The Eastern Partnership Riga Summit should not be a non-event. EPC Commentary, 20 May 2015

The upcoming 21-22 May Eastern Partnership (EaP) Riga Summit will take place against the backdrop of the new geopolitical reality in the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood, in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and ongoing war in Eastern Ukraine. Given the extremely complex geopolitical context, the importance of the Summit and the message it delivers to the partner countries – particularly to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, which have made European integration their foreign policy goal – cannot be underestimated. The Summit needs to send a strong, unambiguous signal reconfirming the EU’s commitment to the EaP, and offer a clear roadmap for the future. If the Summit turns out to be a non-event, with an empty declaration, it risks being perceived as rewarding the bullying policies of Russia.

A captured state? Moldova’s uncertain prospects for modernisation. OSW Commentary No. 168, 22 April 2015

There have been several significant changes on Moldova’s domestic political scene in the wake of the November 2014 parliamentary elections there. Negotiations lasted nearly two months and resulted in the formation of a minority coalition composed of two groupings: the Liberal-Democratic Party (PLDM) and the Democratic Party (PDM). New coalition received unofficial support from the Communist Party (PCRM), which had previously been considered an opposition party. Contrary to their initial announcements, PDLM and PDM did not admit the Liberal Party led by Mihai Ghimpu to power. Moreover, they blocked the nomination for prime minister of the incumbent, Iurie Leancă. Leancă has been perceived by many as an honest politician and a guarantor of reforms. This situation resulted in the political model present in Moldova since 2009 being preserved. In this model the state’s institutions are subordinated to two main oligarch politicians: Vlad Filat (the leader of PLDM) and Vlad Plahotniuc (a billionaire who de facto controls PDM).

Enhancing the Prospects of the EU’s Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas in the Mediterranean: Lessons from the Eastern Partnership. CEPS Commentary, 24 June 2015

In their March 2015 Consultation paper on the review of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the European Commission and the High Representative raised the question whether the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs) “are the right objective for all or should more tailor-made alternatives be developed, to reflect differing interests and ambitions of some partners?” Such ambitious but complex trade agreements have now finally been signed with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, but they are still on the table for several Mediterranean ENP countries. Although these Mediterranean partners have a completely different political, economic and legal relationship with the EU, some important lessons can be drawn from the ‘Eastern DCFTA experience’. In particular, the DCFTA negotiators should avoid overly ambitious and ill-defined legislative approximation commitments and develop a comprehensive implementation strategy.

In the shadow of history. Romanian-Moldovan relations. OSW Studies 53, September 2015

Romania and Moldova have developed very strong ties, resulting mainly from many years of common history (including joint statehood), language and cultural heritage. On the one hand, this closeness fosters bilateral relations, but on the other hand it places a serious burden upon them. This is because Moldovan statehood and identity has in some way been built in opposition to Romanian statehood and identity. Part of Moldovan society (especially the Russian-speaking minority) fears closer cooperation with Bucharest, seeing it as threatening a loss of independence and the declaration of unification with its western neighbour. Historic sentiment is also reflected in Bucharest’s policy towards Moldova. Officially, relations with Chisinau are considered as exceptional, and representatives of the Romanian political class are full of declarations of assistance and support for their eastern neighbour, appealing to the national, cultural and linguistic community. In practice, however, Romanian policy towards Moldova (and hence also the two countries’ bilateral relations) is most often shaped not by sentiment but by political pragmatism, resulting among others from a desire to win the support of the Romanian electorate.

Why Moldova’s European integration is failing. CEPS Commentary, 3 March 2016

As anti-government demonstrations continued in Chisinau, EU foreign ministers reaffirmed their support for Moldova’s political association and economic integration with the EU in the Council conclusions of 15 February 2016. The ministers also confirmed that all 28 EU member states have ratified the Association Agreement between Moldova and the EU. Despite this progress, Moldova’s European integration project is in tatters. According to an authoritative survey commissioned by the National Democratic Institute in November 2015, only 40% Moldovans support European integration; 44% are in favour of Eurasian integration, however. [1] As Russia steps up the pressure on Moldova, these trends are worrying for the EU.

Georgian drift. The crisis of Georgia's way westwards. OSW POINT OF VIEW 57, 2016-02-22

For several years Georgia has been experiencing processes which may be interpreted as symptoms of a deepening, multidimensional social and political crisis. Reforms have lost momentum, stagnation has set in, and in some areas the situation has begun to revert to the pre-revolution status (including rising crime levels). The Georgian political system has found itself in a serious crisis, while society has become increasingly frustrated and apathetic, mainly because people’s standards of living have been stagnating. This political and social malaise has been breeding Euro-scepticism and disenchantment with the West. A country that had been firmly navigating westwards, Georgia has now started drifting and slipping into malaise. This risks reversing what the country has achieved so far in the internal dimension, increasing instability and triggering a crisis in the pro-Western vector of Tbilisi’s foreign policy. While that may not necessarily mean a turn towards Russia, in the present situation it has been easier for Moscow to pursue its own interests in the region. Should Tbilisi’s pro-Western course become reversed or permanently stagnant, that would entail grave consequences for the country itself and beyond. It would be a defeat for the West and would undermine the European aspirations of countries like Ukraine or Moldova.

Documente de artǎ româneascǎ din manuscripte vechi,

No more published?

Entomologicheskoe obozrenie.

