Multilateral Partnerships Research Articles

India and the Indo-Pacific in the Post-Pandemic World Order

Indo-Pacific is a geopolitical construct that combines the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, representing the new strategic reality of the twenty-first century. Indo-Pacific is also considered significant for countries as it is a strategic and economic domain with a critical role in maritime security and cooperation. With a strategic location in the Indo-Pacific region, India is now a theatre of opportunity to increase its role regionally and globally. The Indian Ocean carries 90 per cent of India’s trade and its energy sources, and nearly 50 per cent of India’s trade is centred in the IndoPacific region. India’s relations with incredible powers, island nations, and smaller littoral states will significantly shape India’s Indo-Pacific strategy. Increasing non-traditional threats and growing challenges from rising China are significant drivers of India’s policy options in the post-pandemic world. India’s soft power diplomacy and bilateral and multilateral partnerships in the region continue to be decisive factors for security and balance of power in the post-pandemic scenario. Thus, the geo-strategic environment of the Indo-Pacific in the post-pandemic era is crucial for India and the countries in the Indo-Pacific region as a whole for their growth, development, and security. Thus, this paper explores India’s crucial role in ensuring the security and equilibrium of the post-pandemic Indo-Pacific through a comprehensive analysis of its strategic initiatives and regional dynamics.

India and the Indo-Pacific in the Post-Pandemic World Order

Indo-Pacific is a geopolitical construct that combines the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, representing the new strategic reality of the twenty-first century. Indo-Pacific is also considered significant for countries as it is a strategic and economic domain with a critical role in maritime security and cooperation. With a strategic location in the Indo-Pacific region, India is now a theatre of opportunity to increase its role regionally and globally. The Indian Ocean carries 90 per cent of India’s trade and its energy sources, and nearly 50 per cent of India’s trade is centred in the IndoPacific region. India’s relations with incredible powers, island nations, and smaller littoral states will significantly shape India’s Indo-Pacific strategy. Increasing non-traditional threats and growing challenges from rising China are significant drivers of India’s policy options in the post-pandemic world. India’s soft power diplomacy and bilateral and multilateral partnerships in the region continue to be decisive factors for security and balance of power in the post-pandemic scenario. Thus, the geo-strategic environment of the Indo-Pacific in the post-pandemic era is crucial for India and the countries in the Indo-Pacific region as a whole for their growth, development, and security. Thus, this paper explores India’s crucial role in ensuring the security and equilibrium of the post-pandemic Indo-Pacific through a comprehensive analysis of its strategic initiatives and regional dynamics.

Multilateral Partnerships Leveraging Excellence (NSF)

Multilateral Partnerships Leveraging Excellence (NSF)

Interdependencies between international innovation partnerships: the case of Central and Eastern Europe

PurposeCompetitively multipolar international system demands bilateral and multilateral partnerships. Joint innovation signals close partnerships. Regional proximity of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to the European Union (EU) defines its research and development objectives. These objectives are additionally subjected to the USA’s geopolitical strategy in this geographical area. Hence, CEE’s limited resources require limited resources make international innovation cooperation. This paper aims to analyse whether and how CEE countries make international innovation cooperation decisions.Design/methodology/approachThis paper used Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) database of total patent applications filed to the patent cooperation treaty (PCT) with co-applicants from abroad, where co-patents with at least one foreign inventor present a measure of international innovation partnership. A vector autoregression analysis and impulse response function were used to analyse international innovation partnership choices of eight CEE OECD countries for the period 1990–2018.FindingsInnovation with the EU is of collaborative nature, commonly displaying complementary properties with the rest of the examined innovation partners, while co-patenting with the Russia and China act as substitutes or complements. Co-patenting with Russia is the most versatile, displaying both properties of collaboration and competition. Some countries exhibit complementarity in co-patenting activities with multiple partners. The significance levels of these relationships vary, indicating varying degrees of impact. Overall, these findings highlight the complex dynamics of co-patenting activities and the influence of different partners on countries’ collaborative innovation strategies.Research limitations/implicationsIn addition to significant relationships, insignificant relationships as well as those that could bring about greater synergy are flagged in the paper. Those relationships portray possible direction into which national funds could be channelled to incite cooperation between different sectors and countries, especially as innovation partnerships are not always successful and require a long time period to materialise.Originality/valueBy examining bilateral innovation partnerships, this study provides an insight into the strategic political and economic spheres of influence in the CEE region.

