers Mobility” being designated as such by the European Commission. Beyond our continent the term mobility, supported by the international programs has also been a main concern and as Peter Sutherland, the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative on International Migration and Development, stated in his speech at the 7th meeting of the Commission on Population and Development that “the world was moving from an era of migration to one of mobility” since “countries were no longer divided strictly into sending and receiving countries, but were increasingly sending, receiving or even transit countries” 11
People who move to one space to another will eventually settle down and be part of communities which can be either homogeneous or heterogeneous. People integrate more easily in homogeneous communities due to the common background in culture language, traditions, beliefs, etc. With the heterogeneous community the integration is more difficult since there is no common background and intercultural exchanges have to take place. People will have to develop commonality by communicating into a generally accepted language, achieving thus inter-culturality and inter-language. The road to realizing this can only be achieved by learning and this is much more easy to be achieved through transnational projects where people from different countries work together to improve their expertise using a foreign language to understand each other. The main actor of these projects is the intercultural learner, who is placed between the languages and cultures and has a very dynamic interlanguage and interculture.
We can also develop these competences by keeping in mind certain “meaning-making” mechanisms available when engaging in cross-cultural action and communication. Intercultural communication and interaction
11 Glaser, Evelyne, Guilherme, Manuela, Maria Del Carmen Mendez, Garcia, Mughan, Terry, (2007) Intercultural Competence for Professional Mobility, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg
143
competence, essential in newly forming community, can be achieved only when mastering these mechanisms. Intercultural mobility comes thus as the outcome of intercultural communication and interaction.
CONCLUSION
If education is a means to prepare students for the complicated world they inhabit, then the educational system cannot deprive students of a general education in the area of foreign language. The value of such an education not only lies in job preparation but also in developing an understanding of the requirements of their jobs in a foreign language, to know more about the people of adoption’s culture and tradition, to help students to become European citizens.
Today’s global events have determined people to excel in their field of activity, since economically developed nations look only for specialists. Thus, young people, professionals, especially in poorly developed countries, such as Romania, strive to find a better working and living conditions. They display their professionalism for others to see and appreciate in order to be eligible. In other words, intercultural mobility is a never ending process
REFERENCES
• A New Framework Strategy for Multilingualism, 2005
eur-lex.europa.eu/.../LexUriServ.do?...2005 • Carpenter and Torney; Hancock and Lipton et al.; Lambert and Tucker What
Does Research Report About Foreign Languages?spanishschoolhouse.com/.../researchsays.pdf
• Chugani, H. (1993). "Reshaping Brain for Better Future." As quoted in Chicago Tribune, April 15.
• Cohen, P. (1995). "Understanding the Brain." Education Update. ASCD. • Cooper, T. (1987)."Foreign Language Study and SAT Verbal Scores." Modern
Language Journal 71, pp. 381-387. • Deardorff, Darla K, (2004)In Search of Intercultural Competence, in
International Educator Volume 3 issue 2
144
• Europeans and Their Languages, 2006 ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf
• Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures, Version 3, May, 2010 carap.ecml.at/LinkClick.aspx?...tabid...
• Foster and Reeves; Landry; Rafferty; Ginsburg and McCoy in What Does Research Report About Foreign Languages?spanishschoolhouse.com/.../researchsays.pdf pg. 2
• Gingsburg, H. and McCoy, I. (1981). "An Empirical Rationale for Foreign Language in Elementary Schools." in Modern Language Journal 65, pp. 36-42.
• Glaser, Evelyne, Guilherme, Manuela, Maria Del Carmen Mendez, Garcia, Mughan, Terry, (2007) Intercultural Competence for Professional Mobility, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg
• Hirsch, J. Quoted in Winslow, R. (1997). "How Language Is Stored in Brain Depends on Age." Wall Street Journal, July 10.
• Krashen S. and M. Long et al. (1982). Child-Adult Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.
• Kordes, H. (1991), Intercultural Learning at School: Limits and Possibilities, in Buttjes, D. and Byram, M. (eds) Mediating Languages and Cultures, Clevedon, Multilingual Matters
• New Skills for New Jobs. Anticipating and matching labour market and skills needs, 2008. e-demos.iacm.forth.gr/.../149-new-skills-for.
• Olsen, S. A. and L.K. Brown (1992). "The Relation Between High School Study of Foreign Languages and ACT English and Mathematics Performance." ADFL Bulletin 23, No. 3.
• Rafferty, E. A. (1986). Second Language Study and Basic Skills in Louisiana. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Education.
• Richard Robyn, The Changing face of European Identity: A Seven Nation Study of (Supra) National Attachments, Routledge, New York, 2004 pg. 149
• Selinker L. (1972) Interlanguage in “International Review of Applied Linguistics”, vol. 10 nr.3.
