FSP - Public Policies

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Admiterea la liceu în România : o analiza din perspectiva mecanismelor de repartizare
(Facultatea de Stiinte Politice, SNSPA, 2018) Gheba, Andreea
In this article, I present (using non- formalized language) examples of theoretical solutions proposed by researchers focused on the study of mechanism design theory, with the purpose of solving specific educational policy issues based on the school choice principle. Focusing on the mechanisms that aim a controlled school choice by parents, I describe mechanisms whose objective is to implement affirmative policies (e.g., quotas for specific categories of students). At the same time, in this paper, I analyze the characteristics of the system through which the students are assigned to high-school in Romania, using “mechanism design theory“ literature."
Analysis of the factors influencing the favorable participation of students with special needs in public tertiary education in Romania
(MDPI, 2022) Stăiculescu, Camelia ; Dincă, Mihaela Violeta; Gheba, Andreea
Even though research focused on inclusive education in Romania for institutions within the primary and secondary education system has been carried out, there are not many studies that approach the factors determining a favorable inclusion of students in higher education institutions. The central goal of the article consisted in investigating what impacts the willingness and openness for inclusive education for Romanian universities and the potential impact of five constructs of variables applied on fifteen universities from Romania. The outcomes of the quantitative (econometrical) analysis (a survey based on a questionnaire) showed the major impact of the variables of “policies and structures of the university”, “curriculum and pedagogy/teaching strategies”, “community and social integration”, and “accessibility and resources for students” (all focused on students with special needs) on the “willingness and openness for inclusive education” for Romanian universities. The variable of “communication and transparency” (focused on students with special needs) was associated with a medium influence on the “willingness and openness for inclusive education” for Romanian universities. This paper underlines the importance of incorporating the necessary training, support, flexibility, and resources to respond to a variety of student needs in order to improve inclusive education within higher education institutions in Romania.
Assessing labour migration policies from the incorporation perspective : the case of Romania
(2024) Florian, Bogdan; Ion, Oana Andreea; Mocanu, Mircea
Migrants play an important role in shaping today’s EU, both in terms of the labour market, and society as a whole. The analyses of the migration policies, including the labour sector, are generally focused on the control and, respectively, on the security dimension, while a third branch includes the researches on the broader term of incorporation of migrants into the fabric of the host societies. This paper starts from the questions “why does the EU labour market need migrants?” and “what role can migrants play in community development?”, and it argues that using an incorporation approach in public policies concerning migrants could provide a theoretical and actional solution to overcome challenges posed by various other policy and political positions aimed against migrants. An assessment of labour-connected incorporation policies and practices is presented as a study case, using evidence-based policies and practices from Romania. The main findings of the paper indicate that there is a huge gap between stated aims of written strategies, actions being implemented and the perception of intended target groups. The article argues that this deviation is due, at least in the case of Romania, to a weak administrative capacity to manage migrant flows and the challenges they bring to traditional and rigid legal and administrative systems. The gap is also due to poor operationalisation of the concept of incorporation in policy practice, with contradictory simultaneously policy narratives of adaptation, assimilation, inclusion, or integration, and without a clear goal that should shape a national labour migration policy.
Calitatea învăţământului superior din România : o analiză instituţională a tendinţelor actuale
(Polirom, 2011) Păunescu, Mihai; Vlăsceanu, Lazăr; Miroiu, Adrian; Florian, Bogdan; Voicu, Bogdan; Tufiș, Claudiu
The volume synthesizes the main results and trends in Romanian higher education, based on information collected over three years of sociological surveys, analysis of social documents, observations of various quality assurance processes. The obtained data are analyzed from an institutionalist perspective, detecting the expected consequences, but also the unexpected ones, often adverse effects, of policies, norms or practices of assessment, funding and accreditation in higher education. The validity of the analysis is ensured by triangulating data obtained from multiple sources, both objective and subjective perceptions and representations. The results constitute the foundation for the formulation of public policies based on comprehensive knowledge of Romanian higher education.
