It's summer behind the Iron Curtain, and six girls begin a journey to the Olympics. But will they return? In a stateless place, on the wrong side of a river separating East from West, six girls meet each day to swim. At first, they play, splashing each other and floating languidly on the water's surface. But as summer draws to an end, the game becomes something more. They hone their bodies relentlessly. Their skin shades into bruises. They barter cigarettes stolen from the factory where they work for swimsuits to stretch over their sunburnt skin. They tear their legs into splits, flick them back and forth, like herons. They force themselves to stop breathing. Then, one day, it finally happens: their visas arrive. But can what's waiting on the other side of the river satisfy their longing for a different kind of life? Praise for The Union of Synchronized Swimmers "Cristina Sandu's spare and sparkling prose is intimate and visceral. A deeply moving story about six women who dare to dream bigger than their muddy river, whose lives splinter from their tight synchronized formations into an unflinching, often unforgiving world. An exquisite and powerful read." --Lindsay Zier-Vogel, author of Letters to Amelia "Cristina Sandu's narration is magical ... Her poetic and airy prose weaves together the strongly metaphorical and the realistic ... In these moving stories about the fates of Eastern European women, her narrative is universal and titanic." --Suomen Kuvalehti

It’s summer behind the Iron Curtain, and six girls are about to swim their way to the Olympics — and a new life. In an unnamed Soviet state, six girls meet each day to swim. At first, they play, splashing each other and floating languidly on the water’s surface. But soon the game becomes something more. They hone their bodies relentlessly. Their skin shades into bruises. They barter cigarettes stolen from the factory where they work for swimsuits to stretch over their sunburnt skin. They tear their legs into splits, flick them back and forth, like herons. They force themselves to stop breathing. When they find themselves representing their country as synchronised swimmers in the Olympics, they seize the chance they have been waiting for to escape and begin new lives. Scattered around the globe, six women live in freedom. But will they ever be able to forget what they left behind?

Atunci când discutăm despre succesul comunicării didactice, comportamentul, atitudinea și starea afectivă ale celor doi actori educaționali, profesorul și elevul, sunt piesele principale de la care se pornește în elaborarea planului de reușită, construirea climatului socio-afectiv sunt punctele care formează și consolidează o relație de comunicare autentică.

The transformations occurring in the last years in the international area have strongly affected the European administrative space. The national administrations are facing multiple problems concerning the financial, human, technological, etc. resources, and in this context, the public services must continue applying the principles of continuity and adaptability to meet the needs of citizens. Concepts such as social entrepreneurship, social business, social enterprise, public -private partnership become increasingly more important, models of good practice being more visible in Western Europe comparing with Central-Eastern Europe or South-Eastern Europe. The aim of this paper is to offer a literature perspective on the concept of social enterprise, which will lead to a comprehensive approach on the topic. The study will use an exploratory research method and data collection, reflecting the differences between Western, Central-Eastern, South-Eastern Europe literature, based on documentation in international data base and journal article reviews. Finally, the study will be able to underline the key points of social enterprise theories, thus proving the applicability of the concept in practice and the role of social enterprise in the development of European administrative space, with special focus on the Balkan area.

The current volume represents the outcome of the international conference “National and European Values of Public Administration in the Balkans,” organised in Bucharest on 15-16 July 2011. The conference has been organised by Jean Monnet research network dedicated to “South-Eastern European developments on the administrative convergence and enlargement of the European Administrative Space in Balkan states,” representing the third edition of the events organised under the above aegis. The research network, comprising the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (NSPSPA), Bucharest, Romania, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece, New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria, University of Rijeka, Croatia and the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) with headquarters in Athens, Greece has developed and continues to develop studies and researches specific for the development of public administration in the Balkan states. The keynote speakers of the conference included Mw. Dr. Helena Raulus, EU Law Docent, Faculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid, Erasmus Universiteit, Netherlands, Prof. Dr. Spyridon Flogaitis, Director, President of the BoD, European Public Law Organization, Greece and Prof. Dr. Lucica Matei, Dean, Faculty of Public Administration, National School of Politica Studies and Public Administration, Romania. The contents of the papers presented have been focused on the following topics: EU normative support for sustaining the process of administrative convergence; European Administrative Space principles - pillars for the mechanisms of evaluation of public administration reforms; Balkan priorities for European Administrative Space enlargement Other two sub adjacent topics have been added, aiming especially the doctoral students, emphasising the following themes: The process of administrative convergence at EU level; Efficiency, effectiveness and responsibility in the European Administrative Space; European Administrative Space. Priorities of the future. For the international conference, 88 abstracts were received, of which due to the first selection achieved by the Conference Scientific Committee, 56 papers were accepted After presentation, the papers have been improved and subjected to double review, so that there were accepted for publication 36 papers, having 46 authors from nine countries: Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Albania, France, Croatia, Italy and USA and two European organisations: EPLO and EIPA. The general conclusion expected for the final of our conference could refer to the existence of a Balkan Administrative Space as part of the European Administrative Space. Even if the area of the Balkan Administrative Space is confined, we have to highlight the unity in diversity as a fundamental feature. The unity derives from the ideals of European integration of the Balkan states and the diversity derives from the national histories, cultural diversity and their national identity. The connections of the Balkan Administrative Space become day by day more powerful related to the European Administrative Space. They are determined by the development of the processes of convergence and administrative dynamics as well as by the internal developments induced by the administrative reforms in the mentioned states. In this context, we could assert that by means of the research proposed and achieved, our project has open new agendas of research, that partially have been expressed in our research reports, publications etc. At the same time, as remarked from the contents of this conference, the national and European values of the Balkan Administrative Space are substantiated on the regulatory framework of the European Union, the processes of convergence and administrative dynamics, as well as on the principles of the European Administrative Space. In fact, as it is well known, the latter becomes a non-formalised acquis of the European Public Administration, representing a standard for assessing the progress in the reforms of the national public administrations. Our conference has taken place under the auspices of this generous perspective.

The social enterprise knows a dynamic of organization and functioning, under different legal forms, starting from NGO to enterprise, covering the domain of public services, functioning independently or in public sector - private sector partnership. It plays a dominant role in the economic growth, in solving the social problems, in the process of knowing the needs for goods and public services with social impact on special groups. The aim of this paper is, starting from the theoretical concepts of social enterprise experiences, to analyze the forms of social enterprises developed through the projects undertaken in Romania and the ways of using social marketing in designing and developing these activities.