145
BOUNDARIES OF CULTURE AND LANGUAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION
Sebastian CHIRIMBU, PhD, University Lecturer
“Spiru Haret” University/ CCRSE (Romania)
Adina BARBU-CHIRIMBU, PhD, University Lecturer “Spiru Haret” University (Romania)
Abstract. Globalization is a multi-dimensional phenomenon and culture can be regarded as a dimension of globalization. The two concepts of globalization and respectively culture are closely interconnected. The strict boundaries between countries that defined their economies and policies for centuries and even more are no longer in place. Globalization has many positives, including prosperity, development, and cultural diversity. Much of it, in any case, is inevitable. In the EU, Europeans have found a tool to help them manage these processes, taking advantage of their many benefits while protecting citizens from some of globalization's more negative effects. The EU remains a tool for managing globalization, but it is also an indispensable one. Key words: frontier/border, geographical space, Balkan Peninsula, cultural interferences.
“Globalization refers to the multiplicity of linkages and interconnections between the states and societies which make up the modern world system.”
(McGrew, Anthony and Lewis, Paul, 1992)
0. Introduction
Starting from the premises that the impressive contemporary
transformation processes triggered by globalization can be fully understood only if read in a cultural key, the paper aims to demonstrate that the European Union has never lost sight of a core truth, a truth of key importance – that first of all, before being an economic or a political whole,
146
Europe is a cultural construction and while economically and politically Europe’s age can be measured in decades, from the cultural point of view it is a centuries old reality.
The strict boundaries between countries that defined their economies and policies for centuries and even more are no longer in place. Besides the fall of boundaries triggered in our part of the world by membership to the European Union, the tremendous development of communication technologies has deeply changed the way nations and people interact.
This change has become obvious at a cultural level as well, although nations have always stubbornly tried to keep their cultural specificities, or better said, cultural identity; this phenomenon is becoming a threat to globalization which is regarded as a phenomenon that will lead to cultural uniformity.
Globalization is perhaps one of the most salient features of modern societies. It is also one of the hardest to grasp, considering its all-embracing content and the local particularities it acquires.
1. A brief foray into globalization theories
A review of the literature on globalization shows a constant expansion of the meaning encapsulated in the term. Globalization made its entrance in the academic world referring to economic activity. Theodore Levitt1, who is credited with coining the notion in his famous article “The Globalization of Markets”, epitomized: “two vectors shape the world - technology and globalization. The first helps determine human preferences; the second, economic realities.”2 Initially globalization was understood as an integration of markets, which facilitates cross-border interaction of economic spaces
1 http://www.lapres.net/levit.pdf 2 Levitt, Theodore, The Globalization of Markets, 1983, p. 20, retrieved from http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~caplabtb/m302w07/levitt.pdf, on April 4, 2012.
147
and leads to a denationalization of economic processes.3 Using Dasgupta’s terminology, we shall describe this dimension as “capitalist globalization”4. But as the phenomenon began to gain momentum, it also acquired new content. Thus it came to designate (apart from economic) either a political, technological, social, cultural, environmental, military or legal process, or all of them together. The following definitions are a proof of the phenomenon’s multifaceted nature:
“Globalization refers to the multiplicity of linkages and interconnections between the states and societies which make up the modern world system. It describes the process by which events, decisions, and activities in one part of the world can come to have significant consequences for individuals and communities in quite distant parts of the globe”.5 “Globalization may be thought of as a process (or set of processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions – assessed in terms of their extensity, intensity, velocity and impact - generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction, and the exercise of power”.6
3 Schirm, Stefan A., Analytical Overview : State of the Art of Research on Globalization, in Schirm, Stefan A. (ed.), Globalization, State of the Art and Perspectives, Routledge 2007, p. 3. 4 Dasgupta, Samir, Introduction: A Reflection on Politics of Globalization and Textual Entrails, in Dasgupta, Samir and Pieterse, Jan Nederveen (ed.), Politics of Globalization, Sage Publications, 2009, p. 9. 5 McGrew, Anthony and Lewis, Paul (ed.)., Global Politics. Globalization and the Nation-State, 1992, Cambridge: Polity, p. 23. 6 Held, David, apud Steger, Manfred, Globalization – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 10.
148
“Globalization is not solely the devaluation of the nation state as a major political identification focus, but also the addressing of interactions now operating between the national levels of political, social, cultural and economic life, and global players with varying degrees of influence (multinational corporations, NGOs, media and so on).”7
They are also helpful in sketching essential characteristics of globalization, which include:
- increased interconnectivity in almost every sphere of social existence, from the economic to the ecological, from the “intensification of world trade to the spread of weapons of mass destruction”8 ;
- diffusion of national borders and stretching of social relations and activities, which result in local happenings being influenced by events which take place in remote parts of the world;
- enhanced mobility of human, capital and information flows which “give rise to a profusion of fluid, irregularly shaped, variously textured and constantly changing landscapes”9;
- the existence of influential global players acting like agents of globalization and diminishing the role of state actors;
- compression of time and space. According to Dasgupta, there are four (other) fundamental criteria which
give substance to the meaning of globalization: the first is the electronic revolution, the second is the postcolonial revolution; the third is the creation
7 Pesqueux, Yvon, What is Globalization? The Paradoxes of the Economic and Political Substance of Markets, in Milliot, Eric & Tournois, Nadine (ed.), The Paradoxes of Globalization, Palgrave, 2010, p.14. 8 Held, David and McGrew, Anthony, Globalization/Anti-globalization: Beyond the Great Divide, Polity, 2007, p. 3. 9 Hay, Colin and Marsh, David, Introduction: Demystifying Globalization, in Hay, Colin and Marsh, David, Demystifying Globalization, Palgrave Macmillan, UK, 2000, p.2.
