Western Partners Research Articles

Turkey and NATO: the Biden’s Factor. Part 2: Afghanistan

The first part of the article examined the reasons for the deterioration of relations between Turkey and its Western partners, the European Union and the United States, which has progressed over the past four years. According to the author, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan managed to avoid aggravation of conflict situations fraught with the possibility of their solutions, including by force (for example, in the confrontation between Ankara and Nicosia and Athens). All this largely thanks to his personal relationship with the then US President Donald Trump. A priori, the arrival of Joseph Biden to the White House promised little to Erdogan and the prospects for the development of US – Turkish relations in general. In the second part of the article, the author focuses on the attempts, first of all, by the Turkish leader to normalize his country's relations with the United States and the EU – in the absence of the former factor of mutual personal sympathy between him and the head of the White House (under Trump). Erdogan made the main stake on demonstrating the usefulness of Turkey as a NATO member. The calculation partially justified itself against the background of the growing and aggravated problem of Afghanistan due to the accelerated (by August 31) withdrawal of US and NATO troops from there.

The future of hydropower development in Nepal: Views from the private sector

Private sector actors are taking on an increasingly prominent role in energy transitions, including in hydropower development and finance. Yet, there is little empirical research on the topic. This study covers private sector views on accelerating hydropower investment in Nepal, using Q methodology. Three main viewpoints were identified among 17 interviewed hydropower developers, planners, and investors based in Nepal: 1) Efforts need to be focused on reforming hydropower policies and administration at the national level; 2) Funds for hydropower development need to be increased and sought from a diversity of domestic and foreign private sources; 3) Nepal needs to integrate its energy grid with its South Asian neighbours, starting with India. Areas of strong disagreement include the role of political stability in enabling hydropower development, as well as modes of engagement with Indian, Chinese, and Western partners. Areas of consensus include the need to smoothen land acquisition procedures as well as discomfort with the state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority's perceived monopolistic status in the sector. Overall, this study contributes to debates on private sector involvement in hydropower development with a nuanced empirical assessment of views which contain clear visions for an independent and domestically driven future of the country's hydropower sector.

The UAE’s ‘dogs of war’: boosting a small state’s regional power projection

ABSTRACT This article suggests based on the case study of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that mercenaries as commercial surrogates can become an integral part of an overall effort of military transformation helping regimes in the Middle East to increase military capacity and capability on the battlefield. As the most assertive Arab state post-Arab Spring, the UAE arguably shows the greatest discrepancy between ambitiousness of its strategic objectives and available in-house capacity and capability among states in the region. Consequently, despite its ongoing military transformation, the Emirates more than any other Arab state had to inevitably draw on external surrogates to maintain their military presence in Somalia, Yemen, and Libya. Thereby, the case study of the UAE is quite exceptional in the region, as it has set a new trend for the commercialization of military services at the higher end of the military spectrum when translating capital into military capability and capacity. This in turn confronts Abu Dhabi’s western partners with difficult choices as they rely increasingly on the UAE to bear the burden of conflict in the region.

Africa, armed violences and political instability: the inadequacy of the “law” practiced in Central Africa, from independences to the present day

In black Africa, apart from the abundance of its natural resources and the more or less untouched side of its nature or, if you will, what is still left of it, the picture that we make of it is that of underdevelopment – in opposition to the development that characterizes the countries of the North – as well as its procession of generalized ills (violences, wars, famines, epidemics, etc.), which seems to have become consubstantial – as they are taken up in unity by social scientists and interested in it only by developers and other NGOs. It can be noted that this canvas, which seems to be dedicated to reporting on the deep nature of the continent, necessarily includes within it the “indispensable building blocks” of its definition. Indeed, the identification of violences, for example armed conflicts such as civil wars, rebellions, insurrections, but also forms of nepotism-type violences that distinguish more than elsewhere on the continent, the Central African region, as well as the phenomena of corruption, clientelism, and other financial gabegies, are all characteristic elements of black Africa today. Anything that seems excessively paradoxical insofar as, this Africa singularly, that of the center in particular is full in its soil and basement of immense natural resources that are the subject of uninterrupted exploitation from the very advent of the colonial encounter. Resources that, if they were being exploited by Western partners on the one hand, and, if the revenues generated by this exploitation were equitably redistributed to the population in the form mainly of basic services (health, education, housing and essential infrastructure, roads and bridges, port and airports in particular), on the other hand would effortlessly compensate for these evils which are, it is seen, more the consequence of too much wealth of these regions articulated in the principle of capitalism , unfortunately for them, the leitmotif is first and foremost a profit described as immoral at the expense of human reason. Key words: Africa, decolonization, violence, law, philosophy of history, philosophical anthropology, political instability.

