Union Regions Research Articles

Are SACU countries self-sufficient in cereals? A dynamic panel analysis

ABSTRACT Most countries within Southern Africa are reliant on cereal imports from South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) region, cereal insecure countries are often import-dependent. Changing income levels, pandemics, climatic conditions and the trade environment all create a wedge and put pressure on food self-sufficiency. This paper uses a robust dynamic approach of a five-country panel to investigate the key determinants of cereal self-sufficiency in the SACU region. Long-term and short-term effects of selected variables are tested using a dynamic panel data model. The key long-term drivers for cereal self-sufficiency are identified and the short-term results reveal that land surface and rainfall are statistically most significant at a level of ten percent. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test suggests that SACU member states could propose further macroeconomic harmonisation and good governance to stabilise national income to cushion against the possible increased cost of cereal production especially in Lesotho, Eswatini and Namibia. The adoption of climate smart technology to safeguard against rainfall variability and reduce the carbon footprint is important to foster an increase in agricultural productivity. A lack of effective harmonised policies may lead to an acceleration in cereal production insecurity and increased poverty.

Digital divide across the European Union and labour market resilience

ABSTRACT Using a regional evolutionary perspective and a cross-regional data panel for 278 European Union regions, this study investigates the relationship between regional digital development and labour market resilience. To address a fundamental concern of regional studies, it proposes an analytical framework that assesses digital disparities in the spatial context and provides a nuanced understanding of digital dimensions impacting labour market resilience. The primary labour market outcome, the employment rate, was evaluated to investigate the regional resilience in the Great Recession. A gradient boosting method was used to identify the digital predictors in different resilience stages and to articulate policy-relevant conclusions.

THE SYSTEM OF TRAINING AND ADVANCED TRAINING OF PHYSICAL CULTURE AND SPORTS PERSONNEL OF PENZA REGION IN THE 1960s

The article examines the practice of professional training and professional development of physical culture and sports personnel in the USSR at the regional level – in Penza region in the 1960s.
 
 The issue of organizing training and improving the training level of employees in the field of physical culture and sports in Penza region has not been studied sufficiently and requires in-depth research.
 
 During the study period, Penza region lacked competent and experienced managers of physical culture and sports work, coaches, instructors and judges for the mass development of physical culture and sports.
 
 The All-Russian Council of Sports Societies and Organizations Union and Penza Regional Council of the Sports Union repeatedly considered this issue, recommended to intensify the work in this field and proposed a set of measures to normalize the staff composition of the physical culture and sports movement in the region.
 
 The main problem was the lack of higher and secondary vocational education; the number of full-time physical education workers with specialized training in the designated chronological framework did not exceed 63%.
 
 The Faculty of Physical Education of Penza State Pedagogical Institute named after V.G. Belinsky was the “source of manpower” of personnel for the physical culture and sports movement in the region. The administrators of the Pedagogical Institute sought to enroll local youth to the faculty, preferably athletes, by recommendations of educational institutions, regional sports unions, Komsomol organizations.
 
 Penza Union of Sports Societies and Organizations, together with the party and Komsomol bodies, carried out systematic activities in this direction, using various forms of work – seminars, courses, meetings, etc. The regional Council practiced visits of its employees to the towns and districts of the region to assist in organizing training of instructors, judges, etc. Former athletes worked as coaches for free.
 
 For the heads of physical culture and sports structures, refresher courses were constantly held at the Republican training and sports base and seminars of the Sports Union in Moscow. The regional sports union believed that the quality of the coaches’ work was negatively affected by their employment in several places.