149
of transnational social spaces, and last, the apparition of “qualitatively new forms of cosmopolitanism, where relations between the national and the international can be increasingly re-conceptualized in terms of relations between the local and the global”10.
Paradoxically, the local-global nexus marks more than an opposition; it is the enmeshment of the two spatial delimitations that makes it possible for events and activities in one part of the world to have such a powerful echo in another. This is also the case with other forces commonly associated with globalization, such as fragmentation and de-territorialisation, for instance. As Rosenau notices, there are continuous interactions between these forces and their opposites – integration and re-territorialisation- “interactions that are sometimes cooperative, more often conflictual, but at all times ongoing”11. The prominent political scientist even comes up with the term “fragmegration”, a combination of fragmentation and integration, which is meant to “capture the centrality of the inextricable and endless interaction between the poles for the course of events.”12 In a radical and oversimplifying view, globalization could be reduced to a series of dichotomies, where notions like local and global, integration and fragmentation, de-territorialisation and re-territorialisation simultaneously entangle and reinforce each other.
Nevertheless, this is not an exact definition of the phenomenon, since it leaves out substantial features of globalization, and offers a unilateral perspective of a multi-valence process. It is best to consider this yet another characteristic meant to add an extra piece to the globalization puzzle.
10 Dasgupta, Samir, op. cit., p.9. 11 Rosenau, James N., The Governance of Fragmegration: Neither a World Republic nor a Global Interstate System, 2000, p.2, retrieved from http://www.lanna-website-promotion.com/moonhoabinh/lunar_material/GovernanceOfFragmegration.pdf, on April 7, 2012. 12 Ibidem.
150
2. Globalization as a multi-dimensional phenomenon
Globalization is a multi-dimensional phenomenon and culture can be regarded as a dimension of globalization. The two concepts of globalization and respectively culture are closely interconnected. If we have in mind the cultural dimension of globalization we discover that globalization has a dialectic (two-way) character: globalization is not a one direction phenomenon within which events are determined and influenced by vast global structures; local cultural features and local intervention is also present in what is called globalization.
The relationship between globalization and culture is a very special one; it does not resemble the economic, political, social, etc aspects of globalization. While material exchanges tend to localize, political exchanges institutionalize, the cultural ones - which are symbolic exchanges – globalize. The result is that the globalization of the human society is conditioned by the extent to which cultural relationships have an effect in relation to economic and political arrangements. Political and economic processes tend to become global to the extent to which they are circumscribed to culture that is they are seen as symbolic processes. Due to their symbolic nature, cultural exchanges can occur anywhere and anytime as there are few constraints in terms of resources.
The cultural dimension of globalization is of the same importance as the political or economic aspects of globalization. The reasons of this importance are obvious: language, identity, life style are not abstractions but fundamental elements of our private and public existence.
Where and how we live, who are those that influence us, why and how they influence us which are the vehicles of change in today’s world, which are the values we believe in – all these are unavoidable questions for any reasoning inhabitant of the global village which our planet has become.
151
In this context, one of the main issues raised by researchers is that of the existence, the emergence of a global culture. To what extent the uniformization of the life style, the growing importance of the English language, the migration of the labour force, the imposing of technological and infrastructure standards allowing global interconnectivity ca determine, together, the emergence of a global culture?
We believe that at the level of the European Union globalization can be perceived in two different ways which do not exclude each other. On the one hand, the European Union can be perceived as a successful model of globalization. Culturally speaking it offers an original model of a space which has been trying to implement a common cultural legislation whose main purpose is to preserve cultural diversity, a space which has been trying to implement common linguistic guidelines while assuming and asserting the existence of 23 official languages.
On the other hand, precisely due to regarding themselves as belonging to a mutual cultural space sharing main features, Europeans tend to resist globalization mainly conceived as Americanization.
Most Europeans believe that the European Union can protect them from the downsides of globalization – and they're right. Many Europeans decided to vote against the European constitution draft which was in effect, a vote against globalization. While supporting European integration, these Europeans felt that the constitution did not sufficiently protect Europe and its workers against job losses due to globalization.
This negative vote is just an example of what appears - on the surface, at least - to be a built-in European resistance to globalization. Whether in the form of populist political rhetoric, anti-globalization street protests, or the destruction of genetically-modified corn fields, this activity gives the impression of a continent determined to resist the integration of global markets and cultures.
152
That impression, however, is wrong, or at least highly misleading. Many Europeans worry about globalization's effects on jobs, economic equality, European culture, or political independence vis-à-vis the United States.
But the prominent anti-globalization movement is actually a small if vocal minority. In fact, a clear majority of Europeans accepts that increasing global economic, political, and cultural exchange can enrich their country and their lives. They believe that a strong European Union can help them take advantage of globalization's benefits while shielding them from its negative effects.