India and China in Africa: Rivalry or catching up?

The South-South cooperation has been experiencing a second youth with the deepening of Sino-Africa and Indo-Africa relations. In order to secure an important part of the Black continent’s enormous natural resources, China and India have pledged to build mutual beneficial partnerships with Africa. In the process, both Asian growing economies are infusing the continent with capital, infrastructure and jobs. If the two Asian drivers’ safaris in Africa mark the resurgence of Africa in international affairs after more than a decade of negligence by its traditional Western partners, the emerging South-South partnership being forged by both countries brand themselves as ‘win-win’ as compared to Western countries relationship with Africa. More, the Indian version, while refuting the idea of being engaged in a strategic rivalry with Beijing, stresses even more to distance itself from the Chinese type that is accused to be solely replicating the old colonial paradigm of the scramble of Africa’s raw material resources. This paper assesses the veracity of this assumption by confronting the Indian’s project main features to their Chinese counterpart through a cross-examination of key dimensions of both countries’ African project and highlights significant similarities as well as notable differences between these two approaches. Key words: Rivalry, competition strategic partnership, south-south cooperation, China-Africa, India- Africa.

DEVELOPMENT OF COLLECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION IN POST-SOVIET PROTESTANTISM

The emergence of Baptist seminaries in Ukraine was influenced by Western churches or missions and in some cases by the Ukrainian diaspora, which had lived outside Ukraine for a long time. The decisive influence was exerted by representatives of churches, educational institutions and Christian universities in the United States. Seminaries went through a number of stages of their own development, during which the forms of collective leadership changed. The first stage is the emergence of seminaries and the harmonization of seminars to unified standards. In the first stage, immediately after the seminary was established, they had very friendly relations with local churches, the programs were very flexible and responded to the needs of the churches. Church leaders saw these initiatives as part of church ministry. The second stage is the extensive development of seminaries, by which the author means the involvement of additional resources in the work of seminaries and the growth of seminaries, associated with the number of students, and for some seminaries - the opening of branches or field programs. This type of growth was also due to the fact that seminaries began to become more independent of national churches, and partnerships with Western organizations became more formalized, which was most often seen in the participation of Western partners in the board of trustees. The third period is a reassessment of the work of seminaries. The beginning of this period is largely related to the global economic crisis of 2007-2008, and its result was the resumption of dialogue between seminaries and churches. The fourth period - institutional changes - is associated with the reaction of the Ukrainian state to the Bologna process and the adoption of the new Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education". The process of preparation for state accreditation and formation of a culture of openness in the national educational environment has begun.

ДОСВІД ВИКОРИСТАННЯ ПОДАТКУ НА ДОДАНУ ВАРТІСТЬ У КРАЇНАХ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОГО СОЮЗУ ТА ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ ЙОГО ЗАСТОСУВАННЯ В УКРАЇНІ

Розкрито зміст податку на додану вартість й особливості його застосування в Україні та країнах Європейського Союзу. Доведено, що податок на додану вартість є найбільш бюджетоутворюючим податком у країнах Європейського Союзу та Україні, а операції з ним здійснюють різні суб’єкти податкових відносин, кінцеві мотиви яких значно різняться та інколи є антагоністичними. Визначено позитивні і негативні сторони застосування податку на додану вартість і подано позиції сторін у науковій дискусії щодо можливостей його подальшого удосконалення або кардинальної заміни іншими податками. Обґрунтовано, що скасування чи заміна податку на додану вартість призведе до великих втрат дохідної частини державного бюджету України, який унаслідок кризових явищ та військово-політичної нестабільності недоотримує запланованих обсягів надходжень. Розглянуто проблеми, переваги і недоліки цього податку в Україні та запропоновано напрями їх вирішення. Доведено, що назріла потреба в удосконаленні системи адміністрування ПДВ і в перспективі потрібно переосмислити підходи щодо усунення неправомірного його відшкодування.