Cultivating Civic Engagement: The Role of Universities in Promoting Democratic Values to Social Science Students
(UJ MANDATUM KONYVKIADO, 2024) Albulescu, Magdalena
In contemporary society, the concept of civic engagement appears as an essential condition for the functioning of democracy and social well-being. Civic engagement transcends simple participation in the electoral process and encompasses a wider spectrum of activities: civic and community participation, activism, and public dialogue. Thus, cultivating civic engagement is a mission, duty, and responsibility for universities, particularly for social science programs. They derive from the need to form and shape not only professionals but also responsible and involved people from a civic and social point of view. However, the mechanisms by which higher education institutions can effectively cultivate such engagement among students remain a subject of debate and investigation. This study seeks to bridge this gap by exploring the strategies used by universities to promote civic awareness among students. Methodologically, this article proposes a study on one of the most important universities in the field of social, political, and administrative sciences in Romania. By analyzing the perceptions and experiences of students, the research provides new empirical data on how educational practices influencing civic and political engagement are evolving, or, conversely, reveals institutional shortcomings in fulfilling the mission of promoting civic engagement among students. In this sense, a standardized questionnaire was distributed to the students from the political science bachelor's degree program to analyze their perceptions and experiences regarding how the study programs and the teachers' activity incorporate the component of civic and political involvement. Data analysis highlights how and if higher education programs cultivate and shape student engagement through academic programs, extracurricular activities, or community partnerships.
Entrepreneurship and education : the missing link in international development theory and practice
(Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, 2008) Aligică, Paul Dragoș; Florian, Bogdan
Education and entrepreneurship are commonly considered major factors of economic development. If that is the case, one would expect that the international development organisations give a special attention to initiatives promoting education on entrepreneurship (teaching entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and ideas) and entrepreneurship in education (promoting the entrepreneurial initiative in providing, maintaining and developing education services). The study finds that these organisations' agenda has not started yet to incorporate the basic insights regarding the link between the two factors and concludes that this situation creates opportunities for a rich analytical and policy agenda in the area of education and entrepreneurship.
EU microbial pest control: A revolution in waiting
(Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), 2022) Helepciuc, Florenta-Elena; Todor, Arpad
Recent evaluations of the microbial biological control sector indicate that implementing microbial control of pests is still slow in the EU. The top causal factors are the lengthy, expensive, and cumbersome two-stage procedure for approval of biological agents as active substances at the EU level and authorization of formulated products at the national level, limited funding, lack of EU level integrated approaches, and slow implementation of integrated pest management. This article contributes to a better understanding of the factors that limit microbial control of pests in EU agriculture by providing the first evaluation of the evolution of microbial biological control agent (MBCA) EU-level approval combined with that of microbial biological control product (MBCP) national-level authorization, discusses recent trends in research and offers some policy recommendations. By 2020, the EU had caught up with the USA regarding research output, approved MBCAs, and MBCA approval procedures (first stage). Despite improvements from 2014 to 2019, the number of authorized MBCPs (second stage) has progressed slowly and unevenly across the EU. Significant progress is concentrated in countries with more extensive agricultural land and higher research intensity. The EUʼs focus on promoting more sustainable agriculture by increasing the availability of low-risk pesticides of biological origin as alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides has gained traction in recent years. Nevertheless, more efforts to improve the capacity and expertise of laggard EU Member States to contribute to the approval of MBCA, authorization of MBCP, and stimulating market availability are needed. Furthermore, we recommend introducing more concrete measures to promote the adoption of the microbial control of pests in the National Action Plans for the sustainable use of pesticides.
