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Editorial

FEDERALISM

Peter C. Ordeshook & Olga Shvetsova

Federalism and Constitutional Design

Countries that have undergone recent transitions successfully ( Spain , Taiwan ) may best illustrate how to get to a federation, but stable democracies best illustrate what a federation is. Mature democracies such as the United States and Germany make obvious the principles of stable federal relations and the proper design of the democratic institutions that must be outlined in a nation 's constitution during the transition. Success depends on two interrelated factors: the structure of elections and the constitutional weakness of the chief executive.

Pierre Kende

Three Possible Ways for the Small Eastern European Nations

Small nations of Eastern Europe have so far faced modernity in two opposite, and equally frustrating ways: either by integrating into a multinational empire, or by striving to constitute themselves into nation-states in their own rights. Against this background, federalism could be a third way and, at the same time, the answer for a viable reconciliation in the region.

Frank Delmartino

Belgium after the Fourth State Reform:

Completed Federalism or Confederalism in the Making?

During the course of one political generation Belgium has evolved from a decentralised unitary state towards a truly federal one. Nevertheless Belgium may he described neither as a federation, nor as a confederation. The country is actually less than a federation, yet more than a confederation and there are to be expected further steps towards more regional autonomy.

DIALOGUE

Forum: From Monoculture to Interculturalism (II)

The second part of the forum focused on illustrating interculturalism as characteristic of the Banat region in Romania . The region formerly comprised an ethnic and religious diversity unique in Europe, but the communist regime succeeded to wipe' out many of its entities; on the other hand, present policies do not envisage the preservation of the diversity the region may still hold, intercultural heritage resting therefore completely with the civil society.

ANALYSE

Andrei Roth

Ethnical Prejudice and National Specificity

The study offers both a many-angled theoretical insight on the sources of ethnical prejudice (the simplistic, clear-cut logic of we/they is related to archaic, infant, totalitarian group psychology) and an approach of the different ways national specificity has been viewed by Romanian intellectuals in this century.

CASE STUDY

Haller Istvdn

The Hadareni Case

The study analyzes the collective violence perpetrated on the Roma community of Hadareni in 1993, as well as the discriminatory course the official investigation took under the pressure of certain political parties in power at the time. The case has reached court trial only in 1997, after the democratic changes in Romania brought about by the 1996 political elections, and its approach in court still needs to be surveyed by the civil society in order to make sure an undiscriminatory court decision will be reached.

DOCUMENT

Education Law nr. 84 of 1995 (excerpts)

Ordinance nr.36, Supplement to the Education Law

Sndor N. Szilgyi

Why Cannot Hungarian Children Learn Romanian at School?

Far from being unwilling to learn Romanian, Hungarian children in Romania cannot cope with the handbooks which are designed for native speakers of Romanian, and not for children to whom Romanian is either a second language (in the regions where the Hungarian minority lives mixed with the Romanian majority) or a foreign language (in the regions where Hungarians form compact homogeneous groups). The handbooks and curricula are not oriented towards the acquisiton of everyday linguistical competence, neither are teachers prepared to teach Romanian to non-Romanians too.

TRANSYLVANIAN CONVERGENCIES

Marius Turda

Aurel C. Popovici and Romanian Federalism

in Transylvania (1890-1906)

An astute analyse of the Romanian theoreticians endeavours towards a paradigm shift from the national solution to a federal solution. In A. C.Popovicis view, a turn of the century author, the legitimizing source of such a solution could have been the Habsburg royal family. The value of this turn-of-the-century theory is becoming salient today, when the concept of a Central Europe is gaining more and more legitimacy.

FACES OF EUROPE

Per Solli

Sami Indigenous People of Norway

The paper briefly describes Sami history and culture, and goes on by presenting the latest positive evolution of the Samisstatus in Norway , evolution which can turn into a real chance for preserving Sami identity.

Gogu Padioti

Aromanians and Their Songs

Their culture being almost completely oral, and they themselves usually not being recognized as a distinct ethnic group by the Balkan states where they live, the Aromanians seem to be doomed to cultural extinction their archaic, unique songs being just a piece of the cultural treasure that will be lost.

ECUMENICA

Luke A. Veronis

Words of Peace or Worlds at War:

Religion, Hostility and Reconciliation in South Eastern Europe

Religion being for many of us a fundamental element in our self-identification, it can play an important role in uniting or dividing people, by proclaiming a message of love or, on the contrary, by emphasizing differences. The outburst of violence in Albania was partly due to the misuse of religious teachings which served as a cover for the war between politicians.

REVIEWS

Mitteleuropa, Jacques Le Rider

Pan-Europa, Richard N. Coudenhove-Kalergi