ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИЕ И СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ СОВРЕМЕННОГО ЭТАПА РАЗВИТИЯ ЕС КАК ИСТОЧНИК ДЕЗИНТЕГРАЦИОННЫХ ПРОЦЕССОВ

The article is about the theoretical and methodological aspects of determining the place and role of political parties in the social development of modern European states in a dialectical combination of integration and disintegration processes. It is noted that the political parties of modern European countries are developing in accordance with common laws and system parameters. The specific features of the activities of European parties in the context of the formation of European parliamentarism as a fundamentally new phenomenon in the political life of the integration association are considered. It is determined that political parties in modern political systems of European countries embody in their activities a set of functional aspects, which include systemic, information-communicative, selective, ideological-programmatic, integration, representative. It is shown that the functioning of political parties of EU member states is influenced by the dichotomous influence of both integration and disintegration processes in the region, as exemplified by the withdrawal of the UK from the UK, formally completed in 2020. Political parties of European states in the current conditions of social development are influenced by several major methodological dominants, among which should be noted foreign policy (integration), domestic policy, socio-economic, socio-cultural, information and communication. It is emphasized that public dissatisfaction with the activities of political parties and the party system in general was one of the factors influencing public opinion in the UK during the process of leaving the EU, which characterizes the need to modernize certain aspects of the organization and activities of modern European political parties, especially in terms of achieving a clearer definition of party orientations and views on ways to solve the most pressing problems facing today's individual member states and the EU as a whole.

The whole-brain criterion of death was first formally proposed by the "Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death" in a "Special Communication" published in JAMA in 1968. Since then, all states in the United States and many western countries have endorsed this definition of death. The strongest defense of the concept of "brain death" was provided by Bernat, Culver, and Gert in a series of papers published in the early 1980s, emphasizing the important distinctions between the definition and the criteria of death and the tests for death. Careful analysis, however, demonstrates that brain-related criteria of death are inconsistent with traditional concepts of death. Thus, although death is properly understood as a biological phenomenon, "brain death" is a social construct created for utilitarian purposes, primarily to permit organ transplantation. The best definition of death is "the event that separates the process of dying from the process of disintegration" and the proper criterion of death in human beings is "the permanent cessation of the circulation of blood." Nevertheless, because brain-related criteria of death have been widely accepted, and because our society has demonstrated a strong commitment to organ transplantation, abandoning the concept of brain death would create serious political problems. Abandoning the "dead donor rule" would solve the problem of obtaining organs for transplantation, but would create different, equally serious, political problems. Preserving the concept of brain death as a social construct, as a "legal definition of death," but distinct from biological death, is also problematic, but may be our most acceptable alternative.

In the context of disintegration, the genesis of the European Union is connected with a complex interrelationship of objective but sometimes contradictory goals - strengthening competition within the grouping and increasing the competitiveness of the European Union as a whole. The purpose of the study is to analyze the processes of economic disintegration in the context of the ratio of the EU member states’ innovation power. The article studies the processes of economic disintegration in the context of the ratio of innovation power of the member states of the European Union. It is noted that the processes of integration and disintegration are based on centrifugal and centripetal tendencies. The objective causes of disintegration processes in the European Union have been identified. The research found out that the difficulty of measuring the process of economic disintegration in the context of the ratio of the innovative power of the EU member states is connected, first, to the speed of divergent processes and the existence of four typical models of disintegration: conflict disintegration; stagnant disintegration; shock disintegration; divergent disintegration. The article proved that today's attempts to measure the economic disintegration process are based on the application of the analysis of the dynamics of beta and sigma convergence in international integration groups. It singled out two models of the disintegration of the production process based on empirical studies of competitive success in global instability: the industrial district/local production system model and the lean production/collaborative supply chain model. The practical significance of the research results. It was concluded that, on the one hand, the disintegration processes in the EU member states are mainly due to historical reasons (first of all, the integration structure on the European continent without reliance on effective national institutional and legal forms). On the other hand, disintegration affects modern social development. It determines numerous economic consequences for the countries that are the sources of disintegration activity and the states participating in the integration grouping.