Evaluating the effectiveness of the EU's approach to the sustainable use of pesticides
(Public Library of Science (PLOS), 2021) Helepciuc, Florența-Elena; Todor, Arpad
By adopting the 2009 "pesticide package," the EU proposed a common approach to limiting the harmful effects of pesticides, promoting Integrated Pest Management, and the progressive replacement of the most dangerous pesticides with low-risk alternatives through a comprehensive but flexible framework for all EU Member States. Each EU Member State had to develop a National Action Plan that would propose measures to achieve the package’s goals. Nevertheless, the choice of actions and indicators remained to be established at the national level. A series of recent evaluations of how Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (SUD), a central piece of the "pesticide package," was implemented showed limited success in achieving its goals. Aiming to explain these failures, we compare the National Action Plans eight EU Member States adopted after the SUD. We assess the degree to which the countries’ proposed measures and indicators would achieve the Directive’s three overarching objectives (reduce risks and impact; promote Integrated Pest Management; promote approaches and techniques to reduce reliance on pesticides). We develop the comparative analysis along three dimensions: the promotion of measures to achieve SUD’s three goals; the evolution of the pre-and post-Directive action plans of some of the old EU Member States; and the differences between old and the new EU Member States. The comparison along ten variables shows that the SUD had a minimal effect in homogenizing different states’ approaches to develop their National Action Plans to systematically treat problems, propose measures, and timetables for implementation and indicators. Given that the overall effect in generating a common EU approach to raise the sustainability of pesticide use and agriculture, in general, was still limited, as no common measures, indicators, or process to planning were identified, we discuss some suggestions to improve the situation.
Family background, gender and reading achievement in Romania
(Fundatia 'Orient Expres', 2015) Țoc, Sebastian; Gheba, Andreea
In the last years, Romania formally tried to overcome the problems related to inequality of opportunity in education. This paper examines the role of home resources and gender in determining academic performance. Based on secondary data drawn from Progress in International Reading Literacy Study we suggest that both gender and home resources have a significant impact on the reading achievement of students. The existing work operationalizes the differences in reading achievement as an indicator for life chances, being proportional with economic success later in life. Our findings contradict ideas about equality of opportunity promoted by the official curriculum regarding the individual merit as the main factor that places students in privileged social positions.
Gen și interese politice : teorii și practici
(Polirom, 2007) Băluță, Oana; Dragolea, Alina; Iancu, Alice
What do citizens want from politicians? How do they allocate public goods? From whom and how would they take taxes if they so decided? Is it relevant whether citizens are women or men? The great grievances of the inhabitants of this country are related to the most underfunded areas of public interest: health, education, social protection, civilizing infrastructure. As in these areas, by political decision, the lowest salaries of all budgetary areas are practiced, women earn little, even if they have higher qualified professions. They are condemned to poverty and dependency not because they are idle, do not work and do not study, but because the policy of all governments has been constructed in such a way that public money is not allocated or is very little precisely for the work of raising, educating and caring for them. In this volume, the authors set out to present the theoretical tools underlying the gender analysis of political interests and to apply them in a few cases, in everyday life, in the labor market or in the study of social exclusion. (Mihaela Miroiu)
Green Policies, Gray Areas: Farmers' Protests and the Environmental Policy Dilemma in the European Union
(UJ MANDATUM KONYVKIADO, 2024) Bujdei-Tebeică, Vlad
This paper presents a comparative analysis of farmer protests across seven European countries (France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, and Romania) from late 2023 to early 2024, focusing on the intersection of anti-environmentalist discourse and Euroscepticism within these movements. Amidst growing tensions between agricultural practices and environmental policies, these protests highlight how civil society can pose a threat to the implementation of environmental policy across the European Union (EU). Utilizing discourse analysis and comparative methodology, the paper examines the platforms and public statements of the protesting groups to identify core themes of resistance against environmental regulations and EU agricultural policies. Furthermore, it incorporates a Euroscepticism lens to explore how anti-EU sentiments exacerbate the protests, reflecting broader issues of sovereignty, identity, and economic survival in the face of EU-wide policy directives. Our findings suggest that while environmental policy concerns are at the forefront, a significant undercurrent of Euroscepticism influences the discourse and demands of these protests, presenting a multifaceted challenge for EU policymakers. By analyzing these protests in a comparative context, this study contributes to the understanding of contemporary European social movements and the intricate balance between environmental sustainability and agricultural livelihoods within the EU policy framework.
