Anca Parmena Olimid, Politics, Security and Participatory Governance: key concepts, policies and legislation.

Georgescu, Catalina Maria

Anca Parmena Olimid, Politics, Security and Participatory Governance: key concepts, policies and legislation, Craiova: Sitech Publishing House, ISBN 978-606-11-4861-5, 206 pages.

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2015 brought to light an editorial product which corroborates valuable contributions in the field of political science, security studies and public policies analysis of professor Anca Parmena Olimid. Politics, security and participatory governance: key concepts, policies and legislation encapsulates the author's view in the field by introducing key concepts, methods and analythical interpretations on regulation and national and/or international intervention on democratization of governance. Professor Olimid's nine chapter-structured work outlooks over the theoretical approaches of transition for the Eastern European space by considering the logic of the "import of the rule of law as a democratic tradition in post-communist constitutional usage" (p. 26) as a guideline for the re-consideration of theoretical matrices on democratization. The analythical process brings forward a correlation of "civic engagement and citizen participation in local governance" (p. 49) with a special focus on the relation between membership patterns and group dynamics on the one hand, and, on the other hand, by reheating the discussion on the institutionalization of "civic community, cultural governance and participatory governance" (p. 48).

The discussion moves forward to discover the "paradigm shift in security policy agenda in the 2000s" (p. 74) by exploring security research conceptual innovations and methodological questioning with an application on information security policies. The author draws a special attention to the change of paradigm which re-configures security policy making by pointing out the highlight on objective systematic analysis of the international security context (p. 77). The approach is further individualized in the fifth chapter in which Professor Olimid presents the results of a study on UN Security Council Resolutions covering the period 2012-2014 for the thematic areas "international peace" and "security cause". The message it communicates is to move away from a rigid meaning of the principles set forth by international rules as for the last years the will of the international community was to "engender the interests of states, institutions or local communities" (p. 99). The reading thus becomes mandatory within the current international security context boosting the acknowledgement to prevent and combat terrorism. Whitin this note, a discussion featuring spirituality and legality reconfigures the historical evolution of the institution of self-administration and cultural movement (p. 125). Throughout the sixth chapter we follow Professor Olimid rendering critical junctures in the understanding of Romanian modern state constitutional provisions; the work guides the reader into "a broader interpretation" of the modern religious ideas and organization analyzing the passing of historical heritage within a multidisciplinary study.

The seventh and eighth chapters dwel upon the legislation, finances, organization and administrative regulations correlating data and findings from newly entrants into the EU. The interest is comparative-based, the author aiming at identifying the red line guiding the "religiosity debate" of the contemporary period (p. 137) into drawing a model of church-state relations. The final chapter further exposes the author's intuitive remarks and empirical findings on public policies with a special focus on the "Romanian housing tenure". The approach is comparative, the author's investigation drawing attention on public policy making before and after EU membership acquiring. With an interest into discovering legal arrangements for state-led investments as against private financial intervention, statistical data employment renders the approach measurable across the dimensions of economic development, local management and national housing market accounting for the provision of a new "state ownership majority of dwellings paradigm".

The work should fulfill all expectations of interested researchers in the field of political sciences, history, law, administrative sciences, cultural studies, theological and security studies as it offer an interplay across established cultural zones, national and international regulations along a timespan arguably so as to offer an alternative perspective to the mainstream by correlating information on institutions, legislation and norms during the post-communist transition across a diversity of national legal systems and historical, cultural and socio-political context. In a nutshell, the volume proves its academic utility through the variety of themes and innovative methodological approaches which add another piece to the great puzzle of post-communism and democratization of an emerging and assymetrically developed region.

Book review Info

Received: October 10 2015

Accepted: November 24 2015

Catalina Maria Georgescu, Lecturer PhD, University of Craiova, Faculty of Social Sciences, Political Sciences specialization, CEPOS Staff, Phone: 0040251418515, Email: [email protected].