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The Western Balkans: A social contract in transition
In the middle of March in Brussels about 40 representatives of civil society from European Union candidate countries (South-East Europe, Turkey and Iceland) attended the European Commission study tour “Direct democracy and e-democracy as a means for fostering transparency, civic engagement and participation” as part of People 2 People program. […]
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The era of “The State should give me” must end
Imagine the public budget as a big cake. The biggest slices cover expenses for pensions, education, unemployment benefits, medical insurance, social assistance, etc. Together they make up the components of the welfare state on which we rely so much. If one slice of the cake gets bigger, the other pieces […]
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The democratic rollback in the post-communist region: a reply
1. What do we mean by ‘Eastern Europe’? We should start the discussion by examining the terms we use. What is actually meant by “Central and Eastern Europe”? Does the term have a geographic, cultural, or political meaning? Whichever sense we chose, a clarified definition would help insiders and outsiders […]