Greener European Agriculture? Evaluating EU Member States' Transition Efforts to Integrated Pest Management through Their National Action Plans
(MPDI, 2022) Helepciuc, Florența-Elena; Todor, Arpad
Integrated pest management (IPM) is among the most promising approaches for transforming today’s agronomical practices toward sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture. Aiming to become a global environmental leader, in 2009, the European Union (EU) embraced the idea of making IPM practices ubiquitously used by 2014 in all EU Member States (EU MSs). Through Directive 2009/128/EC (the Sustainable Use Directive (SUD), the EU required EU MSs to structure their transformative measures in National Action Plans (NAPs) in a comprehensive effort. These documents have a fundamental role in orienting the plans and activities of national stakeholders, such as agronomists, researchers, and local and national-level institutions. We analyze and compare the second-generation NAPs (2019–2022) of 10 EU MSs to assess their strengths and weakness and their modifications from the first generation of NAPs (2009). We advance several recommendations on how to make them more valuable instruments in structuring activities towards achieving the goals of the SUD.
Greenwashing strategy and environmental obligations : the Volkswagen case
(Medimond Publishing Company, 2016) Palade, Brîndușa
The existing European legislative framework with regard to the environment involves constraints that are perceived as hindrances to the cost-benefit analysis by some companies and business groups. For example, the Volkswagen failure to comply with such obligations by using a sophisticated greenwashing strategy in order to increase its profits on the Diesel cars sold in Europe and United States shows an obvious reluctance to cover the costs required by the environmental laws. The same tendency is revealed by the lobbying against EU environmental policies by some trade associations financed by multinational corporations which otherwise claim to support sustainable development. Companies thus tend to promote their short-term goals against the public interest, by either avoiding or trying to relax environment-related legal constraints. This article will argue for the need to elaborate a new approach to environmental obligations which would tie both short-and long-term interests to sustainable policies, by spelling enforceable measures to tax carbon release, pollution, and production of fossil-fueled products. The Volkswagen case will be discussed in order to make clear that once they are exposed by the media, greenwashing strategies are more counter-productive for a company than genuine sustainable policies. Finally, the article will show how the customers' expectations for environmentally friendly products challenges the traditional cost-benefit analysis and how the enforcement of environmental laws could make environmental obligation, besides a moral duty, a tangible and measurable business goal.
Improving the Authorization of Microbial Biological Control Products (MBCP) in the European Union within the EU Green Deal Framework
(MPDI, 2022) Helepciuc, Florența-Elena; Todor, Arpad
Developing sustainable agriculture by identifying non-chemical alternative Plant Protection Products (PPP) is a cornerstone in achieving long-sought environmental friendliness. Despite significant legislative and political efforts to promote biocontrol solutions and Integrated Pest Management (IPM), the literature points out the disadvantages posed by European Union’s (EU) two-tier system for Microbial Biological Control Agents (MBCA) approval and subsequent Microbial Biological Control Products (MBCP) authorization by each EU Member State (MS). Despite the disadvantages, in a recent article, we showed that the EU had outcompeted the US and other countries in approved MBCA in the last decades; however, MBCP approval at the national level lags. Achieving the EU Green Deal’s aim set out in the ‘Farm to Fork Strategy’ to reduce the use and risk of pesticides by 50% by 2030 is difficult without developing viable alternatives. Why do we not have higher MBCP availability and usage in the EU? Is it the current legislation, its poor application, or some other factors? The current legislative framework stimulated MBCA approval. Thus, we compare MBCA approval and MBCP authorization procedure to evaluate if MBCP authorization is more difficult and thus causes a bottleneck. We find that requirements for MBCP authorization are unnecessarily more complex. We recommend simplifying the MBCP dossier requirements and making them as similar to MBCA as possible to accelerate the MBCP authorization in more EU MS to increase their availability and integration in agronomic crops’ pest management plans.
Making the best of research investment in pathogens control through biocontrol. How is research correlated with agricultural microbial biological control product availability?