Howevere, globalization and economic liberalization bring greater challenges for Europe than for the United States. One reason is that the state plays a greater role in EU economies: State spending in the EU averages 48 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, compared with only around 36 percent in the United States; social expenditures average over 25 percent, compared with just 15 percent in the United States. Europeans are also more attached to equality and collective rights than are most Americans, who have a proud tradition of individualism. The problem is further complicated by relatively inflexible European labor markets. EU citizens are almost six times less likely than Americans to move from one region to another, and workers are less likely to accept wage or benefit cuts in order to preserve jobs threatened by trade. Finally, many Europeans fear that globalization - in the form of „Americanization” – will threaten their local culture.
The past 25 years certainly provide evidence of EU adaptation (versus resistance) to globalization. As late as 1980, the major European economies were still highly regulated, capital movements were restricted, and hundreds of non-tariff barriers prevented true economic integration even within the EU. Today, while much progress remains to be made, the internal EU market is complete, most industry has been privatized, and many state subsidies and obstacles to cross-border mergers and acquisitions have been removed.
153
How does the EU play this role? First, by providing a large, single market, the EU allows its member states to take advantage of many of globalization's benefits among relatively like-minded countries at similar levels of economic development. Europeans find it easier to accept European integration than global integration because of their similar value systems and common commitment to generous social and environmental provisions.
Second, Europeans count on the EU to protect them from the inequalities that globalization can create. The generous provision of "structural funds" (aid to its poorest regions) and a social safety net make the Union safer for globalization.
Third, by aggregating the separate member states' strength, the EU increases leverage in international negotiations - whether on trade, environment, food safety, international finance, foreign policy, or culture. None of the individual states could ever hope to stand up to the United States in any of these areas, but with economy and population comparable to the United States, the EU has increasingly done so.
Finally, Europeans turn to the EU to regulate certain sectors, such as agriculture or culture, that would be dramatically transformed by unregulated globalization. Without the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), for example, globalization would entail the destruction of much of European farming, especially small farms. From the standpoint of global efficiency and production, that would be a good thing. But Europeans (and not only the farmers) apparently would rather pay a significant price - including higher food prices - in order to maintain this aspect of their traditional culture. The EU will eventually have to scale back its agricultural protection, but Europeans expect the EU to manage that process without causing the pain associated with living in an entirely unregulated world.
Many Europeans will, no doubt, continue to protest against globalization - and sometimes for good reason. Growing international interdependence challenges many basic aspects of traditionally European political and
154
economic systems, threatens aspects of national cultures, and leaves the continent vulnerable to new and unprecedented hazards.
But globalization also has many positives, including prosperity, development, and cultural diversity. Much of it, in any case, is inevitable. In the EU, Europeans have found a tool to help them manage these processes, taking advantage of their many benefits while protecting citizens from some of globalization's more negative effects. The EU remains a tool for managing globalization, but it is also an indispensable one.
3. Linguistic globalization and the world-wide
spread of English
As far as the issue of linguistic globalization is concerned, it is given a deserved importance within the European Union.
Linguistic globalization cannot be conceived without talking about the world-wide spread of English. In many member states of the European Union English has become (or is in the process of becoming) the most popular foreign language in terms of acquisition and in its use in many domains. Various sociolinguistic perspectives are adopted to account for how English has successfully consolidated its position as the chief language of interaction between speech communities that would not traditionally have employed it.
Although English is so widely used and nobody can deny its role as a globalizing factor and its role for global communication, Europe remains a privileged space of multiculturalism and multilingualism. It acknowledges the importance of language for preserving national identity and as a consequence, in Europe, linguistic globalization has come to have, in our opinion, a special and original form, that of interaction, of preservation of diversity, not of uniformization.
155
Translations are an example of this special phenomenon. The great importance given to the translation of community texts on the one hand, the cultural programmes created to support the translation of literary texts so that they could be accessible to the whole European space on the other hand contributed to the creation of what we could call a global cultural Europe.
Globalization has created awareness of the variety increases the force of democracy, portraying an individual able to choose between more than possible alternatives. Also, this individual can defend handling, as has the possibility to identify. Globalization has a big role in our opinion, to annihilate the distance between cultures. The world becomes a single place, and we are all neighbors.
The very important cultural dimension of globalization deals among many other aspects with the way the need to learn foreign languages is perceived, as the knowledge of foreign languages facilitates and accelerates the global flow of ideas.
The realities of the contemporary world (globalization, multilingualism, tolerance, progress) have triggered an ever increasing interest in the learning of foreign languages. Not only have international and especially European institutions admitted the necessity to learn foreign languages but they have also initiated and implemented concrete actions meant to offer eficient methodological answers to the demand to learn and be assessed in the field of foreign languages.
In a multilingual Europe, the teaching and learning of foreign languages represent an absolute priority, a strategic factor for the development of a knowledge based Europe in the 21st century. In this multilingual Europe learning foreign languages, especially English may forge a way to new oportunities. English is one of the most important languages for communication as a third of the world population have at least basic knowledge of it. It is the international language of trade, communication, aviation.
156
In Europe, the linguistic diversity is a reality that unites us in a common history and reality. Multilingualism is the most explicit illustration of the slogan ”unity in diversity”, it is a tool that contributes to the creation of tight connections among people rather than underlining the differences among societies. The linguistic diversity has a key role for consolidating a European identity and it equally supports the development of the other sides of our identity – local, regional and national. In the context of globalization, mobility and migration multilingualism may offer new sollutions for both individual citizens and the society.