АТЫРАУ ОБЛЫСЫНЫҢ 1920-1930 ЖЖ. ҚОҒАМДЫҚ-САЯСИ ӨМІРІНДЕГІ МҰНАЙ ӨНДІРІСІНІҢ ОРНЫ

In article considers the role of oil industry in the social and political life of Atyrau region in 1920-1930 based on Atyrau state regional archive. 20-30 years of XX century in social and political life of Atyrau region played a significant role in development of the oil industry. The formation and development of research of oil industry in the Kazakh Soviet Union and Atyrau (Guryev) region in 1920-1930, the labor and welfare of workers, the social status of workers was a relevant issue. The Soviet government paid great attention to the involvement of indigenous population of the country (Kazakhs) in these industries. Kazakhs had working together with other nationalities and made a huge contribution to the development of both oil industry. Mostly the changes and development of oil industry in Atyrau region occurred at the end of the XIX century. The basis of personnel potential was made by impoverished Kazakh sharua, hired workers, Russian immigrants, the poorest layers of urban population, the lowest military ranks, as well as specialists invited from the inner provinces of Russia. The development of Emba field were great importance to the economy of the Soviet Union and Kazakh Soviet Union. However, despite the great contribution of these industries to the country’s economy, the Soviet government did not pay due attention to the development of oil industry in Atyrau region and considered it as a raw material appendage of the center.

Breakthroughs of Imagination About China in the Field of Video Social Softwares Around EU Region---- A Case Study of Youtube and Kwai

With the continuous popularity of network technology, social media has become an important platform for people to acquire information in the web space, participate in interactions, and share discussions, which has brought about a change not only in people's daily life but also in international communication. This paper analyzes Chinese images through video social software such as Youtube and Kwai. Mainly focused on the cognitive breakthrough imagined in China after the use of video social software in the European Union to study the perceptions of Chinese images in the original European Union region, how these perceptions changed after the use of video social software, and why China used different algorithms when making video social software outputs. To construct a new idea for the international diffusion of Chinese image.

Efficiency of the European Union farm types: Scenarios with and without the 2013 CAP measures

Abstract The European Union Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) publishes data for the representative farms of several European Union (EU) farm types, regions and countries. In this database, the published data for the farm types allow us to assess several agricultural policies. In fact, the FADN publishes data for the EU farming types and there are not many studies about these fields in the whole European context. This study aims to bring novelty for the whole spectrum of stakeholder types in these domains. The analysis of these impacts may bring relevant insights, especially, for adjustments in the design of future strategies and plans. We analyse the evolution of the EU farm types in the last two decades with significant scenario changes like two large common agricultural policy (CAP) reforms (2003 and 2013) and suggest new approaches to the design for future measures. Statistical information from the FADN over the period 2004–2018 is considered. In addition, efficiency and productivity assessments are carried out, to assess the implications of the most recent instruments of the CAP. The results show that the policy instruments in the framework of the 2013 CAP justify the use of more inputs (or at least at higher costs) for the same level of output. In fact, the subsidies given to the farmers since 2014 mask the inefficiencies underlying some farm types. A significant decrease in the total factor productivity confirmed this trend, despite positive growth rates for the total verified output for several farm types over the period.

Cohesion policy evaluation: Guidelines for selection of appropriate methods

AbstractDespite significant efforts by the European Union (EU) member states (MS) and regions, the role of evaluation in the cohesion policy (CP) is limited, mainly because of issues associated with selecting appropriate evaluation methods. Thus, this article develops a guide for selecting evaluation methods depending on the intervention type and evaluation criteria, which are specific to the evaluation questions. In all the cases, it is recommended to combine various methods, as the complexity of the interventions, along with the participatory character of the CP and the weaknesses of each method, require their combined application. We propose 22 methods and recommend combining three to seven of them for each of the five evaluation criteria (relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, utility, sustainability) and the nine main types of the CP's intervention. At the same time, issues associated with impact evaluations are clarified. It is highlighted that both the proposed combination of evaluation methods and the evaluative questions are indicative rather than restrictive. Their selection is directly connected to the authorities' needs on behalf of which the evaluation is conducted as well as the special conditions under which the intervention is implemented. The proposed guidelines may be useful to stakeholders involved in the evaluation of the CP on a practical level as well as for everyone involved in evaluating public policies more broadly, as appropriate evaluation enhances accountability, legitimacy, and informed decision making in all stages of a public policy's life cycle.

