The current volume reproduces papers presented in the Workshop which was organized in Athens, in February 2010 by the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) and the Faculty of Public Administration - National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (NSPSPA), Bucharest. The workshop entitled “Public Administration in the Balkans - from Weberian bureaucracy to New Public Management” has aimed to reveal relevant aspects on the developments of national public administrations in some Balkan states related to the traditional or actual models of the administrative organization. The organizers have proposed to approach theoretical and practical aspects focusing on Weberian bureaucracy and New Public Management (NPM). In this context, the general framework of debates was based both on specificity of public administration in the Balkan states and the European integration process, particularly the enlargement of the European Administrative Space to the Balkan area. As shown by a profound analysis in the papers, the characteristics of the public administrations are moreover diverse and get closer to the developments of the public administrations in Europe, such as the Mediterranean ones (Greece, Cyprus etc.) or those of the states in transition (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia etc.). The interactions with different intensities between Weberianism and New Public Management emphasise, generally, the characteristics of “a new Weberian state” (NWS) for the Balkan states (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2004, Meneguzzo et al, 2010), revealing a higher NPM impact (Cyprus, Greece, Croatia etc.) or a lower one (Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia etc.). NWS represents a metaphor describing a model that co-opts the passive elements of NPM, but on a Weberian foundation (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2004, Brown, 1978). The fact that the Balkan states belong more or less explicit to NWS triggers their position in post-NPM era, thus the state remaining an important actor, able to facilitate the public-private dialogue and to sustain the processes for enhancing the effectiveness of public services and administration. The public administration reforms in the Balkan states have targeted one or several European models of national administrations. Even if the concepts on reform comprise visible differences, the tradition, geo-political specificity, human and material resources have determined similarities and common characteristics, which could be emphasized in the development and actual status of administration in the Balkan states. At the same time, the administrative reforms have already introduced elements that enable the administrations in the Balkan states to get closer to the features of “public governance.” Herewith we refer mainly to participating in decision-making, introducing the elements of “neo-corporatism” governance etc. The capacity of adaptation and openness represent a valuable feature of the Balkan administrations, most of them holding systemic connections of low intensity, thus being far away from what we call “strong administration”, found especially in the European developed states. Recent studies support the above ideas, referring to “main drivers of public administration modernization”, placing most Balkan states in the “very low” or “medium” area (Demmke et al., 2006). When referring to open government or ethics, the same studies place the Balkan states under the heading “very high influence.” Based on the above assertions, the papers emphasize concrete issues that could be synthesized in some large categories: Balkan public administrations between tradition and modernity; National experiences on the impact of the administrative reforms in Balkan states; Myth or reality in considering “a Balkan model of public administration;” Administrative convergence and dynamics as support of the evolution towards a certain model; Assessing relevant case studies on enforcing NPM in local governance. It is also worth to mention that the approach of the participants in the workshop has been marked by the institutional innovations and trends in European governance, the debates concerning the model and characteristics of the European administration etc. The workshop was organized within the framework of Jean Monnet project “South-Eastern European developments on the administrative convergence and enlargement of the European Administrative Space in Balkan States” with the financial support of the European Community.

Sixty years ago, Samuelson's “Pure Theory of Public Expenditure” expounded the classification of goods, and Bain's “Economies of Scale, Concentration and the Condition of Entry in Twenty Manufacturing Industries” expounded the structure-conduct-performance paradigm. To the present day, rivalry in- and excludability from consumption classify goods, and subadditivity and irreversibility in production classify market structure. Opportunity costs of production in the form of prospective sunk costs incentivise investment and production, and the sunk costs themselves induce subadditivities, specialization and convexity of the marginal rate of technical substitution. Opportunity costs in consumption are determined by the marginal costs of replacement. In light of the recent Nobel price award to Jean Tirole, we revisit some of the forgotten discussions and clarify some of the terminology under a more economic framework of opportunity costs.

Complexity of karst groundwater networks requires implementation of standard hydrogeological monitoring and unconventional methods of investigation. We present the results of isotope composition analysis for three karst springs and rain water collected in their hinterland. During two years, spring water samples were collected on a weekly and rain samples on a monthly basis. The main findings are: winter precipitation of Mediterranean origin dominates springs' recharge, a dual porosity model is a fit for the studied systems, and hinterlands of the springs have different retention capabilities.

Since the conceptual framework of the European Administrative Space (EAS) in 1990s, at least two convergent trends may be found out. The first trend refers to EAS operationalisation as instrument and mechanism for assessing the reforms of the national public administrations. Herewith, we refer to the deepness of EAS content, which has become more comprehensive, incorporating the most significant aspects on the public administrations reforms. The second trend refers to continuous enlargement of EAS area. The limits of this area are not the same with the EU limits and the internal processes of EAS do not have the same intensity as those of the European integration. Therefore, we may assert that the EAS reveals specific developments related to the traditions, history, administrative culture, national identity etc. of every state. The regional characteristics on the development of public administrations are decisive and the administrative convergence will take them into account. In this context, the current volume aims to reveal a few Balkan realities on EAS. Of course our approach is far from presenting the whole complexity of the phenomena and processes of public administrations in the Balkan states. The arguments on the above difficulty refer to: different stages for the Balkan states related to the European integration; diversity of the administrative models and cultures in the public administrations of the Balkan states; different levels of economic and social development in the Balkan area. Even in those conditions, as the reader may conclude after studying the current volume, the ideal of European integration gets closer or gathers the national efforts and actions, incorporating them in a convergent trend related to the EAS principles and values. The analyses and researches have aimed the following directions: EAS conceptualization and operationalisation in the Balkans; National experiences on the legal, administrative and institutional pillars of EAS; Convergence and Europeanization of the Balkan public administrations as premises of EAS development; Integrating the Balkan traditional administrative values into the EAS concept and practice. Those major research-oriented directions have represented the pillar for several specialists' studies and analyses, especially from academia, which have been selected for the actual volume. The debates on the topics announced have been achieved in the framework of the Workshop: “European Administrative Space - Balkan Realities”, organized by the University of Rijeka on 18 - 19 February 2011. At the same time, the content of the current volume completes the image of the activities and events organized in the framework of Jean Monnet project “South-Eastern European developments on the administrative convergence and enlargement of the European Administrative Space in Balkan states”, which has received funding from the European Community.