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France’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was initially conciliatory. However, the current French President’ statements, Macron, gradually changed, suggesting a potential shift in France's stance. The French president recently suggested troops could be sent to Ukraine to fight the Russians, a move that could significantly impact the course of the war. Our paper aims to address this possibility. How feasible would this be from a military perspective? Second, are there any other relevant political actors that will support it? Third, why has Paris changed its position to such a radical stance? We start from the theoretical design of realist constructivism. Postcolonial theories and the concept of locked-in path dependence supported this research. The methods follow the path of historical synthesis, discourse analysis of key political actors, and text analysis of defense white papers. Quantitative military variables are used to understand France’s and the EU’s military-industrial complex capabilities and assess its potential. The collapse of France’s neocolonial empire in Africa and Russia’s growing influence in the region partially explains Macron’s discourse change. This is correlated with the need to follow a more independent European security policy and the worsening military situation in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practical implementation of a circular economy in the European Union poses significant challenges, notably for the EU-11 (Central and Eastern Europe) countries. The aim of this paper is to analyze the transition of the EU-11 countries toward a CE by examining existing circular strategies, national-level policies, as well as bottom-up initiatives, and on the other hand to explore the prevalent circularity discourses within the EU-11 countries. The study employs a discourse analysis method to comprehensively examine documents related to the CE aspects. This methodology integrates both quantitative categorization (codes and categories) and qualitative interpretation (reading and explanation) to support the understanding of circularity discourses. The results of this paper indicate that the countries within the EU-11 are actively advancing their efforts towards a CE. These countries are seen to be proactively developing a circular vision and setting ambitious objectives to facilitate a transition to a circular economic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the potential impacts of the recently published Network and Information Security Directive 2 (NIS2) and Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) on EU cybersecurity resilience and cloud adoption. Employing a mixed method of descriptive literature review, narrative review, and thematic synthesis, we explore challenges for implementation, drawing from past data privacy regulations, notably the GDPR, which served as a basis for our analysis and has already significantly affected many organizations. We emphasize the need for efficient software solutions to assist organizations in complying with the new regulations, building upon lessons learned from the GDPR. Cloud service providers and enterprise software vendors are identified as key players to address these challenges. This paper discusses the paradox of organizations' historical reluctance to migrate to the cloud due to data privacy concerns, and how the motivation to comply with recent regulations may now drive increased modern cloud adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Company Law universally requires shareholders to participate in meetings in order to formulate a set of corporate acts. Although provisions allowing the possibility for virtual shareholder meetings have already been implemented in many legislations, the COVID-19 crisis has given this relative legal novelty a status of paramount regulatory importance. The post-crisis regulatory development of the field in light of the process of digitalisation is the subject of this paper. The paper firstly gives an overview of the academic debate on the subject with a focus on the pandemic. Then, it continues to produce a comparative overview of virtual general meetings regulations in selected jurisdictions, namely Switzerland, Italy, Germany, U.S. state of Delaware and the European Union Company Law. Prior to the pandemic, the Croatian Company Law encompassed the possibility for hybrid virtual general meetings of shareholders if stipulated in company bylaws. The aforementioned possibility was used in Croatia for the first time during the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis. The conclusions of the paper produce general recommendations for regulatory policy in this field with an emphasis on the European and the Croatian Company Law de lege ferenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way firms and marketers promote their products is being shaped by consumer needs and trends alongside the evolution of the marketplace. As web technologies and consumers’ online behavior improve, influencers are becoming increasingly significant in social media marketing strategies. This research intends to investigate a particular digital phenomenon observed in the field of books, namely, marketing books on Instagram. Therefore, the study aims to highlight the key aspects of book influencers' Instagram activity, namely by examining the literature, but also the evolution of the bookstagram phenomenon in a dual perspective in both Romania and the United States. Furthermore, the purpose of this research is to draw attention to the similarities and differences among the existing communities in the two countries pointed out by a quantitative research. On that account, the data analyzed was collected in two different ways, first we retrieved information from Statista online database about the phenomenon in the United States of America and then, we conducted a questionnaire to bookstagram community members in Romania. Accordingly, the paper will contribute to the expansion of the literature on #bookstagram communities in various cultures around the world by providing useful information and a more diverse view of this market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the main features of digital repression in Russia, especially in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The repression of digital activism is not a new phenomenon in Russia; however, it gained fresh momentum during the Russian-Ukrainian war. Security has been used as a pretext to expand the state's authority at the cost of individuals' rights and freedoms. To control political narratives, suppress online dissent and surveil regime critics, the government has significantly tightened the national legislation through its media regulator, Roskomnadzor. The aftermath of the war, harsh sanctions and increased anti-regime movements have also deepened Russia's aspirations toward 'digital sovereignty'. Meanwhile, regardless of a number of important initiatives in this direction, domestic digital space still remains an ambitious goal to be fulfilled. This paper concludes that, along with other devastating consequences, the war in Ukraine will provoke further digital repression in Russia aimed at achieving the Kremlin's goal of "digital sovereignty". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increasing role of digital payments, demand for commercial bank money and nonbank money is expanding, while that for physical cash is sharply diminishing. The retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) is considered the only safe alternative to compensate for this decrease, as a public good complementary to cash that can be used by the general public. It is seen also as a response to the surge of private digital currencies, which could threaten national monetary sovereignty. Complementarily, in parallel to the retail public digital currency, wholesale CBDC targets large-value interbank transactions, limited to selected financial institutions, focused on efficiency, security and lowering transactions costs for cross-border transactions. Based on the extensive literature review and a qualitative synthesis, the present paper has as a key objective the interpretation of the main approaches to the retail CBDC adoption, justified by specific motivations. The research question is "in which circumstances should a retail CBDC be adopted?". The historical perspective of failed projects, combined with current experiences, offers a clear overview of the CBDC as a potential dominant currency of the digital economy, but in the presence of a cautious approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the present paper is to analyze changes in the compositional structures of Georgia's economy, explore the related qualitative transformations and explain implications for trade and development. By comparing the evidence of several European countries, we put Georgia’s structural changes within a broader regional-level context. We rely on two key measures of structural transformation: sector employment shares in total employment and sector value-added shares disaggregated at the industry level. To explain trade implications, structural transformation indicators across exporting sectors are evaluated. The existing divides between structural transformation of Georgia and that of the Eastern European economies reveal those structural risks that can negatively affect regional positions of Georgia and its long-term economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper examines the influence of the historical legacy regarding the impact of the border of the former Habsburg Empire, the former political membership of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR), and perceptions about the communist past - in understanding the current tolerance of bribery in Romania, more than 25 years after the fall of communism. We started from an existing background suggesting that in the aftermath of the fall of communism, Romania underwent significant socio-economic changes, with persisting regional disparities accentuated by historical and cultural legacies. Using representative data from the European and World Values Survey joint dataset v.2.0, other relevant sources (Public Opinion Barometer from 2000 and 2007), variable selection and analysis methods based on DK/NA value treatment, binary derivations, the LASSO pack in Stata 17.0 together with different types of regressions including OLS, binary and ordered logistic ones, cross-validations both random and based on wellestablished criteria (mixed-effects modeling), and collinearity removal techniques based on maximum accepted values of the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF), the results highlight that respondents from certain Romanian macro-regions that experienced higher levels of membership in the PCR and positive views about communism are less likely to be tolerant of bribery. It appears that if the region of residence was part of the former Habsburg Empire, current intentions for bribery are higher. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the propensity to bribe is negatively affected by current macro elements, such as higher crime levels, material deprivation, urban connectivity or lower levels of migration abroad, and left-wing voting preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant changes of national and global events require adequate responses not just from governments, but as well from the educational areas. The end of the Cold War in 1990, followed by the Economic Crisis of 2007-2008, and the Pandemic Crisis of 2020 were global challenges that increased the importance of geoeconomic field and the need to study Geoeconomics nowadays as an interdisciplinary subject, as a discipline that exercises crucial roles internationally, requiring learners to study it in a meaningful context. In the future, present learners of Geoeconomics will work for countries that will use their strategic positions to access resources and promote their economic interests. They will analyze different interconnections between geography and economics that are transforming the world and promoting a global demand for labour force flexibility. They will be workers that will migrate and study to find their place and role in this evolving geoconomic system. In the present dynamic geoeconomic context, the field of education remains the key to prepare future generations to use a critical thinking approach when deciding how to apply internationally geoeconomic knowledge and skills. This research paper presents different aspects of Geoeconomics as a discipline and shows several steps that can be followed in order to teach and learn an interdisciplinary subject in a meaningful context, using an inclusive education and a cooperative learning approach. In fact, this research paper contains several authentic activities that can be used in the process of teaching and learning Geoeconomics, online or offline, and, more broadly, evaluates the needs of students and the role of lecturers in the process of international education, showing as well different techniques that can be used to prevent plagiarism. This research paper also includes an analysis of the process of meaningful teaching, its features, and the challenges that students can have with studying interdisciplinary subjects within the Social Sciences area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to put forward some ideas on what factors significantly affect entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector, in order to help strengthen them as well as outline practical strategies that can be used by future researchers. The paper is a viewpoint contribution based on the author's research on "entrepreneurship" and "entrepreneurship education" engagement with the development of management in the agricultural field. The research carried out in Western Greece among farmers entrepreneurs. A number of ideas are