Member States Of Community Research Articles

Screening for Asylum at Airports: The Implementation of the ‘Manifestly Unfounded’ Filter in France and Germany, 1980–2005

ABSTRACTThis historical paper examines pre‐screening procedures for asylum‐seekers at Western European international airports during the period from the 1980s to the 2000s, with a particular focus on France and Germany as case studies. It highlights the tension between attempts to standardise the application of the ‘manifest unfoundedness’ criterion for asylum claims at the border through intergovernmental harmonisation efforts and the significant variations observed in how this criterion was implemented both between and within Member States of the European Community and later the European Union. By exploring these discrepancies, the paper emphasises the context‐dependent nature of enforcing asylum rules and the influence of local dynamics on the effectiveness of these norms. It begins by providing background on the refugee landscape in the 1980s and the prevalent desire among Western European policy‐makers to reduce the number of asylum‐seekers at the borders. The paper then discusses efforts to harmonise procedures and the adoption of a common, and soon distorted, yardstick pertaining to the ‘manifest unfoundedness’ of asylum claims. Furthermore, the article examines disparities in implementation across countries and within them, shedding light on differences in norms, procedures and institutional dynamics that led to divergent approaches at the local level.

The role of national and international standardization activities in the process of post-war reconstruction of Ukraine

The article analyzes the role of national and international norm-project activities in the process of post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. It is proved that in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which is of an aggressive nature on the part of the aggressor, great troubles and destruction have been caused to our people and their state, which have manifested themselves in numerous human casualties, disintegration and destruction of the basic everyday and critical infrastructure of territorial communities, destruction and the actual devastation of large territories, which makes it virtually impossible for a person to exist and function in the relevant territory, limits his opportunities to organize his stable and predictable life cycle, as well as to satisfy existential needs, efforts, and interests. However, the war itself objectifies and actualizes the issue of the post-war restoration of the state and its TG, and this, in turn, puts on the agenda the issues of rule-making by the public authorities of the state and subjects of international relations, including member states of the international community and their associative and structural units - international intergovernmental and intergovernmental organizations, including, first of all, the important stage of norm-making - norm-project activity. It is argued that norm-projecting activity at the national and international levels in the process of post-war recovery of Ukraine plays an important methodological and praxeological significance, because the principles of post-war recovery of Ukraine and its TG: a) quite clearly, clearly, unambiguously reflect and determine the fundamental directions, forms and guidelines of norm-projecting activity public authorities of the state; b) even more, they are aimed at the unambiguous formation and formulation of the rights and obligations of the subjects of social relations that will arise in the process of post-war recovery; c) must be adequately taken into account and reflected in the relevant standard-setting activity of public state authorities, as well as, and this is especially important, in the standard-setting of local self-government bodies; d) they form the foundations of state legal and municipal legal policy in the field of post-war reconstruction. At the same time, the lion’s share of the above principles of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine and its TG has a significant impact on the international level - their practical implementation cannot be implemented without significant financial assistance from foreign partners. And this, in turn, actualizes and contextualizes the normative-drafting activity of public authorities of Ukraine (including local self-government bodies) in the field of international contract law, including normative-drafting work in the field of international inter-municipal cooperation, as well as general international cooperation.

Comparative Advantage of Trade in Food Products among the Selected East African Community Partner States: Implication for Policy Formulation

Despite the potential benefits of regional trade, economic disparities among East African Community (EAC) member states persist. This study investigated the relationship between trade openness, comparative advantage in food trade, and economic performance within the EAC, focusing on Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. The study adopted export data from the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database, the World Bank, and the International Trade Centre, as well as GDP data from the Bank of Tanzania and the National Bureau of Statistics. Data were analysed through descriptive statistics, causality analysis, Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), and vector autoregressive model. Findings reveal a positive impact of trade openness on Tanzania’s economy but negative impacts on Kenya and Uganda, suggesting Tanzania benefits from EAC integration while Kenya and Uganda face trade challenges. The causality analysis shows that Tanzania’s economic performance drives food exports, trade openness impacts Kenya’s economic performance significantly, and Uganda sees a reciprocal link between economic growth and food exports; however, trade openness does not significantly affect Ugandan economic growth. The analysis of the Balassa index indicates Kenya’s food export advantage, a decline in Uganda’s export advantage since 1996, and Tanzania’s lack of export advantage with potential for improvement. The study recommends cautiously implementing trade openness policies within the EAC to prevent trade distortions and currency devaluation.

