Case Of Moldova Research Articles

Shifting attitudes towards identity, borders and geopolitical choices: The case of Moldova

AbstractThe ongoing war at the immediate borders of the European Union (EU) poses the greatest security risk Europe has known since the end of the Second World War. Although the entire continent is on high alert, the proximity to the conflict is definitely an important factor to consider when assessing security risks. In this regard, not only is Moldova at Ukraine’s border, but its recent history (especially the frozen conflict in Transnistria) and the complicated relations with Russia, add to enhancing people’s fears and uncertainty. Moreover, the closed cultural, historical and ethnic ties that Moldova shares with Romania – a NATO and EU member – often fuel Russia’s threat perceptions to its Transistrian proxy. Within this context, this paper aims to assess the attitudes that Moldovans – a population that is traditionally divided between West and East, between EU (respectively Romania) and Russia – display towards their own identity and the path that their country should embrace in this difficult geopolitical design through mixed methods research. The main findings indicate a clear shift in Moldovans’ attitudes towards a stronger alignment with European integration that is also reflected in the preference regarding their country’s future geopolitical path.

The geopolitics of higher education: the case of Moldova between the EU and Russia

ABSTRACT The Republic of Moldova is located in a tense geopolitical environment between the European Union (EU) and the Russian Federation. As the EU and Russia have incorporated higher education in their foreign policy agendas, this article analyses (1) whether the higher education policies of the EU and Russia are in competition in Moldova and (2) how the Moldovan higher education system is positioned between these external actors. At the theoretical level, higher education policy is conceptualised as a part of the soft power portfolio of the EU and Russia. The article draws on policy documents, primary data on university partnerships, and secondary data on student mobility. It is indicated that higher education policy is viewed by the EU and Russia through a geopolitical prism and to bind Moldova closer into their own orbit, resulting in an element of competition. Simultaneously, the Bologna Process has created an element of regional convergence. As for Moldova’s positioning, a strong EU vector is identified, however, Russia continues to play a significant role – an orientation that is facilitated by domestic and international influences. Finally, a geopolitical divide in higher education is visible in the secessionist Transdniestria region, which almost exclusively relies on Russia.

INDEX OF THE CYCLE OF MONEY - THE CASE OF MOLDOVA

This paper assesses the cycle of money in an actual case scenario like this of the economic system of Moldova. The calculations of the index of the cycle of money in Moldova are compared with the global average index of the cycle of money. The results reveal that Moldova is below the average global value, but it is above the critical level of 0.2, meaning that the economy can face an economic crisis. Therefore, Moldova’s results show that it is a well-structured economy and can face an economic crisis. These results are from a project for multiple countries and this is the only study until the present time about this country’s index of the cycle of money. The period that is used for compiles is the global recession period of 2012 - 2020. Prior results are from the cases of Latvia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Ukraine, and Thailand. The current work is the only one for the case of Moldova.

EU and Russian Coercive Strategies Towards the Shared Neighbourhood: The Case of Moldova

EU and Russian Coercive Strategies Towards the Shared Neighbourhood: The Case of Moldova

Institutional Performance and Party Cues: Their Influence on Individual Geopolitical Preferences. The Case of Moldova (2012-2019)

ABSTRACT This paper examines the relationship between institutional trust and party cues, and individual geopolitical preferences in Moldova. Based on the idea that deciding whether to join either the EU or the EAEU is a complex decision, I argue that the use of national proxies could help some Moldovans in shaping their geopolitical preferences. Using survey data (2012–2019) and multilevel logistic regression, I show that citizens who trust the national institutions tend to align with the geopolitical preferences of those in charge of said institutions. Similarly, voters tend to support the geopolitical views of their preferred political parties.

Constructing Romania’s foreign policy and security role in its eastern neighbourhood: the cases of Moldova and Ukraine

ABSTRACT Acknowledging the changes that have occurred over the past years in the geopolitical milieu of Eastern Europe, this paper looks at how Romania frames its foreign policy and security role towards its eastern neighbours, as reflected in the country’s official discourse. This study shows how Romania’s external behaviour has been impacted at the discursive level by membership in NATO and the EU. While it finds that a congruence between public discourse and external actions generally exits in the case of Moldova, this is only partial in relation to Ukraine. The paper employs discourse and content analyses to identify the main narratives employed by Romania vis-à-vis the two eastern neighbours over a ten-year timeframe, 2009–2019, and examines whether the country’s official discourse has been followed by concrete foreign policy actions.

INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGES OF EMPOWERING MINORITIES IN THE POST-SOVIET SATELLITE STATES OF EASTERN EUROPE

The present paper deals with the challenges of minorities in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) of the former Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) following its disintegration in 1991.It begins by outlining the origins of what constitute the politics of empowerment as ushered by the two main international organizations of the 20th Century as the League of Nations and the United Nations Organisations which were created in the aftermaths of the First and Second World Wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45 respectively witnessed failures due to the arbitrary demarcations and redrawing the Map of Eastern and Western Europe as well as those of Africa and Asian Continents suitable for the colonial ambitions of European imperialist actors. The article traces three different phases of interventions before the end of the Cold War, a clear statistical table of the composition of the newly independent states confronted with varieties of crisis which can link to the blink of another World War especially the cases of Moldova and Ukraine as case studies in this study having sporadic National Liberation Movements. In order to properly tackle this situation, a historical approach was deemed necessary by linking the question of empowering national minorities to the question of National Liberation Movements in Eastern Europe with specific cases indicated. This study ends by bringing out the estimated population of each of the newly independent states which was left behind with multi-ethnic and multi-racial in nature till the present 21st Century. That multi-culturally of the fifteen CIS have been the main causes of some of the sporadic social and political uprisings which the hyper-powers of the century uses it as an advantage to gain more preeminence which likely acts as dangerous threat to the blink of another global escalation as the cases of the Balkans and Poland during the first half of the 20th Century.

Integrating in a Rough Neighbourhood? The Part of Sustainable Development in the EU Economic Integration Efforts in the Post-Soviet Space: The Case of Moldova

Gunnar Wiegand and Evelina Schulz have labelled the European Union (EU)’s trade facilitation efforts in the post-Soviet space as an integration ‘in a rough neighbourhood’. With this in consideration, our article looks at the impact of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) between the EU and Moldova on the development of the latter in a broader context of the EU’s Eastern Partnership (EaP) and European Neighborhood Policy (ENP). There is a clear link between the EaP/ ENP framework, within which the policy of extending EU legislation to the post-Soviet states is actively promoted, and the Association Agreement with Moldova. Our analysis of the implementation of Moldova’s economic integration into the EU market highlights not only positive but also several negative trends of this process. Namely, in the shorter term, Moldova’s economic, political and social benefits from the DCFTA are far from sustainable, as they are primarily associated with drastic legislative changes, as well as an increase in the export of raw materials and low-tech goods. In the long term, however, the DCFTA provisions bear the potential for the sustainable development of Moldova; but the effectiveness of their implementation depends primarily on solving systemic problems in the country. Against this background, we then offer an analysis of recent transnational disputes over one of the most crucial elements of Moldova’s sustainable development—namely, electricity. In particular, the so far latest ruling in the Energoalians 20 year-long row is essential both for the resolution of future transnational energy disputes under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and for a better understanding of the EU’s attitude towards Moldova and its further European integration.

Assessment of public expenditure on education and the impact of revenues: the case of Moldova

Investment in human capital is a key strategic concept for the economy and for future development of a country. Therefore, public expenditure on education determines a major point in countries like Moldova, where the education is financed from public funds predominantly. Theories show that the link between expenditures and revenues is inevitable in most of the cases. This study attempts to approach two angles of spending in education: the first is to study and analyse public expenditures in education and in what budget proportions they are spent, and the second is to find out whether there exists a relationship between expenditures in education and government revenues; if yes, to what extent the revenues would have an impact on the expenditures in education. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag model was used in order to find the impact of revenues on expenditures in education. The model was tested for stability, heteroskedasticity, correlation, and normality. The results of the study show that the expenditures on education in the Republic of Moldova lack stability in relation to the economy and that the significant impact from government revenues determines the expenditures in the short and long run. The research is a contribution to the enhancement of public expenditure policy in education taking into consideration the limits imposed from the revenues side, and it may guide governments for better decision-making policies.

