Eastern Journal of European Studies

 Edina Lilla MESZAROS,  Constantin Vasile TOCA

 Mindaugas BUTKUS,  Ona Grazina RAKAUSKIENE,  Lina VOLODZKIENE,  Andrius STASIUKYNAS,  Ilona BARTUSEVICIENE,  Laura Darenyte-KACILEVICIENE

ABSTRACT: This study aims to examine the perspective of public sector resilience development, which is explored as a three-stage construct: Planning, Adaptation, and Enhanced Learning. We analyzed whether these three stages are equally important in developing organizational resilience in the public sector. To assess the developmental importance of the three stages of organizational resilience, this study adopted a quantitative methodology. First, expert research was conducted to analyze whether all three stages were equally important in developing organizational resilience. Second, the level of resilience of public sector organizations in Lithuania was assessed by analyzing the survey results of 401 organizations. The results revealed that according to experts, the Adaptation stage is the most important in developing resilience, while Enhanced Learning is the least important. Meanwhile, resilience assessment in the Lithuanian public sector showed that Planning and Adaptation were equally developed, while Enhanced Learning demonstrated a significantly higher score.

KEYWORDS: public sector resilience, public sector resilience assessment, organizational resilience, planning, adaptation, enhanced learning,

Pages: 31-56 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0102

 Tomaz Ponce DENTINHO,  Gabriela Carmen PASCARIU,  Cristina PANTELICA,  Daniela CONSTANTIN,  Patricio AROCA

ABSTRACT:  This paper aims to analyse the spatial interaction of Romanian Cities from 1948 to 2021 trying to perceive if, along seven decades of quite different political regimes - from Central Planning to Market Interaction-, there have been changes in the logic of spatial interaction between City Regions. The study looks into the economic-demographic evolution of Romanian city regions and tests whether, throughout time, adding to the role of the economic base, their evolution follows a logic of size maximization, or a logic of maximization of interaction flows subject to the spatial structure of Romanian cities. Results show that the logic of spatial interaction changed during the period. Except for the first periods from 1948-1956-1966, the spatial evolution of Romanian City Regions is better explained by a logic of size maximization, either in the period of Central Planning (1966-1992) or in the period of Market Interaction where the population of the previous period, or the logic of size maximization, has a strong effect in the relative performance of city-regions when compare with the logic of maximization of interaction flows. Furthermore, exports play a more reduced role in regional growth when space is appropriately integrated.

KEYWORDS: spatial interaction, size maximization, flow maximization, regional development, Romania

Pages: 57-78 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0103

 Said TOPAL,  Branislav RADELJIC

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the repercussions of the 2015 European migrant/refugee crisis, which culminated with the 2018 dispute between Italy and France. It is concerned with the Dublin Regulation and the New Pact on Asylum and Migration, which are critical to the division and consequent polarizations across the EU. The Member States' failure to show solidarity and agree to share the burden in relation to the distribution of immigrants and asylum seekers has brought the European integrationist project into question. In addition to considering the general theoretical explanations, the paper also looks into the African-origin migration/displacement as a proper trigger of widespread disagreements among European governments. The deliberate and systematic impoverishment of the local inhabitants - largely through the use of the French Treasury-tied Communaute Financiere Africaine (CFA) franc - exposes the neo-colonial nature of the current practices and thus jeopardizes all those discourses and policy initiatives focused on the provision of peace and stability.

KEYWORDS: EU, immigration, Fortress Europe, Dublin Regulation, New Pact on Asylum and Migration,

Pages: 79-103 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0104

 Anna ZACHOROWSKA-MAZURKIEWICZ,  Agata GOMOLKA

ABSTRACT: Remuneration is a measure of the purchasing power of the population that shows how wealthy the given society is. Analysis of remuneration received by different groups provides information about inequalities between and within the analyzed groups. One of the groups whose pay is lower than the average are women. In this article the attempt to indicate reasons for such inequality is undertaken. In the research presented in the article the main objective is to verify the significance of occupations and industries in shaping the gender wage gap in contemporary Poland. The research was based on data from the Polish Earning Survey, which was conducted by Sedlak & Sedlak for a single year, 2018. The results obtained show that the gender wage gap in Poland is explained in 36% by occupations and 15% by industry in which women are employed, which proves the significance of location factors in shaping gender wage gap.  

