Adoption Of Norms Research Articles

Criminal offenses against the environment: proportionality in the context of the approximation of acts of the European Union

The article examines the peculiarities of proportionality and subsidiarity in the context of the approximation of the acts of the acquis communautaire of the European Union (EU) in terms of criminal offenses against the environment. It has been established that Directive (EU) 2024/1203 of the European Parliament and the Council on the protection of the environment by means of criminal law of April 11, 2024 changed the approaches to responsibility for criminal offenses against the environment. It was found that the main innovation is the need to criminalize some actions against the environment, which are committed not only intentionally, but also due to carelessness. In Art. 3 of the Directive provides a list of acts that can be committed in the form of gross negligence. It was established that Directive (EU) 2024/1203 supports a broad approach to the concept of the victim not only as a natural or legal person, but also society as a whole and the environment. It is argued that the means of responding to criminal offenses should be proportionate, taking into account the interests of all subjects of criminal legal relations, that is, the victim, the person who committed the criminal offense, society as a whole, the state, as well as the environment (taking into account the specifics of these criminal offenses). It is substantiated that the development of a mechanism for the representation of the environment by interested public organizations in criminal proceedings could be an effective means of environmental protection. Defects of proposals to supplement the Criminal Code with articles on responsibility for storing wood, disproportionality of the means of influence on persons who commit relevant acts, risks of abuse by law enforcement agencies, corruption component, and the possibility of prosecuting people who are engaged in harvesting wood for heating their own houses, and not wood sales operators (as provided for in the relevant EU Regulation). It is substantiated that for the approximation of European legislation, a systematic understanding of European law and the context of the adoption of relevant norms and compliance with the principles of legal certainty, predictability, proportionality, presumption of innocence, subsidiarity, etc. is important.

From Multicultural Experiment to Performing “China's Story”: Complying With Shifting Norms at a Chinese–Hungarian Bilingual School

ABSTRACTAdopting a broad understanding of compliance as adherence to norms, this study examines the role of the Chinese–Hungarian Bilingual School in Budapest in the propagation of institutional, educational, and civic norms, through an anthropological inquiry into the discourses and practices embraced and enacted by teachers, parents, and students. Set up by bilateral agreement between China and another state, the school we discuss is a unique K‐12 educational institution that exemplifies both the potential and the complexity of harnessing education for the globalization of Chinese institutional, educational, and civic norms. Against the background of Hungary's “Opening to the East” and China's “going global,” we situate our study at the intersection of foreign propaganda, institutional globalization, and education. The node of contact created by the encounter between the Chinese and Hungarian education systems, each struggling with their own paradoxes and mediated by China's overlapping frameworks of foreign propaganda and overseas Chinese policies, stands at the center of our inquiry. By analyzing the daily interactions among students, parents, and educators, the article focuses on the borrowing, appropriation, rejection, and coexistence of dual sets of norms. In contrast to Confucius Institutes, where interaction is typically between Chinese instructors and non‐Chinese students, the school, with its diverse community of Chinese and Hungarian educators, parents, and students, fosters a complex environment where Chinese teachers and students actively participate in norm propagation while also being influenced by it. Similarly, Hungarian teachers and students emerge as active contributors beyond their role as recipients, showing the context‐dependent and oftentimes unexpected nature of the adoption or rejection of norms.

Using Artificial Intelligence in Employment: Problems and Prospects of Legal Regulation

Objective: to identify the legal problems of using artificial intelligence in hiring employees and the main directions of solving them.Methods: formal-legal analysis, comparative-legal analysis, legal forecasting, legal modeling, synthesis, induction, deduction.Results: a number of legal problems arising from the use of artificial intelligence in hiring were identified, among which are: protection of the applicant’s personal data, obtained with the use of artificial intelligence; discrimination and unjustified refusal to hire due to the bias of artificial intelligence algorithms; legal responsibility for the decision made by a generative algorithm during hiring. The author believes that for the optimal solution of these problems, it is necessary to look at the best practices of foreign countries, first of all, those which have adopted special laws on the regulation of artificial intelligence for hiring and developed guidelines for employers using generative algorithms for similar purposes. Also, the European Union’s and USA’s legislative work in the area of managing risks arising from the use of artificial intelligence should be taken into account.Scientific novelty: the article contains a comprehensive study of legal problems arising from the use of artificial intelligence in hiring and foreign experience in solving these problems, which allowed the author to develop recommendations to improve Russian legislation in this area. As for the problem of applicants’ personal data protection when using artificial intelligence for hiring, the author proposes to solve it by supplementing the labor legislation with norms that enshrine the requirements for transparency and consistency in the collection, processing and storage of information when using generative algorithms. The list and scope of personal data allowed for collection should be reflected in a special state standard. The solution to the problem of discrimination due to biased algorithms is seen in the mandatory certification and annual monitoring of artificial intelligence software for hiring, as well as the prohibition of scoring tools for evaluating applicants. The author adheres to the position that artificial intelligence cannot “decide the fate” of a job seeker: the responsibility for the decisions made by the algorithm is solely on the employer, including in cases of involving third parties for the selection of employees.Practical significance: the obtained results can be used to accelerate the development and adoption of legal norms, rules, tools and standards in the field of using artificial intelligence for hiring. The lack of adequate legal regulation in this area creates significant risks both for human rights and for the development of industries that use generative algorithms to hire employees.

