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Bulgarian PM says he rejected a Romanian proposal to create a joint Black Sea fleet against Russia, while Romanian president cites a translation mistake.
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Nationalists are dead set against a border rectification agreement with Montenegro, and heightened cooperation with Serbia.
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The aim of this article is to examine the current tendency of recruitment in the civil service of Georgia, in light of the wave of dismissals after the 2012 parliamentary elections, and to highlight common problems that are characteristic for competitions in state organizations. Based on data collected during research, this article claims that drawbacks of the current recruitment practices in the Georgian civil service demonstrate that this aspect of human resources management carries signs of “team or leader affiliation and loyalty” approach. This tendency, which relies less on the assessment of applicants’ competency and motivation, seriously hinders the development of the public administration system in Georgia.
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The main objective of this study is to examine the developments of political and economic relations between Poland and Sub‑Saharan Africa. The article is written from the Polish perspective. The author is fully aware that the perception of Sub‑Saharan Africa as a homogeneous region must result in multiple oversimplifications. However, an analysis of the Polish “African discourse” indicates that political and business elites are not aware of the heterogeneity of the continent and the latter is perceived as a “single unit”. The article demonstrates that after the eastward enlargement of the European Union in 2004 Poland realized its principal goal of foreign policy and did not attempt to redefine its role and place in international relations in terms of its potential and assets. Since 2013, the relations between Poland and Sub‑Saharan states have been intensified, but it is everything but clear whether it will become a permanent trend.
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Four years after the end of its uprising against the Gaddafi regime, Libya remains in chaos. It is worth noting that for the third time since their independence in 1951, the Libyans’ attempts to create a modern and powerful state seem to be ‘wishful thinking’. The first two failed attempts – in 1951 and 1969 – were essentially local affairs without significant consequences beyond the country’s borders. The ongoing turmoil which followed in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011 is leading to serious regional and international destabilization. This paper discusses the main factors of the instability in post‑Gaddafi Libya. According to the authors’ analysis, there are the following main obstacles in the process of transition toward democracy and peace: two competing governments, multiplicity of militias and combat groups operating in Libya, jihadism rising in power as well as the regional and ethnic claims for recognition and autonomy. The last part of this paper is devoted to potential scenarios for the future of Libya.
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Ghana is regarded as a leader of democracy and stability in Sub‑Saharan Africa. Owing to two decades of rapid economic growth and relatively peaceful transitions of power after elections, it is also one of the fastest developing and safest countries in the region. However, some challenges for internal stability and development are still to be addressed, for instance: the quality of leadership, poverty, environmental problems or inadequate and ineffective regulations. While solving these problems Ghanaian politicians and citizens have to either choose between or bring together both tradition and modernity. One of the aspects to analyse is traditional form of governance, in particular the role of traditional leaders, such as chiefs and queen mothers, in development, as well as their relationships and coexistence with the local and state government institutions. Therefore, this article focuses on understanding how traditional ways of thinking and acting, especially in the case of traditional leaders, influence Ghana’s strive for national development. The main questions are: whether they can be used as resources or rather constitute impediments? and how are they changing to address contemporary challenges?
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Looking at Central and Eastern Europe, Romania is a particularly interesting example. It aspires to be an economic tiger, as one the fastest growing economies in the European Union. The country has great growth potential and is attractive for foreign investors. However, Romania also has one of the biggest informal economies in the EU, accounting for 28 per cent of that country’s total economy in 2013.
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Aiming at paternalistic policies within the international economic relations as a factor of sustainable development of emerging economies by establishing new cooperation relations, exchange of experience and rising the population’s standard of living through their impact at the social-economic development of emerging countries, we notice that a small number of researchers have tackled the given aspect of world economy, most of them focusing their attention on studying the problems from the protectionist perspective. The purpose of the paper is the research and the perfection of the mechanism of paternalistic policies of emerging countries within the international economic cooperation, identification of ways of improving the production activities and of the domestic external economic relations.
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This article presents results of the research in contemporary trends of international economic inequality. The author argues that international economic inequality is a bidirectional and complex concept. The bidirectionality and complexity of the concept is reflected in the fact that there are countries that concurrently converge to or diverge from the most developed countries in terms of their economic development. The key finding presented here is the rise of economic inequality between countries, especially between the poorest and the richest countries. The exceptions are some countries that have made significant progress in the period from 2000 to 2014 in reducing the economic inequality in comparison to the richest countries. The most important factors that have contributed to their progress are distinctive economic institutions and development policies of those countries, as well as the effects of the financial crisis since 2007-2008, which caused a decade-long stagnation in the most developed parts of the world.
