Sphere Of Protection Research Articles

Theoretical Analysis of the Social Protection and Related Concepts

Social protection is a concept widely used in many disciplines and from different perspectives. Those are some of the main reasons why it still has no concrete and overall definition. The same situation exists related to the other concepts closely connected to social protection. Those are usually used for describing the social protection system in one or another country. But still, the concepts like social welfare, social policy, and social insurance are, also need to be defined and described in the terms of the main links with “social protection” concept. The article is aimed to analyzing the concepts that are widely used in social protection sphere, but which in many cases are applied in different situations and with different meanings. It is also directed towards describing the main links between the social protection and closely related to it concepts, like social policy, social welfare, social insurance and social services are. The article is based on theoretical overview of main approaches and theories created for those concepts’ definition.

Human Rights and International Standards: Correlation between National and International Legislation

The article examines the problem of protection of human rights in national and international law, which is the most important feature of civil society. Taking into account the importance of the area under study, as well as the importance of a clear settlement of relations regarding the observance of human rights in all spheres of life, the question of the relationship between the norms of national and international legislation in this area is acute. The purpose of the study is to determine the priorities between national and international legislation, as well as to establish the compliance of domestic norms designed to protect human rights with international legal standards. It has been established that the Constitution consolidates the priority of international instruments over national legislation that clearly defines the relationship and interaction of internationally recognized standards and principles with the relevant provisions of the current legislation of Ukraine in the sphere of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. This ensures that the participating countries comply with both their home-constitutions and international legal acts. Moreover, the level of global security depends on the level of correlation between the policies of individual states and the provisions of international legal norms. But the standards and principles of international law and international agreements of Ukraine may not be above the constitutional and are a part of the national system of law, which is based on the Constitution of Ukraine. In addition, international standards should not be perceived as immutable, since it may lead to a partial loss of the national identity of the legal system. Therefore, the perception of these international standards should take into account the traditions and specifics of the national legal system. The Constitution of Ukraine shall be a guarantor of preserving national identity in the process of implementation or reception of international standards. It is determined that international legal standards are the determining factor that determines the level of correlation of national legislation with the relevant international legal norms. International legal standards have been defined as the determining factor that reveals the correlation level of national legislation with relevant international legal norms.

ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES DISCIPLINE FOR MASTERS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION LEGAL FRAMEWORK ANALYSIS

Responding to the modern challenges in the educational domain and an increase interest of the appropriate level of English among the public servants of SESU, the Language Training Department of the Institute of Public Administration in the Sphere of Civil Protection initiated the research work aimed to improve the training content and methodology of teaching English for Specific Purposes for level in the field of expertize 281 ‘Public Administration’ in April 2019.
 A significant contribution to the development of the theory, methodology and the certain methodological issue developing were made by a number of scientist such as O. Bykonia, V. Chernysh, Z. Korneeva, G. Dyvnych, R. Makarova, Ya. Mandryk, M. Dyachenko, T. Dudley-Evans, T. Hutchinson, A. Waters, P. Strevens and others.
 At the same time, some thorough research of the legal framework in order to reveal the potential premises to improve methodology of teaching English for Specific Purposes for level in the field of expertize 281 ‘Public Administration’ has not been done under the condition of modern reforms in the education domain.
 The legal framework in order to reveal the potential premises to improve methodology of teaching English for Specific Purposes for the second (Master) level in field of expertize 281 ‘Public Administration’ is under consideration.
 The article outlines the main peculiarities of the current legal framework related to the teaching English for Specific Purpose which is used as the premise for further analysis of the current curriculums used in the Language Training Department of the Institute of Public Administration in the Sphere of Civil Protection. The list of legal framework includes the Law on Education, The Law on Higher Education, The law on State Service, National ESP Curriculum of English.
 Clarifying the terminology used in the current regulatory environment in the sphere of professional activities of future public leaders and managers (individual learning curve, competence, learning outcomes, language proficiency, universal design in the sphere of education, curricula) has given the authors an opportunity to reveal the methodological value of the National ESP Curriculum of English and clarify the appropriate language level for Master’s degree students, evaluate the current curriculum used by the Language Training Department of the Institute of Public Administration in the Sphere of Civil Protection.
 Foreign language professional competence is a multi-component, hierarchically organized and multi-level phenomenon based on professional skills, knowledge and awareness.
 English for Specific Purposes as a discipline can be considered as the tool for developing special professional skills that create the premises to deal efficiently with challenges concerning public management, political-legislation, social-economic issues.
 The further analysis of the universal design in the educational sphere also let the authors clarify the teaching materials peculiarities; correlate the international current testing system with NATO STANAG 6001 used within SESU and explain the necessity to implement В1 (CEF) /СМР1+(NATO STANAG 6001) for Master’s degree students in in the field of expertize 281 ‘Public Administration’.
 The analysis of the current legal framework related to the second (Master) educational level in field of expertize 281 ‘Public Administration has revealed the fact that, on the one hand, the current curricula structural elements and content as the elements of educational design comply with the legislation norms, on the other hand, the issues of looking for improving the training content and efficient teaching techniques to obtain the desirable language level for Master’s degree students have to be under further consideration.