outlined under the following headings: creating mutually interesting content; demonstrating practical implications; motivating academics. The viewpoint summarizes the key challenges of agricultural entrepreneurship stakeholders and will be of interest to policy makers for the creation of well-targeted development programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there are some issues and concerns about the World Trade Organization dispute settlement system, it remains an effective tool for countries to find reasonable solutions for their trading problems. This paper aims to identify the mechanisms of the settlement process between WTO members and to provide a relevant review of the European Union's trade disputes, in particular for energy sector cases. For this purpose, the paper implies a conceptual and descriptive framework and a qualitative approach regarding the EU's trade disputes, especially for energy sector. The results show that the EU is one of the most frequent members in trade disputes, but most of them are concluded. At the same time, most of the cases in the energy sector remain in the consultation phase, the EU being complained by Argentina, Indonesia, Russia, China and Malaysia for sectors related to biodiesel, renewable energy generation and oil palm-based biofuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The situation of the human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) is frequently reported in the Western media and it has gained a central place in the Euro-Atlantic political discourse which condemns Beijing's attitude towards human rights at home. However, the sanctions adopted by both the US and the EU in relation to the treatment applied by the Chinese government to the Uyghurs in the XUAR are strongly discouraged and limited by the economic dependencies of the two Western giants on China. The goal of this paper is to discuss the effectiveness of the economic sanctions in supporting the human rights international regime in the context of current economic interdependence between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), on one side, and China, on the other side. The hypothesis of the paper is that the asymmetrical economic interdependence is undermining the effectiveness of the economic sanctions in supporting the human rights international regime. When there is an increased interdependence between a supporter and promoter of human rights, in this case the US and the EU, and a great economic power that does not regard the human rights as having a universal value in the current international order, the effects of the economic sanctions are inefficient in addressing this problem due to the high economic and political costs for both their issuers and their targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explores the relevance of eco-industrial clusters in promoting Ukraine's post-war reconstruction and sustainable development. To this aim, the paper carries out a comprehensive literature review of academic articles, reports, and case studies on eco-industrial clusters and sustainable development, collect data on Ukraine's post-war reconstruction efforts and the current state of its industrial sector, and analyze relevant legislation and policies. The results show that the success of eco-industrial clusters can be attributed to several critical factors, including robust collaboration between companies, a supportive regulatory framework, and a long-term vision for sustainable development. In the context of Ukraine's post-war reconstruction, an eco-industrial cluster offers an opportunity to build back better by creating new jobs, promoting sustainable economic growth, and enhancing environmental protection. This suggests that an effective ecoindustrial cluster in Ukraine should align with the country's long-term vision for sustainable development, identify industries and companies that can benefit from collaboration and resource sharing, and prioritize stakeholder engagement and public awareness. The involvement of research institutions, a supportive regulatory framework, and financial resources from international donors and investors are also critical for the success of an eco-industrial cluster in Ukraine. By adopting a collaborative, innovative, and sustainable approach to economic development, Ukraine can build a more resilient, inclusive, and prosperous future for its people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the business environment, economic entities are aware of the importance of reporting transparency for them and their stakeholders. This study provides a comprehensive review of the topic of transparency, with the aim of identifying current research trends. PRISMA method ("Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses") is used to analyze literature published since 1990 on "Scopus", "Web of Science" and "Google Scholar" platform. The study is based on a corpus of 125 articles. Our research found that very few literature review articles capture all aspects of transparency in reporting, leading us to believe that transparency in reporting is still a major challenge in accounting research. Transparency was studied at the level of the country, sector of activity or economic entity. It has also been strongly associated with the quality of reporting and influenced by the application of national or international standards of accounting, corporate governance and auditing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main rationale for wage subsidies is giving job opportunities to workers who would otherwise remain unemployed or take jobs that do not exploit their potential productivity. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the wage subsidy programme in North Macedonia for the period 2018-2019 in order to provide a sound basis for its redesign in the times of Covid-19 crisis. The Propensity score matching is used as a principal estimation method. Moreover, we further explore the impact of the wage subsidies on the outcome variables for particular disadvantaged segments by disaggregation of the average treatment effect on treated individuals. The evaluation reveals improvement of the wage subsidy program in 2019 relative to 2018. However, having in mind the impact of the Covid-19 pandemics, there is a room for redesign of this measure by improving its targeting and conditions for retaining the subsidised jobs in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates board characteristics and committees' structure in the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) using unique data culled from the database of the Hellenic Observatory of Corporate Governance. The current corporate governance framework applying in Greece is also analysed while comparisons with the international experience are offered. In Greece, while the Law calls for the need to have a Committee comprising of non-executive Board of Directors (BoD) members, it permits the participation of non-BoD members that collectively