European Neighbours Research Articles

Do Regulations Matter in Fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic? Lessons from Poland

In this article, we argue that the design and timing of regulatory responses, as well as the adherence of the population to the relevant rules, have a critical impact on the progression and public health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This hypothesis is empirically tested using the example of Poland, a country that experienced, compared to its Western European neighbours, a relatively mild first phase of the pandemic. In this context, we compare Poland with selected countries, including France, Germany, Spain and the UK, and we supplement them with examples from other Visegrad Four (V4) countries – Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary. On that basis, we conclude that while the observed differences between the countries in the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic are the result of a multitude of complex and interrelated reasons (such as demographic structure, population density and connectivity or cultural factors), well-designed public health measures, which are implemented early as a part of the proactive strategy that anticipates and reacts quickly to changing circumstances, can effectively decrease the number of COVID-19 infections and related deaths, provided that the adherence of the relevant population is high.

COVID-19 in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract Issue Countries of central and eastern Europe (CEE) are rarely accustomed to praise when compared to their western European neighbors. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, as core European countries such as Italy, Spain, or the United Kingdom reported hundreds of confirmed cases and even deaths per day, all CEE countries managed to contain the disease with considerably lower rates of infection and deaths. Description This changed in late summer and fall of 2020, when many CEE countries overtook western Europe in the number of new COVID-19 cases, as well as deaths, per population, but for a few months the region could enjoy its unusual accomplishment. A number of hypotheses have been suggested to explain the surprising containment success in the spring, including the widespread prevalence of the bacille Calmette-Guérin tuberculosis vaccine, lower population density and exposure to tourism, lack of trust in the healthcare system and government in general, low testing numbers (which may have led to underreporting of cases), and an autocratic advantage leaders of imperfect democracies, such as in CEE, enjoy when imposing lockdowns and other restrictive policies. Results In the spring, CEE governments implemented strict measures to protect public health at a time when their countries had few COVID-19 cases and deaths at most in the single digits. Lessons The Russian approach to addressing COVID-19 reflects the messiness of classifying “regime type.” Some of the responses used were more authoritarian in their approach. A greater flow of information and more transparency in the data would allow a more complete assessment of Russia's response to COVID-19. Main messages Creating a “virus of silence,” short- cutting global standards for vaccine clinical trials, and not providing disaggregated and timely data make it difficult to evaluate the reasons for Russia's relatively low case count and low fatality rate.

Why Climate? The Drivers of the European Union’s Climate Governance in its Post-Soviet East European Neighbors

ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) has positioned itself as a global climate leader. The EU’s engagement with external climate governance is most visible in the six post-Soviet states of Eastern Europe. This article asks what drives the EU’s engagement with climate governance in the region. To answer this question, I distinguish between three logics of external climate action: self-interest, functional, and civilizing. By analyzing climate cooperation between the EU and the six states, I demonstrate that a combination of all three logics explains the EU’s engagement in external climate governance, but that the functional logic is slightly more prominent than the other two.

Fiscal Integration in an Experimental Union: How Path-Breaking Was the EU's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Fiscal Integration in an Experimental Union: How Path-Breaking Was the EU's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic?

“Non-Union State”: the Republic of Belarus in the memory wars of Eastern Europe

The subject of this research is the position of Belarus in the memory wars of Russia and Eastern European countries of the two recent decades. Based on P. Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic power, as well as comparative analysis of the key stages of the historical politics of Russia and Belarus as the members of the Union State, the author explores the causes and peculiarities of electoral neutrality of Belarus in the memory wars of Russia and Eastern European countries. Analysis is conducted on the theoretical-methodological aspects of the concept of “memory wars”. Content analysis of the relevant research reveals the specificity of the Belarusian case with regards to correlation between domestic and foreign historical politics. The specificity of the forms of post-Communism that have established in Russia and Belarus, the difference in the pace of historical politics of the last three decades, as well as the evolution of the political regime of Alexander Lukashenko contributed to the formation of peculiar position of the Republic of Belarus in the memory confrontation between Russia and its Eastern European neighbors. The internal manifestation of such position was the desire to displace the conflicts between memory communities in the republic, the movement of memory to the periphery of cultural-information space, while the external manifestation was strive for electoral neutrality (memory isolationism) in the memory wars in Eastern Europe. Such position is aimed not so much at supporting Russia’s memory initiatives, but at solving the relevant political and economic challenges, using historical politics as the instrument for promoting the own interests.