Conclusion
Richard Devetak, “Globalization’s Shadow”, in R. Devetak and C.W. Hughes (ed.) The Globalization of Political Violence, (Routledge, 2008) considers that „Understanding globalization in its various dimensions requires focusing not just on globally scaled practices, but on locally or nationally scaled ones that are inseparable from the set of global dynamics associated with globalization. Globalization therefore denotes a variegated social process; one which is unevenly diffused and materializes differently depending on local practices and structures”.
We should never lose sight of a core truth, a truth of key importance – that first of all, before being an economic or a political whole, Europe is a cultural construction and while economically and politically Europe’s age can be measured in decades, from the cultural point of view it is a centuries old reality.
Choosing as an opening point a more general perspective upon the relationship between culture and globalization, we will be able to understand culture in the modern world and globalization as the core of modern culture, the cultural practices as the core of globalization.
157
REFERENCES
Baciu, I. (2009). Culture in the context of Globalization, Vox Philosophiae, online source http://www.philosophical-review.info/index.php/ro/home (accessed 10.11.2012) Blaga, L. (1969). Trilogy of Culture, Bucureşti: EPLU Bondrea, A. (2006). Sociology of Culture (5th ed.), Bucureşti: EFRM Ciaucu, C., Tasenţe, T., Impactul Crizei Economice/ The Impact of Economic Crisis, Tg. Jiu, Analele UCB, no.2/2010 Chirimbu, S., (2006). A Booklet on European matters, Bucureşti, ECO-EWC (European Project) Cocora, E (2007).Globalization and Management,Iaşi,: Feed Back Dasgupta, S. Introduction: A Reflection on Politics of Globalization and Textual Entrails, in Dasgupta, Samir and Pieterse, Jan Nederveen (ed.), Politics of Globalization, Sage Publications, 2009 Hay, C. and Marsh, D., Introduction: Demystifying Globalization, in Hay, Colin and Marsh, David, Demystifying Globalization, Palgrave Macmillan, UK, 2000 Steger, M. (2003) Globalization – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press Held, D. and McGrew, A. (2007) Globalization/Anti-globalization: Beyond the Great Divide, Polity Hofstede, G. (1996). Multicultural management structures,Bucureşti: Ed. Economică Levitt, Th., The Globalization of Markets, 1983, p. 20, online source http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~caplabtb/m302w07/levitt.pdf (accessed 10.11.2012) Maliţa, M. (1998). Ten thousand cultures, one civilization, Ed. Nemira McGrew, A. and Lewis, P. (ed.). (1992) Global Politics. Globalization and the Nation-State, Cambridge: Polity. Pesqueux, Y., What is Globalization? The Paradoxes of the Economic and Political Substance of Markets, in Milliot, Eric & Tournois, Nadine (ed.), The Paradoxes of Globalization, Palgrave, 2010 Popper, K. (1998). În căutarea unei lumi mai bune/ In search of a better world, Bucureşti: Humanitas Rosenau, J. N., The Governance of Fragmegration: Neither a World Republic nor a Global Interstate System, 2000, online source http://www.lanna-website-promotion.com/moonhoabinh/lunar_material/GovernanceOfFragmegration.pdf, (accessed 10.11.2012) Schirm, St. A., Analytical Overview: State of the Art of Research on Globalization, in Schirm, Stefan A. (ed.), Globalization, State of the Art and Perspectives, Routledge 2007 Schumpeter, J.A. (1990). Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Paris, Payot Tomlinson, J. (2002). Globalizare şi Cultură/ Globalization and Culture, Timişoara: Amarcord Waters, M., (1996). Globalization, Routledge: London
158
STRONG INFLUENCES OF THE LANGUAGE USED BY THE POLITICIANS UPON MASS MEDIA NEWS
AND THEIR AUDIENCE
Jireghie Angela and Rodica Biris University Vasile Goldis, Arad
Abstract. In our paper, we focus on strong influences of the language used by the politicians upon mass media news and their audience. We propose to analyze some extracts that belong to Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton in 2007. The results of our paper are:
a) American politicians use a manipulative language against U S audience. b) Language is power. c) Ways of talking about terrorism can make more attractive news media and
their audience.
Introduction
Domke (2004) states that the shape of our reality depends on the words we want to use. Thinking about politicians, they shape the reality by appealing to words that serve their own purposes and legitimize their decisions by earning public support. Media is a crucial tool, for politicians, of delivering their messages to the audience. Audience does not always accept the politicians’ frames. They often evaluate the credibility of the people or agencies offering them, ultimately favoring frames that come from sources they trust.’ Al Qaeda (AQ) and other terrorist networks use speeches and quotes from U.S. politicians to recruit individuals. ‘(Armstrong, Chin, Levente 2008)’ Media speakers carefully craft their language. They control the content of their listeners’ opinions.’ ‘(Druckman 2001) People often hear the word “criminals” and fewer the word “terrorists” when the news speak about attacks. The result is that the audience does not trust in their held-beliefs.’ (Armstrong, Chin, Levente 2008)
.