Management of the implementation of dual education in the higher education system of Ukraine

The introduction of dual education is an integral part of the strategic development of the national economy, post-war recovery processes, reforming public administration in the higher education system in the context of improving public-private partnerships, and ensuring the quality of higher education. The relevance of the study is to fill methodological gaps in scientific understanding and practical application in managing the implementation of dual education at the third educational and scientific level in the higher education system of Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to study the essence of dual education in the context of obtaining the third educational and scientific level; to analyze the current state of implementation of dual education in Ukraine, including existing models and practices; to study the role of public authorities and higher education institutions in the process of dual education implementation; to identify problems and obstacles that generalize the management of the process of dual education implementation and to find ways to overcome them. One of the main tasks of managing the implementation of dual education is to create favorable conditions for the modernization of the higher education system, to develop and implement the necessary legal acts and regulations that stimulate the involvement of multilateral partnerships, to ensure quality monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of dual education. In the course of the study, the authors carried out a comprehensive demographic and statistical analysis of the primary factors that influence the need for transformation in the higher education system. The presented SWOT-analysis on the objective consideration of internal and external factors on the way to the introduction of dual education at the third educational and scientific level allowed to identify areas for improving management processes. The results of the study may be useful for higher education institutions, state education authorities, as well as enterprises involved in the implementation of dual curricula.

Analysis of the United Arab Emirates' contribution to the sustainable development goals with a focus on global health and climate change

PurposeThe world is confronted by various current development challenges, including global health security and climate change. The rapid growth of these challenges warned all nations regardless of their development or geographical position. As an emerging international power, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was among these nations and is viewed as a proactive key actor.Design/methodology/approachThis review was conducted as a thematic synthesis from 27 studies, reports and publications along with authors' insights. Using MS Word and Excel programs, three stages of data exploration, extraction and synthesis and analysis were applied. Data gathering, analysis and thematization and compilation.FindingsThe UAE is giving significant attention to global health and climate change. Over the past 20 years, multipolicies, strategies and bodies were developed to lead the national, regional and global SDGs. Global health and climate change became the most two notable priorities on the government agenda and its strategic thinking is that both priorities can no longer be overlooked. Nationally, the UAE has made significant economic, scientific, social and health growth. Building a resilient and world-class healthcare system was one of six national priorities of the achieved UAE National Agenda 2021. Globally, UAE has proved its global health leadership by ensuring lasting and collective multilateral partnerships and collaborations that led to remarkable achievements in global health and climate change. Examples on the global scale: partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) to target billions of people of the world's population and ensure they get Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) without financial hardship, the partnership between UAE and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to establish the Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) to fight diseases and put an end to polio. Additionally, the state's role in the COVID-19 global efforts such as vaccine development, supply chain and distribution targeted low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The UAE has shown a constant commitment to climate change mitigation and building a sustainable ecosystem by hosting global organizations, leading initiatives, supporting countries and is now organizing the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) this year. Great opportunities can be exploited to promote the country's contributions through further investment in cooperation, research and technology for better knowledge, sound policies, and innovative solutions for all regional and global health and climate change challenges. Originality/valueThis review is a fresh evidence-synthesizing attempt to document the role of the UAE. This role is well placed to play an additional major role with all partners to address these pressing challenges by boosting its role, especially in the Middle East region and advancing a new regional-oriented revolutionary expanded developmental plan that centered on low-resource countries empowerment, multilateralism, intersectionality and lasting collaborations.