STATE CONTROL OF SECURITY EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND

Civil security is a newly formed field of education in Ukraine that was preceded by civil defense and civil protection fields. Nowadays, the sphere of population protection from emergencies in Ukraine is one of the most non-identified spheres in its categorical apparatus.
 The mentioned above and the necessity to examine civil protection’s condition in order to develop a new strategy in the shortest period of time, including training specialists in this field, initiated the necessity to find the best practices.
 The process of rapprochement with the European Union countries demands research on the state control experience of the neighboring countries. The last research has stopped on the Polish experience.
 Studying the Republic of Poland’s state control experience in training specialists for the security sector was not the subject of the previous research.
 The aim of the article is to represent the current condition of the state control of education in the security sector of the Republic of Poland through the professional qualifications occurrence and educational standards development.
 It is initial to be acquainted with the peculiarities of the system, regulatory enactments that control its work in order to analyze the state of training specialists for a certain system. In Poland such specificity is recognized by the two management in emergency situations state systems such as Population Protection and Crisis Management.
 All legislation and regulations mentioned in the article are the bases of the state regulatory policy in the sphere of training specialists for the security sector. Moreover, the state regulation occurs through the process of professional qualifications recognition. As for organization of specialists training for the security sector, it should be mentioned that the basic regulatory act is the higher education standard.
 It is worth noting that in Poland, at the University level, the specialization ‘Security Management’ at the Faculty of Management and Marketing, ‘Security Administration’ at the Faculty of Administration and ‘European Security’ at the Faculty of European Studies has occasionally appeared since 2003.
 And only in 2006 the Minister of Science and Higher Education introduced the new directions of education development and later, the new standards which allowed State Higher Educational Establishments to train specialists at the faculties of the first and second education levels in such specialties as National Security, Internal Security, Safety (Security) Engineering and Emergency Medical Service (Care).
 In addition, since 2011 the new Higher Education National Qualification Framework has been introduced with the demand to the academic results (knowledge, skills, social competence) for general academic specialization and for practical specialization in the fields of education, and in regard to security, in the field of humane sciences. The context of these educational standards is analyzed in the article.
 Taking everything into consideration, we can arrive at the conclusion that similar to Ukraine there is an open status issue on discrepancy between the requirements of the job market and the number of specialists trained for the security sector. The arrangement of the number of educational establishments that train specialists in the sphere of civil protection and the estimation of the job market needs in their services would be rewarding for Ukraine to gain from Poland’s experience.

Small mobile fortification system for quick installation

Unfortunately, today local armed conflicts practically do not fade in many points of our planet. Also Ukraine is among such points. The nature of the armed conflict happening in the similar “burning” points received the name of «hybrid» war. In such war there is no obvious front line, deeply echeloned defence and other attributes «classical» wars of the last years. Such war is characterized, in addition, separate armed collisions in the most various, sometimes absolutely unexpected, places. Problem of protection of the military personnel, which have necessary in accordance with the circumstances should be defended not the equipped dominating height with rocky or frozen soil, still remains unresolved. Today attention of the scientific different countries (the USA, Great Britain, Poland) working as in the sphere of individual protection of the military personnel, (bullet-proof vests, helmets and so forth), and in the sphere of small fortification and protection of military equipment, so-called «non-Newtonian» liquids attract. It occurs owing to their specific properties which it was today possible to use for increasing of bulletproof of a barrier. In this aspect authors solve a problem of development of the mobile parapet of fast expansion.