New Deal in Road Safety: Why we need NGOs

Road safety has been receiving increasing global attention, for example: the inclusion of road safety in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adoption of resolution 74/299 “Improving global road safety”; Stockholm Declaration (2020) reflecting the recommendations of the Academic Expert Group of the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety. Recognising that the target to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 50% was not met in the First Decade of Action for Road Safety (Decade of Action) 2011–2020, the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development made a pledge in September 2019 to make the new decade one of action and delivery. On 28 October 2021, the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030 (the Global Plan) was launched to guide Member States in the implementation of key actions to improve road safety with the target to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50% by 2030 (WHO & UN Regional Commissions, 2021). The Global Plan calls on governmental agencies as the primary responsibility holder in delivering a safe road transport system and implementing the required road safety actions to achieve the global target of 50% reduction in deaths and injuries by 2030. The Global Plan also calls on other actors — nongovernment organisations (NGOs), academia, youth, funders, private sector and UN agencies — as important contributors. NGOs are groups organised independently from governments at a local, national or international level to serve a certain cause such as road safety. NGOs exist to drive actions and bring improvements on a societal issue, and, in the field of road safety, NGOs drive road safety actions to protect people from being killed or seriously injured in our ubiquitous use of the road transport system.

Labour productivity and regional labour markets resilience in Europe.

This paper conceptualizes and empirically explores the resilience of European Union regional labour markets in terms of labour productivity growth. We assess the effect of pre-crisis region-specific factors on regional labour markets resilience controlling for the effect of exogenous technological change and substitution between capital and labour. Regional input–output models are developed to estimate supplies and sales linkages across the European Union NUTS-2 regional economies. Spatial Durbin Error Model estimates suggest that regional labour markets characterised by a higher level of economic pull capabilities of the Construction sector and a higher level of industrial concentration can better withstand the effects of the negative shock and recover faster. Place-based policies building on regions’ competitive strengths can smooth out the negative effect of the economic shock and accelerate the recovery of regional labour markets, while policy interventions promoting capital investment can further enhance labour productivity in European Union regions.

Role of institutions in the corruption and firm innovation nexus: evidence from former Soviet Union countries

ABSTRACT In view of the missing consensus on how corruption relates to firm innovation, this paper empirically studies the relationship between petty corruption and product, process, marketing and organisational innovations in the former Soviet Union region. Exploiting cross-sectional firm-level data from the fifth round of the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey, the paper argues that institutional context has utmost importance when approaching this link. Probit estimations for a full sample of former Soviet Union countries indicate a positive link between bribes and firm innovation. Considering variations in institutional development levels, the paper distinguishes three clusters of countries within the region with respect to the quality of institutional structures based on Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) data from the World Bank. The results reveal that the grease-the-wheel effect of bribery on firm innovation strongly remains in countries with weak institutional quality. To explore this link further, this paper made several additional estimations and robustness checks.

The Dynamics of the European Union Regional Policy

The subject of this paper is to present the shape, the legal basis and the prospects for the development of the European Union regional policy. This policy assumes great importance in the face of weakening of state’s structures due to the European Union bodies and decentralization of management of local affairs. The EU regional policy is a very problematic area and requires extensive studies. Thus, I confined myself to analyze the development of basis of the EU regional policy primarily through the prism of treaty law. The analysis showed a rate of development which process still continues. Despite a good legal basis, the EU regional policy still requires constant adjustment, especially when it comes to rationalizing subsidies. The passive regional policy leads to promote only the economically under developed areas. Therefore, it is necessary for the implementation of programs to support the innovation, especially in highly developed regions, which are the engine of the whole European Union economy.

Tax systems and public borrowing limits in a fiscal union.

This paper compares the implications of tax system and public borrowing limit asymmetries for the welfare cost of business cycles and interregional consumption risk sharing in a two-region fiscal union. We identify the welfare-improving and risk-sharing-improving designs of the regional tax systems and borrowing limits. We find that the choice of public borrowing limits is more consequential than is the choice of a tax regime for union welfare. It also serves as an argument for the harmonization of fiscal policies adopted in the fiscal union, as it would internalize fiscal externalities and improve consumption risk-sharing across the union regions. The key parameter determining the merits of alternative regional tax systems and possible limits to public borrowing in the fiscal union is the productivity of public good. Other aspects of the economy, such as the type of technology process, or the nature of the productivity shock do not affect the union public finance system design significantly. Extensive simulations suggest that if the productivity of public capital lies within the range of plausible empirical estimates, allowing both regions to have flexible borrowing limits and to choose whatever tax system they prefer will reduce the overall welfare costs of business fluctuations. However, for very low productivity of public capital, the welfare-improving regional public finance reforms that would prohibit public borrowing and tax labor income can produce limited benefits.