159
Analyzing politicians’ speeches
In their speeches, politician may have common features. Obama uses terms like ‘war’, ‘extremists’, ‘threat’, ‘Muslims’ in order to stress that people, whatever nationality they are, become victims of terrorism in the following extract:
‘The terrorists are at war with us. The threat is from violent extremists who are a small minority of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, but the threat is real. ‘(CNN August 1 2007)
In the next extract, the leader gives an argument based on the link between Islam and terrorism:
‘Maybe an education at a Madrasa, some charity for your family, some basic services in the neighborhood. And then: a mission and a gun.’ (CNN August 1 2007)
Armstrong, Chin, Levente (2008) underline in their project that in McCain’s speech the hearer can keep in his mind that the terrorists are soldiers who have a good status:
‘I want to talk today about the national security challenge of our time, the war which radical Islamist extremists have been waging against us…’ (CNN July 13 2007)
The same idea, we find in Hillary Clinton’s discourse where she emphasizes that terrorists do not fight for a cause:
‘…And we must also realize that the global threat of terror demands that we secure our home front, take on the terrorist networks abroad, and combat a false doctrine of hate, death and destruction…’
‘… We are in a long term struggle in which our values must be more than rhetoric…’ (June 27 2007)
160
Usually, the politicians use a vague language in their discourses.
Looking at the extracts below, Clinton uses an unclear language, that’s why the viewer can understand either the war is against terror or this is the new face of the war:
‘… We are in a long term struggle in which our values must be more than rhetoric…’
‘… The first time I visited Afghanistan in 2003, a young soldier said to me, ‘Welcome to the forgotten
front line of the war against terror’.’
‘…President Kennedy … said, "I speak of peace because of the new face of war’.
In this new century, we are confronted by yet another new face of war…’ (CNN July 13 2007)
Hearing the expressions ‘war against terror’,’ another new face of war’, the viewer can have two options :he can presuppose that the speaker quoted other people (J.F.K. ; a soldier) to make other points, and since those speakers used the word “war,” she might claim it is not necessarily her belief or the speaker chose these quotes, so she may agree with calling the current situation a war, and therefore that A.Q terrorists are soldiers/warriors fighting for a cause. ‘(Armstrong, Chin, Levente 2008)
‘Many viewers would likely not notice the distinction when hearing the speech delivered; they may just hear her use of the word “war” and draw their own conclusions.’ (Armstrong, Chin, Levente 2008)
Clinton uses the synonymous words and expressions: ‘…China… Islamist extremists…pandemics…’
161
We think that it helps the viewer assume that this paragraph outlines the major national security challenges that will be addressed in the speech:
‘Every day the world grows smaller and history moves faster. Decisions by a factory owner in China impact the health and safety of children in Chicago. American researchers use the web to share best practices – but so do Islamist extremists. And pandemics do not know where evil nations end and good nations begin…’ (CNN July 13 2007)
Using the word ‘radicalization’, ‘Clinton creates a misinterpretation’ (Armstrong, Chin, Levente 2008):
‘…Allowing coercive treatment and torturous actions toward prisoners violates the rule of law, fails in intelligence gathering, and promotes radicalization. Al-Zawahri, Osama Bin Laden’s second-in command…has said over and over again if we would only pay attention – it is on their websites – that torture helps the cause of extremism, watering the seeds of Jihad…’ (CNN July 13 2007)
‘The word itself is not easily understood or translated into Urdu or Arabic. Although speech is intended for an American audience, the speaker should be aware that it to be translated to other languages and may be otherwise misinterpreted. The expressions and words ‘watering the seeds of jihad’ –‘ Jihad ‘– a ‘struggle’, not necessarily violent - are considered a duty by most faithful Muslims. Using it in this context, it is often understood as making an explicit link between Islam and violent criminal acts, and as a distortion of the religion. Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks frequently manipulate Western leaders’ words and use them as tools to rally others to the cause of extremism. While policymakers cannot control how people will perceive what they say, they have tremendous power over what they say.’ (Armstrong, Chin, Levente 2008)
162
‘Language is the key means by which people process the events taking place in the world; language, indeed, forces people to confront ideas and make decisions about them.’ (Domke, 2004)
At the level of syntax, we can find a range of choices that can evoke different responses to the audience. It is about the selection from the verb system, the relationship between actor and action, including the use of imperative and interrogative structures, and the reorganization of clause units to make different elements of the clause, the theme of the sentence etc.
The instructions and imperative structures are selected in order to direct the audience’s opinion. We are not invited to feel pity for the Arabic people, the language is not emotionally loaded. In declarative clauses, there is a kind of emphasis given by the reordering of clauses elements: the adjunct, or adverbial element of the clause, usually appears at the end of the clause in its expected position.
Sometimes, the adjunct appears first:
“Even by the elastic moral standards of our policy, the administration will bring most troops home by the end of…”, “moved to clarify his seemingly positive take ‘.The fronting of the adjunct has the effect of emphasizing the material contained in it, but also of discouraging the audience from querying the opinion containing in it.
The thematic structure of a story consists of its topics and their organization within the story. This gives the broad semantic structure.