Problems of competitiveness of industries in ensuring the economic security of Russia

The dynamics of the development of the domestic industrial complex shows significant changes in the organization and management of enterprises in recent years. Undoubtedly, global changes in industrial technologies in developed countries have had a significant impact, taking into account digital transformation, intelligent automation and artificial intelligence. In the present conditions, the Russian industrial complex faces a difficult task-to find the necessary resources to improve its own industrial production and thus maintain the ability to compete with foreign manufacturers. The resolution of this issue is complicated by the weakening Russian economy crisis and the growing sanctions pressure from Western partners against the background of a reduced to a minimum investment inflow. The imposed sanctions packages against the Russian economy not only hinder foreign investors, but also act as obstacles to the supply of modern technologies and high-tech industrial equipment to our country, as well as reduce opportunities for organizing cooperation between foreign and domestic developers. In fact, the goals of such sanctions are considered to be the maximum isolation of Russia’s industrial and economic systems for the gradual weakening of our country’s economy.

Russian economic initiatives as perceived by South Africans

In recent years, Russia has sought to establish itself as an important economic partner in South Africa for the first time. Russia has ‘image’ problems that have complicated its economic interaction with South Africa. The image of Russia in the collective consciousness of South Africans is formed primarily by local journalists, politicians and public figures. However, in South Africa, there are no popular publications and websites that consistently support the government’s efforts to strengthen trade and economic cooperation with Russia. South Africans see Russian initiatives as an alternative to the Western and Chinese influence on the local economy. For South Africans, their respect for Western values, achievements and culture is balanced by their rejection of the Western political and economic hegemony. Thus, South Africans see Russia as a potential counterbalance rather than a substitute for its Western partners. Apparently, most South Africans consider economic cooperation with Russia desirable. But the failed and controversial attempts by Russian state-owned companies to participate in important government projects have make the South African public wary of such efforts. The experience of Russian private companies shows that effective cooperation with South Africa is possible if Russian businesses are prepared to work there long and methodically, adapt to the local conditions and face stiff competition from Western and Chinese firms.

The Role and Place of Russia in Raw Energy Exports to the Countries of North Africa

The article defines the results of raw energy export of Russia to the countries of North Africa. It has been established that the volume of demand for Russian energy resources, with the exception of coal and its derivatives, is decreasing, and Russian exporters of hydrocarbon raw materials are facing serious competition in the North African energy market from both traditional partners of North African countries and those who have recently begun to develop their economic space. This situation is a consequence of the cumulative impact of economic and political factors that have a restraining effect on Russia’s presence in the energy market in the region. At the same time, the strengthening of Russia’s position as a reliable geopolitical player against the background of growing distrust in Western partners can help to strengthen cooperation between Russia and the countries of the region, including the energy sector, in the future.

Начало эры Путина (2000–2008)

