Administrative Reforms in South Eastern European States - Comparative Study in View of Enlarging the European Administrative Space

Abstract

The accession and enlargement of the European integration process have determined, especially in the last decade, profound reforms aimed at changing the national public administrations in consensus with the developments of the administrations in the European Union Member States. Framed in a more general international context defined by the public management reforms, even in developed countries, such as those of OECD, the administrative reforms in South-Eastern European states had recorded different dynamics, and the processes of administrative convergence have been marked by a broad diversity. In this context, the paper aims to achieve a comparative study concerning the general, strategic and operational framework of the reforms in states revealing different hypostases within the process of accession into the European Union. The target group of the analysis will comprise Balkan states (Romania, Bulgaria, Greece or Turkey), Western Balkan states (Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia or Montenegro) or states belonging to the former soviet block (Moldova, Ukraine or Belarus). Lacking an European model of public administration, the comparative study will use as comparison criteria, the principles of the European Administrative Space concerning administration by law, predictability of the public managerial processes, decisional transparency, efficiency and effectiveness. Criteria of administrative rationalization derived from public management reforms will be added. Therefore, the paper will be structured on several chapters, as follows: - Overview concerning the institutional framework of the administrative reforms; - Comparative analyses taking into consideration the above mentioned criteria; - Conclusions. The research methods refer to documentary and bibliographical analysis, and comparative systemic analysis.