FinTech—A pathway to financial inclusion? Evidence from Southern African Development Community member states

AbstractThe study investigates the effect of FinTech on financial inclusion in Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states over the period 2011–2021, while also looking at the transmission channels. The study adopts a battery of econometric techniques such as ordinary least squares (OLS), the two‐step system generalized method of moments (GMM) and the Driscoll and Kraay covariance estimator. The study finds that FinTech (proxied by digitization) deepens financial inclusion (access to loan) and a decline in the number of bank branches in SADC member states. This is logical since the operations of FinTech are digital. This implies that an attempt to promote financial inclusion by traditional means such as building physical bank structures may be limited, especially in Africa where large swathes of the populace remain unbanked. As expected, FinTech (measured by automated teller machines [ATMs]) increases the number of bank branches in SADC. We also find that mobile cellular subscription, the share of population with access to electricity and Internet access and mean years of schooling are important transmission channels of FinTech to financial inclusion in SADC. In general, the result shows that FinTech enhances and deepens financial inclusion in SADC member states. The research and policy implications are discussed.

Balancing the three-legged pot: Benchmarking road safety institutional frameworks across SADC member states

BackgroundRoad deaths and injuries constitute a major global burden of disease, with Africa the worst affected region. Two successive UN Global Decades of Action (2011–2020 and 2021–2030) have focused on pillars of action aimed at halving road deaths. Pillar 1, Road Safety Management, requires a road safety institutional framework (RSIF) containing three legs: i) a road safety lead agency, ii) road safety funding, and iii) a national road safety strategy with timebound death reduction targets. MethodWe used a regional benchmarking approach to examine RSIFs in the 16 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which make up 26% of Africa's population and a third of its land mass. Using data from the World Health Organization's 2018 Global Status Report on Road Safety, we computed an RSIF score for each state and visually depicted its RSIF as a three-legged pot with full, partial, or missing legs. We also performed correlational analyses to determine whether there were relationships between member states' RSIF scores and WHO-estimated death rates, GDP per capita, governance scores on the BertelsmanStiftung Transformation Index (BTI-g) and scores on the Human Development Index (HDI). ResultsIn 2018, most SADC member states’ RSIFs consisted of “wobbly three-legged pots”. Leg i (road safety lead agency) was most present, being evident in 80% of the member states. Legs ii (funding) and iii (national road safety strategy) were each present in 73%; however, in most cases, they were deficient compared with global best practice. The only statistically significant correlation we found was between RSIF scores and BTI-g scores. DiscussionThe SADC lagged behind the continent as a whole with respect to lead agencies, with other researchers noting that >90% of African countries had such agencies. The two member states with the highest RSIF scores and lowest death rates (Mauritius and Seychelles) are amongst the wealthiest in the region and have extremely small populations. Overall, the SADC was skewed towards low RSIF scores (correlated with poor governance scores) and high death rates. ConclusionAlmost all SADC member states require strengthening of all three RSIF legs to bring them into line with global best practice for Pillar 1, Road Safety Management. Collective regional improvement could be facilitated by longstanding intergovernmental cooperation (with high levels of cross-border traffic) and growing civil society involvement in road safety. If the SADC could become an exemplar on the continent this would boost the chances of halving African road deaths and substantially reducing global deaths by 2030.