fulfill the independence criteria as laid out by Law 4706. L.4449 introduced the current Audit Committee composition and operation framework and the accompanying tighter monitoring role on the part of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) and the Hellenic Accounting and Auditing Oversight Board (HAASOB), has undoubtedly overhauled all the audit framework. The average number of committees per listed firm in the Greek stock exchange almost reached the two-committee threshold only in 2018. Average board size is 7.85 members slightly smaller than the average size for major markets around the globe. This shows the potential for an increase in Board size given also recent regulatory changes necessitating the gender representation of at least 25% in the Board of public firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because the construction industry is widely viewed as the engine that drives economies around the world, understanding how companies achieve their competitive advantages through innovation, the use of information technologies, strategies, business models, or human resources is vital. The current paper aims to identify and categorize the types of competitive advantages that exist, ranging from pure technological advantages such as information storage, coordination, and electronic communication to organizational and management advantages. In terms of methodological approach, performing a quality analysis of the existent literature regarding competitive advantages consists the best tool due to its wide spectrum of gathering the data. The research will be structured in 3 steps, respectively problem formulation, gathering of the data and title, abstract and full-text review. A complex perspective of the competitive advantages can be therefore obtained which can be a valuable asset in helping a construction enterprise in selecting its long-time strategy for becoming more competitive, efficient and sustainable. Through the main findings, innovation, usage of the informational technologies, initial conditions, environment understanding, safety culture or management practices of the human resources can be counted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the policies of the United Nations and specialized institutions concerning the coordination of international community efforts to combat terrorist threats. Terrorism remains a significant threat to international security, despite the war in Ukraine taking priority in terms of insecurity. In this regard, international cooperation aimed at countering terrorism remains relevant, and the actions taken between 2015 and 2018 must be expanded and intensified. Such cooperation requires the participation of a broad spectrum of actors in international relations, including states, governmental international organizations, and civil society. Terrorism continues to be a global problem, and multilateral cooperation is both timely and necessary to counter it. Terrorist movements have not taken a break, despite their lack of large-scale actions, as they continue to express themselves through the activities of crisis cells or lone wolves. Consequently, prophylaxis methods must be supplemented, considering the new forms of terrorism expression. The United Nations organization continues to prove itself as the institution authorized to develop the legal framework and coordinate international efforts to counter this scourge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation vouchers are a tool of innovation policy, which aims to initiate cooperation between different actors, particularly between the business and research entities. The paper compares the implementation of vouchers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Its objective is to compare the policy approaches to innovation vouchers in two countries in Central Europe which have a shared history, but which, at some point, went their own way. Vouchers in Czechia have a longer tradition and were first initiated at the regional level. In Slovakia, vouchers were only implemented at the national level and with a lower budget. The research confirmed the persistent differences in the innovation policies and the more proactive approach in Czechia. The paper's contribution also lies in the focus on transitive economies, which have received less research attention so far. Implications for the design of innovation policies in countries with emerging innovation systems are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the opportunities and challenges presented by smart technologies and digitalization in the tourism sector. It acknowledges the accelerated adoption of digital tools and smart apps due to the pandemic, while also emphasizing the importance of collaboration and addressing issues of privacy, data security, and inequalities in access to technology. The article focuses on three sub-topics: the economic impact of digitalization on tourism, tourism experiences in the digital age, and regional adaptation to digitalization and new tourism trends. It discusses the varying importance of tourism in different European countries and the potential for innovation in the industry, highlighting the positive correlation between innovation initiatives and the tourism sector. The article also examines the trend of medical tourism and its connection to globalization and student mobility. Overall, it suggests that understanding the challenges, impacts, and opportunities of the tourism industry is crucial for its accessibility and future development. [Extracted from the article]

This paper departs from the regional resilience concept -- as part of a broad strand of literature on non-linear dynamic systems in a space-economy -- and introduces the notion of prosilience to highlight the policy challenge of developing radically new and innovative strategies for regions in decline. The mining industry will be used as an illustrative case. The notion of phoenix regions is put forward to argue that an external disruption or shock in an established industrial sector in a region necessitates unconventional survival strategies oriented towards entirely new market demands and based on totally different product packages. Ansoff's model on product diversification in competitive markets forms an inspiration source for the Schumpeterian 'creative destruction' proposition advocated in this study. An illustrative case study is concisely described in the present paper, viz. the South-Limburg coal mining region in the Southern part of the Netherlands. Smart prosilience trajectories supported in particular by evidence-based decision support tools are sketched for such depressed regions, based on the so-called Pentagon intervention model. The paper is concluded with some general policy lessons for an intelligent transformation of regions in decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to offer an overview of the specific situation of culture as an investment priority of cross-border cooperation, part