Received 21.08.2020. The author of the article believes the beginning of the “Putin’s era” – the first two terms of his presidency (2000–2008) – to be generally successful for Russia. In eight years, the bases of the state shaken in the 1990s were strengthened, the threat of an intensive political struggle, which, however, lost much of its outdoor competitive nature, decreased, the economy became stronger, the living conditions of the population improved, the activity and influence of Russia in international affairs increased. This was largely due to the favorable global economic environment for Russia and, above all, high prices for energy resources, which were the main item of Russian exports. No less obvious were the personal achievements of President Putin, who managed to consolidate the unbalanced state, put an end to the pressure of oligarchs on authorities, restore the Kremlin’s control over regional elites, and extinguish hotbeds of separatism in Russia. He has built the very “vertical of power” for which his political opponents, both inside the country and abroad, will consistently criticize him. Having inherited Boris Yeltsin’s policy of developing cooperation with the West, Vladimir Putin at first continued to follow this path, but gradually became disillusioned with the sincerity of Western partners towards Russia. He was most concerned about the eastward expansion of NATO’s military infrastructure, its approach to Russian borders, and the West’s general reluctance to consider Russian interests. Putin openly expressed the accumulated claims against the United States and NATO in February 2007 at the Munich Security Conference. 2007 was a turning point in Putin’s foreign policy towards the West. Since then, the focus has been shifted to protecting Russia’s national interests. Within the country, for eight years, Putin had failed to create a modern, self-regulating and multi-level system of government. The destructive chaos of the 1990s was replaced by centralized “manual control” from the Kremlin, but it also worked with constant failures. The state apparatus, especially at the regional level, did not work effectively enough, and regional authorities often did not follow the orders of the President. The lessons of the first stage of the Putin’s era were: the reasonably required consolidation of the state, building the “vertical of power” often occurred at the expense of the civil society’s interests, the interests of consolidating and expanding democracy in Russia.

Большие маневры Киева – военный и политический аспекты

The Ukrainian government refuses to implement the Minsk agreements in order to resolve the conflict in Donbass. After unsuccessful attempts to change the key points of these agreements in its favor Kiev has made a bet on a military solution of the conflict. However a real threat of Russian intervention has forced Ukraine to temporary abandon its aggressive plans. Along with preparation of a military offensive in the east, Bankovaya has launched a massive attack on the “western front”, trying, on the pretext of “Russian aggression”, to make its Western partners adopt a number of decisions in its interests.

Украина: основные политические итоги года

In 2021 in Ukraine as a result of several objective reasons prerequisites were formed for a serious internal political crisis. Problems related to the shortage of energy resources may become a catalyst for negative processes in the economy and politics which will most likely lead to early parliamentary elections. In the south-east of the country, the Ukrainian leadership is deliberately escalating the conflict, which may lead to the resumption of active hostilities in the region. On the outer contour, Kiev’s Western partners continued a military development of Ukrainian territory, although they are still in no hurry to grant Ukraine the status of a full member of NATO. There have also been no changes in the country's relations with the European Union. Fearing the undesirable consequences of the launch of the Nord Stream 2, Kiev continued to actively fight for the preservation of gas transit through its GTS.

Research methodical bases of efficiency of the innovative legislation

Problem setting. Recently in our country the tendency to introduction of innovative activity in domestic economy has become widespread. This focus is provided by many means. Among them, not the least role belongs to the reliability and effectiveness of legislation. Therefore, both the state strategy and the relevant branch of legislation have already begun to be drafted in order to standardize and speed up the whole process. Analysis of resent researches and publications. This article is a partial continuation of the series of works on the place of business law in the strategy of ensuring innovation in Ukraine and areas for improving innovation legislation. In general, the question of the effectiveness of innovation legislation in Ukraine has been raised by various scientists, for example, Yu. E. Atamanova, O. M. Vinnyk, S. V. Glibko, D. V. Zadykhailo, V. S. Shcherbyna and others. However, methodological principles were given more importance in broad areas, such as N. S. Kuznetsova in civil law, and in the context chosen in the article, little attention was paid. Target of research. The aim of the article is to study the methodological principles of the effectiveness of innovation legislation. Article’s main body. Legislative efficiency methods need to be given the same weight as existing methods for determining the economic efficiency of capital investments, new equipment and automated management systems. In this case, it is necessary to constantly keep in mind both past experience and care for the acquisition of new knowledge. The analysis of the actual effectiveness of the legislation can be carried out in three directions. First, the object of study may be the effectiveness of the internal structure of the system of economic legislation. Obviously, this efficiency can reflect the degree of compliance of the existing structure with the goals of the whole system. Secondly, there is a need to study the effectiveness of the legal system. It is solved by establishing the degree of achievement of the goals of the legal system during its implementation in real conditions. Third, it is necessary to determine the effectiveness of sets of rules of a particular system of legislation (its subsystems or individual rules (elements of the system). This implies that in general the system may have inefficient subsystems and elements, and vice versa – efficient subsystems and elements may be part of an inefficient system. Conclusions and prospects for the development. In the context of studying the problems of the effectiveness of legislation, various new opportunities can be used, which appear in foreign countries and already bring some benefits there. A good example is the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), an independent non-governmental think tank established at the initiative of the Department of Economic Development and Trade and Western partners: the World Bank and the Government of Canada. The main thing is that BRDO is working to simplify the business environment and effective government regulation. In the near future we can expect a successful solution to the problems of efficiency of innovation and through the introduction of digital technologies.

