International Activities Research Articles

Does democracy shape international merger activity?

Democracy matters for international merger activity. Using a sample of 101,834 cross-border deals announced between 1985 and 2018, we show that merger flows predominantly involve acquirers from more democratic countries than their targets. This result is primarily driven by a “pull” factor: firms in countries with weaker democratic institutions attract more cross-border deals. We find evidence of bonding as the key mechanism behind this effect. The democracy effect is stronger when target countries have weaker corporate governance standards. Furthermore, target abnormal returns around deal announcements increase with the difference in democracy between acquirer and target countries. Importantly, differences in investor protection or economic development do not directly explain the democracy effect. Combined, our findings imply that democracy is a fundamental, yet previously overlooked, determinant of cross-border mergers.

Mitigating the Political Cost of Financial Crisis with Blame Avoidance Discourse: The Case of Turkey

How do centralized governments mitigate the political cost of severe financial crises? The economic voting scholarship has established that the clarity of responsibility, i.e., government accountability for economic conditions to the mass public, is a necessity for electoral reward or punishment for economic performance. On the one hand, political centralization, which reduces the number of veto players, may increase the visibility of the role of the executive in policy success or failure. On the other hand, it allows an uncontested blame avoidance discourse, especially when accompanied with democratic backsliding. Furthermore, the recent backlash against globalization has enabled blame shifting to international actors in many countries. Against this theoretical framework, we comparatively analyze the responsibility attribution discourses for the 1994, 2001, and 2018-2022 financial crises in the statements of incumbent presidents, ministers, and parliament members of Turkey. We find that while blame avoidance discursive strategies have been attempted in all three cases, the responsibility attribution for the 1994 and 2001 crises mostly targeted the executive. In contrast, for the ongoing crisis, the responsibility discourse is dominated with blaming international political economy factors, creating ambiguity, and targeting domestic non-governmental actors.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FAMILY MEDICINE DEPARTMENT. TO THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF BUKOVINIAN STATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

The article presents the achievements of the Family Medicine Department of the Bukovinian State Medical University (BSMU) over the past 5 years, the peculiarities of work organization, scientific and personnel potential, the department evolution history. Features of educational and medical processes, scientific achievements, international activities are described. The article is dedicated to the 80th BSMU Anniversary.

Echoes of the Shoah: British Jewry and the Bosnian War

ABSTRACT This article explores how British Jews responded to the Bosnian War of 1992-1995. It questions how Jewish memories of the Holocaust influenced the way the community responded to the genocide in Bosnia. Using the British Jewish press as its source base, it identifies how British Jews extensively referenced the Shoah when responding to events in Bosnia. Highlighting a lack of international action to stop the Holocaust, British Jews attached a moral imperative to military intervention in Bosnia. It probes the idea that genocide in the Balkans had an important role in the expansion, and universalization, of Holocaust consciousness in the 1990s.

Exploring factors influencing the microfinance program sustainability

Ensuring the sustainability of development interventions such as microfinance programs is essential for making sure that the financial access is available for the poor in long term. However, many project-based microfinance have faced sustainability issues. Therefore, exploring the factors affecting the sustainability of the programs is essential. Using institutionalist view of microfinance sustainability and considering project implementation aspects, this study aims to explore the factors that influence the sustainability of project-based microfinance institutions (MFIs). Quantitative approach by using a statistical tool is used to analyse the survey of the 85 microfinance bankers from 65 Microfinance institutions (MFIs). The result showed that project-based microfinance sustainability is influenced by local project characteristics, community support and project management. It implies that project implementation and its sustainability is concomitant. Project implementation that considers local community and is supported by project management could hold an important role in the sustainability of the project. Furthermore, developing sustainability strategies in planning and implementation stages is crucial. Hence, international development project actors should take them into account.

Spare Parts Marketing Development Strategy Using SWOT and BMC Approaches: A Case Study on PT. Persada Utama Diesel

This study aims to develop a spare parts marketing strategy using SWOT and Business Model Canvas (BMC) approaches at PT Persada Utama Diesel. Globalization has encouraged economic growth in various sectors, including exports and imports. However, international business activities also have risks that must be managed properly. Effective risk management can increase investor confidence, maintain company reputation, and ensure long-term business sustainability. This research uses a qualitative approach with a case study on PT Persada Utama Diesel. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation studies. SWOT analysis and Business Model Canvas (BMC) were used to develop a spare parts marketing strategy. The results of the SWOT analysis identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing the company. Based on the BMC analysis, the company's current business model was also evaluated and developed. The recommended spare parts marketing strategy includes improving operational efficiency, developing a global distribution network, and strengthening strategic partnerships. The application of SWOT and BMC approaches is effective in developing a spare parts marketing strategy that can help PT Persada Utama Diesel in facing challenges and capitalizing on opportunities in an increasingly competitive international market.