Developing an African medical and health professions student regional elective exchange program: approaches and lessons learned

Background: Given the significant gap in International Medical Elective (IME) opportunities for African health professions students, the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates and the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (ECFMG|FAIMER) launched an African regional elective exchange program through the Global Educational Exchange in Medicine and the Health Professions (GEMx) in 2016. This paper provides an overview of the development of the GEMx program, the pillars of implementation, and lessons learned. Methods: The authors conducted a longitudinal qualitative study utilizing in-depth interviews with institutional leaders, program leaders, and faculty, participant observation through symposia, strategic planning meetings, staff meetings, and document review of the annual progress reports, strategic plans, and newsletter articles, abstracts, and concept notes. Common categories were identified and incorporated into a matrix to create themes. Data were analyzed using the manifest content approach guided by a literature review. Results: The key pillars for implementation of the GEMx Africa regional elective exchange program included: the commitment from African training institutional networks and their member institutions that enabled electives to be offered, the GEMx Charter (multilateral agreement) that enabled reciprocity and diversity of elective opportunities, GEMx web-based application system that enabled the centralization of the application process and real-time feedback on acceptance, GEMx Africa Regional Coordination Center in Kampala, Uganda that lead the development and implementation in Africa, and ECFMG mini-grants that helped defray elective costs. Conclusions: Through the development of multilateral partnerships across the continent, the GEMx regional elective exchange program contributed towards bridging a long-existing gap of inadequate opportunities for African health professions students to enhance their global exposure and strengthen their knowledge and skills. .

La Dichiarazione europea per lo studio del latino e del greco antico: filologia e autenticità dei beni culturali

On November 26, 2021, the Ministers of Education of four countries - Italy, France, Greece and Cyprus - signed a memorandum of understanding for the defense and enhancement of classical languages, publishing a joint declaration in which they undertake "to strengthen cooperation in the study of Latin and Ancient Greek, encouraging and developing bilateral and multilateral partnerships', with the aim of promoting knowledge of these languages. The document explicitly recognizes Latin and Greek as European intangible heritage both for their historicity and for the economic value connected to them. Classical languages, vehicle of the intangible heritage and essential defense tool, are explicitly linked for the first time with scientific progress, eliminating a dangerous dichotomy, recently invaded, between theory and practice, between philological studies and scientific skills, and reiterating that it is not possible to know the past and intervene in the future without the necessary presence of the linguistic codes that have generated the culture of humanity. The contribution aims to elaborate and order the value of ancient media as a scientific tool for the generation and dissemination of the cultural characteristics of modern man.

Higher education as ‘strategic power’? An assessment of China-Africa higher education partnerships and collaborations

China is internationalizing its higher education sector – setting up several bilateral and multilateral partnerships between public and private institutions across the globe. However, as the “West” is disentangling itself from partnerships with Chinese institutions of higher education and the Confucius Institutes (CIs), African countries seem to be turning to Beijing. As a result, China overtook France to become the most preferred destination for African students. But, is higher education Beijing’s new strategy to enhance its global status? What is the effect of the shift toward Chinese higher education on Africa’s migration trends, and what is the agency of actors in Africa? Focusing on these questions, and premised on the concepts of student mobility, South–South Cooperation (SSC), and people-to-people exchange to explain the novelty and exceptionality of the partnerships, this paper explores the typology, nature, and processes involved in these partnerships and collaborations.