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While reforming its export promotion system and increasing support to companies entering new and distant markets, the Polish government can draw on the best practices of other countries. This article examines Germany’s assistance to its business in India to suggest some recommendations for Poland. The comprehensive German system embraces a strong diplomatic and institutional presence in India and vibrant economic diplomacy with sound financial instruments. In order to be competitive, Poland should radically enhance its financial allocation, political support and human resources for cooperation with countries like India. It cannot rely exclusively on economic diplomacy instruments, hence some practical solutions are suggested.
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Political protests and demands for changes in the region of Southwest Asia and Northeast Africa, the so-called ‘Arab Spring’, are the biggest challenge faced by the U.S. foreign policy during the presidential term of Barrack Obama. The Egyptian revolution from the beginning of 2011 is the clearest example of the ‘awakening of the people’ and is one of the few that truly arose from dissatisfaction of Egyptians. The United States seemed to be caught completely unprepared by the revolution. In only a couple of days, the White House made a shift from supporting President Mubarak to openly supporting the opposition parties. Even after the fall of Mubarak, the Obama administration did not fully grasp the complexity of the situation in Egypt. Democracy, contrary to the expectations of many in Washington DC, could not take root overnight. The power and the influence of the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ were underestimated. The consequences of the US policies toward Egypt, contributing to the escalation of crisis in this country, can still be felt today. At the same time, the American diplomacy no longer appears to have the same amount of influence in the land of the Sahara and the Nile.
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The rise of China and the “pivot” to Asia announced by the US pose new geopolitical challenges that should be recognized and properly addressed by the European Union. Adapting elements of the neorealist perspective on international relations, this article intends to briefly analyse current and possible role for the EU in the Asian power‑balancing game. It also examines the capabilities, interests and deficiencies of the EU as a security actor in the Asia Pacific, and investigates whether the EU’s capacities are enough to potentially counterbalance other powers in Asia. Even though there are numerous shortages to the EU’s “actorness” and capability to act, it is still the biggest economy in the world, which can be successfully translated into leverage while counterbalancing other powers. Also, developed expertise in non‑traditional security matters as well as recent institutional developments provide for the EU’s stronger international presence and growing power capacity. However, this potential needs to be well managed. The EU suffers from leadership deficiency and lacks a strong, coherent strategy towards Asia that could match the one of the United States. Such strategy is essential for the EU’s security and economic prosperity given growing interdependence between Asian Pacific and European economies as well as increasing role of the Asian powers in global affairs. Especially the rapid growth of China brings several implications not only for the general world order, but also for the EU’s position in its hierarchy. Often the power‑balancing game in Asia Pacific is depicted as centring around the US‑China rivalry for influence. Having in mind that the US is one of the key players in the region, also the EU‑US partnership needs a new, Asian dimension which could determine the further role of the transatlantic alliance in a changing security environment. Finally, all comes down to a question not only about the EU’s capacity and willingness to become a global power; but also about if it can afford not to become one.
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Public-Private Partnerships involving governments and insurers have been used worldwide for mitigation of natural-hazards. However, the implementation of such systems in developing countries presents problems for their key stakeholders. On the one hand, property owners are hesitant to purchase insurance or invest in retrofit projects due to cost considerations. On the other hand, insurers are reluctant to cover potential seismic losses, because of uncertainties about the risk. This study introduces an innovative Public-Private Partnership framework for property owners, insurers and governments to facilitate decisions related to hazard insurance and structural retrofit of vulnerable buildings. This framework can also help insurance firms reduce the level of corporate financial assets available for payment of compensation to their clients, as required by regulations aimed at reducing the risk of insurer insolvencies. Property owners are motivated to participate in the framework by extra mitigation subsidies from the government. While the government will be reimbursed for part of the cost of these retrofit projects by insurance firms, whose own savings will be achieved through reductions to legally mandated corporate capital. A case study is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach for mitigating seismic risk to residential buildings in a rural area.