Beacons of Nordicity: Nordic Conservation Day 1970 and the reimagination of history

ABSTRACT This article shows how a reimagined history of the Nordic countries informed their claims to a common destiny as they sought to give shape to the ‘ecological turn’ and to Nordic cooperation at a critical juncture. A narrative analysis of the uses of history on Nordic Nature Conservation Day in September 1970 reveals that the political needs of governments and environmental organizations required that the region ignore its violent history of intra-Nordic warfare. The applied narratives all depended on a harmonious past. Paradoxically, Conservation Day’s foremost event was the synchronized lighting of 600 beacons dotting the Nordic landscape, explicitly re-enacting the call to arms used in the wars that had shaped each country’s borders and identities. The organizers claimed they were sounding the alarm on behalf of nature itself, as if mobilizing the past to save the future. Along the way, this past had to be sanitized to fit the required narratives of regional harmony. Yet the contemporary disharmony of the Cold War could not be escaped and came to affect how the story was told, which demonstrated the frailty of Nordic cooperation under the pressure of the great powers and the ensuing limitations on regional unity.

European Union farming systems: Insights for a more sustainable land use

AbstractThe diversity of agricultural systems in European Union (EU) regions and countries is vast and vulnerable to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms. The CAP instruments have suffered several significant changes over the last decades to take into account the new contexts from the various EU enlargements and problems caused by former measures. This dynamic evolution of the farming system calls for updated assessment to better understand the respective policy impacts and to support the design of new and adjusted instruments. In this context, with this research, the intention is to highlight the most recent characteristics of the EU farming system and to assess the respective impacts from CAP measures. To achieve these aims, we considered statistical information from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) which was exploited through linear programming models. The main findings reveal that EU subsidies have no implication on the structure of EU farming systems. In other words, the most profitable farming systems are the same whether they were provided with the CAP financial support or not, namely those from the 1st Pillar. On the other hand, the CAP rules condition the farmers' options, sometimes towards adopting a more subsidised production, but with lower margins. These frameworks would not be problematic, if the farming systems were more socially and environmentally sustainable, but this is not always the case. In a future scenario of a farming sector which more regulated by the market and less so by the CAP instruments, the environmental impacts will be more short‐term than medium‐ or long‐term, where the main problem will be with energy consumption.

Africa Blue Economy Strategies Integrated in Planning to Achieve Sustainable Development at National and Regional Economic Communities (RECs)

The purpose of this article is to map-out African Union Member Countries and Regional Economic Communities engaged in Blue Economy. This engagement would provide some directed actions on how Blue Economy is contributing to achieving Sustainable Development in Africa. The methodology to analyze the Blue Economy data is based on “Sociographic, Type of activities, Intellectual Property focus and Business Model development, Descriptive Statistics, Business Models, Ranking of existing projects by business and innovation readiness”. Additional data obtained from Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and National Blue Economy Strategies and online internet search. The Blue Economy cuts-across several industries, sectors, and thematic areas. This inherently creates complexity when attempting to understand the extent of its socio-economic context in aspiration of development achievement. The effect of human dependence on Blue Economy resources is not always monetary. Some of the people use the resources for artisanal purposes, for exchange and trade, while others utilize it for the recreational and religious benefits associated with the blue natural resources. The well-being of people is a central pillar of the Blue Economy resulting in an immediate need to understand the socioeconomics of the Blue Economy as well as how to measure changes, or progress, associated with it for development achievement. The planning aspect of Blue Economy requires strategic interventions at local, national, and regional levels that spur integration aspects of the Blue Economy into development achievement.