Arranged Marriages in Multilateral Partnerships—Investigating Sustainable Human Development Financing of Belize in the World Bank Group: A Brand Relationship Theory Approach

The structure of multilateral financial partnerships has many relationship challenges, which need to be solved to positively impact sustainable human development. There is a lack of understanding in the development relationship between the so-called developed and developing countries, and development economics theories and research, which guide policies, knowledge, and funding to nations in need. Amid widespread pleas for change to the structure, Belize is a country, which remains in an economic development crisis 41 years after joining the World Bank Group. This original paper, uniquely positions “World Bank” as a brand, and adds to missing empirical research on Belize and development economics with a mixed-methods, brand relationship approach. The researchers perform a survey of 20 years of Belize government personnel dialogues about the Bank, and apply Fournier’s (1998) brand relationship theories as tools to measure their perceptions of the Bank as well as get a deeper understanding of the relationship. This investigative research finds that Belize perceives it has an “arranged marriage” type brand relationship with the Bank: it is not a sustainable development partner. This brand relationship also negatively affects the way government personnel see themselves and their abilities. The World Bank Group must innovate its development economics methods and practices, assert its social mission, and meet the development needs of its members by first building genuine brand bonds with them. Debtor member countries must re-define their worth, join together, and design their own paths to sustainable development. All countries are developing.

The Biden Doctrine and China's response

The purpose of this paper is to explain how China is reacting to U.S. foreign policy under President Biden (“The Biden Doctrine”). Using official statements and documents, this paper establishes that “authoritarianism versus democracy” has become the organizing principle of the Biden Doctrine, and that principle is supported by three “pillars”—alliances, multilateralism, and strategic risk reduction. The Biden Doctrine is focused on strengthening alliances and building multilateral partnerships that can provide a competitive edge against China, while also pursuing strategic risk reduction measures to contain competition to non-military areas, even as the United States steps up support for Taiwan. The Biden Doctrine has not been well-received in China, where it is viewed as an attempt at containment, and China has responded with stronger diplomatic rhetoric, increased military activity around Taiwan, strengthened partnerships with U.S. adversaries, and (albeit strained) efforts to maintain good relations with Europe. The paper concludes that the interplay between U.S. and Chinese foreign policies is increasing the risk of a new type of Cold War, especially over geographical flashpoints like Taiwan.

A converging global research system

Abstract We examine the hypothesis that research collaboration has enabled a global research network to evolve, with self-organizing properties transcending national research policy. We examine research output, bilateral and multilateral collaboration, subject diversity, and citation impact over 40 years, in detail for the G7 and BRICK groups of countries and in summary for 26 other nations. We find that the rise in national output was strongly associated with bilateral collaboration until the 2000s but after that by multilateral partnerships, with the shift happening at much the same time across countries. There was a general increase in research subject diversity, with evenness across subjects converging on a similar index value for many countries. Similar diversity is not the same as actual similarity but, in fact, the G7 countries became increasingly similar. National average citation impact (CNCI) rose and groups converged on similar impact values. The impact of the largest economies is above world average, which is a phenomenon we discuss separately. The similarities in patterns and timing occur across countries despite variance in their research policies, such as research assessment. We suggest that the key agent facilitating global network self-organization is a shared concept of best practice in research.

Showpiece City: How Architecture Made Dubai

Showpiece City: How Architecture Made Dubai

Soviet Medicine in the Cold War: the Experience of International Cooperation and Geopolitical Influence (Second Half of the 1940s — 1970s)

The article is devoted to the transformation of Soviet medical science and practice under the conditions of the development of international relations after World War II. The main attention was placed on the study of scientific and social medical projects, which were implemented by the USSR during the Cold War under the influence of foreign policy trends and priorities. The analysis of foreign, Soviet and Russian historiography shows that researchers have made serious progress in the study of medicine in the sphere of international relations. At the same time, the Soviet medical global project has not been sufficiently examined, which is due both to the source base and to the lack of a sociopolitical context in these works. The main documents for this article are recently declassified materials held in the fonds of the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History, the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, and the Russian State Archive of Economics. The authors analyze the development of Soviet medical projects during the period of “late” Stalinism, in the 1950s and 1960s, and in the 1970s. The authors conclude that the Soviet global medical project constantly sought to expand. Thus, the first postwar years provided the foundations for the sustainability of the Soviet project within the socialist bloc, in the 1960s it would begin to spread to the Third World, and in the 1970s it would compete in the leading countries of the world. An important component of the Soviet medical project was the fight against epidemic and infectious diseases in post-colonial countries, the prevention of socially significant diseases and non-communicable diseases, as well as intensive scientific-medical and medical-technical exchanges through bilateral and multilateral partnerships. The Soviet medical project made possible not only competition between the two superpowers, but also cooperation in such important areas as the fight against smallpox or cooperation in shaping the international public dialogue on denuclearization. In general, the authors believe that an analysis of Soviet medicine during the Cold War allows us to show its role in the Soviet geopolitical construct, thus evaluating its ideological and applied components.

