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The paper raises and considers the problem of social, economic and political development, cultural changes, the new tendencies of technological progress and environmental protection, closely associated with the cohesion processes and the processes of initiation and activation of various forms of uniqueness, taking place under the conditions of globalization, knowledge based society creation and of European integration and European Union development and enlargement processes. It is shown that the cohesion processes and the processes of initiation and activation of uniqueness determine the basic changes in contemporary society and its life in the common social and economic space in the European Union. The paper describes the variety of the cohesion processes, identifying new trends of cohesion in the context of globalization and internationalization, knowledge based society and knowledge economy creation processes. The main attention is paid to the interregional cohesion and to the regional uniqueness in the context of European integration and European Union development and enlargement processes. It is shown that the processes of cohesion are very complicated and versatile. Cohesion and its processes are based on some particular principles and regularities, which reflect the objective nature of cohesion, allowing that the cohesion processes may be perceived and considered as a specific cognition and research object. It is clear that general cognition logic may be used in the investigation of cohesion and the related issues. The main general principles of cohesion, including the principles of the communicating vessels, multiplication of quality standards, innovation and qualitative changes, diversity harmonization, the reduction to common denominator and assimilation, may be defined. The main regularities of cohesion are described in the article : the regularities of cohesion characterize the main trajectories of cohesion processes, allowing to determine the dominant cohesion features. It is clear that regularities of cohesion refer to various cohesion phenomena, including those, reflecting the variety of the cohesion aims and interests of various subjects involved in the cohesion processes, the complexity and inconsistency of these processes, as well as risks, threats and uncertainties, associated with various conditions, in which the cohesion processes take place. In general, regularities of cohesion reflect the processes, associated with application and realization of the cohesion principles: any regularities of cohesion may be perceived and treated as a description of a particular 'cause and effect' relationship associated with application and realization of the cohesion principles. This approach allows for identification of several most significant general regularities of cohesion: • the increasing diversity of the interested subjects and their interests, reflecting the trend of increasing the variety of subjects, seeking to realize more diverse interests in the process of cohesion, • stronger orientation of cohesion to a larger scope of activities and a higher rate of transformation, reflecting the trend of the cohesion processes to enlarge the areas, where they are taking place and to increase the rate of their proceeding, • the complexity, difficulties and contradictions of the cohesion processes, reflecting their diversity and the need for seeking their harmony, • the cyclic character of the cohesion processes, reflecting the fact that cohesion develops in some particular cycles, which begin with raising the requirement of convergence, interaction and integration of various systems, spaces and elements and ending with the creation of a particular new system characterized by the internal harmony, • the orientation of cohesion processes to expansion and renewal, reflecting the multiplication of the particular norms, standards, models, traditions and rules, which means that two types of cohesion effects become evident at the same time. In the first case, the renewal is taking place in the systems, spaces and elements, where new norms, standards, models, traditions and rules have been established. In the second case, the expansion of the activities of the subjects who purposefully promote and realize the multiplication of these norms, standards, models, traditions and rules, takes place. Various aspects of interregional cohesion and of the initiation and activation of the regional uniqueness in the context of European integration and European Union development and enlargement processes are described and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the process of organizational leadership in Central and East Europe (CEE). It is challenging to perform such investigation, as the leadership as a phenomena is traditionally analysed using the anglo-saxon approach. This approach determines the criterion that describes the efficiency of leadership, which is based on objective performances, whereas social and cultural context of leadership is latent. Traditionally, the presentation of leaderships is measured by the managers' trait, organizational values, relationship with stakeholders and other indicators that depict business efficiency. It should be noted that studies involving the use of these indicators reveals highly negative performances of leadership in CEE. When considering the cost-effectiveness of the management, these indicators are uniquely valuable and usable for performance measurement. However, leadership effectiveness is not identical to the economic performance; it is not an element of efficiency, but rather the expression of perceptions. Leadership is a process in which the leader gets the trust and becomes recognized. Accordingly, this article critically reviews the studies on organizational leadership in CEE and evaluates the main trends of leadership development during last two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper deals with the impact of alternative investment funds on economy and possibilities of improving regulation of their activity. The recent years have seen a rapid development of alternative investment funds, namely hedge funds and private equity funds. Due to relatively low interest rates and excess liquidity in financial markets, these funds reached such a scale that they could influence real economies. Although the activities of the alternative investment funds may influence liquidity and efficiency of the markets in a positive way, they could not be valuated unequivocally, since they often have negative consequences. Contradictory objectives of the alternative investment funds and the Lisbon Strategy or at least their different time horizons determine the negative impacts of these funds on the long-term economic growth and employment in the labour market. Furthermore, these funds have different impacts (and most often negative ones) on the behaviour of the companies and financial markets. The lack of transparency and regulation, employment reduction, overindebtedness of the companies, tax avoidance and other corporate governance problems distort competition and endanger economic stability. The present article aims at searching for adequate regulation of the activities of alternative investment funds. The methodology of the research comprises statistical methods and a comparative analysis of the regulation norms. In order to neutralise the negative impacts of hedge and private equity funds, it is recommended to develop the regulation of the considered norms in the following directions: 1) to encourage long-term investments in the following ways: weighting of the voting rights according to the duration of property, higher tax rates for short-term investments; 2) to prevent tax avoidance providing the following: collection of taxes according to the country of the contract subject or fund manager (not to the country of fund registration because most of them are registered in so-called "tax heavens"), tax discrimination of the offshore funds, as well as limited interest exclusion from the taxable profit; 3) to ensure greater transparency of the markets and to strengthen economic stability by the following means: minimum financial reporting standards, a new European directive introducing minimum standards for information disclosure, and minimum capital requirements for companies; 4) to enhance investor and employee protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]