National School of Political Science and Public Administration

Like persons from other age groups, older adults are subject to various types of surveillance guided by nation states, commercial corporations and other individuals. Few studies have focused on the surveillance of older adults by members of their personal networks, such as family members and friends. Moreover, the existing studies have overlooked this phenomenon from a broader sociological perspective. The goal of this study is to explore older adults’ perceptions regarding digital social surveillance – that is, surveillance conducted by people from their personal networks using electronic devices and applications. The survey-based data was collected from 3,030 individuals aged 60 years and older who reside in Austria, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain. Using these data, we examined the extent to which respondents believed they were being digitally surveilled, their appraisal of such surveillance, and the associations between these two and sociodemographic factors, technostress, conspiracy-mindedness, online protective behaviours and technology use patterns. About 20 per cent of the respondents believed that people close to them were digitally surveilling them. To a varying extent and in different directions, technostress, conspiracy-mindedness, online protective behaviours, technology use patterns, country of residence and several sociodemographic factors (like gender and age) predicted the older adults’ belief and/or appraisal of digital social surveillance. By mapping the interplay of older age, digital surveillance and socio-technological factors, this study offers a better understanding of how older persons perceive and experience a particular aspect of the modern surveillance society.

The recent rise of populist political forces in Romania reflects a broader European trend but marks a significant local shift. Our study analyzes the populist phenomenon from both the demand side (i.e., the Romanian electorate’s populist inclinations), and the supply side (examining the characteristics of the political offerings aligning with these inclinations). Using nationally representative survey data (N = 2,714), we estimate Romanians’ populist attitudes by applying a methodological approach that allows for a nuanced categorization. Additionally, our analysis links strong populist attitudes to support for the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), and we investigate the party’s ideology to assess its alignment with populist radical right characteristics. This study contributes to understanding Romanian populism by analyzing the interplay between societal demand and political supply.

Since its founding in 1990, the Venice Commission has advised post-communist states, including Romania, on constitutional reforms. Although Romaniawas not a full member initially, it received guidance during the drafting of its firstdemocratic constitution. This research examines how well Romanian legislationaligns with the Commission’s standards on democratic governance and politicalparty regulation, identifying any gaps or inconsistencies. Given Romania’stotalitarian past, special focus is placed on protecting political opposition, freedomof expression within parties, and the limits of imperative mandates. The study useslegal analysis, case studies on political controversies and Constitutional Courtdecisions, and reviews from think tanks—especially following the 2015 politicalparty law reform. It concludes by proposing legislative directions to better alignRomania with European democratic norms.

Purpose Public opinion research is undergoing a significant transformation in response to the challenges posed by the digital era, particularly the proliferation of social media and AIdriven tools (Murphy et al., 2014;Kraft et al., 2020).These developments compel scholars to revisit established theories and methodologies for studying opinion formation and expression in dynamic, technology-driven contexts.This study explores the key concepts, models, and perspectives deemed essential by public opinion scholars, using concept map analysis to uncover relationships between these elements and the profiles of experts who employ them.Our study aims to examine: 1) What are the links between key concepts, models, authors, and perspectives that scholars use in their research on public opinion, and 2) How the profile (e.g., expertise, experience, rank, etc.) of the experts maps onto the concepts they use. Design/methodology/approachWe collected our data via a survey conducted primarily among members of the COST OPINION network.The questionnaire used in the study comprised 26 questions, two of which were open-ended.A total of 86 questionnaires completed by public opinion scholars and experts from 33 countries were returned.After initial screening, 82 valid questionnaires were further analyzed.We used quantitative methods to profile experts and qualitative coding of an open-ended question about the concepts frequently used by the respondents in their public opinion-related work.Additionally, we used concept maps to visualize the findings better and to highlight relationships and patterns in our data.

This paper is thought as an exploratory case of reaching two policy objectives, inclusion and sustainability, by the fourth EU institutions’ bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipient – Moldova (after Ukraine, Turkey and Serbia, in 2023, according to OECD Reports), as an EU candidate country, also the most committed to sustainable, fair and equitable human development, according to Coherence Index of the European Commission and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The research seeks to use Tinbergen’s model of two objectives: inclusion and sustainability, and two instruments: ODA and SDGs, one for each objective of the researched objectives, aiming to prove that this is a more effective way to bring growth and yield faster results in line with the EU targets. Using this, the researchers seek to propose a way that can lead to more effective and predictable policy outcomes. The research addresses the concept of inclusive sustainability in relation to the scores for three selected SDGs (11, 12, and 17) and to the indicator for the net official development assistance and official aid received, aiming to provide better support for developing policies that allow all citizens to get involved in the co-creation of eco-conscious behaviors and co-producing sustainable and inclusive growth.