„Sąsiedzi Europy i europejscy sąsiedzi ”? Polityka rozszerzenia UE i Europejska Polityka Sąsiedztwa w debatach Sejmu 2004-2014

“Europe’s neighbours and European neighbours”? EU enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy in Sejm’s debates 2004-2014 Main aim of this article is an analysis of discursive legitimising practices of selected EU policies. The study focuses on the Sejm’s debates in which the issue of EU Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy with special focus on Eastern Partnership (since 2008) were discussed between 2004 and 2014. The analysis answers the question which aspects of these policies are the most controversial today and why. How political actors perceive the future of the policies? Typical arguments used in debates concentrate on security, economic costs and benefits and the impact on the European integration. However in presented study special attention is paid to cultural, religious and identitarian arguments used by political actors.

The Conflation of Single Mothers and Prostitutes in Morocco

The Conflation of Single Mothers and Prostitutes in Morocco

LAW AND ITS SOURCES IN THE EUROPEAN PERIPHERY OF BYZANTINE EMPIRE (IX – XV CENTURIES). Ι. THE MISSION OF THE SAINT BROTHERS CYRIL AND METHODIUS. LEGAL MONUMENTS IN BULGARIA, SERBIA, RUS’ AND HUNGARY

The article focuses on the study of legal sources and the sources of legal history, accenting the reception of the Byzantine law in the European neighbours of the Empire. We pay particular attention to the results of the Cyrillo-Methodian mission in Great Moravia and its legacy in the domain of law. In the first part that forms this article, the study presents the secular law sources in Bulgaria, Serbia, Rus’ and Hungary.

The Republic’s Inner Borders: Rethinking French Banlieues Through Critical Border Studies

ABSTRACT Scholarship on borders is still largely focused on the political boundaries and borderlands between sovereign states. However, reframing the issue of French disadvantaged banlieues through critical border studies suggests that the borders that separate socio-economically deprived neighborhoods from other urban areas are in many regards “harder” than those between France and its European neighbors. The article explores the multiple forms of territorial ordering involved in the production and reproduction of these inner borders. It draws on spatial and postcolonial approaches towards urban geopolitics to argue that the borders that enclose the banlieues constitute an essential stabilizing element in contemporary representations of the Republic.

The impact of interconnectors on the GB electricity sector and European carbon emissions

A model of the European electricity system is used to analyse the impact of increasing interconnection levels between Great Britain and its European neighbours. Scenarios are assessed for 2020, 2025 and 2030. Several policy questions are highlighted around the assessment criteria for approving interconnector projects and the viability of existing investment and remuneration models. Results show that a GB specific carbon tax in 2020 contributes to a relatively high cost of energy and therefore high imports into GB. Increasing GB interconnection capacity in 2020 from 5 GW to 8.4 GW facilitates additional imports and brings down the annual cost of electricity for GB consumers by €639m. Analysis for 2025 and 2030 shows that additional interconnectors, the removal of the additional GB carbon tax and changes to the generation background lead to GB experiencing increased interconnector exports and reduced interconnector utilisation. This lessens or reverses the impact of new GB interconnection on GB consumer prices. It also leads to a significant reduction in revenue potential for future interconnectors. Carbon emission analysis indicates that inconsistencies in carbon pricing across different countries, like the extra GB price support, can lead to perverse outcomes with reduced GB emissions but increased total European emissions.