“Asian” Principles for the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments? Singapore as a Case Study

Abstract This paper considers if there can be said to be an “Asian” body of principles for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Tapping on the results of a research project which was conducted from 2016 to 2020, it is submitted that the answer to this query is in the negative. However, it is suggested that what marks out the “Asian” approach to private international law is the willingness of Asian countries to look outwards for reform and development and to balance the adoption of international norms against important local norms and objectives. Singapore’s approach to the recognition and enforcement is discussed as a case study of this Asian approach.

TECHNOLOGY AND LEGAL CHALLENGES OF CONTEMPORARY ARMED CONFLICT

The purpose of the article is to research the relationship between IHL, IHRL and national law norms, and to give recommendations about the prevention of using technologies in contemporary armed conflicts. Research methods: in the article, the research was carried out using the comparative-legal method in order to present the relationship between international and national legal norms. Also, we will use the normative method to emphasize the need of introduction of new norms to regulate the problem. Results: after the World War II, adoption of the new international norms significantly decreased the war statistics, however, in recent years, development of technologies, which was further accelerated by the pandemic, changed the mentioned statistics, to the extent that new technologies are actively used in war. Unfortunately, preventive and/or prohibitive international norms do not exist, therefore, we do not have the practice of regulating them. Paucity of regulative norms and the absence of proper literature in this field underscores the relevance of this topic. The use of new technologies can lead to violations of the principles of international law and human rights, which requires the creation of preventive mechanisms within the framework of international law. Discussion: the relevance of the topic is also determined by the war situation in the world, which reminds us that against the backdrop of challenges in international law, there is a gap in terms of illegal integration of technologies in contemporary armed conflicts, which, as a result, leads to a breach of human rights and violation of the norms of both the Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Legality of regulatory and legal acts: concepts, signs, requirements

The main aspects of the manifestation of the principle of legality as an important factor in the functioning of the system of normative legal acts, which is the result of rule-making activity, have been studied. The category of rule-making is considered in broad and narrow meanings. Broadly speaking, it is the activity of subjects that ensures the development and adoption of social norms that ensure social regulation and social order. In a narrow sense, rulemaking is understood as a process that can be generalized as law-making and law-making. It is in this sense that rule-making ensures the establishment of the need for legal regulation, the definition of the subject, the type of legal act, and the adoption of a decision on its development; preparation of the concept and project of the document; its preliminary consideration and discussion; official consideration of the project and its acceptance. A normative-legal act is defined as a document adopted by an authorized subject within the framework of the rule-making process and normatively established powers, which establish, change or terminate the effect of a rule of law, endowed with legal force, is an element of the legal system, has a formal expression and is based on a set of principles, being a means of giving the society features of system. It is noted that legality as a principle of normative legal acts has a complex meaning, special aspects of manifestation and requirements. It is this definition, in our opinion, that provides an idea of a normative legal act as a formal expression of law, the result of rulemaking, which is an element of a coherent system based on the system of requirements (principles) of law. This category is defined as the guiding principles (ideas) determined by the laws of social existence, which are established in normative legal acts in order to determine the content and main directions of legal regulation. defines the fundamental role of principles as guiding principles; emphasizes the consolidation of principles, which, on the one hand, characterizes these principles as the result of rule-making, and on the other — as a means of influencing it; determines the content and directions of legal regulation. The legality of normative legal acts is characterized as an important principle of law, which is the basis for the functioning of normative documents; as a requirement for the activity of law-making subjects, as a means of ensuring the hierarchical subordination of the system of legal documents; as a principle of behavior of legal subjects. The system of requirements aimed at ensuring the unity of the principle of legality is studied. Among them is the unity and universality of legality, the rule of law; interaction of legality and expediency, constitutional consolidation of human rights, freedoms and interests. Key words: rule-making, normative-legal act, rule of law, rule of law, law-making, law, bylaw, legal regulation.

