WG9
On Law and Public Administration
This Working Group seeks presentations that address issues related to the position of law in public administration, the effect of the rule of law (RoL) on the administrative system as well an analysis of the factors strengthening or weakening the RoL.
REPORT
In our recent meeting, WG9's focus evolved from its previous emphasis on the rule of law. This year, we broadened our scope to examine the relationship between law and public administration, a subject that holds general relevance and particular importance in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. Traditionally, public administration in the CEE region has been approached from a legal perspective, whether in academia, university education, or civil service training.
This expanded focus has led to two notable trends. Firstly, we observed an increase in the number of applications. To maintain a dynamic discussion within each session, we limited the number of papers to three per time slot. Consequently, we had to reject some applications and reallocate others to different working groups. Secondly, the diversity of the submitted papers has significantly increased. Our effort to group similar papers—whether by topic or methodology—into the same sessions met with limited success due to requests for changes in time slots.
We did not assign reviewers to every paper this year. We intend to implement this practice starting next year, though logistical challenges may arise (e.g. participants of the session have to serve as presenters and reviewers). Additionally, we must address the relatively low attendance, as typically a third to half of the participants were presenters. We will discuss strategies to improve audience engagement in future meetings.
Coordinators
György Gajduschek
senior researcher and head of a research unit at the Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Legal Studies and a professor at Corvinus University, Budapest.
György Gajduschek is a senior researcher and head of a research unit at the Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Legal Studies and a professor at Corvinus University, Budapest, where he teaches administrative law. He holds an MA in Sociology from Hungary and an MA in Public Administration from Rockefeller College (SUNY, US), as well as a Ph.D. in Political Science and one in Legal Studies. He has published several papers addressing the position of law within public administration in the Central and East European countries. His research interests turned towards the relationship between legal culture and the Rule of Law. in the past few decades. He studied empirically legal knowledge, legal compliance, and attitudes towards the rule of law in Hungary in a historical and comparative setting.
Vuk Cucić
University of Belgrade - Faculty of Law, Serbia.
[email protected]Vuk Cucić is an associate professor at the University of Belgrade - Faculty of Law, Serbia. His research and teaching fields include administrative Law, administrative procedure, judicial control of administrative acts, public procurement, public administration reform, transparency, data protection, e-government, local government, Europeanization of administrative law, state-investor arbitration. In addition to academic work, he took part in the process of drafting of legislative (General Administrative Procedure Act, Inspection Supervision Act, Administrative Disputes Act) and strategic documents (Public Administrative Reform Strategy). He is a member of the Research Network on EU Administrative Law (ReNEUAL).