Interculturalism, multiculturalism and Italianness: The case of Italy

Until the 1970s, Italy’s population trajectory had demonstrated a clear propensity to be an emigrating nation. Over its almost 150-year history, it had witnessed four major phases of outward migration which had defined this country and created large diasporas across the globe. However, major changes began occurring to this demographic trajectory. It saw the unexpected arrival of large numbers of migrants from mostly poorer nations which it only reluctantly acknowledged. But, Italy was both unprepared and unconvinced to respond to this new phenomenon of incoming migration. Even though many of its European neighbours began to engage with this new and wider multicultural paradigm emerging in the 1980s, this multicultural approach never took hold in Italy. At the same time segments of the Italian education system were obliged to tackle recently arrived large numbers of migrants and their children requiring integrated models of education. While the political elites sought to remain immobile with large numbers of incoming immigrants, schools and educational institutions had little choice. Unfortunately, as this paper will demonstrate, this approach was mostly limited to the area of education. Although Interculturalism received a boost from its European Union promotion in 2008, it remained largely an activity exercised within the domain of public education. Fundamentally multiculturalism, like interculturalism were never officially embraced in Italy. While some sectors of society constructively engaged with interculturalism arguably as a different and more developed idea than multiculturalism, Italy and its policymakers continue to avoid engagement with migrant integration models whatever they be.

Nord Stream 2 in the mirror of German party discussions

Russian-German energy relations, which have been continuing for over half a century, are an important component of bilateral interactions. Since the 1960s of the last century, Russia and Germany have been strengthening their cooperation, carrying out a large number of joint projects, setting up enterprises and building gas pipelines. In this article, the author examines the German internal political discussion around the construction of the transnational project Nord Stream 2, which, despite the initial approval of both sides, has repeatedly been the subject of controversy both in the internal and external political arena of Germany. The project was opposed not only by the Bundestag parties, referring to environmental problems and political contradictions, but also by European neighbors, as well as the United States of America, which have their own economic interests in the field of energy cooperation with Germany. The article presents an analysis of the discourse on this issue, based on the statements of the main politicians in Germany, party members at meetings of the Bundestag, as well as on information published in the German-language electronic media in the context of political pressure through the institutions of the European community and sanctions policy from the United States. The author comes to the conclusion that, despite the polarity of opinions on the construction of the gas pipeline, not only in internal political discussions, but also at the international level, Germany, while maintaining obligations to implement this project, is guided by its own political and economic doctrine and is able to make decisions, contrary to pressure from states with their own interests in this area of interaction.