The impact of globalisation on constitutional processes in Ukraine: Social consequences of the adaptation of legislation of Ukraine to European standards

The purpose of this study was to examine how globalisation has influenced the transformation of the legal system of Ukraine and to identify the social consequences resulting from the adaptation of national legislation to European standards. The study primarily focused on analysing how the integration of European norms has affected the development of legal consciousness and social interaction in Ukraine and the strengthening of democratic institutions and civil liberties. The study methodology employed includes comparative analysis to juxtapose the legislation of Ukraine with that of the European Union and a systemic approach to assess the complexity of legal integration. The findings indicate that the adaptation to European standards has contributed to enhanced transparency in public administration, improved legal protection for citizens, and a reduction in corruption levels. The study was emphasised that these processes have significantly influenced the development of civil society, increased legal awareness and citizen engagement, and strengthened national identity within the context of integration into global processes. Particular attention was given to issues concerning the social adaptation of the population to new legal realities associated with the adoption and implementation of European norms and standards. A crucial aspect of this study is the investigation of the impact of globalisation on the role of the state in legal regulation and the enhancement of interaction between state institutions and society. The study highlights key aspects of the transformation of constitutional processes under the influence of globalisation trends, particularly with regard to the integration of Ukraine into the European legal framework. It also addresses the social consequences of adapting national legislation to European standards, which have manifested in changes to legal culture, the strengthening of human rights protection mechanisms, and the advancement of democratic institutions

On the Economic Origins of Concerns over Women’s Chastity

Abstract This paper studies the origins and function of customs and norms that intend to keep women from being promiscuous. Using large-scale survey data from more than 100 countries, I test the anthropological theory that a particular form of preindustrial subsistence – pastoralism – favored the adoption of such customs and norms. Pastoralism was characterized by frequent and often extended periods of male absence from the settlement, implying difficulties in monitoring women’s behavior and larger incentives to imposing restrictions on women’s promiscuity. The paper shows that women from historically more pastoral societies (i) are subject to stronger anti-abortion attitudes; (ii) aremore likely to have undergone infibulation, the most invasive form of female genital cutting; (iii) are more restricted in their freedom of mobility; and (iv) adhere to more restrictive norms about women’s promiscuity. At the historical society level, pastoralism predicts patrilocality, the custom of living close to the husband’s family after marriage, allowing them to monitor the bride. Instrumental variable estimations that make use of the ecological determinants of pastoralism support a causal interpretation of the results. I also provide evidence that the mechanism behind these patterns is male absence, rather than male dominance, per se, or historical economic development.

Harmony in diplomacy, convergence in choices: Low fertility diffusion through Sino‐Korean normalization

AbstractDoes fertility preference spill over to other countries? This paper investigates the influence of South Korea's exceptionally low fertility rate on neighboring China, particularly the Korean Chinese community. Through an analysis of historical events, including the diplomatic restoration between China and South Korea in 1992, it examines how this reconciliation affected fertility and marriage rates among Korean Chinese. The findings reveal a notable decline in both fertility and marriage rates post‐reconnection, suggesting a potential adoption of South Korea's fertility norms within the Korean Chinese community.

BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: FUNCTIONAL FEATURES AND CAPABILITIES

International relations today require additional functional capabilities to enhance transparency, security, and efficiency in various areas, from interactions between national political actors to intergovernmental cooperation. Due to its functional features, blockchain technology can improve and simplify international cooperation through decentralization and the absence of a central controlling body; transparency, which allows all network participants to have equal access to identical information; immutability and data security, as information cannot be changed or deleted without the consent of all network participants; and automation through smart contracts that automatically execute upon the agreed conditions. Improving blockchain understanding is possible through various international programs involving stakeholders, with international relations being one of the important areas. Coordination and alignment of political components between countries to create common standards will promote the global implementation of certain standards and norms for blockchain and international cooperation. This will create a clear environment for implementing information and communication technologies aimed at developing the potential of politicians, civil servants, international players, government institutions, the private sector, and other stakeholders. However, the adoption of blockchain in many countries will require a review of the legal framework, the adoption of new norms, and the possible repeal of certain laws. The role of international organizations in the blockchain industry will grow, as most governments still lack clear policies on the technology, while the private sector is already actively promoting it. Ultimately, the widespread use of blockchain as a digital technology tool in modern international relations can lead to fundamental changes in various fields, from trade and finance to intellectual property protection and political stability. The article discusses the problems of using blockchain technology in international relations with the disclosure of its functional features and further opportunities for improving cooperation at the interstate level.