The Free Movement of People in SADC

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states committed under Article 5(2) (d) of the SADC Treaty to develop policies aimed at the progressive elimination of the obstacles to the free movement of capital, labour, goods and services. The 2005 SADC Protocol on the Movement of People was celebrated as a giant step towards the realization of the regional integration objective of building SADC into a regional community that is fully integrated where citizens enjoy the freedom of movement across regional borders. Whilst substantial efforts have been invested in developing various legal and policy frameworks to open up borders for the free movement of people within SADC, thirty (30) years since the formation of SADC in April 1980 as the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC); the region is facing serious challenges relating to the free movement of people, migration and labour movement. In reality, SADC member states’ governments have been confronted with serious feasibility challenges, complexities, risks and dilemmas as they attempt to implement commitments made towards the free movement of people in the region, with political, security, economic, strategic, and technical factors often cited as obstacles. This paper sought to critically reflect on the feasibility aspects, policy dilemmas at member state level as well as strategic considerations that stand on the way of free movement of people in SADC. The focus was on examining possibilities, capacities and prospects of SADC member states (in their collectivity and individuality) in addressing the underlying, structural and operational obstacles that are impeding the free movement of people in the region. Secondary data sources are used for analysis, and the three concepts of free movement of people, migration and regional integration provide conceptual lenses for analysis. Findings are key in providing perspectives on how SADC member states may need to collectively address the fundamental questions and issues that facilitate the free movement of people in the region.

Assessment of pharmacovigilance guidelines in the Southern African Development Community: A document review.

Lack of harmonization in pharmacovigilance (PV) practice in resource-limited states in Africa has led to differentiation and marginalization, thus creating an environment where weak or absent PV systems may benefit from regional guidelines. To compare the PV guidelines of Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states to international guidelines and identify areas for improvement for aligning PV practice within the SADC region. We utilized a 73-item checklist to assess the PV guidelines of the SADC member states. Checklist parameters were rated using binary scoring. Only seven (Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) of the 16 SADC member states had guidelines to assess. Of these, only four had supporting legislation. All seven national medicines regulatory authorities (NMRA)'s guidelines required reporting of local serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Four NMRAs implemented device vigilance; none specified submission timelines for ADRs associated with substandard or falsified medicines. Only three NMRAs required electronic transmission of individual case safety reports in the E2B format. Five NMRAs mandated safety monitoring during interventional clinical trials. Five NMRAs required aggregate reporting through periodic safety update reports. Only two NMRAs required submission of the development safety update report. Regarding risk management, four NMRAs required notification of actions taken by foreign NMRAs and four NMRAs expected to review Dear Healthcare Professional Letters before distribution by the marketing authorization holder. Areas for improvement of guidelines to establish common process standards and allow for synchronized submissions of comparable data to SADC NMRAs are provided.

Trade Liberalization and Female Employment in the East African Community

The United Nations reported that just 47 per cent of women of working age participated in the labour market in 2020, compared to 74 per cent of men. Although there have been significant changes in the Gross Domestic Product and trade structure, structural changes in employment have been negligible in Sub-Saharan Africa and particularly in The East African Community. Despite being above the Sub-Saharan Africa average female Employment to Population, all the East African Community member states that are the focus of this study have had a declining Employment to employment-to-population ratio. The primary goal of this study is to look into the impact of trade integration on gender outcomes in the East African Community. This was achieved by combining the Phillips and Okuns law to link the relationship between unemployment and its direct and indirect variables. Annual panel data between 2000 to 2021 was utilised. The results show that trade openness has a depressing effect on the share of women employed in the agricultural sector and a positive effect on the share of female employment in the services sector. This trend could be explained by the closeness of the sectors, meaning that female workers do not need new skills to move between the agricultural and services sectors. For women to take advantage of job opportunities in the services sector that improve inequality there is a need to reskill women so that they can take advantage of higher-level job opportunities in the services sector.

