1811 research outputs found
Sort by
Leadership and Financial Performance of Commercial Banks in Albania
Get PDFThis study investigates the leadership traits of secondary banks’ branch managers in Albania and the manner the leadership behaviour relates to the financial performance of the organizations. The linkages between leadership patterns and banking institutions performance has not been researched to a satisfactory extent in Albania. This study employs quantitative methods to gather the data and utilized SPSS to analyse the tacit aspects of expected correlations between transformational and transactional leadership traits of branch managers and their institutions’ financial performance as measured by ROE. Findings of this study have shown the existence of strong and statistically significant correlations between the dimensions of transformational and transactional leadership behavior found among the middle level managers and their organizations’ financial performance. The direction of this proven relationship is also very consistent with the peer research: transformational leadership traits are positively correlated with the ROE scores of a secondary bank, while the transactional and laissez faire leadership traits are negatively correlated to the financial performance of the targeted organizations
The Role of National Ombudsman’s Offices in Promoting the Concept of good Administration in Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. The way ahead
Get PDFThe private persons in any democratic state should have a right to dispute the administrative decisions affecting their rights, freedoms or interests before (among others) competent independent courts. It is the key precondition for the principle of transparent and responsible public administration as an integral part of democratic governance. In addition to the “judiciary control of the administrative decisions”, the private persons` human rights against the public administration may be also protected through the Ombudsman office. The increasing importance of the afore mentioned issues relating public administration and the various types of control of the administrative acts been long time ago reflected in the mandate of almost all of the key international inter-governmental organizations, especially the European ones including the Council of Europe, the European Union and the OSCE. The establishment of both effective public administration and administrative justice system has been for a long period of time among the most “important and urgent” final strategic objectives of almost any country in the Balkans region, including Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. This process included (among others) establishing European-like Ombudsman offices in these countries. Against the above background the present paper firstly explains why the administration action must be controlled by the public, and it then outlines the European Right of Good Administration, the Ombudsman Office`s mandate. This is then followed by presenting the concept of European Administrative Space in terms of the Role of the OECD-SIGMA in Developing the Standards of Good Administration. Against the preceding sub-sections the paper further presents the basic legislative framework for action of the National Ombudsman Offices in Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo, which is then followed by a short review of the actual state of play of the Principle No.2 of the SIGMA European Principles for Public Administration (as specifically related to the accountability) in the three countries, on the basis of the relevant international monitoring reports, including the most recent EU Commission`s Progress Report on those countries. The paper finally concludes that Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo all have already established the basic legislative framework for establishing their national administrative judiciary system alongside which there is the one related to their own national Ombudsman office as well, while all of them are still more or less far from being fully in line with the principle No.2 of the SIGMA European Principles for Public Administration (as specifically related to the accountability). As to later, the paper particularly stresses that Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo have (more or less) adopted rules on independent status, functioning and powers of their own ombudsman office and other oversight institutions in line with the relevant international standards, but their administrations are still too far of being ready and willing to fully implementing the ombudsman institutions` recommendations. The fully implementation of the above Principle No.2 is therefore one of the most important and serious present challenges for Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo on their individual road towards the EU membership, in terms of building up their individual European administrative capacity
Western Balkans, Albania and the Diatribe between Development and Change
Get PDFWhile there is a clear tendency to address research of the ratio between change and development for very specific cases in comparison with the level of various countries, we think that we should go beyond such situation and focus rather on analysing and studying transition in former Communist countries. Such analysis could even lead to finding out the reasons for more attention being paid to change instead of development, but the influence of the tendency of the international partners in Albania and the entire region of the Western Balkan in favour of change and to the detriment of development has had its adverse and irreparable consequences
Economic growth in the Western Balkans Particular focus on Foreign Direct Investments and European Union
Get PDFBeing that Foreign Direct Investments are considered as a very important tool regarding one country’s economy, the purpose of this thesis is to show the impact of these investments on the Western Balkans economy, in terms of them integrating further on in the European Union. Therefore, this investment form is given a great deal of attention and special economic policies are being undertaken to bring foreign investors closer.
Usually, in the Western Balkans, in most cases, the term globalization is related to Foreign Direct Investments. These countries are aware of the changes taking place in the world economy, and for this reason, they are primarily aimed at attracting Foreign Direct Investment as the optimal path for diversifying the economy and transferring technology. The aim of this thesis is to assess the factors that impact GDP growth, assigning a special importance to FDI inflows in the region.
Considering the transitioning period of these countries as a result of having been communist countries, the investments flowing within their borders are of a great importance as well. Particular attention will be given to the FDI inflows coming from EU zone, in order to emphasize its role in the region; consequently leading to another aim of this research: the one of addressing the issue of the integration of WB countries in the common zone. This will be conducted through a comparison analysis on determining which country is closer to
iii
this big step. Under these conditions, increasing the importance of FDI in the world has pushed the governments of these countries towards their promotion.
