Evaluation of Capacities Ukraine has Toward Meeting the Requirements of the EU-Ukraine Action Plan (2004) in the Areas of Research and Education

US and European (specifically French) Administrative Systems

“La vérité derriere le cliché”

Development and Current Challenges of the Euro

The Search of an Ideal: The Examination of Kant, Nietzsche, Rawls, and the European Union

Evaluation of capacities Ukraine has toward meeting the requirements of the EU-Ukraine Action Plan (2004) in the areas of Research and Education

Thanks to the Orange revolution that happened in Ukraine at the end of 2004, a qualitatively new country emerged in Europe. Not in the Russian shadow any more, Ukraine has expressed its desire for European integration and joining the European Union in the future. There are several documents that govern the Union’s relationship with its neighbor countries and those countries that seek closer ties with the Union. One of them is the Action Plan, which defines a set of priorities for a relationship between the EU and such countries. Though the Action Plan does not offer prospects of accession to the EU, reaching its requirements will help Ukraine mature into a well-developed country: a country that the Union will gladly welcome as a member.

This paper examines some aspects of one of the key areas of the Action Plan: People-to-People Contacts.  Specifically, it addresses such aspects as the country’s capacities in Research and Education. It evaluates the current state in these areas and analyses the reasons for it being the way it is. Further, it compares the current state with the state Ukraine aspires to be. The paper argues that even though the current situation in Research and Education does not look promising, Ukraine has strong capacities for growth.

Olha Verkhohlyad is an international doctoral student from Ukraine in the department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development (College of Education). Her interest is in finding ways of creating a new K-12 Education system design which will correspond with the needs of the country and its citizens.

US and European (specifically French) administrative systems

The following paper examines the recent European phenomenon to outsource various government responsibilities in France by use of les autorités administratives indépendantes or AAI’s. Independent administrative authorities are entities that autonomously carry-out functions that formerly were the responsibility of a government agency under the direct hierarchical authority of a Minister. Questions of AAI structure, function, and accountability will be addressed herein.

“La vérité derriere le cliché”

Marcia Larson is a graduate student at the George Bush School of Government (MPSA ’05). She studied French/EU law at La Sorbonne in Paris and completed a Masters in French at NYU in Paris (MA ’01).  As an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University (BA ’99), Marcia studied French and Spanish. Her travels with the Micah Global Foundation to Afghanistan, China, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe have expanded her boundaries and given her a desire to better understand the global community.

Development and Current Challenges of the Euro

In 1999, eleven countries fixed their exchange rates to a new currency, the Euro. Since 2002, Euro banknotes and coins have been in the everyday life of more than 300 million Europeans. The development of the Euro relative to other currencies demonstrates its recent success. Its future performance will be impacted by several factors. First, the enlargement of the European Monetary Union, both by the role of hesitating countries, such as the U.K., Denmark, and Sweden and the new European Union entrants, poses a major threat. Second, the “one size fits all” monetary policy creates significant challenges, and third, the recent changes in the Maastricht Convergence Criteria will affect the future performance of the Euro.

The Search of an Ideal:  The Examination of Kant, Nietzsche, Rawls, and the European Union

The question of what is truly European must be addressed in relation to the draft Constitution. Citizens, politicians and scholars bring forth reasons that the European Union has not brought a sense of unity within Europe, including ‘democratic deficit’ and social legitimacy, but, the issues are even deeper. Europeans are quick to claim themselves European Kantians, but, due to Nietzsche’s concept of the ‘death of God,’ Europeans must find a new ideal to promote unity. Exploring what truly is European by Friedrich Nietzsche and Immanuel Kant, it may be that John Rawls’ The Law of Peoples is the answer, but only time can tell.

Bonnie Garrett, of Fort Worth, Texas, is a Certificate student of International Affairs at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service, where she is studying European and world politics. She received her undergraduate degree in History and Spanish at Bryn Mawr College, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 2004, where she wrote two theses on international topics of identity and gender. With such European international interests, Bonnie Garrett has lived abroad in Spain and France, and in Summer 2005 shall be studying the European Union and its institutions in Europe, as well as interning in Paris for the Robert Schuman Foundation.