INTERPRETATION OF THE PHENOMENON OF SOCIAL CONTROL IN POSTMODERNISM AND METAMODERNISM

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the interpretation of the phenomenon of social control in postmodernism and metamodernism. The similarities and differences in the description of social control mechanisms are identified. The concepts of “society of the spectacle” (G.Debord), “society of surveillance” (M.Foucault) and “society of control” (J. Deleuze) are analyzed, which show the evolution of postmodernists’ views on social processes.. The concept of the “listening society” (G.Freinacht) as a metamodern alternative to the development of modern society is presented. Postmodernism focuses on criticizing society, drawing attention to its increasing fragmentation, the crisis of metanarratives, and the growing role of the media as a tool for social control. In contrast, metamodernism tries to balance modern and postmodern theories, recognizing the importance of centralized and decentralized forms of social control. This allows simultaneously taking into account the diversity of identities of a modern person and the possibility of his or her integration into society through the adoption of common norms and rules. Metamodernism seeks to reconstruct metanarratives that can contribute to new forms of social control based on cooperation and common interests. It emphasizes the importance of empathy in social control, whereas postmodernism rejects it as a false, simulated form of social relations. While postmodernism focuses more on critical analysis of existing structures, metamodernism aims to find hybrid and adaptive forms of control that combine traditional methods with the latest technologies. All these differences in the interpretation of the phenomenon of social control reflect the paradigm shift from postmodern deconstruction to synthesis and reconstruction within metamodernism.

Digital Technologies as a Means of Exercising Electoral Rights of Сitizens of the Russian Federation

The paper provides an overview of digital resources used during election campaigns, highlighting their positive and negative sides supported by cases from practice. Electronic democracy is considered as a logical consequence of introduction of information technologies to the life of society. The paper analyzes remote electronic voting as a subsidiary way of implementing active suffrage in the Russian Federation; The author considers a "Mobile Voter" as an alternative to absentee ballots that meets the requirements of the time; digital services provided through the federal state information system "Unified Portal of State and Municipal Services", as well as the possibilities of artificial intelligence in the framework of elections. It is pointed to the promotion of digital resources for the implementation of not only active but passive suffrage, which is expressed in the possibility of collecting signatures by candidates online. We witness an increase in the importance of AI technologies during election campaigns, as well as the need for legislative regulation of the limits of their use due to the risks of spreading fake information that can influence the opinion of voters about running candidates and, as a result, the election results. Since artificial intelligence technologies are new, there are gaps in the legal regulation of the issue under consideration in the Russian Federation. Thus, the paper indicates the impossibility of solving the identified problem by the point adoption of certain norms and, using the example of foreign experience, emphasizes the need for a systematic approach to the development of an appropriate regulatory legal act and highlights the possibility of forming a new branch of law (a digital branch) due to the announcement of the adoption of the digital code.

Ecocide, Sustainable Development and Critical Environmental Law Insights

Abstract Advocates of the criminalization of ecocide face a dilemma: how to address activities that bring socio-economic benefits and cause severe environmental damage. The solution has generally been seen in the integration of international environmental law (IEL) norms, such as balancing sustainability with development, into the definition of ecocide. This article challenges the uncritical adoption of IEL norms in ecocide debates and explores the socio-ecological implications of relying on those norms in future trials at the International Criminal Court. While this article does not offer a new definition of ecocide, by borrowing insights from critical environmental law and studies of law in the Anthropocene it proposes a new approach for engaging with the question of ecocide, namely, by embracing reflexivity and normativity in legal practice.