How Is SDG 11 Linked with Other SDGs? Evidence from the United Nations Good Practices

The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities” (SDG 11) is linked with the 16 other SDGs to varying extents. Studying these relationships can provide insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the current SDG framework and set the stage for improvements to the next version. We analyze data from the UN database of 221 “good practices” for SDG 11 submitted between 2018 and 2021 to determine the most and least frequent linkages between SDG 11 and other SDGs as well as differences in such linkages between developed and developing countries. We find SDG 11 most closely associated with SDG 17 “Partnership for the Goals” and SDG 13 “Climate Action”. This shows actors’ perceptions of the centrality of international partnerships and climate action in addressing urban sustainability challenges. Connections with SDG 7 “Affordable and Clean Energy”, SDG 2 “Zero Hunger”, and SDG 16 “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions” were surprisingly weak, given the role of clean energy in addressing the climate crisis, the prevalence of poverty and hunger within cities, and the importance of institutions. Developing countries more frequently linked SDG 11 with SDG 5 “Gender Equality” and SDG 6 “Clear Water and Sanitation”, showing a focus on basic infrastructure and gender equity dimensions of sustainability. Developed countries associated SDG 11 more strongly with natural resources, environmental sustainability, and economic production. These findings suggest that more specific targets, indicators, and international support related to energy, poverty, hunger, and institutions may be needed within post-2030 iterations of SDG 11.

The re-making of a Europe of differences: mobile lives and the globalization of categories in revolutionary and post-imperial times (c.1770–1970)

ABSTRACT This article discusses the fundamental question of how the differentiation of people on the move or in transit and their categorization changed in revolutionary and post-imperial times. These interacting processes have affected Europe and the negotiation of its internal and external boundaries. Drawing on examples from the rich history of migration and mobility since the late eighteenth century, the article demonstrates how individual research studies can be situated and expanded within a broad temporal and analytical framework which focuses on the historical actors’ struggles over the distinctions and categories imposed upon them by others (e.g. the administration or the family). It explores dynamics arising both from the socio-economic and cultural practices of mobile people (e.g. on localizing or globalizing their concepts of life) and from legal-administrative procedures to distinguish between these people (e.g. through categories). These differentiations interacted and changed especially during two threshold phases, around 1800 and 1945. During these periods, international actors renegotiated the relationship between territory and population by grappling with the distinction between ‘refugees’ and numerous other migrants and claiming a universalist or more particularistic definition over which people were entitled to protection and support. Through this approach, Europe is understood as a lived, administered and negotiated space whose external and internal boundaries are also the result of long, more or less overlapping processes of self- and external evaluation of people located outside their place of origin.

Grandes Esperanças – Afryka w polityce zagranicznej Brazylii w XXI w.

“GRANDES ESPERANÇAS” – AFRICA IN THE FOREIGN POLICY OF BRAZIL IN XXI CENTURYThe links between Brazil and African countries go far beyond official political or economic relations and date back to the beginnings of Portuguese colonisation in the New World. They are bound by the painful history of many centuries of slavery, but also the influence of the African population on Brazilian culture, religion and society. Today, Brazil is the country with the second largest population of African descent after Nigeria, yet Brazil’s policy towards Africa seems largely short-term. The aim of the following article is to show the evolution of Brazil’s policy towards Africa in these dimensions from a historical perspective, with particular emphasis on the changes in its dynamics in the 21st century and its inclusion in a broader strategy of the country’s international activity.

Znaczenie i rola państw Afryki dla tureckiej polityki zagranicznej w okresie rządów Partii Sprawiedliwości i Rozwoju (AKP)

THE IMPORTANCE AND ROLE OF AFRICAN COUNTRIES FOR TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY UNDER THE RULE OF THE JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY (AKP) The main aim of the article is to trace an evolution of Turkey’s foreign policy towards African countries. Assuming that during the rule of the Justice and Development Party a qualitative change took place in Turkey’s approach to this area, the paper will analyse its particular importance in the process of shaping the new identity of Ankara’s foreign policy after 2002. In addition, the ambition of the submitted paper is also to indicate the reasons for the change that took place in the way of building relations with some countries of the region, so characteristic for overall Turkey’s international activities during the rule of R.T. Erdoğan and his political party.