Improving the Efficiency and Equity of Public Education Spending: The Case of Moldova

This paper, using Moldova as an example, presents a systematic approach to assess the efficiency and equity of public education spending, identify sources of inefficiencies and inequality, and formulate potential reform options. The analytical framework combines international benchmarking with country-specific analysis-such as microeconomic analysis based on household survey data-and can provide important insights into diagnosing and reforming education systems. The analysis finds significant scope to improve both efficiency and equity of the education sector in Moldova. Potential reform measures include further consolidating the oversized school network, reducing overstaffing, and better targeting government subsidies. The current remuneration policy could also be improved to attract high quality teachers and incentivize performance.

Improving the Efficiency and Equity of Public Education Spending: The Case of Moldova

Improving the Efficiency and Equity of Public Education Spending: The Case of Moldova

Political economy of road maintenance: a utility diagnostic

ABSTRACTSub-Saharan Africa requires US$30 billion annually for its infrastructure maintenance, with every dollar spent saving the economy about four times that. However, many governments still do not recognise the need for road maintenance, increasing vehicle operating costs – to more than 1% of GDP in some regions. Still, there are too few political economy diagnostics of this problem and policy responses aiming to ring-fence dedicated funds have had mixed results. This article proposes a diagnostic through which to understand the institutional root causes of the problem using the case of Moldova.

Remittance inflow and smallholder farming practices. The case of Moldova

In the Republic of Moldova, a large number of households that received land shares after the break-down of the collective farm structure currently focus on semi-subsistence agriculture. Often, one or more members of these households have migrated abroad. This paper aims at assessing the impact of remittances on their agricultural production practices and investments. The authors rely on the rotating panel dataset of the Household Budget Survey for the period 2007–2013, and on an original survey carried out on a sample of 126 households in 2015. To test if remittance recipients replace family labour and self-produced inputs with mechanisation services and purchased inputs, a shadow agricultural wage is estimated. Logistic regressions are used to assess whether the occurrence of investments (farmland, machinery, or dairy cattle) is more probable in the case of remittance inflow. The results show that recipient households reduce their drudgery by substituting family labour and self-produced seeds and feed with mechanisation services and purchased inputs, without necessarily increasing production efficiency. The relationship between remittances and agricultural investments is very weak or negative. However, qualitative insights demonstrate that many investments (greenhouses, rototillers, walnut orchards, etc.) were possible thanks to remittances. Although most recipients do not invest in agriculture, the minority that does invest has access to remittances.

The limits of public administration reform through World Bank capacity development: the case of Moldova

ABSTRACTThe paper explores the concept of World Bank capacity development. It argues that capacity development is under-defined, enabling the World Bank to live up to often contradictory demands toward domestic development and retaining legitimacy as a ‘knowledge bank’. On the ground, vagueness translates into technocratic approaches to institutional reform, based on a simple definition of learning. The case of central public administration reform in Moldova demonstrates how institutional changes under the label of capacity development translated into little change in administrative behavior. It shows how a country can maintain a sense of modernization through capacity development despite little actual change.

Why so hard? Rule-of-law, reform, and state sovereignty in Ukraine and Moldova

Unlike their luckier neighbors to the west, Ukraine and Moldova did not enjoy a convenient geographical location, a national consensus, a clear identity or the state traditions to make their transition effective after the meltdown of the Soviet empire. Their initial transformation was gradual, with leaders at the helm inherited from the communist past. Thus began an evolution, in many ways similar to that of many other CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries, that led to an oligarchic but pluralistic Ukrainian and a captured oligarchic Moldovan state. So far, reform efforts have not been successful, demonstrating the strength of the new systems that came into being. In Ukraine two revolutions aimed at radical reforms but the first one failed and so far the second did not deliver the kind of liberal state that demonstrators and Western partners expected alike. The case of Moldova is similar but here mistakes of the Western partners also contributed to the current, unreformed outcome. Increasingly, the issue centers around the rule-of-law, the establishment of a competent and independent judiciary – in a geopolitical space that could not be further away from what Luttwak 26 years ago imagined with his description of a transition to geoeconomics. In large parts of the world, including Eastern Europe, bad old traditional geopolitics is very much alive and shapes everyday life in the most dramatic way.