Information openness in the sphere of environment protection as a factor of sustainability of machine-building companies

The research is devoted to the issues of information openness of machine-building companies in the sphere of environment protection. The contemporary state of environmental legal awareness calls for the need to consciously opt for environmentally-effective enterprises, which refers equally to consumers, investors, partners, and governmental bodies. The research objective is to reveal the contemporary state of disclosing environment information in enterprises’ open sources. To achieve the set goal, 14 leading machine-building companies were selected and their annual reports were studied as public sources of the company information. The comparative analysis of empirical documents allowed identifying the best practices in the sphere of disclosing environmental information by the Russian machine-building sector.

Пам'яткоохоронні студії Іона Винокура на Хмельниччині

In the article, attention was paid to the disclosure of the least studied aspect of I. Vynokur’s activity, which is the elucidation of his work in the memorial protection sphere. His cooperation with the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments since the time of its foundation (1965) was noted. The scientist was an organizer of Kamianets-Podilskyi city centre, entered the board of the regional association and headed the section of archaeology, did the appreciable work in the popularization of architectural monuments and one of the first during the era of “militant atheism” who raised the questions of protection of Ukrainian national religious objects. In 1969 for the purpose of preparation of the list of archaeological sites of Khmelnytsky region and creation of the appropriate catalogue, he initiated the organization of the archaeological expedition, on the basis of which their certification was conducted and the card index was concluded. During his entire scientific career, I. Vynokur replenished museum collections and improved museum work which contributed to museification not only of individual artifacts but also of individual historical objects and complexes. In particular, he actively supported the necessity to create a State historical and architectural reserve in Kamianets-Podilskyi and State historical and cultural reserve “Busha”. Key words: I. Vynokur, archaeology, artifact, preservation of monuments.

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE PRINCIPLE OF STATE PROTECTION OF THE FAMILY

The family is undoubtedly regarded not only as an important focus of society, but also as a basis for the upbringing of the growing generation, an element of cultural, moral, informational and economic development of society. Globalism and the transformation of social relations have also led to changes in the family model. In such circumstances, the study, becomes very important. The researchers mainly investigate the problems of individual principles of civil and family law, as well as analyze state policy in the field of protection and protection of children’s rights. However, the principle of state protection of the family is not well understood.The study found that the principle of state protection of the family is enshrined both at the level of international acts and in national law. It is justified that the content of this principle is revealed due to the positive obligations of the state in the field of family protection. The article analyzes the foreign experience of defining the substantive elements of the principle of state protection of the family. The importance of the principle of state protection of the family in emergency situations, including the protection of the right to family of internally displaced persons, has been investigated.It is established that the principle of state protection of the family envisages a set of rulemaking, law enforcement, organizational, administrative, financial, ideological and educational measures on the part of the state to ensure favorable conditions for the creation and proper functioning of the family, as well as its protection. The legal mechanism of state protection of the family is a system of legal norms that establish guarantees for the realization of a person’s right to the family, as well as institutions that promote the proper functioning and protection of the family, motherhood (paternity) and childhood. It is justified that the content of the principle of state protection of the family is revealed due to the positive obligations of the state in the sphere of family protection, including: to assist in the formation of families and in raising their children; take appropriate measures to ensure equality of spouses and protection of children in the event of divorce; create human conditions for motherhood (paternity), ensure protection of their rights; take special maternity protection measures within a reasonable time before and after childbirth; adopt legislation to protect a person from arbitrary or unlawful interference with family life; to give priority to family upbringing of the child and others.