of the European territorial integration process, in the Eastern Neighbourhood Policy. The research is focused on the cross-border programmes involving Romania and its neighbours during the last two multiannual financial frameworks. Two financial instruments are of interest: the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument, for the period 2007-2013 and the European Neighbourhood Instrument for 2014-2020. The analysis is based on the European Union's INTERREG database (keep.eu), filtered for seven CBC programmes, highlighting the role of culture for CBC, the intensity of CBC and the leading territories (cities and countries) in cultural projects involving cross-border partners in the Eastern Neighbourhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current social science problem is the use of quantitative or statistical research methods rather than qualitative and descriptive methods in social studies. That, in consequence, creates a contradiction in the process of genuine selection of a research method according to the specificity of the research subject. Therefore, the article aims to emphasise the necessity of the natural selection of a research method considering the subject of research and, moreover, to draw attention to the problem of overusing the survey method and statistical analysis as the primary type of research method used in scientific papers in social sciences prepared and published in Eastern Europe. The example from management sciences was used as a reference point for constructing the argument. The asymmetric assessment of research methods used in management sciences is applied in this article. The disadvantages of quantitative methods and the advantages of qualitative methods are highlighted. The findings indicate a necessity to integrate qualitative and quantitative research methodologies through a mixed approach, particularly within the domain of management sciences. Additionally, there is a compelling rationale to reassess the prevailing standards and methodologies in research, as well as the expectations of publishers in the field of social sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the correlation between patriarchal attitudes, women's asset ownership, participation in household decision-making and women's educational attainment across 27 post-communist countries. It hypothesizes that patriarchal attitudes hinder women's educational achievements while women's asset ownership and participation in household decision-making facilitate them. Utilizing regression analysis, marginal effects, post-regression simulation, the study tests and confirms these hypotheses. Results show that for every unit increase in women's asset ownership and participation in decision-making, the odds of achieving higher educational attainment increase by approximately 35.7% and 16.5%, respectively. Conversely, a unit increase in patriarchal attitudes decreases these odds by 15.8%. The findings underscore the importance of state and civil society commitment to addressing gender disparities in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades, the EU has faced a variety of challenges and shocks that have shaken the Union up to its very core, with crisis emerging both internally and externally (i.e. the sovereign debt crisis, terrorist attacks, refugees' crisis, Ukraine crisis, Brexit, pandemic crisis). Within this context, it is not surprising that EU's resilience has become the ultimate goal across various fields and sectors. Accordingly, resilience has found its way into EU's foreign affairs and agenda particularly after the Ukraine crisis, which has emphasised the Union's inability to predict and manage crisis emerging in its near abroad. In this context, the aim of the paper is to analyse EU's understanding of resilience beyond its borders, as a pragmatic turn, away from its transformative incentives. In practice, the paper will focus on the Eastern Partnership (EaP) region, where the EU has put considerable efforts to shape a coherent approach to resilience. The argument is that, despite the EU's efforts and intensions, the pursuit of resilience abroad entails a series of contradictions and frictions between the EU's own resilience and that of the EaP countries, revolving around the dichotomy between interests and values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the creation of the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU has aimed to create a ring of stability outside its borders, in its eastern and southern neighbourhoods. In this challenging landscape, going from east to south, one of the few European successes in terms of neighbourhood policy has been Morocco, country which became a privileged partner of the EU. The paper assesses Morocco's successful cooperation with the EU, which cannot be separated from the developments regarding Western Sahara. The paper argues, by using a neo-realist approach, that the EUMoroccan success story can be explained through the lens of history and the mutual search for security enhancement. Even though the Moroccan case study presents specific characteristics, a security centred approach could benefit the EU in relation to other neighbour countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term internationalization has been mainly used to show the expansion of economic activities of firms outside of their home country where they aim at capturing a bigger market. The Central and Eastern Europe region has gone through a process of market transition over the past few decades, yet the business internationalization process has played an important role in the states' economies. The aim of this paper is to analyze the firm internationalization process in the new member states and the Western Balkans countries and gain a better understanding of the process and its course over time. Due to different geopolitical circumstances, the Western Balkan countries did not attract as many investors as much as the EU member states in CEE did that have had a constant flow of investments once they were members of the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes us on a methodological journey, analysing the efficiency of implementing information technologies in the business environment. In the context of digital transformation of the SMEs in the EU, Romania, and the Republic of Moldova emerges the necessity to focus on implementing information technologies in the business area, as the primary factor of boosting organisational performance. The aim of this research is to shed light on the possibilities of implementing information technologies in the business environment of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The methodology of this scientific endeavour has been geared towards using multiple methods of research, among which stands out the quantitative research, the inquiry used as a research tool, namely a questionnaire. The results of the research show a direct interconnection between implementing information