‘Elite politicians adeptly use the mass news media in order to deliver their messages to the general public. Journalists therefore can have tremendous influence over the ways in which news consumers understand world events.’ (Iyengar 1994)
163
‘Government sources exercise tremendous power over the language and tone employed by the news media. (Nacos, 2003)
Researches consider that the news media follow a change in official language which is transmitted directly to the public. Entman (2003) describes the close chain among politicians, news media and audience.’ Journalists rely heavily on official government sources to c r e a t e t h e i r s t o r i e s, especially when dealing with foreign policy matters.’
The content of news reporters’ coverage of an American presidential administration, for example, hinges on the direction and volume of elite(presidents, prime ministers etc.) support for a given policy within the administration; reporting that challenges a president’s foreign policy stance enhances the public’s ability to think critically about such a policy’ (Page, Entman 1994). That is ,the public develops its opinions of foreign policy based on frames they receive from elite political leaders via the news media. (Entman 2004) Also, Entman (2004) shows the conditions when relationships among news media and politicians and audience can work very well ’ …the more accessible an idea is in the mind of an audience member, the easier it becomes for a leader to use those frames to get everyone – journalists and the public – thinking alike.’
Domke, David. (2004) said ’…the news media “seemlessly”adhered official language since it was delivered in the context of immediacy; Bush and elite members of his administration spoke in terms of haste and urgency, conforming therefore to “predominant journalistic conceptions o f what qualifies as news.’
164
Conclusions
As a result, we notice that the media have little choices. The news media use a modified language which is often met in talks about international terrorism.
‘But since the language shift has not been universal (neither domestically nor internationally), the result is debate and discussion. By modifying the words they use to talk about international terrorism, Western leaders begin the process of winning Muslim hearts and minds. The way we talk about terrorism can enhance intellectual debate among elected leaders, news media, and citizens rather than embolden radical forces. ‘(Armstrong, Chin, Levente 2008)
‘Recent research may disagree over the degree to which the mass news media influence public opinion, but no one doubts the media have such power. As discussed earlier, journalists rely on frames as useful cognitive shortcuts when crafting their stories. The frames not only help journalists assemble and deliver their information, but also help news consumers in process what they observe. Indeed, people have become increasingly dependent on the news media to set their personal agendas, allowing journalists to dictate which issues and concerns should rise to the fore.’ (Iyengar, Kinder 1987)
Robert Entman(2003) ‘doubts that individual reporters or news outlets have the power to change public policy or shift public opinion; his anecdotal evidence profiling two national reporters’ failures to shift attention away from the elite Global War on Terror frame exemplifies such failures.’
Armstrong, Chin, Levente (2008) conclude that ‘If we accept the reasonable counterargument (that in a democratic society, a free press will seldom if ever toe the party line) we find it actually furthers the mission of a government looking to influence public opinion by changing its language. ‘‘The language shift encouraged by the Brown administration has left the
165
confines of Whitehall; it is now making newspaper headlines. But since the language shift has not been universal (neither domestically nor internationally), the result is debate and discussion’.
REFERENCES
Bennett, W. Lance and David L. Paletz, editors. Taken by Storm: The Media, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Gulf War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press in Jim Armstrong, Candace J. Chin, Uri Levente 2008The Language of Counter-Terrorism British Consulate-General, New England belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/.../PAE_UK%20Prevent_Counterterrorism_Strat.pdf Domke, David. (2004) God Willing? Political Fundamentalism in the White House: The War on Terror & the Echoing Press.Michigan: University of Michigan Press in Jim Armstrong, Candace J. Chin, Uri Levente 2008The Language of Counter-Terrorism British Consulate-General, New England belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/.../PAE_UK%20Prevent_Counterterrorism_Strat.pdf Druckman, James N. (2001) “The Implications of Framing Effects for Citizen Competence.” Political Behavior. 23(3):225-56. belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/.../PAE_UK%20Prevent_Counterterrorism_Strat.pdf Entman, Robert M. (2003) Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Entman, Robert M. (2004) “Cascading Activation: Contesting the White House's Frame After 9/11.” Political Communication, 20:4,415 – 432. belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/.../PAE_UK%20Prevent_Counterterrorism_Strat.pdf Nacos, Brigitte L. and Oscar Torres-Reyna. (2003) “Framing Muslim-Americans Before and After 9/11”. In Norris, Kern, and Just,eds. Framing Terrorism: The News Media, the Government and the Public. New York: Routledge Press. in Jim Armstrong, Candace J. Chin, Uri Levente 2008 The Language of Counter-Terrorism British Consulate-General, New England belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/.../PAE_UK%20Prevent_Counterterrorism_Strat.pdf Page, Benjamin, Robert Entman. (1994) “The News Before the Storm.” In Bennett & Paletz, eds. Taken by Storm: The Media, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Gulf War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Iyengar, Shanto and Adam Simon. (1994) “News Coverage of the Gulf Crisis and Public Opinion.” in Jim Armstrong, Candace J. Chin, Uri Levente 2008The Language of Counter-Terrorism British Consulate-General, New England belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/.../PAE_UK%20Prevent_Counterterrorism_Strat.pd.