State Administration Reform Strategy in the Sphere of Civil Protection in the Context of European Integration of Ukraine

The issues of public administration reforming in the sphere of civil protection in the context of European integration of Ukraine and with account for the current state of natural environment and technogeneous situation in Ukraine have been researched in the article.The need for reforming the State Emergency Service system is also driven by changes occurring in the state in the view of decentralization of the power, reform of state security and defense system, transfer of separate powers related to organization and provision of firefighting capabilities and emergency response from the state bodies to the local self-government bodies, etc.The state of Strategy for Reforming the State Emergency Service of Ukraine implementation, which aims at reforming the State Emergency Service of Ukraine system by 2020 and enhancing its ability to ensure fulfilment, in cooperation with other units of security and defense sector, of national security threats countermeasures in the sphere of civil protection has been analysed. The results of analysis of legislative instruments of strategic nature have been presented, adoption of which was important for further development of the unified state system of civil protection. Conceptual contradictions have been discovered, resolution of which requires development of a new legislation or amendments to the current legislation, including the Code of Civil Protection of Ukraine.The issue of introduction of the technogeneous and fire safety management system, based on risk-based approach and European standards, has been highlighted; some areas of this work have been reviewed.The first attempt of scientific analysis and search for the ways of implementation of the recently adopted Action Program of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and Sustainable Development Goals of Ukraine by 2030, aimed in particular at the further improvement of civil protection issues, has been made.The relevance of issues of public administration reforming in the sphere of civil protection under existing conditions and the role and the place of authorities at different levels in the reform tasks implementation have been clarified.

FEATURES OF CONCLUDING A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND INVESTMENT ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL SECTOR FOR PRIVATE PARTNERS

The article discusses the problems of legal regulation of public-private partnerships in the field of environmental protection, the procedures for concluding an agreement on public-private partnerships in the framework of Federal Law dated 13.07.2015 No. 224-ФЗ On Public-Private Partnerships, Municipal-Private Partnerships in the Russian Federation and amending certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation”, as well as increasing the investment attractiveness of the environmental protection sphere for private partners. The relevance of this topic is due to the fact that at the moment both projects aimed at protecting the environment and projects in other sectors of the economy are implemented mainly within the framework of concession legislation, and the norms of specialized legislation remain unclaimed by the participants of these relations. According to the author, the reasons for this state of affairs are, inter alia, the problems considered in the article. The findings of the study can be used to build a model of legal regulation of public-private partnerships in the field of environmental protection, as well as to formulate scientifically based proposals for improving legislation. In addition, the investment attractiveness of the environmental sector for private partners is also an economic topic, therefore, it is of interest to study by economists, whose research and proposals in this area will be important for the legal community.

Child Protection and the echr

The European Court of Human Rights has generated a significant volume of case law that imposes demanding standards on States Parties to prevent, investigate and remedy ill-treatment of children at the hands of private actors. However, confusion and inconsistency is evident on a number of key points. Similar cases are decided on different grounds; and the approach to whether the right to an effective remedy under Article 13 has been violated is erratic. This creates uncertainty as to what is required of States to implement judgments, and makes it more difficult for similarly situated victims to vindicate their rights without bringing repetitive applications to Strasbourg. This article provides the first comprehensive treatment of Convention obligations to protect children from ill-treatment. It identifies problematic aspects of the case law, and proffers a more coherent body of principles that would provide greater clarity regarding what the echr requires of States Parties in the sphere of child protection, and regarding the measures of implementation required of States in cases where violations are found.

Методологічні основи підготовки нормативів плати за спеціальне використання ресурсів мисливських угідь державних підприємств лісового господарства

