Supranational Organizations Research Articles

Analyzing the supranational organization of the Russian economy and emerging economies

Subject. The article discusses the supranational organization of economies and analyzes the potential of the supranational organization of Russia and emerging economies. Objectives. The study explores an optimal format for the supranational organization of the Russian economy and emerging economies in the multipolar world. Methods. Research is based on the systems approach and methods of cluster and statistical analysis. Results. The article unveils the phenomenon of supranational organization as a result of the transformed world order and transition to the multipolar world. The multipolar world engenders entropy, which can be tackled through the supranational organization. We determined priority countries, functional purposes and efficiency of the supranational organization of the Russian economy and priority economies. BRICS seems to be the most appropriate form of supranational organization for the Russian economy and emerging economies, being led by China and Brazil. China should actively invest in the Russian economy. Russia continues to observe functional priorities with respect to China and Brazil and protects the sovereignty of the national structure and functions. Conclusions and Relevance. The multipolar world engenders entropy, which undermines the stability of the global economy. Supranational organization helps overcome entropy. BRICS is the most appropriate vehicle of supranational organization for the Russian economy and emerging economies, being led by China and Brazil. The findings can be used to discover supranational organizations of the Russian economy and spotlight lines of international cooperation.

New Chemoresistive Gas Sensor Arrays for Outdoor Air Quality Monitoring: A Combined R&D and Outreach Activities

New Chemoresistive Gas Sensor Arrays for Outdoor Air Quality Monitoring: A Combined R&D and Outreach Activities

Who Are The Tourists?

Tourism is the subject of much research and evaluation at the national or international level. however, tourism remains under-theoretical and defining tourism has long been a challenge for those studying this field. Whether it is a question of quantifying flows, measuring the importance of recurrent and emerging practices, or identifying motivations for choosing destinations and activities, one of the priorities is to be able to accurately identify the subject of study. Purpose of the study are to review (i) who is the author of these so-called "tourist" trips and stays?, and (ii) who can be classified as a tourist? method is based on on the review of some literatures related to the topic. The results show that contextualized and recalled the definitions of tourists based on the recommendations made since IRTS 2008 by the supranational organization for the promotion of tourism on a global scale.
 Keywords: foreigners, holiday makers, visitors, multicultural exchanges

Komisja Kestenbauma i jej sukcesorzy: zadania statutowe i działalność

Studia nad federalizmem przybrały na kontynencie europejskim szybsze tempo wraz z rozwojem Unii Europejskiej, która zdaje się obecnie przechodzić kryzys w kontekście „Brexit-u” i głosów państw członkowskich o nierównym traktowaniu. Federalizm stał się również atrakcyjną teorią w związku z rozwojem innych organizacji międzynarodowych oraz ponadnarodowych. Analizowane jest jego znaczenie dla wyzwań współczesnej ekologii, wpływu na przezwyciężenie kryzysu finansowego na świecie. Podejmowana jest jednocześnie kwestia, jakie są skutki federalizmu dla rozwoju demokracji i ochrony praw człowieka. Celem artykułu jest identyfikacja działań utworzonej w 1953 r. Komisji Kestenbauma (the Commission on Intergovernmental Relations) oraz Amerykańskiej Komisji Doradczej ds. Stosunków Międzyrządowych (the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations), która powstała w 1959 r. Organa te odegrały znaczącą rolę w rozwoju amerykańskiego federalizmu. ACIR dzięki szerokiej reprezentacji był w stanie opracować długoterminowe rekomendacje i analizy odzwierciedlające różnorodność i uwzględniające podobieństwa poszczególnych stanów. Komisja nakreśliła swój własny program, biorąc pod uwagę doświadczenia swoich członków, kontakty w systemie federalnym, a także sugestie urzędników publicznych, grup obywateli i bieżące problemy w stosunkach międzyrządowych. ACIR w drugiej połowie XX w. odegrał wyjątkową rolę w monitorowaniu amerykańskiego systemu federalnego, a także w identyfikowaniu pojawiających się problemów oraz regularnym przekazywaniu informacji na poziomie federalnym i stanowym w celu rozważenia modyfikacji organizacji systemu federalnego, aby zwiększyć jego efektywność.