Physicochemical and Microbial Quality of Water from the Ugandan Stretch of the Kagera Transboundary River

Increasing global pollution of water resources undermines the efforts invested in the realisation of Sustainable Development Goals. In developing countries, for example, water pollution is exacerbated by poor regulatory structures and improper waste disposal. This study, for the first time, investigated the physicochemical and microbial parameters of surface water from the Ugandan stretch of the Kagera transboundary river. Surface water (n = 135) from downstream, midstream and upstream of the river was sampled between February 2021 and June 2021, and analysed following standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. Further, the samples were analysed using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy for the presence of heavy metals: nickel, lead, chromium, cadmium and copper. The obtained results showed that turbidity (24.77 ± 5.5–43.99 ± 6.87 mg/L), colour (118 ± 8.90–145.2 ± 30.58 Pt-co units), Escherichia coli (4.96 ± 7.01 CFU/100 mL), lead (23.0 ± 11.0–43.0 ± 12.0 µg/L) and cadmium (3.3 ± 1.0–10.1 ± 10.0 µg/L) were at levels that surpassed their permissible limits as per World Health Organization guidelines for potable water. These results are lower than previously reported for the Rwandese stretch of this river, but still present potential health risks to the population whose livelihoods depend on the river. Measures should therefore be instituted by the East African Community member states to mitigate riverine pollution and ensure sustainable use of the Kagera transboundary river.

A Foreign Investment Destination Risk Framework: Evaluating the Southern African Development Community Member States

Potential investment risks need to be understood by an investor organisation, which implies that a host country’s environment plays a significant role in attracting foreign investment. This paper’s purpose was to propose a foreign investment risk conceptual framework to serve as a basis for evaluating the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member States’ investment risk/attractiveness. Firstly, the most appropriate foreign investment risk indicators from the literature were identified to develop a foreign investment risk framework. Ten recent peer‑reviewed studies were used to identify the factors which drive investment risk in emerging markets. We developed a conceptual framework including 16 investment risk indicators grouped into four sections: (i) the business environment, (ii) related taxes on business operations, (iii) the economic environment, and (iv) the human and social environments. Secondly, a comparative analysis of the 16 SADC countries was performed, enabling the ranking of the countries in quadrants of investment risk/attractiveness. Data were downloaded from theGlobalEconomy.com (2022) website for six years, from 2015 to 2020. The literature suggests many investment risk indicators which are grouped differently by researchers to form a conceptual framework to evaluate investment risk. This study’s contribution is that the most popular/prevalent risk indicators were identified to develop the new proposed framework. Furthermore, evaluating the SADC region may also serve as an example of investment risk/attractiveness assessment of emerging markets or least‑developed countries. The practical implication of this paper is that the proposed framework enables transferability since potential investors may connect the fundamentals of this study with their own investigation.

Avrupa Eğitim Programları ve Dil Gelişim Dosyası Türkiye Uygulaması

Abstract European relations with Turkey, which began with the application of the Republic of Turkey for membership in the European Community and continued with the acquisition of candidacy status, gained a new dimension with the Copenhagen summit on December 12, 2002. Fifteen member states of the European Community have decided that Turkey can start candidacy negotiations in December 2005 if it can prove that it meets the political and economic criteria for integration with Europe, according to development reports. With the positive outcome of this development, Turkey is expected to become a member state of the European Community, and the Turkish language will be one of the most widely spoken European languages according to the population ratio. The legal status, financial and administrative autonomy of the Turkish National Agency were approved by the Turkish Grand National Assembly in July 2003. The learning of Turkish by Europeans as a foreign language of Turkish began with the establishment of commercial and political relations with the Ottoman Empire, and Turkology departments were opened in many universities. In the near future, commercial and political relations between Europe and Turkey are expected to increase with the accession negotiations Dec. Programs such as Leonardo, Socrates and Lingua, which are carried out within the European Community, offering educational, participant and instructor exchange, language learning opportunities, have been carried out in recent years within the framework of projects, especially with the participation of member and candidate countries. Turkey has also participated in these programs and has established a Socrates Commission. The aim of the foreign language policy adopted and proposed by the Council of Europe is to protect and develop linguistic and cultural diversity as a source of mutual wealth and to facilitate interpersonal relations, international flow and exchange of ideas. Dec.1. The aim of the foreign language policy adopted and proposed by the Council of Europe is to protect and develop language and cultural diversity as a source Dec. In this context, the Turkish language will also be a cultural richness and diversity for Europe, and it is expected that teaching and learning it as a foreign language will also be a factor that helps Turks to express themselves better in relations with Europeans. Key Words: European Union, Turkey, European Educational Programs, Language Development File