Responsibility and Democratic Rule

The article examines the essence of the global innovation capacity of the member states of the European Union and its interconncetion with involvement in the processes of international economic integration and disintegration. It is noted that the global innovative force has a significant impact on stable economic growth and competitive positions of any economic entity in the world arena. In addition, it was determined that the unification of countries into interstate integration groupings leads to the transformation of the innovation capacity of the member country and the formation of the innovation capacity of the international integration associations. As a result of the study, it was noted that today there is no single methodology for measuring innovative capacity. As part of the innovation capacity research of the European Union member states, the most prominent and frequently used method for measuring the innovation capacity of the country amongst of global economy, namely the global innovation index, is considered. The aim of this article is to compare the positions of the innovative capacity of the member states of the European Union and to study how the integration and disintegration processes in the European Union affect the innovation capacity of participants and, in the prospect, develop a methodology for ranking the innovation capacity of interstate integration associations. The positions of the innovation capacity in the global economy of the European Union member states are analyzed according to the global innovation index. It has been established that five member countries of the European Union are in the top 10 most innovative economies in the world economy. The innovation capacity index of the European Union 2020 is proposed to be calculated and was calculated. It is noted that albeit the ratings do not give any propositions, but only actually determine the state, however, with their assistance it is possible to carry out adequate monitoring, analysis, forecast of activation and measurement of innovation leadership of all economic and innovative entities of the global economy. It has been proved that methodological approaches to measuring the innovation capacity of the subjects of the global economy ought to be improved furthermore ratings should be developed not only in the context of countries, but of international integration associations as well.

European integration aims to achieve spatially sustainable development across the member states. However, the success of socio-economic integration is conditioned by structural features of the economies, which, hitherto, appear highly diversified across the EU countries. The paper focuses on the structural conditions of the process of income inequality convergence. It aims to identify differences in the convergence regarding the structural conditions of the economies. To fulfil the research tasks the paper classifies the 27 European member states according to their sectional employment structures using the Ward method. It then tests the appearance of beta convergence using FE panel models for the specified clusters of economies. It also considers structural change, measured by the NAV (norm of absolute value), as a determinant of income inequality convergence. The main research period covers 2009–2021. The findings of the paper confirm that income inequality convergence occurs within the groups of economies specified by different structural conditions. Importantly, the clustering according to the similarity of the employment structure overlaps with the division along the lines of the ‘new’ and ‘old’ member states, which proves the importance of historically shaped institutions for development. However, the observed convergence does not lead to improved social cohesion. Social policy, especially in the ‘new’ member states, is not able to offset the growth in market income inequality additionally stimulated by the structural changes. It can be concluded that an urgent need to design new solutions for social policy concerning structural transformation in employment in the EU emerges.

This study aims to elucidate the role of Russia, a member state of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), in the disintegration processes occurring in Greater Eurasia. The article delineates the concept of “disintegration pro-cess”, identifying its various forms, manifestations, trends, and developmental regularities. It is revealed that Russia’s role in the EAEU concerning disintegration processes in Greater Eurasia is characterized by efforts to mitigate the crisis phenomena associated with economic disintegration from the European Union. It was ascer-tained that the foreign policy and foreign economic strategy of a large-scale “turn of the Russian Federation to the East” in the conditions of sanctions and geopolitical turbulence acts as both a disintegration process aimed at breaking economic ties with the EU countries and integration aspirations of the Russian Federation to Great-er Asia. Furthermore, it is established that the tightening of trade and transport barriers by the EU member states towards the Russian Federation has led to the strengthening of trade and economic ties of Russia in the EAEU and is aimed at protecting the supply of Russian energy resources, all kinds of raw materials, goods and services.

This article identifies two responses to social challenge by charismatic Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. I argue that churches taking a centripetal position are either socially passive or they collude with corrupt leaders and groups who undermine efforts toward political, social and human improvement; yet, in their engagement with society they offer spiritual solutions to myriad social and political problems. Conversely, churches taking a centrifugal approach try to confront political and social problems, but these churches are relatively few and located primarily in Lagos, although they are growing in influence. I conclude that charismatic Pentecostalism in Nigeria currently is shifting from strictly spiritual solutions to sociopolitical problems to an emphasis on meeting social needs in practical ways.