Soviet Recognition of Foreign Higher Educational Credentials in the 1950-90s

This article studies USSRs unique experience in recognizing credentials issued by foreign educational institutions. It pays particular attention to the special circumstances of the countrys involvement in education internationally in this respect. Because its definitions of basic terms in higher education did not correspond with those of its Western partners, cooperation between the USSR and foreign countries was mostly limited to UNESCOs standards, as well as bilateral agreements with friendly states. In addition to analyzing the evolution of its legal aspects, the authors also study the evolution of the administrative apparatus for recognizing foreign degrees. Beginning in the 1970s, special units of Patrice Lumumba University and the Scientific Research Institute of Higher School Problems have made important contributions in this regard. The authors consider cooperation between the USSR and the leading international organizations, such as UNESCO and the Council of Europe, as well. At the same time, they also study the Soviet Unions first steps in recognizing foreign educational standards in light of changes in the international political climate. In short, the article discusses the challenges of recognizing foreign higher education qualifications in the Soviet Union as well as the institutions charged with the task from 1950 to the early 1990s.

Projekt nowelizacji konstytucji Ukrainy z grudnia 2019 roku a perspektywy dokończenia reformy samorządowej

The aim of the article is to analyze the draft amendment to the constitution of Ukraine from December 2019, in the context of completion of the local government reform. The basic research question is: do Ukrainian political leaders have a real will to decentralize the public authority, or is it forced by external factors, mainly by the Minsk agreements? Sources include official documents and press releases, which were subject to institutional and legal analysis. The comparative approach was applied, referring to Polish experience. It was established, that a draft amendment to the constitution from December 2019, consists of two documents: dated on 13 and 27 December. Both drafts were proposed by the Office of the President of Ukraine in a nontransparent way. It caused protests of local government and expert communities, together with Western partners. Eventually, on 16 January 2020, president Volodymyr Zelensky gave in to pressure and withdrew the proposal. The fate of the prolonged local government reform proves that Ukrainian political agenda is created largely not by internal environment, but by external actors.

Аналіз регіональних воєнно-політичних відносин за проблемою вирішення воєнного конфлікту на сході України

In 2020, the global financial and economic crisis intensified by the coronavirus pandemic began, the result of which can be expected not only to slow down regional economic development, but also to change the attitude of the leading powers towards solving the main military-political problem of Ukraine – the military conflict in its East. In 2020, only two resolution options were discussed in the information space: the implementation of the Minsk agreements (position of the Russian Federation) and the UN police mission (position of the United States, Ukraine and Poland). The Russian Federation has reduced information activity and today makes it clear that it has no intention of retreating from its own position. On the other hand, an analysis of military-political events indicates the appearance of signs of a possible change in the position of the western partners of Ukraine, the main of which was the exclusion from the UN priorities of resolving this conflict and its positioning as one from other frozen conflicts. In addition, there are signs of a transformation in assessments of socially significant resonant events, and the coordination of foreign policy regarding Ukraine is weakening. In the context of the economic crisis, the EU begins to look differently at economic sanctions against the Russian Federation, which bring considerable losses to the European economy. Ukraine failed to agree with other negotiators on the revision of the Minsk agreements in its favor. All this indicates an increase in the possibility of losing attention to the conflict in eastern Ukraine from the United States and the EU, and Ukraine should take this possibility into account when forming its own military policy.