Ведення мисливського господарства є невід'ємною складовою частиною суспільного використання природних ресурсів. Це особлива галузь, що розвивалася одночасно із розвитком людини. Її вклад у сучасний стан людства важко переоцінити. Хоча самі тлумачення понять "мисливства", "полювання", "добування" давно змінили свою первозданну сутність та значення й у розвиненій цивілізованій системі еколого-економічних відносин переросли у поняття "ведення мисливського господарства". Це комплексний, складний, науковий підхід до охорони, відтворення та невиснажливого, раціонального користування ресурсами мисливських угідь і тварин. Ведення мисливського господарства мають провадити люди, що дійсно люблять природу і є спеціалістами своєї справи. При цьому особливу роль відводять державному регулюванню через відповідні важелі стимулювання раціонального ведення мисливського господарства. Одним з таких важелів має стати дієвий механізм справляння плати за спеціальне використання ресурсів мисливських угідь. У роботі досліджено підходи до визначення плати за спеціальне використання мисливських угідь та самого механізму справляння плати. Відзначено основні умови дієвості запропонованої методики та її недоліки. Запропоновано більш універсальну методику, яка є простішою для розрахунків та менш часозатратною.

The analysis of working conditions and occupational diseases in Belgorod region in the period of 2014-2016

The goal of the work was to study the working conditions, dynamics and structure of occupational morbidity in the Belgorod Region throughout 2014–2016. The analysis was carried out on the basis of the data from the Offi ce of the Federal Service on Supervision in the sphere of consumer rights protection and human well-being in the Belgorod region, data of the Belgorod Regional Center for Communicational Pathology. There was registered an annual increase in the number of people whose working conditions are the main cause of professional diseases having a signifi cant impact on their professional health and, accordingly, on the level of occupational morbidity. Professional morbidity for the past 3 years remained in the range of 1,74-1,47 cases per 10 000 workers in the Russian Federation and 0,86-1,5 in the Belgorod region. In the structure of occupational pathology diseases caused by physical factors prevail. The second place is taken by the diseases associated with exposure to physical overloads, and the third place is taken by the diseases from the eff ects of the chemical factor, industrial aerosols. The level of registered chronic occupational morbidity does not refl ect the real situation associated with the state of working conditions at the workplace. It is also necessary to note the unsatisfactory quality of periodic medical examinations and failures to reveal initial signs of occupational diseases. The majority of identifi ed occupational diseases have chronic forms in long-term employees (35-40 years old) and in the age group over 50 years. A complex approach to the goals to preserve the health of workers, taking into account the interdepartmental regulation of the system of measures, will ensure the preservation of labor potential, increase labor longevity, reduce the overall and occupational morbidity.

WAYS TO IMPROVE OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL POLICE TO ENSURE THE RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS OF MAN AND CITIZEN

Formulation of the problem. The issue of regulating the protection of human and citizen’s rights and freedoms by the National Police of Ukraine has come a long way in its formation and development. Issues of legislation in the sphere of protection of human and citizen’s rights and freedoms, which acted on the territory of Ukrainian lands within the territory of modern Ukraine, were adopted by different subjects, had different legal force, tasks, updated depending on the development of social relations. In modern legal science, the problem of ensuring the rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen by the National Police has several areas – it is the legislative support for such activities and the competencies of the National Police to ensure public order and public security. To date, a new regulatory act, the Law on National Police, has been adopted.Objective: To determine the optimal directions for improving the activities of the National Police to ensure the rights and freedoms of the individual and citizen as a component of public security. The article deals with the problem of organizational and legal improvement of the activities of the National Police in the field of ensuring human and civil rights and freedoms.The authors suggestions on methodological, scientific and organizational mechanisms of improvement processes are presented. The category of public security is presented as an integral part of ensuring the rights and freedoms of man and citizen. The levels of the process of improvement are determined, as a result of which the concept of a service state as an element of ensuring the rights and freedoms of man and citizen by law enforcement bodies is formed.The algorithm for developing a mechanism for providing public security consists of several basic levels.The first level defines the «scientific» concept of «the phenomenon of public security of Ukraine» as an element of ensuring the rights and freedoms of man and citizen in the following areas: a) determining levels of mechanism for ensuring public safety in the activities of the National Police; b) structuring and modeling the interaction of law enforcement structures within the framework of ensuring public safety; c) optimization of models of ensuring public safety from the standpoint of the activities of the National Police in the field of the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms.The second level determines the possibility for theoretical and practical experiments on modeling in the field of public safety: a) options for changing existing models of public safety; b) integration of new elements into the existing mechanism of ensuring public safety; c) the probability of a variation element and the probability of negative results.The third level is practical; it defines the final versions of the implementation of changes in the current model of ensuring public security in Ukraine: a) legislative support; b) public safety management and management; c) the definition of processes of optimal relations in the management and competence of individual units of the National Police.The main result of the implementation of the mechanism of ensuring public security in Ukraine should be the reduction of losses of elements of public security of Ukraine in the occurrence and functioning of situations of threats and dangers, reduction of the level of economic losses and compensation of losses to physical and legal persons caused by the public security of Ukraine, stabilization of the structure of public security of Ukraine on influence various threats and dangers on the activity of public security of Ukraine, establishment of the level of «security stability» of the whole structure publicly of Ukraine’s security to overcome the direct impact of the dangers and threats in the activity of certain subjects of public security of Ukraine in the risk of professional and non-professional nature, reducing the level of influence of the dangers and threats to Ukraine’s social security in relation to other subjects of law in the system of social and public counteraction offense and crime.