Introduction. With this paper we want to show that the study of international competitiveness only at a country level does not correspond to the contemporary development of the global economy. The author presents the methodology for competitiveness grouping of international integration groupings’ member states in order to assess the global competitive force of trade and economic groupings in the world economy. Based on the data of the Global Competitiveness Report 2019 regarding the competitiveness of the EU Member States, the Global Competitive Force Index of the EU as an interstate integration grouping has been calculated. The Index will help evaluate economic integration or disintegration processes in the global economy. The research demonstrates the necessity of the annual global competitive force ranking of international integration groupings. This study will enhance knowledge in the field of economics by grouping the EU Member States’ global competitiveness indices according to 12 criteria and identifying the new quantitative and qualitative integrated Global Competitive Force Index of an international integration grouping. To reach this objective, we will define the Integrated Global Competitive Force Index as the average of the individual points of the EU Member States in 2019. The novelty of our study lies in the comparative analysis of the three largest interstate integration groupings from the perspective of their competitive force. The introduction of the new integrated Global Competitive Force Index of interstate integration groupings will help competition policy makers decide which processes of economic integration or disintegration should be preferred in order to increase their competitive force in the global economy. The purpose. Research and calculation of the European Union’s Integrated Global Competitive Force Index to analyze the attractiveness of the European Union in terms of global competitive force. Based on the calculation of the EU Integrated Global Competitive Force Index 2019, the attractiveness of the EU competitive environment has been determined according to 12 criteria. Results. The ranking of the three largest regional integration groupings of the world economy has been formed. Specification of the assessment and results of the integrated index of interstate integration groupings’ global development can be used for the competition policy development of the individual member state of an integration grouping as well as the communitarian competition policy. The EU Integrated Global Competitive Force Index will help understand what the integration grouping’s competitive force means and whether the process of interstate integration of countries contributes to enhancing the competitive force of an individual country and the integration grouping as a whole. To calculate the EU Integrated Competitive Force Index, we will analyze the Member States on 12 competitive strength criteria, and Global Competitiveness Report 2019 will serve as the basis for our study. According to our calculations, the EU Integrated Global Competitive Force Index is 72 points out of 100. Conclusion. The results of a comprehensive integrated assessment of the competitive force of 28 EU Member States demonstrate a high overall competitive force index of the grouping, indicating the EU’s impact on global competitive processes. The EU Global Competitive Force Index can be used both as an indicator of the separate international integration grouping’s development and as a global criterion for the effectiveness of interstate integration groupings in the transformation of international competitive relations. Discussion. The highlighting of the EU global competitive force is a requirement for the contemporary development of the global competitive environment, since interstate integration groupings are the main actors of the world economy, which significantly affect the distribution and growth of competitive force.