Offline: The cosmopolitan state

Britain feels broken. Broken by COVID-19. Broken by Brexit. Broken by the lies that have been dripped into British political debates these past 5 years. Those scientists and doctors who voted to remain in the European Union—perhaps based on a belief in the public value of research and clinical networks that have been painstakingly built over half a century between the UK and its European neighbours—were accused of Project Fear. But now that the UK has finally left the EU, with the thinnest of thin deals, one can look back and say that the arguments to leave were themselves based on nothing but fear—fear of European expansion, fear of the costs of EU membership, fear of immigration, fear of the Euro, and fear of the European Court of Justice. The British Prime Minister says that we should be celebrating an “amazing moment” in the history of our country. But living under an intensifying lockdown in response to a coronavirus epidemic that is manifestly out of control, many might not be able to comprehend that “amazing moment”. Instead, what they might feel is a profound melancholy for a country that has wounded itself, insulted its friends, and harmed a future generation that will bear the burden of their mistakes. In the late 18th century, Europe was also in turmoil. A Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, announcing the separation of 13 American colonies from British rule. The measures that Americans took to free themselves from Britain passed like an electric shock through European nations. The French monarchy was presiding over unsustainable debt and unfair taxes. If the American people could overthrow a corrupt government, why not the French? Meanwhile, the Enlightenment was creating conditions for a raft of inventions and discoveries that challenged longstanding assumptions about the organisation of society. Amid this political and intellectual turbulence, in 1784 the German philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote a short essay with far-reaching implications—Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Intent. He sought to show that despite the complicated and unpredictable nature of individuals, there might be a “guiding thread” that directs human progress. Kant set out nine theses to prove his case. First, our natural capacities develop completely and in conformity with their end—eg, an organ that is not intended to be used is a contradiction. Second, the full possibilities of human reason can never be fulfilled in one individual, but only for our entire species across “a perhaps incalculable sequence of generations”, each passing its knowledge to the next. Third, we have the gifts of reason and free will to produce everything from ourselves. Fourth, the means that nature uses to bring about the development of human capacities is antagonism—that is, our “unsocial sociability”, our need to live harmoniously among others but our equal need to fulfil our own individual desires and aspirations. Fifth, the greatest challenge we face in achieving the highest attainable development of our capacities is the creation of “a universal civil society”. Sixth, each of us needs an authority to set limits on our freedom. Seventh, “The problem of establishing a perfect civil constitution depends on the problem of law-governed external relations among nations.” Kant envisages a “federation of peoples”, a “cosmopolitan state in which the security of nations is publicly acknowledged.” Eighth, “One can regard the history of the human species...as the realisation of a hidden plan of nature to bring about [a] perfect national constitution, as the sole state in which all of humanity's natural capacities can be developed.” Nature's “supreme objective”, according to Kant, is “a universal cosmopolitan state.” And finally, although some might consider this “universal history of the world” impossibly romantic, the history of human progress does offer evidence that it might be true. Kant doesn't believe that history proceeds mechanically according to some predestined plan. But he does suggest that if the natural endpoint of human society is cosmopolitanism, it might prove to be “some small motivation” to national leaders as they reflect on their ambitions. At a moment of pandemic and political turmoil, Kant's notion of a “guiding thread” might indeed be comforting. Despite the current worldwide division and disorder, nations and peoples will reunite, polarisations will diminish, and a spirit of cooperation will be renewed.

Do Regulations Matter in Fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic? Lessons from Poland

In this article we argue that the design and timing of regulatory responses, as well as the adherence of the population to the relevant rules, have a critical impact on the progression and public health consequences of the pandemic. This hypothesis is empirically tested using the example of Poland, a country which experienced, compared to its Western European neighbours, relatively mild first phase of the pandemic. In this context, we compare Poland with selected Western European countries, including France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and supplement them by examples from other Visegrad Four (V4) countries – Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary. On that basis, we conclude that while the observed differences between the countries in the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic are the result of a multitude of complex and interrelated reasons (such as demographic structure, population density and connectivity or cultural factors), well-designed public health measures, which are implemented early as a part of the proactive strategy that anticipates and reacts quickly to changing circumstances can effectively decrease number of COVID-19 infections and related deaths, provided that adherence of a relevant population is high.

Hungary and its civil society organisations – a fateful example for south-east Europe?

Over the course of the last decade, the Hungarian government has been tightening the space for independent civil society. Fidesz, the ruling party, has been seeking to build long-lasting strings of national and right-wing power. Meanwhile similar tendencies are being practised in neighbouring countries, including Slovenia and Slovakia. The calculated protests of the European Union and its institutions are a reaction to Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s open plans to establish an ‘illiberal democracy’ in Hungary and, if possible, in other parts of central and south-eastern Europe. Against this background, this article assesses the relationship between the Hungarian government and its civil society organisations on the one hand and the repercussions that this has for central and south-eastern Europe on the other. Three guiding questions must be discussed: why is civil society in Hungary in such a difficult position? Furthermore, in what ways are the structural discrimination against independent organisations being justified? And, finally, what is the role played by Hungary’s east European neighbours?

Cultural Diversity and the Interwar Conjuncture: Soviet Nationality Policy in Its Comparative Context

Soviet nationality policy was one of several political responses to cultural diversity in the interwar period. The author situates that policy in its comparative context, contrasting the Soviet Union to its eastern European neighbors and to British and French rule in Africa. Contrary to the nationalizing policies of the new states of eastern Europe, which sought national unity at the expense of ethnic minorities, Soviet nationality policy was initially based on practices of diff erentiation. Contrary to the colonial policies of Britain and France, which were based on ethnic and racial diff erentiation, Soviet policy sought to integrate all peoples into one state. In the mid-to-late 1930s, however, Soviet policy took a nationalizing turn similar to its neighbors in eastern Europe, without completely abandoning policies of ethnic diff erentiation. We should thus understand the Soviet approach as a unique hybrid of contradictory practices of nationalization and diff erentiation.