АНАЛІЗ ЕФЕКТИВНОСТІ ВИКОРИСТАННЯ ЗЕМЕЛЬНИХ РЕСУРСІВ УКРАЇНИ

The article discusses issues related to the need to improve the use of land resources of Ukraine. Ukraine has a huge natural resource potential. The land fund of Ukraine is 5.7% of the territory of Europe. What distinguishes Ukraine from Western European countries is that the proportion of agricultural land is high, especially arable land. In addition, they are distinguished by the quality of the land, as the proportion of black soil is high. The structure of land resources and the dynamics of changes in them are considered. Ukraine is sufficiently provided with arable land, but the amount of such land per capita is not correlated with the level of food supply of the population, since the latter figure depends not only on the land area and land fertility, but also on the level of agricultural culture, crop structure, and the country’s economy, development of the processing industry, social conditions and standard of living.Ukraine has a high level of agricultural development, but the ratio in different natural areas is unequal. In the mixed forest zone, agricultural development is less than in the steppe and forest-steppe zones. An objective law of agricultural development in leading countries is the growth in the number of large agricultural enterprises and agroholdings, since agriculture requires significant investments and high economic efficiency of production is achieved by attracting large areas of land. resources. Among European countries, Ukraine ranks second in terms of availability of agricultural land. After studying the practice of agricultural land use in Ukraine, it can be noted that the farms that are under the control of agroholdings (one third of agricultural areas) and enterprises that operate on conditions of self-financing are most different. Problems in land management have been analyzed. Considered foreign experience in the use of land resources. Ukraine has not yet created an information base for effective land management. This is due to the lack of money, technical means, organizational and methodological provisions have not been worked out, the creation of a national data bank on the state of land, land registration activities, and land monitoring is inhibited. There are proposals for improving land use. In the structure of land resources and land use, there are now significant disproportions, the increase of which can threaten the environment and, consequently, the human living environment and, equally important, economic efficiency, i.e. sustainable development of the national economy. The situation with the ownership, use and disposal of land remains difficult, it requires urgent improvement. The most acute problems are the incompleteness of the processes of reforming economic and legal property relations, the imperfection of the system of state administration in the sphere of land use and protection.

ВИЗНАЧЕННЯ НАПРЯМІВ ДЕРЖАВНОГО РЕГУЛЮВАННЯ У СФЕРІ ПОЖЕЖНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ НА ОСНОВІ РОЗГЛЯДУ ДАНИХ СТАТИСТИКИ ПОЖЕЖ

Детально проаналізовано статистичні дані щодо виникнення пожеж і загибелі на них людей в Україні за останні десять років, виокремлено негативні аспекти в організації діяльності із забезпечення пожежної безпеки в частині захисту населення від пожеж, обліку пожеж і сформовано відповідні напрями та заходи державного регулювання, спрямовані на підвищення рівня пожежної безпеки в Україні.

