ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND INEQUALITY IN EUROPEAN UNION
Mihail CARADAICĂ, PhD | Department of International Relations and European Integration, SNSPA Bucharest/Romania
Abstract
The paper aims to explore the roots of inequality in the European Union by focusing on the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enlarge the actual digital divide. Each time a new technology is broadly implemented in society, it generates economic and social gaps. There are many similar examples in history when a new invention brought poverty for significant categories of people, who faced unemployment due to new industrial machines or found themselves unable to operate or afford new devices. Therefore, the research question that I will try to answer in this paper is: “does artificial intelligence have the potential to create more inequality in the European Union?”. To answer this question, I will firstly address the issue of AI’s state of the art and I will research how this new technology is industrially implemented, aiming to see to what extent it represents a threat to our jobs or our way of life. Secondly, I will search for social mechanisms that generate inequality by using the concept of digital divide. This theoretical approach focuses on the possibility of people impoverishing due to the lack of basic skills and the impossibility to afford new available technologies. Thirdly, I will develop a case study, a comparative approach on EU’s member states strategies in the field of AI.
Keywords: artificial intelligence; digital divide; European Union; inequality; machine learning
META-EVALUATION – AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVALUATION TOOLS OF THE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION POLICIES IN ROMANIA FOR THE FINANCIAL FRAMEWORKS 2007 – 2013 AND 2014 – 2020
Ecaterina COMIȘ, PhD Student | National University of Political Studies and Public Administration | Bucharest/Romania
Abstract
According to the EU regulations, the policy evaluation is compulsory, for the European Union but also the Member States, as established by the Lisbon Treaty (article no. 156). The purpose of this paper is to verify if there is a correlation between the accessibility (usability) of evaluation outcomes and the degree of use of these results in the process of substantiating future policies. Subsequently, we aim to identify if the evaluation tools play an essential role in increasing the use of the evaluation results and in maintaining the EU’s role of knowledge generator in the field of evaluation. Supporting the development of an evaluation culture is essential for the EU’s effort to understand what works and what is not working and how its policies are functioning in order to enhance cooperation and maximize impact or improve strategies.
The case study, presented in this article, aims to identify the appropriate tools for evaluating research and innovation policies to improve the quality, efficiency and coherence of interventions, considering the context of a significant financial allocation for research and innovation in the future EU budget for the financial framework 2021 – 2027. The study it is expected to provide an answer to the question “To what extent were the results of the evaluations used in the process of substantiating the research and innovation policies in Romania?”
Keywords: meta-evaluation; research and innovation policies; evaluation tools.
A PSYCHOSOCIAL PROFILE OF THE IMMIGRANT: A CASE STUDY
Ahmet DAŞTAN, PhD | National School of Political Science and Public Administration | Bucharest/ Romania
Abstract
The migratory flux from the Midele East to the European Union has been on the rise in the past decades due to the almost continuous conflicts in the Arabic Peninsula and to the economic differences between the two regions. Many people were displaced by war and have decided to migrate to the European Union because of the good perspectives the EU Member States have offered for them and for their families.
Although there are many general characteristics of the migratory flux from the Middle East to the European Union, every migration wave has its own traits, its own motives and its own dimensions. Starting from these premises, the specific traits, motives and dimensions of the migratory wave of members of the Hizmet Movement in the past three years will be studied in this article. This movement has emerged in Turkey half a century ago and has become today an important social construct in this country, a network formed of educated people who are involved in developing projects aimed at helping the community.
Many of the volunteers who are part of the Hizmet Movement have decided to leave the country after the political events that took place in Turkey and 2016. This situation has led to a large wave of migrants from Turkey to the EU Member States in the past three years and to a migratory flux with its own traits, motives and dimensions. Starting from these premises, we will show how Hizmet is an example of a politically motivated, forced immigration, with consequences on employment, family, identity, standard of living, all analyzed from the perspective of the right to emigration according to the UN Global Compact for Emigration developed in 2016.