technologies and customer satisfaction, particularly organisational performance. Thus, organisations aspiring to grow their performance should remodel their management system in terms of implementing new information technologies which will increase customer trust, improve client satisfaction, and gain customer loyalty to the products/services provided by the company concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the initial critical points of the EU's weakness in quickly responding to the crisis and the Chinese assertiveness in using vaccine diplomacy to achieve European political objectives. With the case study based on indicative research on public opinion, the paper provides a more profound understanding of the impact of Chinese-related activities in the CEE region, particularly concerning EU coherence and solidarity. The paper concludes that the Chinese presence in Europe via "vaccine diplomacy" threatens the unity of the EU and the CEE region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the major challenges for the present European Commission, starting with Brexit and ending with issues such as EU Eastern Enlargement from today's perspectives, trying to explain why it is difficult to talk about enlargement in a fragmented European Union. How will the European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations evolve in the actual mandate of the European Commission? Did the European Commission succeed in offering Eastern states the opportunity to join the European Union by developing instruments encouraging states to meet the accession criteria? A qualitative analysis will be used to highlight the novelty elements analyzed by the proposed theme; the author uses a study case using as research instruments discourse and content analysis. Therefore, the main objective of this research paper is to highlight how the European leaders' discourse on a possible enlargement of the European Union has evolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the post-Maidan and post-Velvet Revolution state-building in Ukraine and Armenia. Examining the cases of Ukraine and Armenia, the qualitative, comparative analysis presented in this paper uncovers some of the similarities and differences between the two post-Soviet revolutions in terms of their political and economic implications. The study suggests that, while the revolutions have given a strong impetus to political and economic reforms in oligarchy-driven and corruption-stricken Ukrainian and Armenian societies, the path to ultimate success involves overcoming the authoritarian legacy and developing democratic institutions. The analysis of the relationship between domestic change and foreign policy shows that in contrast to Ukraine, where the "choice for Europe" was the core rationale behind the Euromaidan, the domestic change in Armenia has not led to foreign policy shifts. Nevertheless, this study avoids reductionist explanations of external drivers of change. Rather, it treats the domestic actors as the key agents to transform the economic and political landscapes of the two post-Soviet countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism in the Eastern Partnership countries experienced a sinuous evolution in the post-Soviet period. The abandonment of the classic circuits, economic stagnation, the shock suffered after the events and periods of political crisis, and lately, the frozen activity during the health crisis, make resilience a way of being of the actors in this field. The paper aims at a systematic analysis of studies targeting the forms of tourism in the Eastern Partnership countries, highlighting the development models followed, the areas of tourist concentration and the recommended strategies. From a methodological point of view, the research was staged, having an initial quantitative approach, and then a qualitative one - a content analysis highlighting the key guidelines of the analysed studies. The conclusions of the article aim at mapping the research areas covered by the articles studied, while highlighting the intensely frequented areas and the „white" areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 10 years at least, not only that human resource specialists have been challenged to upskill and re-skill themselves to stay relevant in a world dominated by technology, but they are in the driver's seat for selecting the right technology for employees and leadership, for managing large scale implementations and integrations, managing vendors, with the objective to keep the workforce engaged. Technology development disrupted traditional thinking, changed consumer behavior, and led to what we could call systemic malfunctions – the rapid development of technology gave no time to human resource specialists to acquire expertise in data analytics, information technology, user behavior, etc. – which translated into watermelon effect: metrics look good, but reality feels different. This study aims to add one more perspective in evaluating human resource technology performance, showing that we are measuring mostly service efficiency instead of measuring employee and business impact and outcomes. The methodology used in this study is Action-Research, mainly because is mostly aligned with Agile philosophy and business operating models. The existent literature is rich in proposing new ways to keep technology users engaged, and delighted, however, is not provide practical and relevant guidelines on how to measure their perception over the holistic experience mediated by technology. Outdated key performance indicators are no longer capable of driving further innovation, setting the stage for failure in keeping employees engaged. Furthermore, we believe that now more than ever before it’s time for consultants to play the role of service aggregators, to bring together technology, processes, and service providers, to unify the experience of employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the age of globalization and increasing social and environmental awareness, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and commitment to sustainability are becoming increasingly important for companies. These practices are no longer just optional choices but are becoming essential criteria for consumers in their purchasing decisions. In our empirical endeavour, we used document content - and survey analysis as research methods. By employing a qualitative content analysis procedure, we examined and evaluated various campaigns promoting sustainability and philanthropy in relation to different apparel brands. Thus, we identified four such relevant campaigns, designed to emphasize ethical and sustainable values enabling a comprehensive overview of the impact of these marketing strategies on consumer purchasing decisions. Moreover, we statistically analysed how the perceived brand value (i.e., translated into purchasing decision) is influenced by philanthropic and sustainable business practices. Based on our results we