Sources of criminal law in the area of responsibility for economic crimes in Russia and Italy

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the sources of criminal law in the area of responsibility for economic crimes in Russia and Italy.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on the study of five types of sources of criminal law: criminal legislation, legislation of other branches of law in the sphere of regulation of economic relations, legislation of other branches of law in the sphere of protection of economic relations, judicial practice and customs.FindingsBased on the study of Russian and Italian legislation were revealed: in general, that systems of sources of criminal law in Italy and Russia are similar and based on the legislation.Originality/valueThis is explained by the fact that both countries are close to the Roman-Germanic legal system. It is also an important legislation of other branches of law. It consists of regulatory and protective norms of other branches of law. Court decisions, including decisions of the Constitutional Court and some legal positions of other vessels, are also considered as sources of criminal law.

The community of advantage

This paper gives an overview of my recently published book, The Community of Advantage: A Behavioural Economist’s Defence of the Market. I explain that my stance as author is that of a behavioural economist and an economic liberal. The book is an attempt to counter the widespread belief that the findings of behavioural economics justify regulatory interventions in the economy that would previously have been thought unacceptably paternalistic. I argue that competitive markets are desirable, not as an efficient means for satisfying the given preferences of assumedly rational individuals, but as an institutional structure that provides opportunities for whatever voluntary transactions people might want to make.

Space in common: Socially engaged art in the Athens of crisis

During the last years – within a constantly deepening social, political and economic crisis – Athens’s public space appears challenging, presenting a character of ongoing re-evaluation and change. It is due to the impact of the crisis, for example, that the city’s public space is being approached once more by many citizens who, during the years before the recession, had chosen to transfer main activities and functions of public life to the more protected sphere of privateness. One notices the return to open spaces by locals not only for leisure but also for social interaction. Most emphatically, however, appears the fact of a rising number of population in need, such as homeless people, immigrants or refugees, who host aspects of their private life in the public sphere: most of the times, they are not only users, but rather habitants of public space, in a transitional situation of social suspension, lacking a sense of belonging. Under the light of the city’s different realities, and of an expected social co-existence, the article aims to present the practice of artists who become active in Athens’s public spaces of social ambivalence in Athens, by realizing socially engaged art projects. By focusing on case studies such as Nomadic Architecture Network’s projects, the Victoria Square Project by Rick Lowe and Maria Papadimitriou, Common Platforms, a Blind Date by Adonis Volanakis, along with Rafika Chawishe, or the UrbanDig_Omonia by the UrbanDig Project in Omonia square, among others, the article highlights the artists’ interest in understanding the historical and cultural dynamics of each area and in working with different participants of the community in an effort to find common ground and to create bonds among individuals of unalike backgrounds. The article shows how such artistic practices become a channel of creative expression and fruitful dialogue in environments of precariousness and intolerance. Showing the importance of cooperation and understanding, socially engaged art projects function positively as collaborative ‘heterotopias’ in turbulent times for Athens.

Issue of criminal liability for offences against critical infrastructure objects in nuclear industry

A special legislation on criminal liability for offences against critical infrastructure objects is currently under development in Ukraine. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the Concept for the development of a state system for critical infrastructure protection.
 The paper considers this legal area with regard to objects in the nuclear industry in the general context of critical infrastructure protection. It provides the current state in the legal regulation of fundamentals of criminal liability for offences against the critical infrastructure objects in the nuclear industry. The issue on the sufficiency and appropriateness of the existing level of such a liability is discussed further.
 The paper presents the list of some main critical infrastructure objects in accordance with the regulatory documents in the sphere of critical infrastructure protection and their classification.
 In addition, such concepts as “critical infrastructure” (relatively new notion in the national legislation), “unlawful intrusion”, “computer crimes”, “critical information infrastructure” and other concepts important to the nuclear industry were considered in this research. The notions presented in different regulatory documents were analyzed.
 The paper emphasizes that the legislation of Ukraine does not currently present special (separate) standards on the criminal liability for offences against critical infrastructure objects. Some promising issues related to fundamentals of the criminal liability and protection of critical infrastructure objects in the nuclear industry were also considered.
 The research involves the prospect of further development of a special law to define the area for improving relevant legislation on general regulation of these issues.
 The paper also stresses on the need to introduce some changes to the Criminal Code of Ukraine with respect to certain articles of section XIV.