Commitment to the Rule of Law: From a Political to an Organizational Ideal

We are used to thinking of the rule of law as a political ideal, governing the institutions of a state. By now there is ample recognition that the rule of law also has relevance in international law and in multi-level legal orders such as the European Union. In those contexts, however, the rule of law is usually seen as a set of principles international or supranational organizations use to assess others, primarily (member) states. In this contribution, the accompanying question will be addressed what the rule of law means as a standard for international organizations themselves. A crucial preliminary question is what the rule of law concept entails in this context. I will argue that a conception of the rule of law as reduction of arbitrariness needs to given particular shape in order to function as a standard for international organizations, which needs to cover both the external conduct of the organization and its internal governance. Building on the socio-legal theories of Krygier, Selznick and the legal philosophy of Waldron, this contribution explores the extent to which the rule of law can be seen as both an organizational and a personal ideal in the international context.

Utopian visions or dystopian prospects for tourism? A perspective article

PurposeThis paper aims to show how continued failure for tourism to address its global impacts is likely to imply the end of tourism as we know it.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is an opinion piece that discusses tourism out of the global situation in spring 2019.FindingsTourism is about to undermine its own future, largely as a failure of UNWTO and ICAO to address environmental challenges. Ignorance and disinterest continue to characterize supranational and business organizations such as WTTC.Originality/valueThe text is intended to be a wakeup call.

Mapping the language ideologies of organisational members: a corpus linguistic investigation of the United Nations’ General Debates (1970–2016)

Supranational and international organisations have long experienced difficulties in implementing multilingual policies, and this is, in part, due to a lack of activism on language matters by their membership (McEntee-Atalianis forthcoming; Kruse and Ammon, in: Chua (ed) Unintended language planning in a globalising world: multiple levels of players at work, De Gruyter Open, Berlin, pp 39–56, 2018). The aim of this paper is not only to highlight the importance of investigating language ideology within the field of organisational language policy, but also to scrutinise the language ideologies particular to an influential body of institutional members. Using the United Nations as a site of exploration, and the UN General Debates Corpus (Mikhaylov et al. in Res Politics 4(2):1–9, 2017) as a dataset, this paper traces if and how issues of language have preoccupied the deliberations and work of UN member states over the course of 46 years, and if these discussions align with organisational policy. Using corpus linguistics, the paper maps the ideological landscape and language policy discourses across time, identifying a paucity of discussion over almost five decades. The paper argues that attention to the absence of references to language problems/language policy in the organisation is just as important as an exploration of language problems themselves. If organisations wish to make changes to language policies, and/or prioritise policy implementation, they would do well to attend more closely to the language ideologies of their membership and/or to reasons for their apparent inattention to language issues.

On the issue of the administrative and legal methodology used by the Kingdom of Spain to counter the nationalist and separatist aspirations of the Basque country

Introduction. The article is devoted to the instruments used by the Spanish Kingdom in administrative and legal spheres to counter nationalist and separatist aspirations of the Basque Country throughout different historic periods. Special attention is paid to the confrontation with the Basque terrorist organization ETA. In addition, the research analyzes what caused ETA to emerge, underscores the major stages of its evolution, and discusses cross-border aspects of bilateral cooperation between Spain and France under the aegis of the supra-national specialized organization of Europol. The administrative and legal instruments used by Spain are distinguished in context of the analysis of the prospects for the applying of modern political and legal toolkit in the regional policy that is often contrary to the interests of the modern centralized state. The research pays attention to the administrative measures that led to ETA crisis and its further collapse.Material and methods. The paper uses the methodology of a retrospective analysis and content-analysis to characterize the shifts in the principles of Spanish administrative and territorial tools and their influence on the nature of the Basque nationalism. The Constitution of 1977 and the Statute of autonomy of the Basque Country are considered.Results. The paper sums up all the major shifts in the Spanish practice in the usage of administrative and political measures to combat the Basque separatist aspirations, evaluates their efficiency and outlines current obstacles towards the way of the establishment of a new bilateral dialogue with Madrid.Conclusion. The first part of this article points out the growth of nationalist and separatist aspirations in the Basque Country and shows how political systems (absolute monarchy, republic, authoritarian governance, constitutional monarchy) lead to the application of new administrative and legal instruments that affect the Basque nationalist aspirations. The second part focuses on the current state of relations between the region and the central government.