MEANS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW TO ELIMINATE CORRUPTION THREATS TO NATIONAL SECURITY

The subject of the article is the means of international law to eliminate corruption threats to national security. The research methodology involved the use of logical, historical and legal, systemic, natural law, formal and dogmatic, hermeneutical, economic and legal (analysis, comparison), axiological, statistical and economic methods. The purpose of the article is to reveal the means of international law to eliminate corruption threats to national security. Carrying out the study made it possible to draw the following conclusions. It was found that most countries of the world have implemented international anti-corruption norms into their national legal frameworks and have the support of international organisations specialising in the fight against corruption. The resources of foreign legal doctrine become an important source of support for domestic scientists to convince of the correctness of their scientific conclusions regarding successful anti-corruption measures. An extensive system of international anti-corruption assistance allows to minimise the costs of own relevant infrastructure. On this basis and against the background of access to powerful anti-corruption resources at the European and world level, there is essentially sabotage of anti-corruption policy in Ukraine, which has critically affected the security of the Ukrainian nation. It was emphasised that military threats from the outside are an exceptional danger for corrupt countries. At the same time, even the stabilising effect of microcorruption becomes dangerous for them in today's unstable development environment. All the positive effects of corruption in the form of improved communication through small gifts that comply with legal customs disappear when top corruption spreads in a country. Then this level of corruption multiplies a series of official crimes, treason and other crimes that destroy the foundations of national security. Already after the point of no return – the beginning of military aggression from outside against the background of prolonged high-level corruption inside the country – external support for anti-corruption reforms becomes a condition for the survival of the nation, the reduction of human losses in the war, and so forth. The need to neutralise these two challenges to national security becomes urgent after years of procrastination on accountability and other dimensions of integrity in public positions. In these cases, the national legal standard falls under the critical conditions of ultra-fast transformation, according to the successful anti-corruption models of countries that saved their nation from war and high-level corruption. It is noted that the standards set for Ukraine are quite close. These are EU standards, which are achieved through the adoption and implementation of those legal norms that reflect the current state of ensuring human opportunities. It is stressed that the specification of anti-corruption norms and the structural units of their implementation in legal reality are nativemorphic. They always differ in the degree of unification within the contexts common to nations, namely, legal traditions, mentality, historical conditions, economy, etc. Transnational anti-corruption assistance in the mutual enrichment of some nations through the possibility of using the experience of other nations. The author concludes that knowledge about the practices of building virtuous relations is the capital of the nation that possesses it. Conscious disregard of this knowledge by the recipient should be remedied by charging a fee for it. It is proposed to establish an International Organisation for Integrity Development, which would include the top 20 countries in terms of corruption and rule of law perception indices.

Long ties accelerate noisy threshold-based contagions.

In widely used models of biological contagion, interventions that randomly rewire edges (generally making them 'longer') accelerate spread. However, recent work has argued that highly clustered, rather than random, networks facilitate the spread of threshold-based contagions, such as those motivated by myopic best response for adoption of new innovations, norms and products in games of strategic complement. Here we show that minor modifications to this model reverse this result, thereby harmonizing qualitative facts about how network structure affects contagion. We analyse the rate of spread over circular lattices with rewired edges and show that having a small probability of adoption below the threshold probability is enough to ensure that random rewiring accelerates the spread of a noisy threshold-based contagion. This conclusion is verified in simulations of empirical networks and remains valid with partial but frequent enough rewiring and when adoption decisions are reversible but infrequently so, as well as in high-dimensional lattice structures.

Formation of a System of Judicial and Extrajudicial Administrative Disputes in Russia

The article is the result of a study of the development of the administrative dispute system in Russia, in particular, the allocation of judicial and extrajudicial administrative disputes. The constitutional provisions on the separation of branches of government create conditions for the independent existence of judicial and extrajudicial administrative disputes on the one hand and the emergence of links between these two types of disputes on the other. According to the authors, the system of resolving judicial and extrajudicial administrative disputes is anchored by the general principles of resolving such disputes. Goals and objectives of the study. The purpose of the work is to resolve the issue of the possibility of combining a judicial and an out-of-court dispute, namely, the consistent application of an out-of-court (pre-trial), and then a judicial form of legal protection. Methods. The study used systematic, logical, formal and legal methods. Results, brief conclusions. According to the results of the study, it was concluded that the systemic resolution of the issues raised is possible only with the adoption of two comprehensive legislative acts: on the resolution of judicial administrative disputes and on the resolution of extrajudicial administrative disputes. However, before the adoption of new legal norms, the coordinated application of universal and special administrative procedural principles will allow courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts to resolve individual disputes about the ratio of judicial and extrajudicial administrative disputes.

The effect of heterogeneous distributions of social norms on the spread of infectious diseases

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, suddenly erupted in China at the beginning of 2020 and soon spread worldwide. This has resulted in an outstanding increase on research about the virus itself and, more in general, epidemics in many scientific fields. In this work we focus on the dynamics of the epidemic spreading and how it can be affected by the individual variability in compliance with social norms, i.e. in the adoption of preventive social norms by population’s members, which influences the infectivity rate throughout the population and through time. By means of theoretical considerations, we show how such heterogeneities of the infection rate make the population more resistant against the epidemic spreading. Finally, we depict possible empirical tests aimed to confirm our results.