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This text is focused on current situation in Syria and Iraq and so called Islamic State, the one of the biggest threats of contemporary world. The rise of this quasistate at background of civil war in Syria and still not fully solved conflict in Iraq is the result of involvement of many internal and external actors. The form of their involvement and especially their goals are very different from each other and despite sporadic and declaratory agreements in partial points the main reason the Islamic State still exists in very good shape is disunited attitude of local and external powers against it. The main aim of this text is to explain and to analyse main motives and goals of all relevant actors and sides of mentioned conflict and describe the way they affect its dynamics. Due to that it is possible to increase the knowledge of readers in such a chaotic, unclear and often misinterpreted situation in the Middle-East.
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German interest in Polish nationalism was negligible in the nineteen thirties. Only the magazines and publications dealing with Eastern European issues devoted more time and space to Polish nationalism. They practically ignored the NSDAP sources.The issue of relations between Polish nationalism on the one hand and fascism and national socialism on the other has become the topic of academic research. So far,Germany at that time has never been analyzed in this context. A question worth considering is whether German journalism and academic publications were interested in the development of Polish nationalism. How did the proponents of the Nazi movement perceive their Polish ideological counterparts? What was the attitude of non-Nazi journalists and scholars? The aim of this paper is to try to complement the studies in the history of mutual relations of Polish and German nationalism.
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The Arab Spring is a social movement triggered by a complex set of social, political and economic factors. Despite the initial success of the Arab Spring in ousting some of the bureaucratic-authoritarian status-quo oriented regimes, mass mobilization of people could not oust all dictatorships and introduce meaningful reforms toward more democratization in the region. Worse, the mass protests that started as part of the Arab Spring later deteriorated into utter chaos and even civil war in some parts of the region. With the disappearance of state authority in those places, sub-state actors gained ground, challenging the stability and order that were once provided by authoritarian regimes through coercion. The IS’s sudden expansion has mainly resulted from large scale instability in Iraq and Syria and the disappearance of nation-state borders between the two states. The IS, which emerged as a sub-state actor, is currently in the process of becoming a proto state. Thus, this paper has two simultaneous research goals. The first is to establish the link between lack of institutionalization of the Arab Spring and its failure to bring about positive and meaningful political change in the region with the power vacuum created in the region and subsequent emergence of sub-state actors and groups like the Al- Qaeda in Iraq and the IS (Islamic State) in Iraq and Syria. The second is to study and evaluate the emergence and growth of the IS in conjunction with the deteriorating security situation in Iraq and Syria, and how the international involvement with the IS might have shaped the tactics and the course of action that the IS has taken since the IS captured the city of Mosul in June 2014, shocking the whole world. Assessment of the IS’s military, economic and political prospects will also be provided in the concluding section.
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The power vacuum which was emanated with the demise of Yugoslavia Federal Republic has caused conflicts and created instability in the post-Cold War era. The instabilities that arose have had the potential to affect the global interests of the U.S. directly and indirectly. That’s why the U.S. took the initiative and some interventions were made in order to provide stability in the region. This study analyses the Balkans policy of the U.S. in the post-Cold War era by focusing on the Bosnian, Kosova and Macedonian crisis. The study makes predictions by examining the factors that caused the U.S. to take the initiative as well as American post-conflict engagement. In this context whether the possible tensions with the declaration of independence of Kosova and the collapse of Bosnian peace or the possibility of the rise of instability in Macedonia thought, the paper claims that the U.S. would pursue a foreign policy that protects its strategic advantage which once gained with the earlier interventions.
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The aim of this article is to assess theoretical justification and practical possibilities of the project of civic nation-building. The study tries to substantiate the claim that civic nation is a form of political self-organisation that is unable to ensure stability of a political entity. Based on ethnosymbolist approach to nationalism studies, concepts of ethnic, civic and political nation are differentiated and their relationship with the concept of civic society defined. The emergence of theoretical distinction of so-called civic and ethnic nations is explained through different historic ways of state consolidation and political nation-building. Theoretical and practical challenges of the civic nation project for a democratically governed political body and it`s stability are considered. Given that civic nationalism not only recognizes all the citizens as members of the political nation, but also assimilates them into the ethnocultural nation, it is concluded that civic nation as a citizens’ loyalty base rooted only in citizenship is doomed to political instability, something confirmed by the infamous experiment of multiculturalism, de facto based on the concept of civic nation-building.
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