Os sentidos discursivos da ciência e da educação na ação política: relatórios de desenvolvimento

Reports and suggestion documents by international organizations can be analyzed as discursive representations of power exercising, as long as they disclose relations between supranational organizations and their member countries and delimit the meanings of political fields. During the last 40 years, the development reports have been dealing with those fields and their meanings, which have changed permanently. In the context of the Critical Discourse Analysis, this article reconstructs general structure of reports as genres in which meanings rely on the association of topics and indicators. The general conclusion stands that the meaning changes has influenced in a devaluation of the education, in terms of economic development, and a valuation of the science and has determined a parallel existence of both.

In rem contra culpam? - Prošireno oduzimanje imovinske koristi u međunarodnom i bosanskohercegovačkom krivičnom pravu

It comes as no surprise that vast economic benefit is obtained through crime and that all necessary measures need to be taken in order to appropriate those ill-gotten gains. Deprivation of criminal assets assures effective prevention of their use in future criminal activities, simultaneously advancing the principle that crime does not pay. One of the fastest developing forms of deprivation is extended criminal confiscation, which is understood as recovery of property deriving from vague, assumed criminal activity. An important role in shaping the regime of extended criminal confiscation has been played by international and supranational organisations, hence the paper includes the analysis of relevant stipulations in five capital international documents, and, having in mind recent vivid legislative activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, analysis of material criminal law norms in its four jurisdictions as well. Analysis includes discussion on a) the scope of crimes liable to extended confiscation, b) circumstances that could indicate on the criminal origin of the property, c) forms of procedural safeguards that are granted to confiscation subjects. International legal standards stipulate the option to utilize statutory legal presumptions and automatic reversal of the onus of proof, or circumstantial proof of illicit origin of assets and balanced onus. Both alternatives are present in Bosnia and Herzegovina, although none often used in practice. This unfavourable picture can be argued by inadequate elaboration of certain elements of the construct and, in some jurisdictions, restrictive approach in determining triggering offences. Improvement of normative framework, along with the other practical, organisational and other activities, is essential to fully utilize criminal policy potential this form of confiscation has.

Priroda i karakter Evropske unije i problem predstavničke demokratije

After more than three decades of primarily economic expansion, the European Union has entered a much more sensitive phase of its development. It has set off on "a road less travelled" concerning these forms of supranational organization - political integration. The result is in every sense a unique and extraordinary creation, albeit unfinished, unprecedented in the history of international relations, particularly in the area of supranational integration. That is why one of the key issues requiring explanation is whether the functioning of the European Union is really based on representative democracy, and, in this context, whether political parties, as its chief exponent in nation-states, contribute to "the formation of European political awareness and the expression of the will of citizens of the Union" at the European level. If we take into account the existing constitutional order of the European Union and the place of Europarties in it - their role, formal, legal and procedural framework of action not yet clearly defined - it is obvious that they are not able to contribute to "the formation of European political awareness and the expression of the political will of the Union citizens".