In this article, we will seek to identify these specific characteristics of the recent migratory wave from Turkey to the European Union, the results of the study showing that this wave has many of the characteristics of the larger migratory flux that connects the Middle East and the European territory and that the characteristics of this migration spurt are predicted by the most important academic theories of migration.
Keywords: Hizmet movement; Middle East; migration; the European Union.
DOES THE EUROPEAN GOVERNANCE STRENGTHEN AS A RESULT OF THE REFORM PROCESS ADOPTED BY THE TREATY OF LISBON?
Adrian-Stelian DUMITRU, PhD Candidate | National University of Political Studies and Public Administration | Bucharest/Romania
Abstract
The importance of the Lisbon Treaty has been and is still widely debated in the academic environment. The insufficiency of the European Union model required adapting the Union to the reality of a 27 members that would bring it closer to its citizens, deepen democracy, increase efficiency and prepare the EU for the future as a global player. The discussion about governance arises in this context of the need to increase the transparency of the decision-making process and the implementation of public policies in a Union with different levels of decision-making. The objectives of ensuring the connection of citizens with democratic institutions so that they feel represented was an initial condition for more relevant and effective policies. In this article, I intend to first analyse the concept of governance and then I will focus on the mechanisms by which it has been strengthened once the new provisions of the Lisbon Treaty were implemented, with an emphasis on citizens’ initiative, the role of national parliaments, the role of regions and local authorities, finally presenting the figures from the end of 2019 that show the confidence of citizens in the EU, compared to 2009 before the reform. We will see that more than 10 years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, citizens’ confidence in the EU reaches a modest threshold of 43% and 2% higher when it comes to democracy – 45% of citizens agree that their voice matters in the EU.
Keywords: democratic legitimacy; European governance; Treaty of Lisbon.
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS AS CONSUMER OF LATIN AMERICAN SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMMES
Maria Angelica FERRER HERRERA, Mg | Faculty of Law, University of Atlántico | Barranquilla/ Colombia
Abstract
School feeding programmes (SFP) provide food to millions of children around the world in partnership with United Nations` member states using the existing school infrastructure. (State of school feeding Worldwide 2013). Thus, it has been necessary that each state and / or government develop the creation of SFP as part of its public policies, in order to provide quality and safety food supplements and services to children and adolescents of school age. Program operators become suppliers of goods and services, creating a consumption relationship, where the food recipients are the final consumer. Therefore, this consumption relationship is protected by international protocols, consumer policies and regulations of the constitutional and legal order, which protects consumers’ rights with special relevance for children and adolescents. Experience in Latin American countries such as Colombia, Brazil and Chile (Feeding the Future 2018) has determined that access to nutritious food leads to eradication of hunger and malnutrition; school attendance and permanence and contributes to closing gender gaps in school education. (Zero hunger 2018). This paper reviews the evolution and development of the SFP from the Colombian experience, as well as the identification of bad practices, abuses and complaints in the operation of the SFP. As a result, SFP`s act as form of protection of children`s rights as consumer through the application of consumer rights regulation.
Keywords: child development; children as consumer; consumer rights; food safety; right to education; School feeding programmes.
EUROPEAN UNION-ISRAEL RELATIONS: A DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH OF THE STATUS-QUO AS PART OF THE TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS
Daniel GHEORGHE, PhD student | ‘Theodor Herzl’ Centre of Israeli Studies – National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA) | Bucharest/ Romania
Abstract:
Although the last legislative elections in Israel indicate a strong desire for political change, the Israeli voter is still very much aware of the position of Israel on the current international scene. The Peace Plan for Israel and Palestine proposed by the Trump administration, on the one hand, alienated even more the Palestinian Authority, and on the other hand, ignored European Union’s willingness to become a more relevant global actor by not involving it in the development of the Plan. Regardless the results of the future presidential elections in the United States, it is important to understand up to which extent should the European Union get involved in order to prevent potential negative outcomes of the Peace Plan. Starting from this context, the research aims at outlining the current dynamics and narratives governing the relations between the European Union, as a global actor, and Israel, as a regional actor in the Middle East, including here the global implications of the events in this region.