(Public Library of Science (PLOS), 2023) Helepciuc, Florența-Elena; Todor, Arpad
While using microbial biological control products (MBCPs) to limit pathogens is one of the alternatives to the ecologically unsustainable use of synthetic pesticides that received attention, the last 2 decades have not brought the foreseen leap in developing systematic alternatives based on low-risk plant protection products (PPPs) across the globe. To explain this limited progress, we map the evolution of research on the most successful microbial biological control agents (MBCAs) worldwide. We also map the financing structure in the top funding countries and the European Union (EU) to discern the relevant trends. Available data for the European Union Member States allowed us to discover a country-level and EU-level correlation between strain-level research and biocontrol products’ approval based on those strains
Out of one, many: hydro-economic logics in a World Bank-financed irrigation project in Romania
(Taylor & Francis, 2024) Iancu, Bogdan; Stroe, Monica
The study of irrigation systems has been relatively absent from research into socio-ecological transitions in ex-socialist countries, with a few exceptions. Using a World Bank designed and financed irrigation system constructed by a British contractor in 1974 in southern Romania as an entry point, we work with what we term hydro-economic logic to understand the economic and ecological transformations supported by large-scale irrigation systems in the context of rapid post-socialist change. While the socialist-era hydro-economic logic reflected the property regime over land during state-socialism, post-1990 processes of government-backed land restitution and land privatization, the collapse of the vertically-integrated economy that accompanied the network of the canals, pumps and pipes, and the advent of European Union farm payment schemes, created three distinct hydro-economic logics: independent vertical irrigation by small landholders; land grabbing next to the canals; and water grabbing by large agro-industrial business. This suggests that a long-term analysis of infrastructure systems yields unique insights into their changing techno-political rationalities and world-making capacities and may help future efforts to assess the ecological legacies of high modernist infrastructural mega-projects.
Performance - based funding : the Romanian experience of the last five years : (2016–2020)
(Springer, 2022) Păunescu, Mihai; Gheba, Andreea; Jitaru, Gabriela
Performance-based funding has a long experience of debates and implementation in Romania, distinguishing three main stages of refinement in its implementation, starting with 2002. The actual form is similar starting with 2016, an important share of Romanian higher education funding for teaching activities in public universities (26.5%) being distributed according to quality indicators (applied by field of study). Given that the main objective of this mechanism is to reward performance, as well as to assure a more transparent and predictable resource allocation, the aim of this paper is to identify how this allocation mechanism actually worked over the past five years. The performance-based criteria employed in the supplementary funding component cover four main categories: teaching/learning, scientific research/artistic creation, international orientation, regional orientation & social equity. According to the national funding allocation mechanism, each quality indicator is assigned a share of the total funding, with the final distribution being determined by each institutions performance score relative to the others in the same scientific field. The paper unfolds the evolution of this systems implementation in the five years since its adoption (2016–2020) and presents the main results of a preliminary analysis. We also explore the extent to which certain characteristics of universities, such as their size or their dominant field of study, impact the resulting distribution of funds. This paper results may enrich and contribute to the larger national and international debate on performance-based funding and quality assurance in higher education.
Pisa 2018 : Ce ne spun noile rezultate Pisa despre inegalitățile educaționale din România?
(2020) Vasile, Mihai; Muscă, Mădălina; Angi, Daniela; Bădescu, Gabriel; Florian, Bogdan; Țoc, Sebastian
PISA 2018: WHAT DO THE NEW PISA RESULTS TELL US ABOUT EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITIES IN ROMANIA? Introduction - Every three years, the PISA results trigger a broad discussion in the public space about the quality of education systems around the world. In Romania, the discussion most often focuses on the percentage of students who do not master basic notions in mathematics and Romanian language and on Romania's place in the world rankings.In December 2019, the Institute for Social Solidarity organized two events on the results of the PISA 2018 assessment, released earlier this month. During the two events, seven researchers spoke on the inequalities in the Romanian education system and what the PISA results tell us about these inequalities. The Institute for Social Solidarity proposed an alternative discussion, summarized and continued in this paper.What are the differences in scores between rural and urban students? What about those between girls and boys? How relevant is the socio-economic status of the family in determining student performance in this type of examination? What are the benefits and risks of using PISA-type tests to inform public policy? These were some of the questions that underpinned the discussions in December and guided the writing of this policy brief.This policy brief therefore broadly follows the structure of the two December 2019 events. Thus, the paper is divided into two chapters, ﬁ each with two sections, plus an additional section for conclusions. The first chapter describes the general situation of educational inequality from a residential (urban/rural) and ethnic perspective. The second chapter focuses on PISA, more specifically what the recent results tell us and how we can use them in the construction of public policies. In brief, the sections included are the following:- In the first section, Mihai Vasile sets the general framework, presenting a series of indicators that reveal one of the most signiﬁcant inequalities in the Romanian education system: that caused by the residence environment, urban or rural. - The second section starts from Mădălinei Muscă's anthropological experience in a school serving a community with a semniﬁcative number of Roma pupils and presents the degree to which Roma pupils are disadvantaged in the Romanian education system. - The third section, written by Daniela Angi and Gabriel Bădescu, sets the general framework for PISA tests and how they can inﬂuence or underpin public policies.-The fourth section, by Bogdan Florian and Sebastian Țoc, analyzes the results of PISA 2018 from the perspective of inequalities according to gender, socio-economic status of the candidates' families and the size of the locality where the assessment center is located.- The fifth and final section includes conclusions and a series of recommendations from the authors and the authors' side.