The Global Socioeconomic Impact of Mental Health

This paper outlines the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific communities on the issue of common genetic factors discovered in mental disorders. The main objective of the research is to analyse the relationship between genetics and mental health. The relevance of this study by FAAVM Canada, (North America), is to help recognize that major mental health disorders share certain genetic defects. These findings may also point to apply better multidisciplinary scientific research methodologies to diagnose and treat these conditions. However, genetic factors can increase the risks of mental health issues, or make us more vulnerable to developing them, by reducing the brain’s ability to deal with or compensate for traumas and other cognitive disruptions. This research empirically confirms and theoretically proves that the results can be useful for vaccine and pharmaceutical drug development. Across the European Union (EU) region, approximately 165 million people are affected annually by mental illnesses, for the most part, anxiety, mood, and substance abuse disorders. On average, over 50% of the general population in middle-income and high-income countries will experience at least one mental illness at some point in their lives. That being said, mental illnesses are by no means limited to a minority group of predisposed persons but are a major public health challenge. These scientific attributes are in fact mandatory diagnostic criteria that exert considerable socio-economic repercussions not only for those affected but also for their families, communities, social, and employment related environments. In the first year of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, global frequency of anxiety and depression increased by an immense 25%, according to a scientific summary released by the World Health Organization (WHO). Mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders account for over 10.4% of the global burden of mental health diseases, owing to demographic changes and prolonged life expectancy, and were the leading cause of years lived with disability among all disease groups.

Populism's Antagonism to International Law: Lessons from Latin America

International legal scholarship often assumes that populists will have an antagonistic relationship with international law.1 But a view from Latin America, where populism has been an object of study since the early twentieth century, tells a more complex story: populist leaders have engaged in multilateralism, promoted regional unity, and attempted to create international institutions. And populists as well as non-populists have resisted international institutions. This essay questions the assumption that populists have an antagonistic relationship with international law, and argues that this assumption lacks robust empirical support and is theoretically underdeveloped. Latin America is a particularly significant site for challenging this assumption, given the prominent role of the executive in foreign relations2 and the rich intellectual history regarding populism itself. The essay concludes by stressing the need for developing a theoretical framework for the study of populism and international law, which international legal scholarship currently lacks. Such a framework should be less Euro-centric and less normatively biased: it should not assume that resistance to international law is always without merit. And it should also allow us to identify what is distinctively populist about populism's relation with international law and which aspects are mediated by populism's host ideologies.

Somali Pastoralists’ Right of Access to Cross-Border Ancestral Pastureland: An Assessment of International Law and African Union Regional Policy on Pastoralists

Somali Pastoralists’ Right of Access to Cross-Border Ancestral Pastureland: An Assessment of International Law and African Union Regional Policy on Pastoralists

Proposition for LMS Integration for Share, Exchange, and Spread of Online Lectures under Covid-19 Environment

There has been a movement to share and spread online lectures through OCW and MOOC systems. This movement would have been spread widely and adopted widely if those courses could be easily exchangeable with other platforms or services. If this function is available, learning activities, resources, learning outcomes can be accessed between different platforms and services. With this function, the credit exchange between different platforms or services will be easier. It also facilitates course sharing and circulation. Because the LMS is the basic platform for online classes, providing sharable and reusable learning activities, resources, and learning outcomes across the different LMSs is very demanding for online education. Analyzing LMS use in Korean universities, Moodle, Canvas, and domestic LMSs are founded to be the significant three kinds that are widely used in Korea. In this paper, a method of integrating Moodle, Canvas, and domestic LMS services is proposed. A central Moodle server is installed as the main LMS server, and the method to connect or complement with a central Moodle server is proposed for each different kind of LMS. LMS users can easily access a different kind of LMS as a form of imported course, tightly connected service, or log in as SSO. This proposition can be applied to various service fields such as KMOOC, KOCW, credit exchange, lecture exchange between universities, regional unification of online educational centers as a practical problem-solver.

Distributing the European structural and investment funds from a conflicting claims approach

In order to support economic development across all European Union regions, €351.8 billion –almost a third of the total EU budget– has been set aside for the Cohesion Policy during the 2014–2020 period. The distribution of this budget is made through five main structural and investment funds, after long and difficult negotiations among the EU member states. This paper analyzes the problem of allocating the limited resources of the European Regional Development Fund as a conflicting claims problem. Specifically, we attempt to show how the conflicting claims approach fits this actual problem, and we propose alternative ways of distributing the budget via (i) claims solutions or (ii) the imposition of bounds (guarantees) to each of the regions. By applying this approach we also show that there is a claims solution that performs better than the others by reducing inequality and promoting convergence to a greater degree. It is clear that political bargaining will always be part of the allocation process. However, having an intuitive initial proposal may help politicians to find the best agreement. To that effect, we propose the use of a claims solution as a way to find an initial proposal for future policy changes concerning the allocations of the EU structural funds.