Most certainly, FDI undoubtedly constitute one of the locomotives of economic development in the Balkan Region. Radical developments have been undertaken to transform the economic structure of our country into a FDI-oriented structure, economic liberalization, creating a more flexible climate and attracting foreign investors. This phenomenon on the other hand, leads to incentives in calling FDIs as a form of modern colonization as well. Controversially, a special attention will be addressed to the phenomenon of FDIs in terms of pointing out the disadvantages accompanied to them and challenging the concept of FDIs, which generally has been spoken out to bring development in the host countries
Short Term Impact of Euroization on Key Economic Indicators in Albania
Get PDFThe use of foreign currency in post-communist countries of Eastern Europe, including Albania, is a widespread phenomenon. Since all the countries passed from a totalitarian to a free open market system, foreign currency is perceived as a protector against the macroeconomic instability that characterized these countries. Most of these countries in transition expressed their preferences for the use of European currency, leading to a partial Euroization of their economies. In academic literature and politics, the predominant opinion is that Euroization provides advantages in the short run especially for developing countries with the aspiration of accession to the European Union. However Euroization, besides its advantages, has a number of disadvantages in terms of economic costs and impact on the monetary system of the country.
In order to make policy decisions regarding Euroization, it is important to understand the impact of Euroization on key economic indicators such as inflation, imports, exports interest rates, and exchange rates for Euro and USD. Therefore, this paper attempts to provide an exploratory examination of the impact of Euroization in terms of loans and deposits in foreign currency on these key Albanian economic indicators.
Data are obtained from the Albania Institute of Statistics, the International Monetary Fund and the Banka of Albania. A Vector Autoregressive Model is used to assess the impact of Euroization on key economic indicators and see whether Euroization is profitable for the Albanian economy. The empirical results show negative effects of Euroization on the Consumer Price Index and positive and negative exchange rates for Euro and USD
Anglophone and Civilian Legal Cultures: Two understandings of human trust for the global age
Get PDFThe principle of human trust works in both the Anglophone and Civilian legal cultures, but does so in two opposite ways. Although not explicitly stated in either legal tradition, the element of trust is of central importance in both. The two traditions began in the medieval period, but in very different circumstances. They had entirely different understandings of what law was and the purposes for which it worked. Their modern incarnations, together with implicit attitudes toward human trust, took shape during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries--in ways that reinforced their original differences. Their contradictory ideas of trust derived from opposing concepts of human nature: a Humanist confidence in the capacity of men as compared with a Calvinist belief in the depravity of men. Eighteenth century Continental jurists rejected religion as the educative basis of rule. Instead, they embraced an Optimistic philosophic view of human nature, expressed in the Sensus Communis. During the same period England retained a deeply established Puritan ethos. It separated Church and State but, unlike the more secular Continent, it retained an amorphous religiosity as the legitimizing basis of its rule. In Continental legal culture, the ideological and educative half of governance was emphasized. Public cultivation and learning, and the faculty of human reason, were relied on as the ultimate basis of order. By contrast, Anglophone legality, resting on an assumption of human turpitude, promised freedom—but within enforced limits. Its hierarchical Rule of Law was founded on public faith in judicial authority. The project to construct a global law brings these traditions into confrontation. A resolution reached by them will determine the meaning and importance of human trust in the global age
The Principles of the Equity and the Rightful Person’s Personality in the Democratic Context
Get PDFThe author analyzes and compares various meanings of the concept of equity such as they were conceived by prominent personalities of the history of the juridical, ethical and philosophical ideas in order to deduct their common contents. Having ethical and juridical connotations, the vision on equity and on applying its principles into the law-making process, into achieved the act of justice and in all kind of public authorities decision-taking process are differently designed at micro-groups level compared to the macro-social layer. The practical achievement of equity and justice is the privilege of the just person. The rightful person’s personality in the contemporary democratic societies may be considered as an ideal prototype which should be found in a larger extent, in the effective functioning of the institutions under the rule of law – at the level of human resources, with as much possible appropriate compliance with this prototype
Scientific Ethics in Teaching of Social Sciences in Iran
Get PDFThe ethic of education is a set of professional rules and regulations agreed upon by the scientific community that obliges actors to comply with codes of conduct in the science education process. This article is asking about levels and types of academic dishonesty and recognizing factors affecting it in Iran’s social sciences education. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews with Ph.D. students of public Universities in Tehran were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Research findings show that academic dishonesty and factors affecting it are evident in the education of social science at two levels of micro and macro. At the micro or actor’s level, individual characteristics and personality traits of students and professors impact on the occurrence of academic dishonesty. Moreover, at the macro or structural level, the way of distribution of resources and rules in the education paves the way for and facilitates the occurrence of academic dishonesty. Consequently, dishonesty in the education of Iran’s social sciences and factors affecting it can be explained in the light of a structuration approach
BREXIT: New challenges for the World Trade
Get PDFOn June 23, 2016, Britain marked the exit from the European Union. The result led to a permanent closure to the EU, always marked by not joining the Euro by Great Britain itself, with political, social and economic consequences, although England still an important country in Europe. The intent of this paper is to analyse the socio-economic and political implications of this Exit from the Euro zone
Between Individual Rights and Group Rights
Get PDFThe politicization of ethnocultural diversity and the demands posed by minority cultures for greater public recognition of their distinctive identities, and greater freedom and opportunity to retain and develop their distinctive cultural practices challenge liberal democracies. In response to these demands, new and creative mechanisms are being adopted in many countries for accommodating difference. This paper discusses some of the issues raised by these demands, focusing in particular on the difficulties that arise when the minority seeking accommodation is illiberal