draw some relevant conclusions about the impact of CSR campaigns, in general, and on Romanian consumer purchasing behaviour, in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific research leads the scientific progress based on which information technology (I.T.) professionals drive technology changes, impacting our daily life, business, and work models. The same inventions are impacting the work of the software developers, the ones responsible for building this technology. While I.T professionals are building new tools for automation used in the industry, the work of I.T. professionals is significantly impacted by the tools they build. Paying heed to these considerations, the paper intends to bring forward qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with 18 I.T. professionals. The research purpose is to scrutinize to what extent the workers in the software development industry are aware of the transformations happening in their profession, how they see the future of their jobs and how they prepare for that future. The I.T. engineers taking part in the interviews see the impact of technology in changing their work models, making them more productive rather than a threat to their jobs. They also understand the importance of continuous learning, keeping up with technological changes and soft skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the impact of transport infrastructure quality on economic competitiveness in the European Union (EU), context in which we argue that the quality of the different modal transport networks has a differentiated contribution on competitiveness. The purpose of our analysis aims to quantify the qualitative contribution of each modal transport network to economic competitiveness in the EU. The econometric quantification of the mentioned impact emphasizes a contributory hierarchy as follows: the quality of port and railroad infrastructure contributes most substantially to economic competitiveness, followed by the quality of the air transport infrastructure, the inland waterways and the road network. Based on the iterated results, we sequenced the EU member states with the lowest quality of networks with the highest impact on competitiveness. Thus, we identified the states for which the priority improvement of the quality of the port and railway infrastructures would significantly improve their economic competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important topics of Croatia accession to the EU was cooperation with International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in Den Haag. ICTY was created by the international community to prosecuted war crimes committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990es. In Croatia, there was an opinion that the court will prosecute only Serbia and there was a shock when the first indictments were sent for war crimes committed by Croatian forces. A personification of this process was general Ante Gotovina, who was accused among others as a member of a joint criminal enterprise but, in the end, he was found not guilty. At the same time, some parts of Croatian society and media started to build a mythical status around Ante Gotovina. This paper will analyze this type of media coverage and how it did shape opinion and consequentially created a modern myth around Gotovina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the political landscape of post-war Armenia, focusing on both domestic and foreign policy implications of the devastating war of 2020. More specifically, it aims at explaining the aftermath of the 2020 war, with a special emphasis on Armenia's growing dependence on Russia. Since September 2020, Armenia has plunged into a deep crisis. The Nagorno-Karabakh war had a series of implications, both for conflicting parties and a wider region. The ceasefire agreement which entailed huge territorial concessions took many by surprise and raised questions as to the transparency and accountability of the government. Although the Russian-brokered ceasefire ended the hostilities, yet it left many fundamental matters unanswered. Furthermore, the war has exacerbated the pre-existing divisions amongst the foremost political actors and the general public. Combined with the war and its aftermath, the COVID-19 pandemic has also invited challenges, which resulted in an increased human toll, slowdown of economy, and deepened public anger and mistrust of the authorities. The situation is compounded by Armenia's deepening dependence on Russia, which has been largely treated as war-torn Armenia's irreplaceable ally by the Armenian leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking into consideration the current developments as regards the intensification of the irregular movement of third country nationals at the EU's border with Belarus, this paper sets as its main objective to assess the resilience building measures that were taken at the level of the affected Member States and that of the EU in order to manage the newly emerged border crisis. It is being argued that we are not dealing with an ordinary migration crisis, but a deliberate act of the Belarusian regime to instrumentalise migrants from the Middle East for political purposes. The research presents the facilitation of irregular immigration in a dual nexus, firstly as a hybrid warfare tool, and secondly, as a shock/stress factor disturbing the system or the prevalent status quo. After presenting the statistics on the modification of the illegal border-crossings between Belarus and the EU in the 2021-2022 period, we shall attempt to briefly analyse the resilience building measures to the hybrid threat of weaponizing migrants that were taken at both Community and Member State level, by grouping them in five resilience building categories: political/legal, institutional, inter-institutional, regulatory and societal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over time, the migration phenomenon developed an interdependence relationship with economic development, political stability and social factors. Starting from this context, this paper aims at studying the Romanian emigration flow according to the country of destination between 1990-2016 and the way in which the gross domestic product per capita (GDP) influenced this emigration flow between 2008-2016. The initial hypothesis was that only certain countries were priority targets of the Romanian emigration flow. In our scientific approach we used EUROSTAT and TEMPO databases. In the first part of the paper we used cluster analyzes to confirm that only certain countries are priority destinations, and in the second part we included a multiple linear regression model to find out if the gross domestic product of the country affects in any way the decision to emigrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal institutions such as culture, trust, social relations, norms or values have a strong effect on countries' development patterns, their role being enhanced in those