Essays on the political economy of European integration

Europe in Space:Partner, Competitor, and Model for Asia Kai-Uwe Schrogl (bio) and Christina Giannopapa (bio) Europe regards itself as the second-greatest global space power after the United States, possessing all space capabilities except human space transportation. Investments in autonomous access and other operations demonstrate recognition of the strategic importance of space for European policy, economy, security, and society. This standing consequently leads to a large spectrum of interrelations and interactions with other space powers internationally. In this context, Asia is the region of highest interest. Its key space powers—Japan, China, and India—for decades have been associated with Europe through cooperation, competition, and conflict. While cooperation has so far prevailed, competition is growing, and conflict could easily turn from rare and punctual to severe and dominant. This essay describes Europe's ambitions in light of its achievements in space. In addition, it provides a special focus on Europe's contributions to international regulatory efforts in this field, since the status of outer space as a global common requires international interaction, with European and Asian states playing important roles. This is followed by a close look at the direct interactions between the two regions. Finally, the essay presents a comparison between the efforts in Europe and Asia to establish possible regional cooperative mechanisms to coordinate and integrate their space efforts, providing more opportunities for Europe to serve as a partner, competitor, and model for Asia in space. The Achievements and Ambitions of Europe In 2016, Europe manifested its ambition toward space. This was done through a joint statement by the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA), which had previously been approved by 30 member states [End Page 50] in total. The document "Joint Statement on Shared Vision and Goals for the Future of European Space" develops three pillars of strategic relevance for Europe: (1) to maximize the integration of space into European society and economy, by increasing the use of space technologies and applications to support public policies, providing effective solutions to the big societal challenges faced by Europe and the world, strengthening synergies between civilian and security activities in the fields of navigation, communication and observation, including through monitoring borders, land and maritime security conditions; (2) to foster a globally competitive European space sector, by supporting research, innovation, entrepreneurship for growth and jobs across all Member States, and seizing larger shares of global markets; and (3) to ensure European autonomy in accessing and using space in a safe and secure environment, and in particular consolidate and protect its infrastructures, including against cyber threats.1 One of the most prominent keywords in this strategic outline is "autonomy." Since starting its joint efforts in the 1960s, Europe has been striving to reach autonomy in almost all aspects of space activity. These are access to space (with the Ariane and Vega rockets), satellite telecommunications (Eutelsat operations), meteorology (Eumetsat meteorological satellites), navigation and positioning (Galileo navigation system), and operational Earth observation (through data provided by the Copernicus Programme). The next step is reaching autonomy in the Space Situational Awareness Programme and its Space Surveillance and Tracking segment.2 Europe is also advancing in the field of military and security applications both on the national level and in coordination among member states.3 It is notable among Europe's achievements that the region collectively has a long tradition in space science and human spaceflight (albeit decidedly not with the objective of autonomous human access to space). Many firsts, such as the landings on Saturn's moon Titan and on the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, are prestigious examples. The European setup in space governance is characterized by four elements: (1) national programs by the member states of the EU [End Page 51] and the ESA, (2) the multilateral cooperation of the ESA's 22 members,4 (3) the supranational cooperation of the EU's 27 member states, and (4) a space industry that matches traditionally complex but globally competitive large-system integrators with agile small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups to compete in an ever-growing sector. These four elements have always been dynamic in their relationships and developments. However, the European states have usually managed to find a...

Towards a Constitution for the European Union

Antibiotics are such a vital part of modern medicine that it is difficult to envisage how we could manage without them. However, the widespread appearance of antibiotic resistance amongst almost all medically important species of bacteria and the slow development of new antibiotics capable of overcoming such resistance is threatening our complacency and is leading to a reassessment of the ways in which we make use of these essential drugs. In the animal field, we are seeing moves to restrict use of certain antibiotics in farming and there are those who wish to reduce and restrict general veterinary use to a substantial degree. These moves are prompted principally by concerns over the use of growth promoters in agriculture and especially the possible development of resistance to vancomycin, one of the few antibiotics to which some epidemic hospital methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains are sensitive. The risks, potential or real, posed by farming and large animal veterinary use of antibiotics are currently a matter of considerable discussion and study. As yet there is little evidence of a significant risk to man. Indeed, it is the use of antibiotics in hospitals and their repeated use amongst chronically sick individuals in the community that appear to pose the greatest threat in the development of antibiotic resistance. Furthermore, some recent instances of MRSA infection in veterinary cases have shown links to health care workers indicating a risk to animals from human medicine. Evidence of transfer of antibiotic resistance to animals from man is scant and little work has been performed in this area as yet. However, the paper, by Patel, Lloyd and Lamport in this issue, on antibiotic resistance amongst feline staphylococci,1 provides indications that resistance selection pressure from human rather than veterinary sources is involved. More studies are needed to demarcate more clearly the role of veterinary and human antibiotic use in the development and spread of antibiotic resistance and to indicate how such spread can be minimized. The threat posed by antibiotic resistance was evaluated, with special reference to the situation in Europe, at a conference sponsored by the European Union and entitled ‘The Microbial Threat’ in Copenhagen in September 1998. The conference produced seven recommendations aimed at the development of new strategies for the use of antimicrobials and for the defence of public health. These recommendations, which are detailed and reviewed by Midtvedt in Micro-bial Ecology in Health and Disease,22 are as follows: 1 The European Union and member states must recognize that antimicrobial resistance is a major European and global problem. 2 Pharmaceutical companies should be encouraged to develop new antimicrobial agents but these will not solve the problem in the near future. 3 The European Union and member states should set up a European surveillance system of antimicrobial resistance. 4 The European Union and member states need to collect data on the supply and consumption of antimicrobial agents. 5 The European Union and member states should encourage the adoption of a wide range of measures to promote prudent use of antimicrobial agents. 6 The European Union, member states and national research councils should make coordinated research on antimicrobial resistance a high priority. 7 A way should be found to review progress with these recommendations and proposals. Veterinary dermatology represents one of the major uses of antibiotics in small animal practice and this special issue is designed to help meet the objectives of recommendation five, promotion of prudent use of antibiotics. The reviews of the main groups of antibacterial antibiotics used in our dermatological practice, presented in this issue, gather together the essential information required by both practitioner and specialist to make best use of their capabilities. In reviewing the ‘Copenhagen Recommendation’, Midtvedt has proposed the following additional recommendation. ‘The European Union should allow individual nations to have their own rules for consumption of antimicrobial agents and for control of over-the-border spreading of resistant organisms.’ He makes the point that the Scandinavian countries have far less antimicrobial resistance than the rest of Europe and suggests that this is a consequence of their enlightened policies regarding antibiotic use and importation of foods. I wonder if we are yet ready for the stringent controls that such an approach might require.