7.A. Round table: Multilateral Partnerships to achieve the SDG5: Gender Equality, and to combat COVID-19

Gender Equality is vital for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world for all individuals. Care- and help-seeking behaviour is strongly associated with health status, but, also gender, with women's health strongly correlating to that of the whole family and directly linked to the wellbeing of all members in our communities, and the resilience and sustainability of health systems. Health and social care delivery has been lacking a gender-centred approach, with a two-prong effect, on professionals/workforce (hierarchies and leadership imbalance) and on users/recipients/care seekers (lack of gender-sensitive care provision). The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health threat and societal challenge that has already exacerbated pre-existing structural gender inequalities. It is, therefore, imperative to rebuild a better, gender-equal society for the future. This crisis has highlighted the roles of women in the health workforce, incl. as informal carers for vulnerable adults and children. The increase in gender-based violence has also come to the spotlight, due to lockdown measures, implemented to combat COVID-19, resulting in serious physical and mental harm, as well as socioeconomic damages. Furthermore, sexual and reproductive health rights have been particularly affected due to pre-existing barriers across Member-States placing additional strain on individuals and systems. All these compounding factors also result in further limiting access to leadership positions for women. This roundtable aims to capture the perspective of our interdisciplinary panelists from leading European and global institutions to comprehensively map the needs, priorities, and key action areas of public health, in order to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls across the globe.Objectives Assess the roles of women in the health workforce, to highlight gender inequalities, and to discuss regional differences across the European Region;Present and discuss the new Gender Equality Index 2021 (to be released end of Oct 2021), which will focus on health in relation to gender equality, covering mental health, sexual and reproductive health and pandemics of communicable diseases, and in particular of COVID-19;Combine the perspective of academia, multilateral bodies, practitioners and NGOs, for concerted action to combat the increase in sexual and domestic violence, and toBridge disparities and overcome barriers to gender-sensitive health and social care services for all women, incl., migrant and refugee populations. The roundtable brings together for the first time EUPHA, WHO, UN Women, and of the European Institute for Gender Equality, in a joint effort for European and global public health, to support our workforce and safeguard the future. Mindful of the role women in health and social care, we also include panelists from the International Confederation of Midwives and from NGOs working in the field of combating violence against women.Speakers/Panelists Carlien Scheele European Institute for Gender Equality, Vilnius, Lithuania Alia El Yassir UN Women, Istanbul, Turkey Victoria Vivilaki International Confederation of Midwives, Den Haag, Netherlands Iveta Nagyova PJ Safarik University, Department of Social and Behavioural Medicine, Kosice, Slovakia Pille Tsopp-Pagan Women against Violence Europe Network, Vienna, Austria Key messages We need to join forces to fight sexual and domestic violence, as major public health threats globally, considering their worsening during the COVID-19 pandemic.Women account for the majority of caregivers and healthcare workers, especially nurses, explore the untapped potential of midwives, and step up efforts to strengthen protection and support.

Global Health Engagement: Leveraging New Technology and Multilateral Partnerships During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACTUnited States government global health engagements range from delivering aid, to medical skill certification, and building multilateral partnerships with key leaders. This article discusses three critical questions to consider when planning engagements during pandemics. By expanding virtual programming, and including SARS-CoV-2 mitigation measures with in-person events, we can enhance support to partner nations through medical engagements.