Avrupa Birliği Dil Eğitimi Politikalarının İncelenmesi

Abstract In the information age, the phenomenon of globalization has affected educational programs. It has become important to educate global-minded participants in schools. Changes in science and technology affect human life and education, which is the process of human education. Educational systems that are under the influence of many economic, social and cultural conditions are facing changes. The act of learning, which gains continuity throughout life by replacing traditional learning processes with information and communication technologies support environments, eliminates the need for people to be in a fixed environment to achieve this. It is aimed to Decouple the educational programs with the educational projects carried out between the universities of the member states of the European Community and to make education more qualified. Thanks to the academic networks in the European Union, the student-teacher relationship participating in the education and learning process is being carried to interactive multi-media. At this stage, information measurement and evaluation systems are being designed to test the knowledge acquired after learning, the validity and reliability of which are supported by information technologies. Individuals now believe that they save time by moving the physical mobility they perform for learning and educational purposes to a virtual environment and that they have a more effective and interactive learning and evaluation experience. Lingua (Language Learning and Teaching) Program; It is one of the eight sub-programs of Socrates, the EU General Education Program, which aims to teach the languages spoken in the member states of the Community as a foreign language to the citizens of the European countries that are members of these programs. The European Commission has developed different ways and methods to improve foreign language learning. e-Europe launched an initiative in 2000 with the name of using communication and information technologies such as the Internet and the web in all sectors with a decision taken by a commission. Thus, it is planned to establish a virtual higher education network between universities, open and distance education institutions by the end of Dec 2020. The new expectations that have emerged about the widespread use of media tools in education in Europe have turned into an inevitable, low-cost and socially necessary paradigm within the scope of the information society. Key Words: European Union, Education, Language Education

Effects of Public Debt on Interest Rates in Selected East African Community Member States

East African Community member states have embarked on various strategies to reduce interest rates in the region to boost investment so as to accelerate economic growth. However, despite the many reforms, the interest rates are far higher than in other countries in Africa, which are more developed. In an attempt to bolster investment, these states have increased public debt rapidly, exceeding the debt ratio of 50 per cent of Gross Domestic Product as provided in their treaty. The main objective of this study was to examine the effects of public debt on interest rates in selected East African Community member states. The study was anchored on the loanable fund model and used a descriptive panel research design. The dataset was drawn from World Development Indicators and Penn World Tables for the period 1980 to 2020. The dataset was drawn from secondary sources: World Bank's World Development Indicators, Penn World Tables, Economic Surveys and Statistical Abstracts for the period 1980 to 2020. The Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag method was used to analyse the study. The study found that public debt had a positive effect on the long-term interest rate in the five countries combined. Therefore, these governments need to take effective measures to pursue fiscal discipline. Additionally, EAC states can use concessional loans, which have more favourable terms like lower interest rates, deferred repayments, and income-contingent repayments

Determinants and Competitiveness of Rice Export in Tanzania: A Vector Error Correction Model

The rice export industry in Tanzania is seemingly performing poorly despite the country being the leading rice producer amongst the East African Community (EAC) member states. The extensive government interventions which have occurred in the industry and the existence of inward-looking trade policies such as the Common External Tariff within EAC would have resulted in increased rice exports especially, through the intra-regional trade, however this has remained more of an oratorical rather than practical attainment the reasons for which are not known with certainty. This paper is an attempt to fill this knowledge gap. The paper investigates the determinants of rice exports in Tanzania. Specifically, it examines the influence of price and non-price factors on rice exports and assesses the competitiveness of Tanzanian rice in the EAC export market. The paper uses secondary data obtained from government institutions and other international data repositories. The Vector Error Correction Model is used to capture the dynamics of rice export in Tanzania and the competitiveness of rice exported is assessed using the Revealed Comparative Advantage Model. The results show that real exchange rates, international rice prices, quantity produced and the average GDP per capita of the main importers of Tanzania rice in EAC were the key determinants of rice export performance though the commodity was found to be less competitive within the EAC and neighboring countries such as Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique which also import rice from Tanzanian. To improve rice export performance and enhance competitiveness, the country should increase production to take advantage of existing demand for rice from EAC countries and other neighboring countries.

