To be or not to be an EU member state – A question for the Balkan aspirants as well? EPC Commentary, 13 July 2016

Last month, a majority of British voters decided that the UK should leave the European Union (EU). In the wake of the Brexit result, anti-EU politicians in a host of member states began to float the idea of putting the same ‘in-out’ option to electorates in their own countries. As the economic and political fallout of the UK’s choice to withdraw from the EU continues to unfold, an acute sense of uncertainty gathers steam and ripples not just through the remaining member states but also their EU-hopeful neighbours in the Balkans. What will the departure of the UK from the EU mean for the Balkan enlargement process?

L'Autriche-Hongrie au Congrès de Berlin, 1878.

Thèse--Univ. de Paris.

The historians' history of the world; a comprehensive narrative of the rise and development of nations as recorded by over two thousand of the great writers of all ages:

Contains bibliographies.

International ties /

Copyright date from verso of t.p.

The historians' history of the world.

Contains bibliographies.

Reconciliation without Forgiveness: The EU in Promoting Postwar Cooperation in Serbia and Kosovo

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Aid allocation of the emerging Central and Eastern European donors

This paper examines the main characteristics of the (re-)emerging foreign aid policies of the Visegrád countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), concentrating on the allocation of their aid resources. I adopt an econometric approach, similar to the ones used in the literature, for analysing the aid allocation of the OECD DAC donors. Using this approach, I examine the various factors that influence aid allocation of the Visegrád countries, using data for the years between 2001 and 2008. The most important conclusion is that the amount of aid a partner country gets from the four emerging donors is not influenced by the level of poverty or the previous performance of the recipients (measured by the level of economic growth or the quality of institutions). The main determining factor seems to be geographic proximity, as countries in the Western Balkans and the Post-Soviet region receive much more aid from the Visegrád countries than other recipients. Historical ties (pre-1989 development relations) and international obligations in the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq are also found to be significant explanatory factors. This allocation is in line with the foreign political and economic interests of these new donors. Although there are clear similarities between the four donors, this paper also identifies some individual country characteristics.

Mathematica Balkanica New Series Book Volume 24 2010

Muharem Avdispahic 1 Coordinator of the TEMPUS Project SEE Doctoral Studies in Mathematical Sciences (144703-TEMPUS-2008-BA-TEMPUS-JPCR) The main goals of the TEMPUS Project ”SEE Doctoral Studies in Math- ematical Sciences”, funded by European Commission under the TEMPUS IV first call, consist of the development of a model of structured doctoral studies in Mathematical Sciences involving the network of Western Balkans universi- ties, the curricula design based on the existing strenghts and tendencies in the areas of Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science and the first phase of implementation of the agreed model during the SEE Doctoral Year in Mathematical Sciences 2011. A decisive step in this direction was ”SEE Young Researchers Workshop” held in Ohrid, FYR Macedonia, September 16-20, 2009, as a part of the Math- ematical Society of South-Eastern Europe (MASSEE) International Congress on Mathematics - MICOM 2009. MICOM 2009 continued the tradition of two previous highly successful MASSEE congresses that took place in Bulgaria in 2003 and in Cyprus in 2006. This volume of the journal Mathematika Balkanica contains the talks de- livered at Ohrid Workshop by South-Eastern European PhD students in various stage of their research towards a doctoral degree in mathematics or informat- ics. Facilitating publication efforts of young researchers from the universities of Sarajevo, Tuzla, Belgrade, Skopje, Stip, Graz, and Sofia fully coincides with MASSEE goals to promote, organize and support scientific, research and edu- cational activities in South-Eastern Europe. The consent of the Editorial Board of Mathematica Balkanica to publish ”SEE Young Researchers Workshop” contributions aptly meets intentions of European reform processes aimed at creating the European Higher Education Area and European Research Area. It is an encouragement to these young researchers in the first place and at the same time an encouragement to their institutions in overcoming fragmentation and enhancing their capacities through fostering reciprocal development of human resources.

Aid Allocation of the Emerging Central and Eastern European Donors

The paper examines the main characteristics of the (re)emerging foreign aid policies of the Visegrád countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), concentrating on the allocation of their aid resources. We adopt an econometric approach, similar to the ones used in the literature for analyzing the aid allocation of the OECD DAC donors. Using this approach, we examine the various factors that influence aid allocation of the Visegrád countries, using data for the years between 2001 and 2008. Our most important conclusion is that the amount of aid a partner county gets from the four emerging donors is not influenced by the level of poverty or the previous performance (measured by the level of economic growth or the quality of institutions) of the recipients. The main determining factor seems to be geographic proximity, as countries in the Western-Balkans and the Post-Soviet region receive much more aid from the Visegrád countries than other recipients. Historical ties (pre-1989 development relations) and international obligations in the case of Afghanistan and Iraq are also found to be significant explanatory factors. This allocation is in line with the foreign political and economic interests of these new donors. While there are clear similarities between the four donors, the paper also identifies some individual country characteristics.

