The economic growth that had occurred in post-communist Romania had polarized society and largely amplified existing inequalities. The aim of the paper is to investigate regional disparities and to underline the governmental mechanisms in balancing territorial inequalities, and to examine the possible effects of regional economic disparities on the performance of regional administration in delivering public services in the light shed by the new regionalisation

To analyze the votes won by two ethnic parties, the one German and the other Hungarian, during the last three Romanian elections (2000–2008), data are presented from a survey and from interviews conducted in two cities in Transylvania (Sibiu and Cluj) where these minorities are well-represented. Several hypotheses for explaining (non)ethnic voting patterns come under consideration. According to one hypothesis, the election results of the two parties

The structure of the requirements for citizenship in a Romanian city differs by and large from the structure of the same requirements in other European cities. The peculiarity lies in the lack of distinctiveness between the origin, the ethnic aspect and the civic aspect of citizenship and also in the emphasis on the language requirements for citizenship. The explanations could be traced back to the previous century and to the cultural and political