Morality, democracy, globalization, and law

The article reveals the interrelationship of such modern megatrends as globalization and democracy, which are declared a blessing in creating special opportunities for each country, social community, and individual. Globalization was initially understood as an exclusively economic phenomenon, today it covers almost all spheres of human activity, today it can be considered as multiple processes and trends in the formation of a single planetary space, which involves the integration of states and their populations in all spheres of social life (economy, public administration, politics, culture, law, morality). It is shown that globalization as "Westernization" in its modern version contributes to the spread of democratic values and institutions, prompts changes in the value-normative systems of societies and worldviews, and significantly impacts the norms of social morality and law. The features of modern globalization processes are determined by the rapid development and availability of IT technologies for the population, the mobility of modern people, and the formation of new values in postmodern society, which are associated with societal changes.
 The article proves that globalization and all the processes accompanying it can take place only in those societies that strive for it themselves. The artificial planting of democratic values, and moral and legal standards is possible under constant external support, their actual perception and implementation in life takes place with the support of the population and the authorities of each state. The bipolarity of the modern world is represented by states that accept globalization-democratic values and states that defend their own identity and traditionality. Therefore, it is important to take into account the peculiarities of modern worldview orientations of each actor (state, society) and the voluntariness of participants in globalization processes regarding the creation of supra-state structures, as well as the voluntary adoption of norms and standards in the regulation of social life.

Smoking Social Norms Among Spanish-Speaking Mexican-Origin Persons Who Smoke

In the United States, smoking rates increase with greater acculturation among Mexican-origin women, but not among men. Conversely, greater acculturation is associated with higher likelihood of quitting among Mexican-origin men who smoke, but not among women who smoke. Long-standing speculation is that adoption of smoking social norms in the U.S. that are less restrictive for women and more restrictive for men compared to smoking social norms in Mexico may account for these patterns. However, it is unknown whether persons who smoke actually perceive such differential norms. The current study characterized smoking social norms in the U.S. and Mexico among Spanish-speaking Mexican-origin persons who smoke. Two hundred and ninety Mexican-origin persons who smoke were surveyed on descriptive and injunctive norms for men and women in the U.S. and Mexico. Estimated means for smoking social norms in the U.S. and Mexico were compared separately among men and women. Among men, mean descriptive and injunctive norms in Mexico were significantly higher than those for the U.S. Among women, neither mean descriptive nor injunctive norms were significantly different between the U.S. and Mexico. Mexican-origin women who smoke perceive smoking among women as equally common and similarly unacceptable in the U.S. and Mexico. Findings do not support speculation that differential social norms may explain the acculturation-smoking relationship among Mexican-origin women. Mexican-origin men who smoke perceive smoking among men both less common and less acceptable in the U.S. compared to Mexico. Social norms should be investigated as a mechanism of the acculturation-cessation relationship among Mexican-origin men. Understanding direct and indirect influences of social norms on cessation among Mexican-origin men stands to inform tailoring of interventions.

Effectiveness of Consolidation of Bank of Baroda: An Empirical Study

Consolidation through Merger & Acquisition is not a new phenomenon in the Indian banking space. After the adoption of the Basel-III norms by the RBI in 2013, the process of consolidation became more relevant and imperative in the Indian banking sector. Under such situations, study on effectiveness of the ongoing consolidation drive has become necessary. With this end in view, the paper attempt to highlight the effectiveness of Merger & Acquisition on the profitability of Bank of Baroda. The study is based on the secondary data collected from various sources for the period 2015-16 to 2022-23. ROE of Bank of Baroda is measured by using extended Dupont analysis. Furthermore, paired t test have been applied to determine whether there exists any significant difference among the drivers of ROE during the pre and post-merger period of Bank of Baroda. The Extended Dupont analysis revealed that though there was an increase in ROE during the post-merger period; Asset Turnover and Tax Burden were found to be lower than that of pre-merger period. Paired t-test pointed out that there was no significant difference in ROE during the pre-and post-merger periods. Additionally, among the five drivers of ROE, only operating margin was found to have a significant difference during the pre-and post-merger periods. The present study will help to provide an insight into the profitability of the merger of India’s third largest public sector banks in India.