KEYWORDS: gender wage gap, occupational groups, industries, Poland

Pages: 104-120 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0105

 Alexandra CEHAN,  Corneliu IAȚU

 ABSTRACT: This paper explores the tourism-related official actions undertaken by the government in Romania during the COVID-19 pandemic from a stakeholders' perspective. The approach is based on answering three research questions: (1) Which are the policies that tourism stakeholders benefitted from during the pandemic? (2) How do tourism stakeholders appreciate the utility and efficiency of the measures implemented by the government? and (3) To what extent do the stakeholders perceive these measures as providing long-term benefits? Methodologically, the study relies on the statistical analysis of data collected through a questionnaire applied to tourism stakeholders from Romania. The results indicate mixed perceptions regarding the implemented policies, with most stakeholders considering the received support as less than optimal. A positive perspective is given by the fact that although most stakeholders regarded the positive impact of the policies only in relation to the pandemic period, there are also stakeholders indicating long-term benefits of these policies. These results are useful for providing lessons from the recent pandemic and for suggesting ways for improving governments' response to future crises.

KEYWORDS: tourism stakeholders, government policies, COVID-19 pandemic, Romania,

Pages: 121-142 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0106

 Oksana KIFORENKO

ABSTRACT: The aggression towards Ukraine resulted in blocking its agro-products exports, and threatened the food security in many African countries, making the agro-exports topic of not only economic but also of political importance. Therefore, the research aims to analyse whether the agricultural products exports of Ukraine to the EU are correlated with the exports of the EU to Africa and if they are, how strong the correlation is. The data under research are the agricultural products exports from Ukraine to the EU and from the EU to Africa, which were taken from the Eurostat database. The agricultural products are the goods from the SITC Groups 0+1. SITC stands for Standard International Trade Classification, in which Group 0 comprises food and live animals and Group 1 - beverages and tobacco. The timeframe under analysis is ten years - from the year 2011 to 2020 included. To reach the aim of the research, empirical analysis, comparative analysis, statistical analysis, different visualization tools, tabular method, method of trends, etc., were used The research itself and its results will be interesting and useful for public administration officials, companies involved in international trade and agriculture, academic society representatives, decision-makers at all levels, beginner and experienced data analysts.

Keywords: agricultural products exports, Ukraine, the EU, Africa, correlation,

Pages: 143-158 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0107

 Jana LOSOSOVA,  Radek ZDENEK, Martin MARSIK

ABSTRACT: The paper aims to evaluate the economic situation of Czech farms since the EU accession and to identify the impact that the farm size has on economic indicators. The analysis was based on our own database of farms sorted according to the acreage of utilised agricultural land. The analysis focuses on the structure of production, production indicators, asset and capital structure, profitability and cost ratios, the efficiency of production factors, financial stability and financial health. The profitability is characterised by significant fluctuations, with the largest decline in 2009. The company's financial health has a growing trend in all size groups although the average farm did not get out of the grey zone. Dependence on subsidies is growing; subsidies per hectare of utilised agricultural area are growing over time and towards a declining farm size. Trends are similar for all farm size groups; however, in some indicators, the smallest average farm differs. The share of fixed assets is the lowest, and the turnover rate of fixed assets increases. It is the only group with no significant decline in the workforce, and the share of leased land is also the highest. The development of profitability and financial health does not indicate significant differences affected by the size of the farm.  

KEYWORDS: farm size, profitability, labour productivity, subsidies,

Pages: 159-180 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0108

 Kamila TURECKOVA,  Jan NEVIMA,  Frantisek VARADZIN,  Jakub TROJAN,  Anna VANOVA, Darina ROJIKOVA, Stanislav MARTINAT

ABSTRACT: The current era acknowledges the immense impact of creativity on economic growth and regional development. There is an ongoing debate about the position of creativity and its sources and implications in regional economies when thorougly examining regional disparities. We contribute to the debate by piloting an investigation of five groups of creative actors whose links and consequences for regional growth and the quaternary sector were explored. As a case study, the NUTS2 regions of the Czech Republic were selected for analysis (2015-2017). Given the nature of selected indicators, the causality results and the substantive importance of our investigation, the selected time period is not a limiting factor for our analyses. The empirical conclusions of the conducted study clearly confirmed the theoretically and logically defined thesis on the diverse importance of creative actors in regional economies.

