The European Union: Amid Globalization and Integration

Globalization, with its technological, economic, and structural forces, is the international phenomenon that seems to affect all aspects of life—globally, individually, and institutionally. Public administration and governance studies are equally affected the world over, as theoreticians and practitioners search for the best practices to survive and thrive in this environment. The current research wishes to join this global debate, especially as it plays itself out in the admirable efforts of public administration reforms in Romania. This is a bold statement and I am bound to fall short of my aim, as the communist legacies of the past alongside the current economic and financial crises work to obstruct reform initiatives from progressing. Particularly in the case of Romania, the 2007–2009 interval was challenging for two reasons. First, the budgetary abundance of the period prior to the financial crises and European integration allowed reformers to concentrate mainly on spending money for institutional reforms; in the period after, they are faced with significant budgetary reduction and even a challenge to stimulate the economy. Second, the phenomenon of emigration, present even before the European Union integration, has been accentuated, in some ways draining human talent away from useful in-country employment.