Region‐centric infrastructure policies and the regional politics surrounding Chinese railway projects: Insights from the East Africa region

AbstractThe African Union and regional economic communities have identified infrastructure development, not least the enhancement of railway systems, as a key priority to advance regional and continental integration policy. The keen interest of Chinese actors in Africa's railway sector is largely welcomed as conducive to increasing infrastructural connectivity within and between Africa's sub‐regions. This article argues that regional railway projects must be assessed against regional political contexts, which crucially co‐determine the degree of coordination and cooperation in the context of region‐centric infrastructure policies. Competing national political agendas, exacerbated mostly by China's bilateral engagement with East African Community member states, has intensified East Africa's infrastructure race. This has resulted in a poorly coordinated standard‐gauge railway project along the East African Northern Corridor; consequently, its economic viability is in doubt.Related ArticlesIkeanyibe, Okechukwu Marcellus. 2018. “Bureaucratic Politics and the Implementation of Liberalization Reforms in Nigeria: A Study of the Unbundling and Reorganization of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.” Politics & Policy 46(2): 263–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12249.Iwuoha, Victor Chidubem, Nneka Ifeoma Okafor, and Emmanuel Ifeadike. 2022. “State Regulation of Nigeria's Maritime Ports: Exploring the Impact of Port Concession on Both the Regulator and the Operators.” Politics & Policy 50(5): 1032–52. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12495.McNamara, Madeleine W., John C. Morris, and Martin Mayer. 2014. “Expanding the Universe of Multi‐Organizational Arrangements: Contingent Coordination and the Deepwater Horizon Transportation Challenges.” Politics & Policy 42(3): 346–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12073.

Imagery and social representations of the Coronavirus pandemic in East African press: A critical content analysis of The East African newspaper

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a phenomenon intersecting different parts of the world. The East African Community which prides itself for enabling socio-economic, political and cultural integration between its member states has had to deal with uncertainties caused by misinformation about the pandemic, which in turn threaten to derail its objectives. In line with this, The East African newspaper stands out as a leading provider of information concerning each of the countries in the community. And although a report in the MarketWatch (2023) indicates that the World Health Organization expects to declare end of the pandemic some time in 2023 as the virus has become more like seasonal flu, The East African newspaper which has established itself as a leading provider of information covering the five (5) member states of the East African Community has continually reported on the pandemic. How this publication represents the pandemic can influence how its readers understand it. Thus, guided by the Social Representation Theory (SRT) and employing a critical content analysis approach, this paper examines how the newspaper uses imagery in creating social representations about the pandemic. This study contributes to the discourse of media representations of pandemics.

Productivity Factors and the Growth of the Manufacturing Sector among the East African Community Members States: Testing the Adequacy of the Endogenous Growth Hypothesis

Purpose: It is well documented that the manufacturing industry plays a vital role in a country's economic growth and progress. This study benchmarks the endogenous growth paradigm in order to assess the productivity drivers that may affect the output growth of the manufacturing sector in East African Community member states. The empirical model covering the years 2000–2020 was constructed using panel data.
 Methodology: The study adopts a longitudinal research design and tables used to present summary estimates. Analysis has been achieved using stata statistical package version 17.0. A D-GMM estimator was employed to estimate the underlying empirical model.
 Findings: Foreign direct investments, inflation, trade openness, and lending interest rates were shown to be the most influential variables in the rise of manufacturing sector production among EAC member states out of a large sample of productivity indicators analyzed in the study.
 Recommendations: The results show that EAC countries can boost their manufacturing output by attracting more FDI, keeping inflation low, boosting cross-border trade, and enacting policies to lower the costs associated with credit access. Unique in this study is the analysis, first of its kind, of the productivity drivers of the growth in manufacturing sector output in the East African Community member states within the general framework of endogenous growth theory. 

