Note of the editors of the Revista de Stiinte Politice. Revue des Sciences Politiques.

Olimid, Anca Parmena ; Georgescu, Catalina Maria ; Gherghe, Cosmin Lucian 等

Welcome to the fourth issue of 2014 of the Revista de Stiinte Politice. Revue des Sciences Politiqu/es (hereinafter RSP). The new covers and the concept of the journal provided since issue 41/2014 are dedicated to further the research and critical observance of the social sciences investigation.

Due to recent polictical inconsistencies and contradictions in the region, RSP Editorial Board launched a new four issues series entitled as follows: East & West Post-Communist Encounters: Ideologies, Policies, Institutions Under Scrutiny (issue 41/ 2014); Citizenship, Elections and Security: An Analytical Puzzle (issue 42/2014); Compass of Politics: Systems and Regimes Synopsis (issue 43/2014) and Local Governance-Local Political Participation Engagement: A Dialectics of Transition (issue 44/2014 launched in December 2014).

The special issue 44/2014 is concerned with the relationship between local governance and local local political participation, or more specifically with how the engagement between the two is variously examined in the context of transition. The authors of this issue focus on a complex interdisciplinary, political, legal, social and economic research to consider how the events before and after 1989 imposed a new model polarizing the public agenda of transition. A focus on how the dialects of transition is constructed and negotiated makes visible the reasons why the new ideological arena cannot be a single response to transition challenges.

The content of issue 44/2014 is a response to recent studies in the field that reconsider how a sense of governance and political participation is always appreciated within the local, national and international features. These articles highlight the dispute fed by the divergent uses of the concepts of regime, reform, constitutional justice, civil society, public law, social media, party performance, legal diagnosis revealing political, social, economic and legal reform considering the interface between "local" level, regional, national and international levels. To focus on the "local" means to encounter and re-design the practices of democratic mechanisms as a source and alternative viable form of the liberal state such as: local history, local institutions, local actors, local performance, local participation, local reform, local elections, local regulations etc.

Danisor refers to this as a "relation between just and well-being, launching the discussion on the arbitrage procedure between the new ideological landscape of the wellbeing and the liberal ideas of the "just ver well-being".

In his analysis, Turker shares the common characteristics of the authoritarian regime in post-communist Central Asia demonstrating that the examples suggested show "how different patterns of patronage politics, political leadership, economic resources and Islamist revival may generate very different types of state power and autocratic stability". Georgescu directs the exploration of issue of historical institutionalist approach of the public administration dynamics and seeks to understand the governance and intra-governmental relations during the transition period.

The functionality and performance of semi-presidentialism is revealed by Tanasescu's study of the Romanian Constitution. Therefore, Tanasescu claims that "the aetiology of the malfunctions of Romania's semi-presidentialismis not of constitutional, but of extra-constitutional origin". Girlesteanu focuses on exploring the institution of amparo as an instrument for protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms, by emphasizing the role of the actors of amparo proceedings: the claimant and the defendant.

From a functionalist and participatory point of view, Olimid's ambivalence regarding the civic engagement and citizen participation in local governance is associated with the impact of the models of associational involvement of cultural governance, participatory governance and civil society. Bogdan locates the consensualism legal foundation of public international law. Udangiu explores the relationship between the ideology, narrative and soft power through the vision of the "third way" towards a "Good Society". By observing the plural responses to digital activism, Mitu and Vega conceptualize the foundations of an "extended participation through digital media means".

In the same repertoire, Rusu-Pasarin suggests that the implementation of a strategy for developing a local radio stations requires respecting and promoting its corporate mission and vision. While Gherghe focuses on the shifting scales of the electoral law reform in the XIXth century, Barbieru makes visible the limitation of electoral performance in the Parliamentary elections (2014) at local level. The article of Ghita is built around the reform of the new Romanian Civil Code connected to "the delivery of justice and the need to ensure a unitary and foreseeable jurisprudence". Smarandache's article addresses the linkages surrounding the banking activity, the credit institutions and the financial environment of transition.

The article of Nita drafts the connection between the discussions of completed and ongoing research in the field of education organization and conflict management. Seeking the right solution between national and international legislation and jurisprudence, Albastroiu and Ghita explore a legal diagnosis of medically-assisted human reproduction at the edge of national and international legal interpretation.

Building a historical bridge between political figures and local assumptions of political authority, Danciu addresses the lesson of political union as a experiential phenomenon. Ilie helps us to reconsider the historical shapes of the XXth century, often considered outside the purview of the post-communist landscape. Paduretu locally maps the urban religious architectural history in between the process of restoration and the challenges of transition. In the end, Olaru brings the reader to the aesthetic register at the transition between the XIXth and XXth centuries.

The authors of the articles in RSP issue 44/2014 turn on the exploration and explanation of the catch-all concept of "local" as they engage with analyses, questions, interpretations, solutions on the sense of mobilising, involving and participating including a narrow definition of "transition" at the edge of constitutionality.

Following the initiative launched in issue 41, the cover and format hopefully individualize the research initiatives and studies of the present studies as follows: After 25 years: Pinpointing East and West Encounter Arena (cover of issue 41/2014); Identity and Belonging in Post-Communism(cover of issue 42/2014); In-between change: system and regime algorithm (cover of issue 43/2014); Catch-All Transition: A Political Dialects of Acting and Performing (cover of issue 44/2014).

Anca Parmena Olimid *, Catalina Maria Georgescu **, Cosmin Lucian Gherghe ***

(*) Associate Professor, PhD, University of Craiova, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Political Sciences specialization, CEPOS Staff, Member of the Board of Directors of the CEPOS Conference 2014, Phone: 0040251418515, E-mail: parmena2002@yahoo.com

(**) Lecturer, PhD, University of Craiova, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Political Sciences specialization, CEPOS Staff, Member of the Board of Directors of the CEPOS Conference 2014, Phone: 0040251418515, E-mail: cata.georgescu@yahoo.com.

(***) Lecturer, PhD, University of Craiova, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Political Sciences specialization, CEPOS Staff, Member of the Board of Directors of the CEPOS Conference 2014, Phone: 0040251418515, E-mail: avcosmingherghe@gmail.com.