Regional Integration and Development in Africa: Between the Rock and a Hard Place

Since independence in the late 1950s, and in the early 1960s, regional integration in Africa has been identified as an important strategy for the acceleration of development in the continent. The reality of the Post-Cold War international economic world order also stimulates the intensification and fine-tuning of existing regional arrangements leading to the establishment of a supra-national organization and capacity building institutions to address the problems of underdevelopment in Africa. As a consequence, numerous integration groupings have been reorganized and created but their achievements have largely been modest due to inappropriate integration approaches. It is against this background that this article examines the interlocking nexus between regional integration and development in Africa, and maintains that Africans need to adjust their orientation as well as take a major shift towards economic complementarity among member states of integration blocs for the actualization of laudable development. It concludes that inward looking and the involvement of all Africans in the regional integration processes would be the best approach for regional integration to foster development.

Transparency of Responsible Investment Environment

The study deals with measuring the investment environment transparency for responsible investment, assessing it in Ukraine, and improving it through the rating means in sustainable development. There are ratings, rankings, indices, benchmarks and sustainable development standards as unique markers in responsible investment markets, considering the ESG − criteria for screening companies. The authors prove that ratings are tools for minimizing information asymmetry at the micro and macro levels, which is quite significant, especially in the responsible investment field. Rating is a leading factor in creating a transparent environment for investment decisions and ensuring a favorable investment climate in the world (considering the sustainable development ratings and progress towards sustainable development) and the investment attractiveness of companies (considering ESG − reporting criteria on sustainable development of companies). The authors pay much attention to the world’s sustainable development ratings, which incorporate the transparency component of the investment environment. The authors analyze Ukraine’s position in these rankings and conclude that its status and investment attractiveness are deteriorating in the international arena, particularly due to insufficient transparency of the investment environment, perception of corporate social responsibility and weak progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Structural and dynamic analysis of the signatories and participants of the UN Global Compact network in Ukraine confirm this thesis. Despite the positive dynamics of network members, especially in recent years, their number and composition are unrepresentative towards companies, financial sector institutions, NGOs and government organizations as leaders in the values of sustainable development and social responsibility in Ukraine. Consideration of the European countries’ experience embodied in the new EU investment plan, comprising three areas and ten measures aimed at mobilizing 650 billion euros of investment in sustainable development and the investigations made by a supranational organizations network (OECD, UN Development Program, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board). The Global Reporting Initiative, the International Finance Corporation, the Global Impact Investing Network, and other stakeholders are essential steps in increasing Ukraine’s investment environment transparency. Ensuring environment transparency of the responsible investment by introducing methods of ranking companies and countries considering their social responsibility and achievements in the sustainable development field and its goals, standardization of products, techniques and strategies of responsible investment are key priorities of Ukrainian state investment policy. Keywords: Transparency, Investment Environment, Information Asymmetry, Ranking, Sustainable Development, Responsible Investing.

Риски мировой рецессии в условиях кризиса глобализации

Today, a decade after the 2008–2009 global crisis, the outlook for the global economy is still uncertain, as not all the economic wounds left by the crisis have been fully delayed, and its effects continue to have a profound and far-reaching impact on the world economic system. It is also obvious that under the influence of current scientific and technological changes and in the context of shifts in the international strategic balance of power, the global trade and economic architecture is significantly transformed. The process of globalization, which has defined the vector of world development in recent decades, is changing. The key question is in what directions, at what pace and with what risks the transformational trends that have already begun will develop, and what will they bring to the international community. In this regard, many experts representing prestigious supranational organizations and leading Think Tanks express reasonable concerns on the imminent onset of a global recession, which could develop into a new global crisis. There is no need to prove the pernicious nature of development under such a scenario, so preventing such a course of events and neutralizing emerging risks is one of the most important strategic objectives of the international agenda. In other words, according to the author, the aim of the international community should be to coordinate and synchronize actions aimed at neutralizing all sorts of negative trends of recent times that undermine the sustainability of the global economy and world trade, which ultimately generates more and more geopolitical threats. It is critical that joint efforts must be taken to close the cracks in the system of international economic relations.