Keywords: European Union; Israel; Middle East; Trump administration; Two-State Solution; United States.
DENYING DIVERSITY. CHALLENGES TO MULTICULTURALISM IN CENTRAL-EASTERN EUROPE
Osman KOMURCU, PhD | National University of Political Studies and Public Administration | Bucharest/Romania
Abstract
This article addresses the issue regarding the recent intensification of tendencies that oppose multiculturalism around the world and especially on the territory of the European Union. Starting from these premises, the article aims at identifying the degree to which the Central-Eastern Europe region can be considered as being a tolerant geographical space when analyzing recent manifestations of racism, extremism, antisemitism, xenophobia and Islamophobia and when analyzing the same manifestations in other countries or regions in the world. The comparison between the situation in Central-Eastern Europe and the situation in other countries or regions will be made through the analysis of several indexes developed by organizations, scholars or recognized international institutions, indexes that will show that the manifestations of diversity denial are far less intense in Central-Eastern Europe than in other countries or regions in the world and will confirm that the CEE states are close not only geographically, but also from political, economic or social perspectives.
Keywords: antisemitism; diversity; Islamophobia; Multiculturalism; racism; xenophobia.
THE CONCEPT OF SECURITY SECTOR REFORM – NECESSITY, LIMITS AND THE WAY FOR FURTHER IMPROVEMENT
Andreea – Roxana OLTEANU, PhD Student | National University of Political Studies and Public Administration | Bucharest/ Romania
Abstract
In the academic literature, the transformation of the institutions, roles, and processes related to national security, addressed at a sub-state level of analysis, has traditionally been a less prominent area of study, especially if compared to the weight of international security and the external behaviour of states. However, the need to understand the security-related issues from the internal environment of states has led, especially in the last three decades, to the emergence of several concepts and approaches that have also addressed additional levels of analysis and topics such as human security or the transformation of the security field in states in transition. The concept of security sector reform, which refers to this last topic, developed during the 1990s. Despite its already long history, the concept is still prone to shortcomings and may be subject to further development. The aim of this paper is to briefly analyse its meaning, as well as its limits and prospects for development, in order to provide an additional contribution to a better understanding of the underdeveloped area of security studies addressed through it. The study relies upon examples from the recent past of the Romanian security sector.
Keywords: 1990s; Romania; security sector reform; theory.
DEMOCRACY AS A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF HUMAN DIGNITY, THE VALUABLE LIFE PROJECT AND SOCIAL HAPPINESS
Jesús CALDERA YNFANTE, PhD | Professor of Constitutional Law and Human Rights in the School of Law of the Catholic University of Colombia | Bogota/Colombia
Abstract
Democracy is a fundamental right linked to the realization of a person’s worthy life project regarding its corresponding fulfillment of Human Rights. Along with the procedures to form political majorities, it is mandatory to incorporate the substantial part as a means and end for the normative content of Human Dignity to be carried out allowing it to: i) freely choose a project of valued life with purpose and autonomy ii) to have material and intangible means to function in society; and iii) to live free from harm and fear in order to achieve human flourishing. The integral democracy is a means and an end to materialize individual happiness and the common good as long as everyone has concrete opportunities to unfold its inherent human dignity capacities within the trademark of the democratic constitutional State. Assuming this, integral democracy is the fundamental right of Fundamental Rights.
Keywords: democracy; fundamental rights; happiness; human dignity; life project.
BOOK REVIEW
George Friedman, 2020: The Storm before the Calm, Doubleday, New York, 256 pages,
ISBN-10: 0385540493, ISBN-13: 978-0385540490
Antonia COLIBĂŞANU, PhD
National University of Political Studies and Public Administration
Bucharest/ Romania
BOOK REVIEW
Andrew Lambert, 2018, Seapower States. Maritime Culture, Continental Empires, and the Conflict that Made the Modern World, Yale University Press, UK, 427 pages, ISBN: 9780300240900
Mihai MURARIU
Researcher, Faculty of Political Science, Philosophy and Communication, West University of Timișoara
Timişoara / Romania