Regionalism and bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation: the case of India and Thailand

ABSTRACT After major terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, Bali, Indonesia in 2002, and Mumbai, India in 2008, India and Thailand responded in disparate ways. Thailand was slow to respond out of fear of alienating the large Muslim population in its restive south. India, after Mumbai, moved to create and strengthen domestic institutions that would hasten counter-terrorism measures, with limited success. In the years that followed these seminal events, both Bangkok and New Delhi have, like other South Asian and ASEAN states, moved toward bilateral and multilateral counter-terrorism partnerships. This paper surveys the history of terrorism in both countries and their domestic responses, persistent domestic and regional challenges, and documents a growing India-Thailand bilateral counter-terrorism partnership – particularly in the sectors of maritime security, intelligence sharing, extradition, and joint security cooperation. This paper contributes to a growing body of literature on emerging South-South partnerships by evaluating India-Thailand counter-terrorism cooperation and explores avenues for future bilateral exchanges and multilateral opportunities within institutional bodies, such as ASEAN and BIMSTEC.

When more is better: a contingent view of alliance partner multiplicity and a focal firm’s product innovation performance in China

ABSTRACT Whereas strategic alliances have been widely used to foster product innovation, the extant literature offers inconsistent arguments and inconclusive empirical evidence regarding how the number of partners (i.e., partner multiplicity) in an alliance affects a focal firm’s product innovation performance. The resource-based view (RBV) posits that having more partners in an alliance should benefit a focal firm’s product innovation because of more diverse and a large shared knowledge pool among partners, whereas transaction cost economies (TCE) holds that alliance partner multiplicity may hurt a focal firm’s product innovation due to highex-ante and ex-post costs, and increased governance difficulty and coordination complexity. Building on the RBV and TCE, this study examines the contingent roles of partner-, alliance-, and industry-level factors (i.e., alliance foreignness, alliance duration, and industrial competition). Drawn from multi-informant survey data, the findings reveal that alliance partner multiplicity does not significantly affect a focal firm’s product innovation performance in an emerging market. However, such an effect becomes positive in alliances that involve only domestic partners, operate for relatively short durations, or operate in highly competitive industries. These findings yield new insights with which to disentangle inconsistent arguments in the existing literature and offer important implications for firms seeking innovation benefits from multilateral partnerships.

ОЦЕНКА ВЛИЯНИЯ ПАНДЕМИИ COVID-19 НА ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЙ РОСТ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ЦЕЛЕЙ УСТОЙЧИВОГО РАЗВИТИЯ

The article shows that the epidemiological situation has significantly slowed down economic growth not only in Russia, but also in all countries of the world, which causes new challenges and threats in achieving the sustainable development Goals. This increases the importance of government support aimed at the recovery of employment and income, growth and long-term structural changes in the economy, with software-targeted and implemented under the state programs and projects at both the Federal and regional levels. In our country, unprecedented and decisive actions are being taken within the framework of state support to restore effective employment and effective demand, improve the business climate and economic growth in the context of the sustainable development goals. At the same time, in the context of global integration, when the economies of all countries of the world are becoming increasingly dependent on each other, strengthening international cooperation and developing multilateral partnerships between countries should be considered as one of the important factors for mitigating the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and sustainable development of the national economy in the long term.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ РАЗВИТИЯ КЛАСТЕРОВ В УСЛОВИЯХ МНОГОСТОРОННЕГО ПАРТНЕРСТВА

The article highlights the issues of cluster development in the context of multilateral partnership. In this aspect, the features of cluster development abroad and in Russia are studied. It is established that the cluster approach is able to solve many problems for the comprehensive development of the economy. For the Russian Federation, the analysis of the features of cluster development in the context of multilateral partnerships abroad is currently of great importance, since it will allow us to apply the best practices in the modernization of the Russian cluster policy.