states where formal institutions are poorly regulated. Therefore, in order to foster economic development, institutional change remains one of the core issues, and differs depending on the levels of social analysis. The current paper aims at outlining a general perspective regarding the relation between institutional efficiency and economic development within the European Union, with a specific focus on the Eastern member states. These have similar development patterns and structural challenges, considering their shared communist past and inheritance which have left strong imprints on Eastern European societies and welfare. Overall, the paper argues that institutional efficiency is closely linked to the countries' levels of prosperity, and consequently, to the manner in which their governments pay attention on development policies, especially in those states that are economically and spatially more peripheral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the 2015 European refugee crisis, immigrant integration has reemerged as a pressing issue endangering France's social and political stability. France is one of the main asylum host countries in Europe. In the past few years, terrorist attacks have become more frequent in France, and the spread of xenophobia has led to a social crisis that threatens the country's national security. It has prompted France to consider returning to Laïcité in response to this situation. So the purpose of this paper is to analyze France's immigrant integration policy in 2020 and reveal the discourse of Laïcité and republican values in France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aegean conflict constitutes a dispute that has been affecting Greek-Turkish bilateral relations for the last five decades. It involves elements such as sovereignty, sovereign rights and national security. This paper suggests that the Torres Strait Treaty, an international agreement that provides the framework for the management of Australia and Papua New Guinea's (PNG) maritime boundaries, can be utilised to provide a possible solution to the Aegean conflict. The resolution of the Aegean conflict would improve the political and diplomatic relations between Greece and Turkey, guarantee the security of the Aegean region and allow for the two countries to benefit from economic cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to analyse and understand the factors which constantly position Romania on the last places of the European digital rankings, especially at the Human Capital/Digital skills indicators and secondary, to raise awareness concerning the necessity of increasing digital competences in Romania. The paper provides a comparison among Romania and other three European countries, better positioned on the European ranking, namely Germany, Poland and Denmark. The paper concludes that the level of preparedness of the human capital with digital competence has played a crucial role in assuring the success of the European industry. Learning from the better positioned countries on the European digital ranking can be a solution for Romania in increasing its performance and maintaining a valuable role in the European industry framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to assess employment in Georgia's public sector and study job creation factors. During the last decade, employment in the public sector has increased, and its share in total employment is, on average, 22.5%. This figure is high considering the real expenditures of the government, and the amount of delivered goods and services since some countries like Georgia ensure the provision of public services with relatively fewer human resources. On the other hand, the paper demonstrates job creation factors in the sector through regression analysis. Such a factor is politicians' rent-seeking - creating jobs for influential groups and ensuring political stability. This is more characteristic of those countries that lack democracy and the rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to analyse the effects in the trade performance of Georgia and Moldova in light of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreements with the EU. Hence, data for the period 2010-2019 is analysed to reveal the latest developments in the trade performance of these countries. The conducted analysis points to some positive developments in the trade of Georgia and Moldova with the EU for 2015-2019, however, compared to 2010-2014 or pre-DCFTA period the average annual growth rate of exports of both countries declined. Moreover, Georgia's success to increase exports to the EU remain relatively modest as compared to Moldova. Therefore, Moldova has achieved more deep trade integration with the EU than Georgia. Furthermore, the effect of DCFTAs on trade relations between Georgia and Moldova is not substantial, and therefore, increased economic integration between the EU associated countries is not yet evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the Iranian Nuclear Deal was a real success of multilateral diplomacy. A transaction in the global request to stop the Iranian nuclear proliferation. The paper focuses on the United States withdraw from JCPOA and the difficulty of European Union to maintain the agreement. The research paper also proposes to answer at two key questions, which will provide as much analysis as possible on the Comprehensive Joint Action Plan. Which theory of international relations best explains the current situation of the Iranian Nuclear Agreement? What is the role of diplomacy in ratifying the agreement? The results have shown that the relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America seemed to have every chance of escalating into a war, but the diplomacy is effective, while the European Union uses economic instruments to save the deal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occupation of Crimea determined the Crimean Tatars to react with obvious and clear-cut response: condemning the Russian aggression against the Ukrainian territorial integrity. This paper aims to analyze the post-2014 Crimean hybrid conflict situation of the Crimean Tatars, by investigating how the Crimean Tatars conditions have evolved under the Russian invasion forces for the last five years. In order to understand the post-2014 situation, the paper also focuses and examines the forced deportation (Sürgün or the Soviet Genocide), as well as Turkey's foreign policy reactions toward this regional conflict. Civil disobedience and nonviolent strategy of the Crimean Tatars have been used to pressure the Russian public opinion and political elites regarding the unlawful and unfair act toward the Ukrainian and Crimean sovereignty. In addition, the Crimean Tatars have voiced their concerns and demands in the international political arenas. Overall, the paper focuses on the repercussions of the Crimean crisis from political, psycho-social and international perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]