Linguistic Justice, Soviet Legacies and Post-Soviet Realpolitik: The Ethnolinguistic Cleavage in Moldova

This article analyses the reasons for continuing difficulties in overcoming ethnolinguistic polarization in Moldova, and the complexities in bringing about linguistic justice. It is argued that factors affecting these dynamics are: Soviet legacies, and particularly perceptions of ethnolinguistic identity as ‘exclusive’; and the politicization of language, including with regard to choices on how to manage Soviet legacies. Both factors, in turn, are influenced by the specific geopolitical situation in which Moldova finds itself. The article is divided into four sections: first, it contextualizes the case of Moldova within the post-Soviet world; second, it introduces concepts of linguistic justice and links them to the Moldovan case; third, it provides an overview of the political circumstances surrounding the discourse around language issues in Moldova since independence in 1991; and fourth, it shows how linguistic justice is complicated by Soviet legacies and the politicization of language, leading to differing perceptions of justice and nation-building present in Moldovan society. The article concludes that the linguistic (and political) divide, as well as underlying ethnolinguistic tensions, can be overcome only through the deinstitutionalization of ethnolinguistic difference, the depoliticization of language, and the construction of an inclusive Moldovan identity with a greater openness to hybridity.

Migrant transnationalism and the choice of transfer channels for remittances: the case of Moldova

AbstractMigrant remittances, particularly when transferred through the banking system, may contribute to financial development in migrants' home countries. We analyse the determinants of the choice of transfer channel (formal services versus informal operators or personal transfers) by Moldovan migrants in 2006. We estimate a multinomial logit model from household survey data. Our explanatory variables include socio‐economic characteristics of the migrant and other household members, the pattern of migration (destination country, legal status, duration), and financial information (average amount and frequency of payments). Key reasons not to use a formal transfer channel are a migrant's emphasis on low transfer cost (rather than speed, convenience or security), irregular legal status in the host country, and short migration spells. Our findings demonstrate that migrants' transnational capacities and activities in their entirety bear upon the choice of transfer channel; any policy interventions to promote the use of formal channels should reflect this.

Economic Consequences of Remittances. Case of Moldova

Economic literature continuously argues about the consequences of remittances and scholars try to capture the effects of migration and remittances on economic growth and development. In the last decades, these phenomena became a proper pattern for the Moldovan economy. High remittances impose the Moldovan authorities to concern on better understanding of the following issues: ways of legalization and securitization of remittances inflows, in the short run, and attracting of remittances in economy and their better utilization, in general. At the same time, the paper will analyze migration and remittances patterns in order to formulate relevant policy recommendations for decisions makers.

The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Education and Healthcare in the Economies of the Former Soviet Union - The Case of Moldova

This study reviews the impact of the global financial crisis on public service delivery in the Republic of Moldova1. It provides a background of the country’s development in the period prior to the crisis (2000 to 2007/2008) and presents the factors which determined the country’s fiscal performance during the crisis (2008-2010). The main aim of the study is to describe the changes in education and health financing and the associated changes in service delivery during the crisis. The presentation of the reforms in the social sector is necessary to set the stage for discussion and is not a primary goal of this study. In particular, the study analyzes the size and dynamics of public financing of education and healthcare and their intra-sector structure, as well as crisis management. It measures the impact the financial crisis had on the quality and reliability of public services and analyzes policy measures undertaken by the government to mitigate crisis’ impact. Conclusions and recommendations derived from the study should enable national policy-makers and international institutions supporting public finance reforms to improve the targeting of limited public resources both between and within individual sectors.

Enhancing Mobility in the European Neighborhood Policy? The Cases of Moldova and Georgia

AbstractIn 2004, the EU launched the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) with the objective of avoiding new dividing lines between the EU and its neighbors in the East and the South. This was offered as an alternative to full EU membership. The ENP is intended to bring about prosperity, stability, and security. In this context, the EU has agreed on a number of Action Plans on a bilateral basis with twelve ENP partner states. The mobility of persons is a key policy priority in the framework of the ENP, which is substantiated by the conclusion of 'mobility partnerships' with Moldova (2008) and Georgia (2009). Even though the Action Plans have been negotiated on the basis of 'joint ownership', it is arguable that EU interests have come to dominate the cooperation. The question arises to what extent these policy plans are beneficial for the neighboring countries and individual migrants. This article focuses on the rules and policy priorities contained in the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements, the Action Plans, the visa facilitation and readmission agreements, as well as the mobility partnerships concluded with Moldova and Georgia. The analysis unfolds that the main emphasis of the ENP is on border control and the fight against irregular migration, whereas little has been done to enhance legal migration opportunities. Therefore, we argue that the ENP falls short of meeting the objective to create cooperation based on mutual interest and joint ownership.