De la familia a la Biofamilia

El término Biofamilia se puede considerar un neologismo necesario para los estudios e investigaciones acerca de la familia. Ésta, con sus costumbres y comportamientos también adquiere interés desde la ética. De la ética aplicada a la familia surge el término biofamilia, el cual hace referencia al primer grupo de vida, donde la persona se humaniza. La globalización ha permitido que ingresen ideologías que le quitan a la familia natural el lugar que le corresponde, las políticas públicas deben considerar la estructura y funcionamiento de la biofamilia como fundamento para el desarrollo de la sociedad. La relativización del concepto de familia por parte de los organismos supranacionales ha contribuido a aumentar la confusión. El desarrollo del concepto de biofamilia, en los ambientes académicos y de investigación permitirá no desvirtuar el concepto de familia.

La limitación a la deducibilidad de los gastos financieros en el Impuesto sobre Sociedades: Evolución y análisis comparativo

El presente trabajo tiene por objeto dar una visión de la evolución en el tratamiento legal de la limitación a la deducibilidad de los gastos financieros como medio para evitar la elusión fiscal, tanto a nivel supranacional, como nacional y, más concretamente, foral, así como analizar las cuestiones más problemáticas que surgen de la aplicación de esta limitación. En la actualidad, es patente la preocupación de los países de la OCDE y de otros organismos supranacionales por el fraude fiscal y la elusión de impuestos, fenómenos que se han generado como productos derivados de la globalización y que utilizan los gastos financieros como una de sus herramientas más habituales por la facilidad con la que permite el traslado de bases imponibles a territorios de menor o nula tributación.Recibido: 21.10.2019 Aceptado: 18.11.2019 Publicación en línea: 31.12.2019

Türkiye’de Siyasal Partilerin Sağlık Politikalarına Bakışının Mukayeseli Analizi

Hakim iktisadi anlayışın şekil ve içeriğini belirlediği sosyal politikalar içerisinde sağlık politikaları önemli yer tutmaktadır. Bu kapsamda Keynesyen iktisadi anlayış içerisinde sosyal refah devleti uygulamaları karşımıza çıkmıştır. Sosyal refah devleti uygulamaları sağlık politikalarını kamunun tek elden tüm vatandaşlara anayasal hak olarak eşit ve ücretsiz sunumunu öncelemektedir. Ancak Neo-liberal iktisat, sosyal refah devleti uygulamalarını terk etmeyi, sağlık politikalarını kamu-özel sektör ve gönüllü kuruluşlar eliyle kamunun düzenleyiciliğinde yürütmeyi öngörmektedir. İşte bu doğrultuda söz konusu politikaları küresel düzlemde yaymayı amaç edinen Dünya Bankası başta olmak üzere uluslarüstü örgütler Türkiye’de 2003 sonrası hayata geçirilen “Sağlıkta Dönüşüm Programı”nı mali desteği ile hayata geçirilmesinde anahtar rol üstlenmişlerdir. Artık siyasal partilere de Türkiye özelinde düşen parti programı ve seçim bildirgelerini Neo-liberal İktisat çerçevesinde uyarlamaktır. Çalışmanın konusu bu doğrultuda Türkiye’de siyasal partilerin benzeşen ve farklılaşan yönleri ile sağlık politikalarını değerlendirmektir.

ASEAN E-Commerce Legal Framework and Alignment of Lao PDR: A Review

In the era of digital, the internet has become a new channel for meeting and social interaction of people all around the world, and it has also become an essential platform for commercial activities, especially e-commerce. E-commerce has become a significant driving force for the growth of the economy for all regions around the world. For example, ASEAN, ICT, and e-commerce are recognized as an essential segment for regional integration. ASEAN developed its legal framework in order to promote and facilitate the development of ICT and the growth of e-commerce within the region. Unlike the European Union, ASEAN is not a supranational organization, and it cannot legislate for a whole community. Thus its e-commerce legal framework is developed by harmonizing the Member Countries' national laws into the regional legal system. This paper aims to introduce how ASEAN designs its legal framework for regional cooperation, with a focus on e-commerce. The paper presents how Lao PDR, as a member country of ASEAN, fulfills provisions agreed under the e-ASEAN framework to help understand the way ASEAN Member Countries undertake action to align with ASEAN e-commerce legal framework. To this end, this paper also provides an overview of the e-commerce of ASEAN as a whole and Lao PDR.
 Keywords: ASEAN, Lao PDR, E-Commerce Legal Framework, Regional Legal System.