166
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Adina BARBU-Chirimbu, Ph.D is a lecturer at the Department of Philology Languages, Faculty of Letters within „Spiru Haret” University (Bucharest, Romania) and mentor-trainer in multiculturalism and European studies. A graduate of Foreign Languages and Literature Faculty, Department of Finance and Banking later and post-graduate studies in Applied Linguistics (University of Bucharest) and various specialized programs in specialized terminologies, translation studies (legal, marketing, statistics), she is the author of 5 textbooks and university courses (in GE, English teaching, translation studies, globalization studies, terminology).
Angela Jireghie, Rodica Biris – University Vasile Goldis, Arad;
Angelina МARKOVSKA has a Ph.D. in Political Science since 2008. At the moment, she lectures in the History of International Relations, Theory of International Relations, Political Culture, Comparative Political System and other courses. Her research interests are mainly related to international relation after the Cold War, the Balkan’s policy making, public policies, NGOs and think-tanks, E-mail: [email protected];
Cristina Frăsie, Phd. Assoc. Prof., Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences, University of Craiova, Romania, The scientific and academic studies are concretized in the publishing of 7 books of which singular author she is, over 60 articles in national and international magazines. She is the director of a European project and member of the researching stuff in six grants. She is affiliated to widely-recognized organizational and professional structures and member of the editorial staff at some publications, representative for the Academic society from Craiova. Among her books, as singular author, we mention: International Law of Human Rights (Academica, Greisfwald, Germania, 2008); The international protection of the human rights (Didacticăşi Pedagogică, 2008); The human rights in the contemporary society (Scrisul Românesc, 2009). E-mail: [email protected];
Dobrin Dobrev, PhD (born on 3.01.76) is a lecturer at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo, E-mail: [email protected];
Floare Chipea (born on February 1, 1952): Prof. PH.D., Dean of the Faculty of Social-Humanistic Sciences, and Director of the Doctoral School in Sociology at
167
the University of Oradea, Romania. BA: Sociology; MA: Sociology, Management; PhD: Sociology (University of Bucharest, 1997). Director of several studies, projects and grants, organizer of conferences.
Marius Hriscu, Lecturer Ph.D, Faculty of Communication Sciences, „Apollonia” University of Iasi e-mail: [email protected]; Teodora Kaleynska, Associate Professor, PhD, University of Veliko Turnovo, Faculty of Philosophy, Political Science, [email protected]; Sebastian Chirimbu, Ph.D is a lecturer at the Department of Specialized Languages, Faculty of Letters within „Spiru Haret” University (Bucharest, Romania) and mentor-trainer in Management and European Affairs. A graduate of Foreign Languages and Literature Faculty, Department of Finance and Banking later and post-graduate studies in Management (the National School of Political Studies) and various specialized programs in communication management, human resources, specialized terminologies (EU), he is the author of 20 textbooks and university courses (in institutional and diplomatic discourse, translation studies, globalization studies, terminology), and last 3 years, he published over 25 articles on globalization, organizational management, economic welfare, the EU integration process and eurolect /eurojargon(specialized EU terminology). E-mail: [email protected];
Simona Stanciu (born on May 23, 1965): Associate Prof. PH.D., Director of the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Philosophy, University of Oradea, Romania. BA: Medicine; Social Work, Psychology; MA: Education; Human Resources Management; International Relations; PH.D.: Sociology (University of Bucharest, 2007). Member in PH.D. commissions; participation in several projects and grants, conferences and teaching assignments. E-mail: [email protected];
Venka Kouteva-Tsvetkova, Associate Professor, PhD, Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Pedagogy, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo, e-mail: [email protected];
Vihren Bouzov, (born 1966), Prof.PhD, Dean of Philosophical Faculty 2003-1011, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria, Vice-Dean resp. Scientific Research and International Cooperation (from June 2011), Taught Courses and Fields of Research Interests: Philosophy of Law, Decision Theory and Logic of Social Sciences, Philosophy of Language. He published in Bulgaria 6 monographs and 3 textbooks, 1 collective book and 24 papers abroad. Coordinator
168
of the MIS-ETC Code 408 Research Project “Maximization of Comparative Advantages of Border Regions”, Romania-Bulgaria Cross border Cooperation Program 2007-2013, Lead Partner: University of Craiova, 18 months. Contacts: [email protected], +359/878536444
Violeta Stoycheva, PhD, Assistant Professor of Methodology of History teaching at the History department, University of Veliko Turnovo “St. St. Cyril and Methodius”. She is an education expert at the European Information Center (EIC) in Veliko Turnovo and an author and co-author of more than 70 publications in the sphere of didactic and methodology of history teaching, gender equality, oral history and everyday life during socialism, nonviolent education, civic education, etc.
Viorica Banciu. Studies: graduate of the Faculty of Letters. Work place: University of Oradea. Scientific title: Ph.D. senior lecturer. Fields of interest: Linguistics, Discourse analysis, Literature, English Language Teaching. Research: - over 50 scientific papers published, 3 books published in English. 17 participations at international conferences, E-mail: [email protected]
SITE:
MIS-ETC Code Project 408 “Maximizing Comparative Advantages of Border Regions”:
http://crossbgborder.com/cbcrobg/index-en.html