Policies to bring about social-ecological tipping points in coal and carbon intensive regions
(Elsevier, 2025) Todor, Arpad; Tăranu, Andrei; Udrea, Robert; Dănilă, Mihai; Helepciuc, Florența-Elena
Achieving the worldwide greenhouse gases (GHGs) reduction targets set in the 2015 Paris Agreement and other international treaties requires reaching a fast tipping point towards sustainably decreasing emissions. Compared to sectoral energy transitions, where different parameters can be easily measured, transitions in Coal and Carbon Intensive Regions (CCIRs) are more complex and thus more challenging to plan, implement, and study. Despite CCIRs' heterogeneity in the population, level of development, economic structure, surface, and transition timing, achieving Social-Ecological Tipping Points (SETPs) poses some common dilemmas to the local, regional, and national authorities. Simultaneously, the transition process poses significant challenges to the economies and local populations. To understand how policy choices can accelerate reaching positive SETPs, we systematically analyze policy responses since the start of the transition to a low-carbon economy for thirteen CCIRs. We evaluate whether, despite the heterogeneity, we can identify policy response patterns and whether these patterns correlate with other features of these regions. We extrapolate the characteristics of policy changes and local developments needed to generate SETPs and discuss the effects of different events on the regional transition's overall justness of this process. Finally, we advance some recommendations on designing policies to achieve positive SETPs.
Policy note : educația în timpul pandemiei : răspunsuri la criza nesfârșită a sistemului educațional românesc
(SNSPA, 2020) Florian, Bogdan; Țoc, Sebastian
The public policy analysis and the recommendations that we propose for public debate are based on the expression of a personal concern regarding the situation of the education system in Romania, in the current context of measures to prevent the spread of SARS - CoV - 2. The absence of a serious debate in the public space on the short-term (until the end of the school year), medium-term (school year 2020 - 2021) and long-term (2021 - 2027) plans, more than a month after the closure of schools, is a serious cause for concern. The recent events are exceptional and have affected all countries equally, so Romania's situation is not unique. From the perspective of public policy analysis, we have access to various sources of information: statistical data, comparative analysis and even the presentation of examples of good practice. Our approach has two stages: an analysis of the state of play, of the conditions under which future public policies in the field of education are to be implemented, followed by a list of proposals and recommendations based on the findings of the analysis. It is obvious that in this school year, but certainly also in the one to come, the education system is and will be affected by the evolution of the SARS - CoV - 2 epidemic. The reopening of schools and the resumption of normal activities are, according to the scenarios and data available at the moment at national and international level2 , an unrealistic expectation. In the absence of an effective vaccine, it is obvious that no social crowding and social interaction will be possible without the official assumption of a risk of increased infection. The reopening of schools, subject to the imposition of public health measures as well as social distancing measures, is a more realistic premise in the medium term. The analysis we have made and the proposals we are formulating cover at least three different but, we argue, strongly interconnected areas. The first is the field of public health, here we are looking at the hygienic and sanitary conditions existing in educational establishments throughout Romania. The second area considered is that of education, more specifically the interactions between teachers and pupils with the aim of transferring knowledge but also to assess the skills acquired by pupils. The third domain is the social domain, more specifically the social services that the school, as an organization, as well as other organizational actors provide to the community in which it operates.

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