Starting from the very name of the Scientific Conference "The European Union and the Member States - Legal and Economic Issues", the authors consider that the legislative division of competences between the European Union and the Member States is a key issue for their actions and their mutual relations. Therefore, the aim of the work is to establish a vertical distribution of powers in the European Union and to analyse comparatively the constitutional division of competences between different territorial levels of government in selected European states with federal regulation. The vertical division of competences within the Union is a question of constitutional importance as one of the principles of the structure of authority within its territory. The importance of a vertical division of competences is reflected in particular in the fact that it involves the adoption of very complex decisions on whether a matter should be regulated at a central (European) or at national (state) level. It is important to point out that the process of transferring competence from the higher level (European Union) to the lower forms of territorial organization (Member States) presupposes the instrument and the premise of democratization. At the same time, the range of competences is a form of limitation of the powers of the European Union, within the limits of the competences assigned to it by a primary act. The division of the jurisdiction, apart from legal regulation, has an economic effect. The better the division is, the more effective are the Union and the member states in providing faster and better public services to citizens, without spending much of the state resources, leading to better balance and the prevention of abuse of power. Work is divided into several interrelated chapters. After the introduction, it is primarily concerned with clarifying general questions about the vertical division of competences between different territorial levels of government. Within this chapter, it starts from the consideration of conceptual definitions, through the analysis of the way of determining competence between territorial levels of authority, the competence to allocate affairs between territorial levels of authority to the vertical division of jurisdiction as a constraint of power. The central part of the paper deals with the analysis of the delimitation of competences between the European Union and the Member States as defined in the Lisbon Treaty, which includes: a) exclusive competence of the European Union, b) shared competences between the European Union and the Member States and c) competence to support, coordinate and complement Member States' actions. Particular emphasis is placed on the following principles: the conferred powers and subsidiarity and proportionality. They are based on the implementation of competences between the Union and the Member States. These principles represent the basic principles for the functioning of the European Union and the creation of its law. Within this framework, the exclusive competence of the Member States, the functioning of the Union outside its established jurisdictions, the principle of genuine co-operation between the European Union and the Member States, as well as the obligation to apply European Union legislation adopted in the area of jurisdiction are considered. Particularly, it deals with the issue of control of the principles of authority, subsidiarity and proportionality before the Court of Justice of the European Union. The method of comparative analysis analyses the constitutionally defined vertical division of competences in the selected European federal states: the Federal Republic of Germany and Switzerland. On the basis of a comparative method, it is possible to conclude that there are similarities between vertical delimitation within the European Union and vertical distribution of jurisdiction in federal states. In addition to comparative method, regarding research methodology, the paper uses secondary research and normative and historical method.

type="graphical" xml:id="gpol12235-abs-0001"> Democracy requires the critical engagement of practitioners and experts alike.