When Western measures meet Eastern perspectives: A prototyping analysis of xinren in buyer-seller relationships

This paper contributes to our understanding of xinren within buyer-seller relationships. Xinren is often translated to trust and is critical for the development of strong business relationships. Previous conceptualizations and measurements of xinren have been inconsistent and questionable. Through a novel methodology, prototyping analysis, this research outlines a foundational structure for xinren. A series of 4 studies were conducted on xinren in buyer-seller relationships in China involving a total of 311 participants who were employed in sourcing and procurement (33.23%) or marketing and sales (31.29%), and had spent less than one year working outside China. Central prototypical features include high arousal emotions highlighting the importance of affect-based aspects when developing xinren. Negative features indicate that both trust and distrust may be synergistically operating within xinren. Contributions are also made by outlining both universal trust features and more culturally-nuanced trust features. Suggestions for managers indicate how both Eastern and Western partners may use these results to build deeper trust within their relationships. Future research includes undertaking further prototyping analysis on trust within other cultures to develop foundational structures that may include both universal and culturally-nuanced trust features.

Understanding culture as a dynamic Holarchic duality

This conceptual paper addresses a fundamental issue in understanding culture in relation to cross-cultural business relationships between Eastern and Western partners. The proposition is that contemporary cultural investigations have privileged Western lenses mostly involving scientific rationalism and Cartesian dualism. What is largely excluded are Eastern holistic lenses that are more sensitive to embodied context and paradoxical dualities. The paper explores these different epistemes and develops a synergistic or bi-focal approach that aims to benefit from combining Eastern and Western worldviews. The post-Cartesian approach developed subsequently is based upon the idea that ‘yin-yang’ dualities operate at both a general level and within specific contexts. Culture is described as a dynamic duality between situated symbolic activities and more generalized signified meanings. Activities are described as cultural ‘holons’ nested within a holarchy or hierarchy of holons or ‘holarchy’ Consequently, culture is seen as an emergent property from a hierarchy of dualities. In this holarchy of dualities, images create meanings enacted in activities and translated through performative activities where meanings are sustained by becoming accepted as real through axiomatic acceptance. Recursively, the enactment of axiomatically accepted ideas in activities translates back through ‘masked’ performances to legitimize and institutionalize these ideas and images amongst and between actors. As a result, cultural differences identified as emanating from values viewed as independent variables is regarded as an over-simplification. Cultural differences are likely, in the dynamic holarchy described, to come from different activities or cultural practices and/or in the translations through performativities and representations between activities and cultural structures such as values. There are some universal cultural similarities to these complex processes, but we mainly focus upon the principal cultural differences between the Eastern and Western holonic assemblages of symbolic dualities and that, metaphorically, a bi-focal duality approach reflects reality better than monocled dualism.

To Look East or to West? An Analysis of India’s Trade Policy from Employment Perspective

In the face of mounting protectionist sentiments, aggravated further due to COVID-19, India is redefining its trade policy. This is evident from the fact that India has decided to not join the mega-trade deal, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), giving in to the concern of massive trade deficit with China and other countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). This stance is complete opposite to India’s ‘Look East Policy’. Instead, India is looking for closer trade ties with the United States (US) and the European Union (EU). In this context, this article evaluates the performance of India’s trade, in general, as well as with its Eastern (ASEAN, China, RCEP) and Western partners (US and EU), on its industrial sector employment. Employment is a better measure than trade deficit because employment gives a picture of both growth and distributional aspects of trade effects. Using a dynamic econometric model in a panel framework, it is found that, in general, while export intensity had favourable impact, import penetration had a detrimental impact on industrial sector employment during 1996–1997 to 2016–2017. Region wise analysis shows that trade with ASEAN has been employment enhancing while that with China had a negative impact on employment. On the East versus West looking trade policy debate, analysis suggests that the long run impact of exports, to both the West (EU plus USA) and the East (RCEP) partners, on employment is positive. Also, contrary to the mainstream view, the negative effects of imports, on industrial sector employment, from RCEP appears to be insignificant than that associated with imports from the EU plus USA. Thus, trade agreements with the EU and the US cannot be a substitute for dis-engaging with the resilient Eastern partners. Rather, India should strengthen its trade prospects with its East Asian partners and simultaneously look for export market in the West to enhance its employment creation.