Suchergebnisse

This paper calculates the trade facilitation index and manufacturing export sophistication of Russia and Central and Eastern European countries from 2003 to 2017, and examines the impact of trade facilitation and R&D innovation on manufacturing export sophistication. The study found that the export sophistication of labor-intensive industries continues to decrease, the export sophistication of capital and technology-intensive industries continues to increase, while the export sophistication of traditional resource-based heavy industries is stable. In addition, trade facilitation and R&D innovation have significantly contributed to the export sophistication of Russia, Central and Eastern European countries, especially the manufacturing industry after the 2009 financial crisis. For Central European and European Union member states, the impact of trade facilitation and R&D innovation on export sophistication is significantly greater than that of Eastern European and non-EU member states. The promotion of heavy, heterogeneous, medium and high-tech industries is obviously stronger than that of light, homogeneous and low-tech industries. In addition, the moderating role of trade dependence cannot be ignored. Trade facilitation and R&D innovation have a significant non-linear impact on export sophistication.

The past decade has shown great changes in the accommodation of minority communities into South-East European and Central European countries. New measures and instruments adopted in these countries often rely on international standards and on the recommendations of international organisations. A new phase of EU conditionality policy has been developed towards SEE countries aspiring to EU membership. Besides the conditionality policy of international organisations – the Council of Europe and EU membership policy –, in the case of Kosovo and Macedonia the intervention of international bodies had a direct influence on domestic policies towards minorities. New bodies of minority self-governments, of elected and non-elected consultative bodies and new solutions for their parliamentary representation have emerged. This book addresses these issues by offering an analysis of different forms of 'effective participation' for minorities in public life, the effects of European integration and detailed case studies of the different models adopted by these states.

enth.

What do young people know about politics? What opinions do they have? How extensive or how limited is their interest in politics? Do young people feel as though they can exert influence within the political arena? Do boys and girls differ with respect to these points? Are young people in general more left-wing or more right-wing than the older generation? These are some of the questions which are considered in this book. The answers are applicable to ten European countries. This book is the result of an international conference the editors had organized at the University of Groningen in 1988

Abstract
This paper examines how regional contextual factors influence Eurosceptic voting in Eastern Central and Western Europe. It employs a theoretical framework of multidimensional regional periphery and relative deprivation to explore how economic, spatial and demographic factors can generate collective feelings of deprivation among regional inhabitants. This relative deprivation is supposed to manifest as political discontent expressed at the EU level, either by attributing responsibility for regional peripherality to the EU or by blaming national institutions, potentially spilling over to the EU level. Based on an integrated dataset encompassing economic, spatial and demographic indicators as well as election data from the European election 2019 for 1169 NUTS 3 regions within the EU, the findings support the hypotheses. Poor economic performance in a region, relative to the national average and historical levels, increases Eurosceptic voting, and the impact of an ageing population is significant. Spatial infrastructure conditions have minimal direct but moderating effects: Eurosceptic parties benefit more from economic underperformance, if the infrastructure is also poorly developed. The paper further shows differences in cue -taking between Eastern Central Europe and Western Europe suggesting that citizens in Eastern Central Europe consider the EU more often as saviour than as creator of regional deprivation. The paper underscores the importance of regional contextual factors and infrastructural effects, and highlights the need to avoid one-size-fits-all explanations for Euroscepticism in Eastern Central and Western Europe.