Ukrainian Cross-Border Governance since the Beginning of COVID-19

European countries that are normally associated with freedom of movement have temporarily closed their internal (within the European Union) and external borders in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 starting spring 2020. Border closures have heavily impacted the whole European region, including its Eastern European neighbours. As of March, Ukraine stopped all regular passenger services, so that people were not able to leave the country by plane, train or bus. It seriously complicated routine activities of those Ukrainians who were planning to travel out of their country through Europe (and Russia) for various purposes, including work, study, and family visits.

Nathaniel Bacon, John Milton, and the idea of an English climate and “constitution”

ABSTRACT This paper seeks, firstly, to reinstate the Suffolk lawyer and MP Nathaniel Bacon (1593-1660) whose ideological as well as political importance has been neglected, and, secondly, to propose that his 1647 tract in support of the parliamentary cause may have been an additional prompt to John Milton’s work on his History of Britain, which dates from this period, and which counters the elder statesman’s view of the Saxons as furnishing a legimitising native model of parliamentary government. In what may, in turn, have been a response to Milton, Bacon, in a “summary Conclusion” to The Continuation of this tract (1651), counters the received view of the English/British as courageous but politically unskilled inhabitants of the cold North, which Milton reiterates, notably in the “Digression” to book 3 of his History. Asserting rather the “middle temper” of the people of England Bacon claims for them a native political wisdom like that of Aristotle’s Hellenic race with whom they share a “consanguinity”, while Milton urges the need to look to continental Europe for political as well as cultural models. The stakes of Bacon’s claims are pointed up by their appropriation to support the opposite cause by monarchists who share his nativist ideology, which is not shared by Milton as it is not shared by the monarchist William Temple whose position with respect to the continent of Europe aligns him rather with Milton. The perceived relation of England to its continental European neighbours thus cuts across the political divide between monarchists and parliamentarians.

Turkey’s energy trade relations with Europe: The role of institutions and energy market

Globally, the level of electricity grid interconnectedness between neighboring countries varies depending on the level of regional cooperation enabled by institutions. As suggested by previous research, in transboundary river basins, this variation affects the environment and the management of transboundary waters. In regions where all electricity utilities are connected and function at a synchronized frequency, and where integrated electricity market mechanisms function, the stress on the shared water resources tends to be less. Turkey shares river basins and power transmission lines in Europe both with the members of the European Union (EU) and with non-member states. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature on the geopolitics of renewable energy by comparing the level of Turkey’s electricity trade integrity with its EU-member European neighbors and with its non-EU-member neighbors and discuss the potential impacts of the transboundary electricity trade on the environment and the shared water resources. The main argument in this paper is that the higher level of electricity trade between Turkey and its EU-member neighbors is facilitated and boosted by Turkey’s membership to the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E). The higher level of electricity interconnection leads to a higher level of cooperation in water and environment issues in the shared river basins between Turkey and Europe through the facilitating role of established institutions.

Sociocultural Change in Hungary

Although Hungary joined the European Union in 2004, it seems that it has not yet been able to catch up with its Western European neighbors socioeconomically. The reasons for this are numerous, including the fact that this former historical region (Kingdom of Hungary), today the sovereign state of Hungary, has a specific sociocultural image and attitude formed by various historical events. And the nature of these events can explain why Hungary’s economic development and overarching political narrative differ so markedly from Western Europe. The aim of this article is to present the unique location of Hungary in the context of Central and Eastern Europe, and to address such factors as urbanization and industrialization, migration, population, politics, economic development, and social values crisis. We argue that these factors, including the European status quo that emerged after 1945, have influenced the existing sociopolitical, socioeconomic, and sociocultural differences between Hungary and Western European EU states.