Women Entrepreneurs in East Africa: How Women Integration can boost Entrepreneurial Solutions to Sustainable Development. A Review of Literature

Women’s contributions to sustainable development and trade development are recognized at the national level in the East African community nation’s Frameworks for financial development and trade policy. This paper focuses on examining how women’s Integration can boost Entrepreneurial Solutions to Sustainable Development in the East African Community member states of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The researcher employed secondary data to conduct a thorough literature search. On how Women’s Integration can boost Entrepreneurial Solutions to Sustainable Development in the East African community context. The findings indicated that overcoming obstacles including inadequate market access, market competition, Poor business education, inadequate infrastructure, a lack of resources, a lack of access to raw materials, an unreliable electricity supply, and a lack of marketing knowledge, production restrictions, and a lack of storage space. Additionally, having few contacts outside of prejudice and class bias, lack of social acceptance, relationships with the workforce, attitudes of other workers, and society’s low opinion of women are the bigger social hurdles for them to choose entrepreneurship in the East African community Fellow Countries. As a result, the report suggests that governments of East African Community Member States improve state subsidies, create welcoming workplaces, and The East African community region as a whole needs to embrace gender and strengthen the position of women in the advancement of culture, society, politics, the economy, and technology. Member Nations should encourage gender equality and women, effective assimilation, engagement in sustainable growth at all levels, especially in the outcome; eradicate discrimination laws and customs; support efficient education awareness programs aimed at changing negative attitudes toward women, and develop or embrace new technology that will ensure the security of occupation and certified success for females.

Performance of Vat System in Tanzania Since Enactment of The Vat Act in 2014

The 2014 Value Added Tax (VAT) reforms focused on reduction of the base alterations and broadening the tax base and also dealt with several legal drafting issues to enhance the effectiveness of the new VAT law with hopes of enhancing revenue collection. The objective of this article is to assess the performance of VAT system in Tanzania in terms of tax payer’s registration and collection efficiencies. This study adopted a quantitative paradigm whereby data were analysed quantitatively through descriptive statistics and ratio analysis for efficiency measurement. Only secondary data were used in this study. The sources of data were reports from the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the World Bank (WB), IMF and peer-reviewed journal articles on relevant subject matters. The study revealed a total of 4,575 taxpayers who were eligible to be registered for VAT but who were not captured by the VAT tax system by January 2022. As a result, the government is estimated to have lost about TZS 23,350.09 billion during that period. Furthermore, it was found that the contribution of VAT to GDP is 3.6 per cent which is below the country’s expectation threshold of 6 per cent annually and is below the East African Community member states’ average of 4.4 per cent. Both the VAT Efficiency and C-efficiency ratios were not performing well; their averages were 21.9 and 20.7 per cent respectively, below the EAC regional average of 25 per cent. It is recommended to the government to increase VAT registration threshold and reduce the VAT rate. TRA is urged to decentralize the registration of VAT taxpayers to regions so as to improve compliance and administrative efficiency. The study further recommends to TRA to audit the 4,575 taxpayers whose turnovers are above TZS 100 million but are not yet registered and captured within the VAT tax net.

Ukrajinska kriza i pitanje suvereniteta i teritorijalnog integriteta

The current armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine is a consequence of their decade's long complex and complicated relations, which was influenced by the United States and the countries of Western Europe. The organization of the referendum and signing of the decree on the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, and the conflicts in the Donbass that lasted until 2018 significantly damaged the political relations of these two countries, which were part of the Soviet Union until 1991, when they acquired their independence. The escalation of continuously bad relations led to an armed conflict, but also to the most significant political, economic and military crisis, and the consequences which were felt by the entire world. The topic of this research is the Ukrainian crisis with reference to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine after the referendums and the joining of four regions (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson) to the Russian Federation. The article aims to indicate and emphasize that the key international actors who (in)directly participate in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine have different approaches when it comes to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, that is, when it comes to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia, forgetting on respecting the principle of sovereign equality of states. In other words, since the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, we have witnessed that member states of the international community, guided by their own national interests, can take different positions regarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a particular state, as a result of differently formulated policies.