Evaluating air route performance with context-dependent data envelopment analysis: A case study in Taiwan

The aviation industry has a key role in international trade activities. Most studies measure aviation performance based on airlines or airports. However, the frontline operation is delivered via air routes and more operating characteristics can be revealed with route-based performance evaluation. Further, the traditional data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach cannot rank performance in a particular context which represents an efficiency frontier built by decision making units (DMUs). Therefore, this study uses a context-dependent DEA approach to measure and rank the performance of air routes with a case study of 112 international routes from two airlines in Taiwan. Model results identify eight performance levels with most air routes at efficiency performance level 2 and level 3 and most route destinations in East Asia (e.g., Japan). The results of this study can inform operators about a clear relationship between performance and potential markets as well as improvement strategies.

Central Asia and German foreign policy. Main directions and prospects

The article considers the interaction between Germany and the countries of Central Asia. The region is of interest to Berlin due to a complex of factors (security and countering international terrorism, trade and investment activities, diversification of markets and energy suppliers, migration management).

The Relationship Between Oda, Import–Export Turnover, and Vietnam’s Economic Growth During the Period 1995 – 2022 (SDG)

Objectives: This article studies the relationship between official development assistance (ODA), import-export turnover, and Vietnam’s economic growth during the period 1995–2022. Method: Using qualitative combined with quantitative research methods, based on the database collected by year from 1995 to 2022 from the website of the General Statistics Office, International Monetary Fund, Ministry of Finance, and World Bank...The database was analized by the Eview 12 Software. Results and Discussion: Vietnam’s economic growth depends on the operation of ODA budget solutions and total export turnover over time. ODA capital has a positive impact but is not as clear as total import-export turnover. In the first stage, when ODA capital rises, GDPR increases too, but in the later stages, continuing to increase ODA capital will not benefit the Vietnamese economy, while total export turnover has a positive effect on Vietnam’s economic growth for a long time. Research Implications: ODA capital only has a positive impact in the early stages when Vietnam enters the innovation phase, but in the later stages, international trade plays a more important role in Vietnam’s economic growth. Under the condition that other factors remain unchanged when total export turnover increases by 1%, GDPR increases by 0.416906%. Value: From the results of the analysis, the research team proposes solutions to selectively attract ODA, effectively use capital to ensure that infrastructure continues to be developed more modernly, and strengthen international trade activities to motivate sustainable economic growth.

Eviscerated to Revolutionary: Rethinking International Aid and Civil Society in Cambodia and Myanmar

International aid actors and their role in supporting civil society, particularly non-government organisations (NGOs), in Asia has attracted extensive debate. Some view donors’ New Policy Agenda to have de-politicised and “NGOised” civil society, undermining broader emancipatory movements. Such analyses, however, often take limited account of historical and political factors that are deeply influential. Cambodia and Myanmar offer unique insights into these debates; following decades of international isolation, both countries experienced vast influxes of aid, from the early 1990s and late 2000s respectively. Yet in 2024, civil society activism is eviscerated in Cambodia, while a broad alliance is pursing revolution in Myanmar against the 2021 military coup. Through a comparative analysis, this article examines how aid and civil society interact over an extended time, and what the radically different trajectories mean regarding the dynamics between international aid and civil society actors. The article concludes that although international aid had a distortionary impact, historical and political factors were far more consequential in shaping civil society in both countries, particularly the scale of informal, non-NGO activism, which has ultimately proven far more resilient and transformative.

The International Moral Economy of Saving Lives at Sea in the Late Ottoman Empire

This article discusses the international conditions and actions that in the mid-nineteenth century have led to the creation of a service to prevent shipwreck and save lives at the entrance to the Bosporus, at the time an increasingly important strategic and commercial global passage. The initiative for its creation originated in lobbying by the western shipping and insurance industry in Constantinople, the provision of expertise from the British Board of Trade, and the diplomacy of several foreign missions to the Ottoman government. Why did these actors go to such lengths to create a lifesaving service that could not be found at any other transit point of global trade in the nineteenth century? How to make sense of the framing of this initiative as ‘humanitarian’? The article uses the example of this Black Sea Lifesaving Service to address larger questions of the mixing of moral and material values in humanitarian projects.