Taking back control? The myth of territorial sovereignty and the Brexit fiasco

ABSTRACT The UK referendum on leaving the European Union (EU) in 2016 was based around the issue of regaining a putative control or sovereignty that had been lost with membership in that supranational organization. Irrespective of the fact that many people seemed to vote in the referendum on the basis of attitudes towards questions not directly related to EU membership, such as immigration from countries outside the EU and a general disenchantment about governance, the negotiations over leaving focused on how to go about disentangling the UK from the rules and regulatory authority of the EU. These turned out to be far from easy. Much of this reflects the fact that sovereignty itself is invariably contingent. Only in few historical cases, usually associated with autarkic regimes exercising control over large territorial empires, has any sort of absolute territorial sovereignty even approached possibility. The purpose of this paper is to use the case of Brexit to examine three aspects of the contingency of territorial sovereignty: (1) the major ways in which sovereignty has been organized historically; (2) the character and role of sovereignty in the Brexit ‘debate’; and (3) why the focus on territorial sovereignty and its recapture should be so persuasive to so many people notwithstanding its geographical complexities.

Consumer Social Responsibility in Dutch Law

As our economies continue to focus on growth, competition and maximisation of consumer choice, the global increase in consumption takes vast environmental and social costs and cause irreversible harm to our climate and environment. The urgency of reducing human footprint and to diminish one of the root causes of a declining climate and environment is irrefutable. In the shift that globally has to take place, a decentralised energy system relying on more distributed generation, energy storage and a more active involvement of consumers form a crucial component of renewable energy solutions. The move from a highly centralised to a more decentralised power system involves an increasing amount of small-scale (intermittent) generation from renewable energy which is located closer to the point of final consumption. In order to steer consumption towards sustainability national governments and supranational organisations have adopted policies and corresponding legislation that address individual consumers as rational and active choice-makers who make socially responsible choices when they receive the ‘right’ amount of information. By relying on insights from modern consumption theories with contributions from sociology, this article questions the effectiveness and legitimacy of these ‘consumer-centred’ policies and laws. First, the article argues that the single focus on individual consumer behaviour as a rational and utility maximising market actor fails to take into account the complexity of consumption, which is fundamentally influenced by social norms and its broader institutional setting. Although consumers are willing to consume more sustainably, they are often ‘locked in by circumstances’ and unable to engage in more sustainable consumption practices even if they want to. Second, by relying on evidence from sociological studies the article argues that individual consumers are not the most salient actors in support of sustainable consumption. Even though the urgency of the energy transition and the critical role consumers play in (un)sustainable energy consumption is acknowledged in both the EU and its Member States, their laws and policies remain grounded on goals of economic growth with competitive economies, the sovereignty of consumer choice and wealth maximisation, instead of aiming at slower economic growth or even degrowth, reducing overall resource use and consumption levels and introducing radically different ways of consumption.Third, the role of law is underlined as a social institution both as a constraint on the autonomous acts of consumption, dictating the normative frameworks within which the role of consumer is defined, and as a facilitator which consumers might also employ, in order to determine for themselves particular normative parameters within which consumption can occur.The Netherlands, which serves as a case study in this article, has reached important milestones in its energy transition policy since 2013. Still, it remains strongly focused on economic rationality and market competitiveness. Even though various models of consumer participation exist and local consumer energy initiatives are flourishing and are recognised as key actors in the energy transition, they remain embedded in institutional, structural and behavioural settings where consumers still face challenging sociocultural barriers to sustainable practices.In light of these legal, political and social complexity of energy transition, the article offers a critical analysis of the current Dutch law in its broader legal context of EU law in order to answer the question what the role of (energy) law is in steering consumers towards sustainable energy consumption.