KEYWORDS: creative actors, creative class, quaternary sector, regional growth, Czech Republic

Pages: 181-197 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0109

 Natalia SKOROBOGATOVA

ABSTRACT: The recovery of Ukraine's economy requires a systematic approach. Correlation analysis confirmed the high degree of dependence of Ukraine's GDP on the volume of agricultural products. The study of trends in the development of the industry revealed a number of problems: the predominance of economic goals over growing environmental threats, the production of products with low added value, high dependence on exports, and others. The creation of an agribusiness ecosystem has been proposed in the development of a strategy for post-war recovery. Innovative technologies of Industry 4.0 will make this transition more efficient. To evaluate the effectiveness of the created agribusiness ecosystem, an integral indicator of balanced development is proposed. Based on the analysis of the economic, environmental, social, innovative spheres, the application of four directions to evaluate the outcome for all actors of the agribusiness ecosystem is substantiated. This approach contributes to the overall recovery of the national economy.

KEYWORDS: agribusiness ecosystem, sustainable development, circular economy, innovation, multi-criteria assessment

Pages: 198-226 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0110

  Avni RUDAKU, Selim DAKU

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has generally affected the attitudes, behaviors, and lifestyles of people and states. Although there is still no definitive position on the causes of the new species from the coronavirus family, there have been articles and discussions leading to the blaming of Chinese cultural tradition of eating the meat of bats - mammals which were also considered by scientists as potential transmitters of SARS-CoV-2. To measure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the changing attitudes towards the doctrine of cultural relativism, in anthropological and sociological terms and state sovereignty in political terms, respondents from several Western Balkan countries, such as Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina answered a series of questions. The research findings show that changing the attitudes towards cultural relativism and state sovereignty is significantly dependent on bilateral relations between the Western Balkan nations with Chinese Foreign Policy rather than the COVID-19 pandemic.

KEYWORDS: COVID-19, cultural relativism, sovereignty, international relations, diplomacy

Pages: 227-243 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0111

 Halyna PALAMARCHUK,  Kostiantyn POLISHCHUK

ABSTRACT: No matter what objectives International Organizations pursue, they gather and disseminate data, act as a platform for cooperation and information exchange, project specific norms onto member states and international community, establish and supervise the compliance with certain rules and constantly communicate with different actors. Communication is a process that is vital for the existence and functioning of IOs, as well as for their public diplomacy. The essence of public diplomacy is to communicate directly with foreign audiences, to influence public opinion and perceptions of specific problems or events. This article provides descriptive qualitative analysis of International Organizations' communication process in Political Science, Public relations, and Communication Theory. The main goal is to understand how different elements of communication are defined and explained in various schools of research, how the communication of IOs is different from other types of communication and to provide new definition of Communication of International Organizations.

KEYWORDS: communication, International Organization (IO), public diplomacy, target audiences.

Pages: 244-260 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0112

 Mihaela Curea,  Iuliana Ungureanu,  Marilena Mironiuc

ABSTRACT: In recent decades, the business landscape is influenced by corruption, a pervasive phenomenon, faced by all countries, irrespective of their stage of development. The pharmaceutical industry is recognized as a fertile ground for corrupt practices. The paper aims to investigate the impact of corruption, economic freedom, and gross domestic product (GDP) growth on research and development (R&D) investment using a dataset of European Union (EU) pharmaceutical companies from 2011 to 2019. It also investigates the moderating effect of liquidity issues on the relationship between corruption and R&D investment. The study employs a quantitative approach using fixed effects models. Results show that corruption has a negative influence on pharmaceutical firms' decision to undertake R&D activities, while economic freedom and GDP growth have a positive and significant impact on R&D investment. The findings are especially important given the deleterious effects of corruption and may be useful for both managers and policy-makers.

KEYWORDS: R&D, corruption, liquidity issues, pharmaceutical industry

Pages: 261-283 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0113

Pagona Filenta,   Dimitrios Kydros

ABSTRACT: Economic and Regional Development refers to the process of developing regions to improve their economic, political and social prosperity. This document analyses the unemployment rate of the NUTS 2 regions for 2008-2021. A model is proposed, which applies Social Network Analysis (SNA) within the framework of Economic and Regional Analysis. SNA is a process that allows the exploration of social structures using networks and graph theory. It presents the visualization of several networks, created based on the degree of correlation of the total unemployment rate data, and calculates measures and centrality metrics to conclude about the interaction and clustering of regions. The paper shows that by using SNA the interaction between regions and hence their clustering based on the change in the unemployment rate was detected, and it offers their visualization. Therefore, the application of SNA in economic and regional analysis could be a reliable methodology for future research.

KEYWORDS: economic and regional development, Social Network Analysis (SNA), NUTS 2, total unemployment rate

Pages: 284-306 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0114

Author: Ioana-Maria Ursache   

Pages: 307-310  | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0115