1. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU

2. Keywords: Political behaviour, civic behaviour, democratic regime, civic involvment. Abstract In the context of Romania joining the European Union, the analyses and debates regarding the implementation of the public policies and the European Funds absorption are current issues. Lots of transformations took place at all the levels like political, economic, institutional, but also in every day life. Starting from the political changes we get to the role of civic involvement that grew significantly during the last years while, and this imposed a mentality change and a modification of the civic and political behaviour.

3. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU Based on studies like Public Opinion Barometer and Pippa Norris, Critical Citizens, Oxford University Press, 1999 Romania is one of the countries with the lowest rate on associative participation from the European Union.

4. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU Starting from the political changes, the civic involvement role grew largely during the past years and it imposed a mentality change and a modification of the civic and political behaviour. Even so, most of the Romanian citizens are not prepared yet to answer to the new requests of the democratic society and to the development of the civil society, so, democratization has to face passive individuals who do not know the patterns of the involvement in one society’s reconstruction.

5. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU Chelcea şi Loghin speak about the social dimension of citizenship, while extending the concept to that of active citizenship when they state that the social individual is that person who acts for the greater good of the community. Loghin believes that the state should give its citizens more specific responsibilities in order to mobilize them. The common ground of these analyses and debates is that of the civil society.

6. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU Many researchers’ perspective is that the differences between associative participation in East and West are not only in terms of quantity but especially of quality. ASH Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation*, believes that civil society is rather an artificial one, and is being supported by certain groups, while it does not necessarily represents the citizens’ needs. Quite a lot of studies and researches have been developed in the attempt to point out the weaknesses of the NGO sector, which is considered an important agent of change with a high relevance for the process of democratization. *Christian Madera, Creating a Culture of Civic Engagement, 2010, http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/news/1439268.html http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/news/1439268.html

7. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU Different authors explain the reduced involvement by factors like: low levels of trust in the relationship with the endemic corruption,the lack of resources, the lack of educated motivation etc. (FDSC, http://www.fdsc.ro/library/conferinta%20vi o%207%20oct/Romania%202010_Sector ul%20neguvernamental1.pdf) http://www.fdsc.ro/library/conferinta%20vi o%207%20oct/Romania%202010_Sector ul%20neguvernamental1.pdf

8. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU Another sphere that implies civic involvement is the community development. In Romania there are in implementation many programmes of community development dedicated mainly for the rural communities. These projects purpose is to raise the level of social trust, to stimulate the citizens involvement to solve the problems their community faces. But all the approaches regarding the sector of the community development put a special accent on the development of the human capital in each community.

9. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU The studies demonstrate that citizens’ interest for politics is different in respect with certain socio-demographic characteristics, being higher for men, adults, higher educated people, higher income persons, students and employees, people living in the urban areas and lower for the opposite categories.

10. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU The main predictors of people’s political interest are education and the belief’s degree of being able to influence the political decision. The information is of utter importance also.

11. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU The consequences of the interest for politics manifest on many levels, like: political knowledge, dissatisfaction towards democracy and market economy, political participation, political orientation (anti-democratic, nostalgia after Communism), alterations of the political system (the decrease of the privileges offered by the system, a decrease in the complexity of the political system.

12. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU Getting people out of their already learned habits/attitudes or the internalization of non-civic attitudes is made possible through the process of socialization during a life circle.

13. Value and Behaviour Determinant Factors of a Democratic Regime PhD Junior Lecturer Ioana-Andreea COZIANU The precarious functioning of the public institutions, where corruption and management are often inefficient and predominant, determine the individuals to feel powerless, and it demotivates any activism while forcing them to turn to non-civic strategies. The selection and training of public officers and the assimilated ones is mainly deficient, encouraging the feeling of injustice and powerless. Mass-media is frequently accused to prefer the sensational instead of providing neutral information, while cultivating the perception that the world is an awful anomic, and uncontrollable place.