Comparative analysis of the dispersion modeling and dose projection results performed under BARCO international project

Radiological assessments on zones to take protective actions in case of a nuclear or radiological emergency involve a series of real-time forecasts of radiological impact on the public at various distances from the release point, using actual weather or forecast data, information on the source term or facility status, and primary radiation monitoring data. This practice is implemented during the operation of emergency centers around the world in order to promptly report the occurrence and possible consequences of radiological accidents in the country and abroad in the event of a possible transboundary impact. Since the Chornobyl disaster, a lot of emergency exercises, research programs and projects, in particular, benchmarking, have served as international platforms for improving modeling capacity in atmospheric dispersion. This activity is carried out both on the basis of past severe accidents with significant atmospheric releases and corresponding radiological consequences, and on the basis of specific conditional (hypothetical) events that are developed in accordance with the purpose of the study. The paper is focused on the comparison results performed under the international project “Benchmarking on Assessment of Radiological COnsequences” (BARCO) conducted in 2020–2021 between five technical support organisations – members of the European Technical Safety Organisations Network (ETSON). The work contains a short overview of relevant international activity conducted in the past, a description of the BARCO project and its objectives, a list of participants, project tasks, initial data (source term, meteorology, list of benchmarking quantities, approach to data exchange, codes used). The study presents some of comparative analysis results obtained via two techniques such as code-to-code analysis (CTCA) and matched-pair analysis (MPA). The results discussion concentrates on the overall recommendations for code users. Conclusions provide the main outputs of the project.

Política Exterior de China: del ascenso pacífico al sueño chino - implicaciones para el análisis de las relaciones internacionales

This article aims to examine the evolution of China’s foreign policy from the adoption of the “peaceful rise” policy to the present one which stems from the concept of the “Chinese dream” presented by Xi Jinping. The analysis is carried out in the light of major traditional international relations theories and introduces the doctrine underpinning the “Chinese dream” known as Tianxia. It finds that western traditional doctrine lacks rigorous consideration of Asian historical and cultural singularities that prevent them from fully explaining the international actions of the People’s Republic of China. In particular, China’s increasing assertiveness in its international relations along with its economic, military and technological advances, as well as the military conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, have exacerbated differences with the West. It is imperative to provide diplomacy with tools to assess the international context and the opposing positions of the West and the PRC that considers a theoretical framework that incorporates elements such as Tianxia, not as a substitute for Western tradition frameworks of analysis, but to enrich them. This is particularly true for the defense and projection of the interests of developing countries, which will require extensive diplomatic skills to navigate this complex context effectively as proactive players rather than bystanders in the international arena.

СУЩНОСТЬ, ЦЕЛИ И ЗАДАЧИ ИНФОРМАЦИОННОГО ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ МЕЖДУНАРОДНОЙ АНТИНАРКОТИЧЕСКОЙ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ

The article presents the results of a study of the basic concepts of information support for international anti-drug activities, including those implemented by Russia in the format of the Collective Se-curity Treaty Organization (CSTO). The main channels of communication of the CSTO, their orienttion, specifics in the presentation of content, the level of coverage of target audiences, as well as their goals, objectives and essence are considered. The nature and orientation of the above-mentioned concepts and their interrelation are revealed

The death of language barriers? An empirical study based on China’s cross-border e-commerce

ABSTRACT Based on China’s cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) logistics order data from 2017 to 2019, we examine the impact of language barriers on CBEC. By constructing a comprehensive language barrier index, we find that, unlike offline trade, China exhibits higher CBEC exports to countries with greater language barriers. Mechanism analysis indicates that this positive correlation arises from CBEC effectively overcoming phonological linguistic disparities and compensating for the offline trade gap caused by language barriers. Our study contributes to understanding the evolution of the gravity model in the context of CBEC and provides new insights into international business activities.

Development of Waqf from an Islamic Perspective through the Land Professional Society of Malaysia in an Effort to Increase Waqf Literacy

Partners for this International Community Service activity are the Malaysian Land Professional Association (PERTAMA) community and also lecturers from various universities in Malaysia and Indonesia. The partners' problems are: 1) Community waqf literacy still needs to be improved, 2) Community participation in waqf still needs to improve, 3) The use of social media to disseminate information about waqf development still needs to be improved, and 4) Cooperation between institutions related to efforts to increase waqf literacy still needs to be improved. Based on these three problems, the solutions included: 1) Efforts to increase waqf literacy through discussions on waqf development, 2) Carrying out seminars on increasing community participation, especially in this activity, namely community members and lecturers, 3) Promote social media to disseminate waqf information and increase waqf literacy, and 4) Collaborating with PERTAMA to convey the waqf literacy message. A qualitative approach was used for data collection using the discussion group forum method. After the implementation of the activities, several changes occurred as follows: 1) The participants know the importance of developing waqf and the law regarding waqf, 2) The participants know about various training programs for waqf development, 3) Participants can understand how to use multiple social media to support increasing waqf literacy, and 4) Establishing collaboration/partnerships with PERTAMA communities to support the Zakat literacy program. This international community service activity successfully supported efforts to increase waqf literacy for academics from various universities and PERTAMA members in Malaysia.