Aid Allocation of the Emerging Central and Eastern European Donors

The paper examines the main characteristics of the (re)emerging foreign aid policies of the Visegrád countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), concentrating on the allocation of their aid resources. We adopt an econometric approach, similar to the ones used in the literature for analyzing the aid allocation of the OECD DAC donors. Using this approach, we examine the various factors that influence aid allocation of the Visegrád countries, using data for the years between 2001 and 2008. Our most important conclusion is that the amount of aid a partner county gets from the four emerging donors is not influenced by the level of poverty or the previous performance (measured by the level of economic growth or the quality of institutions) of the recipients. The main determining factor seems to be geographic proximity, as countries in the Western-Balkans and the Post-Soviet region receive much more aid from the Visegrád countries than other recipients. Historical ties (pre-1989 development relations) and international obligations in the case of Afghanistan and Iraq are also found to be significant explanatory factors. This allocation is in line with the foreign political and economic interests of these new donors. While there are clear similarities between the four donors, the paper also identifies some individual country characteristics.

Land Policy and Farm Structure: Challenges and Opportunities for Agriculture in the Western Balkan

Although Western Balkan countries are quite different, they can all be characterised by their one shared goal, to achieve the quickest possible accession to the European Union. Even though agriculture plays an important key role within all Western Balkan states, it’s share is the highest in Albania and only Serbia has a trade surplus. Land is a key production factor but all the analysed countries can be characterized by fragmented land structure and low average farm sizes. Mostly based on land ownership issues, a land reform index can be calculated. The major contribution of this paper to the literature is the reevaluated land reform index for the Western Balkans.

Downcore rock-magnetic properties of ICDP Core 5045-1, Lake Ohrid

The bulk magnetic mineral record from Lake Ohrid, spanning the past 637 kyr, reflects large-scale shifts in hydrological conditions, and, superimposed, a strong signal of environmental conditions on glacial-interglacial and millennial timescales. A shift in the formation of early diagenetic ferrimagnetic iron sulfides to siderites is observed around 320 ka. This change is probably associated with variable availability of sulfide in the pore water. We propose that sulfate concentrations were significantly higher before ~320 ka, due to either a higher sulfate flux or lower dilution of lake sulfate due to a smaller water volume. Diagenetic iron minerals appear more abundant during glacials, which are generally characterized by higher Fe/Ca ratios in the sediments. While in the lower part of the core the ferrimagnetic sulfide signal overprints the primary detrital magnetic signal, the upper part of the core is dominated by variable proportions of high- to low-coercivity iron oxides. Glacial sediments are characterized by high concentration of high-coercivity magnetic minerals (hematite, goethite), which relate to enhanced erosion of soils that had formed during preceding interglacials. Superimposed on the glacial-interglacial behavior are millennial-scale oscillations in the magnetic mineral composition that parallel variations in summer insolation. Like the processes on glacial-interglacial timescales, low summer insolation and a retreat in vegetation resulted in enhanced erosion of soil material. Our study highlights that rock-magnetic studies, in concert with geochemical and sedimentological investigations, provide a multi-level contribution to environmental reconstructions, since the magnetic properties can mirror both environmental conditions on land and intra-lake processes.

The relationship between vegetation and modern pollen assemblages on Mount Paggeo (NE Greece)

In this study, we investigated the relationship between vegetation and modern-pollen rain along the elevational gradient of Mount Paggeo. We apply multivariate data analysis to assess the relationship between vegetation and modern-pollen rain and quantify the representativeness of forest zones. This study represents the first statistical analysis of pollen-vegetation relationship along an elevational gradient in Greece. Hence, this paper improves confidence in interpretation of palynological records from north-eastern Greece and may refine past climate reconstructions for a more accurate comparison of data and modelling. Numerical classification and ordination were performed on pollen data to assess differences among plant communities that beech (Fagus sylvatica) dominates or co-dominates. The results show a strong relationship between altitude, arboreal cover, human impact and variations in pollen and nonpollen palynomorph taxa percentages.