Suspended 1918-21, 1931-32, 1934, 1936, 1939-44.

Within the pale; the true story of anti-Semitic persecutions in Russia,

Mode of access: Internet.

Late-career international migration and reproductive work. A comparison between Peruvian and Ukrainian women in the Southern Europe

Research on the relationship between reproductive work and women´s life trajectories including the experience of labour migration has mainly focused on the case of relatively young mothers who leave behind, or later re-join, their children. While it is true that most women migrate at a younger age, there are a significant number of cases of men and women who move abroad for labour purposes at a more advanced stage, undertaking a late-career migration. This is still an under-estimated and under-researched sub-field that uncovers a varied range of issues, including the global organization of reproductive work and the employment of migrant women as domestic workers late in their lives. By pooling the findings of two qualitative studies, this article focuses on Peruvian and Ukrainian women who seek employment in Spain and Italy when they are well into their forties, or older. A commonality the two groups of women share is that, independently of their level of education and professional experience, more often than not they end up as domestic and care workers. The article initially discusses the reasons for late-career female migration, taking into consideration the structural and personal determinants that have affected Peruvian and Ukrainian women’s careers in their countries of origin and settlement. After this, the focus is set on the characteristics of domestic employment at later life, on the impact on their current lives, including the transnational family organization, and on future labour and retirement prospects. Apart from an evaluation of objective working and living conditions, we discuss women’s personal impressions of being domestic workers in the context of their occupational experiences and family commitments. In this regard, women report varying levels of personal and professional satisfaction, as well as different patterns of continuity-discontinuity in their work and family lives, and of optimism towards the future. Divergences could be, to some extent, explained by the effect of migrants´ transnational social practices and policies of states.

TTIP vs. BRICS: Consequences on Geopolitics and Internacional Relations of the XXIst. Century

The TTIP is a proposal on negotiations between the EU and the USA in order to create the largest free international trade area by extension, population and volume of trade of all existing ones. In our view, TTIP would be the geoeconomic answer to BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), as a comercial, geopolitical and cooperation space in other areas such as the military, in both that TTIP reproduce on a commercial scale the political and military alliance already existing between good part of the EU and USA by the NATO. In this paper we will try to explain why the possible rivalry between TTIP and BRICS would reproduce in the XXIst. Century the schemes of “Cold War” inherited from XXth. Century, that in turn reproduced the geopolitical confrontations arising from the theory of Haltford McKinder pivot area and the traditional opposition between thalassocratic imperialisms (government on the seas and oceans) and tellurocratic imperialisms (government on an enormous portion of emerged land). Likewise, we will try to show why, at a dialectic of States level, the most populated, territorially extensive and with greater amount of resources political societies will be those that have the greatest ability to impose a particular model of international relations and its geopolitical hegemony on a universal scale in response to this viable confrontation between TTIP, plus TTP, vs. BRICS.

La Políticas Exterior de Rusia en Oriente Medio. ¿Continuidad o Cambio?

El recorrido histórico por la política exterior de la URSS/Rusia hacia Oriente Medio en el último siglo presenta una línea de continuidad, apenas alterada por las dinámicas espaciotemporales vividas por el país. Rusia ha ejecutado una política exterior más orientada a responder a los movimientos norteamericanos en la región que a consolidar una presencia activa, de iniciativas propias. Sin embargo, la situación creada tras los levantamientos de 2011 y el conflicto sirio le han permitido a Moscú recuperar una activa presencia regional en temas político-militares y obtener ventajas económicas y comerciales. Con una limitada intervención militar en Siria, Rusia ha consolidado su posición mundial de gran jugador estratégico, y ha obtenido unas ventajas político-diplomáticas que le permiten ejecutar una política exterior dictada por el carácter instrumental de sus propios intereses.

El hombre perdido: Ramón Gómez de la Serna y Albert Camus

[es] Se establece aquí una relación entre dos obras narrativas publicadas durante los años posteriores a la Segunda Guerra Mundial: El hombre perdido (1947), de Ramón Gómez de la Serna, y La chute (1956), de Albert Camus. Se establece la relación en el plano del pensamiento filosófico y político y se señalan las coincidencias entre las obras. La ciudad, el paseante solitario, el distanciamiento del «gregarismo» y la defensa del individuo coinciden con un leitmotiv, el suicidio, que se da insistentemente en los años cuarenta como consecuencia del desasosiego contemporáneo, la guerra, el nazismo y el totalitarismo socialista impuesto en la URSS, defendido en numerosos núcleos de intelectuales europeos y americanos. [en] This article deals with the connection between two prose works published during the years after World War ii: El hombre perdido (1947) by Ramón Gómez de la Serna and La chute (1956) by Albert Camus. The article examines the relationship from a philosophical and political perspective and establishes the coincidences in both writers’ works. The city, the solitary stroller, the distance from «gregariousness» and the defense of the individual coincide with a leitmotiv, suicide, which has been insistently present during the 1940s as a consequence of contemporary unease, war, Nazism and the socialist totalitarianism imposed on the USSR and supported by many European and American intellectual groups.

Late eneolithic and bronze age prologue pontic societies . Forest-steppe middle dniester and prut drainage basins in the 4th/3rd-2nd millennium bc: a history of investigations

The paper presents a historiographic context helpful in the current investigations of the cultural contacts between the societies of the east and west of Europe in the borderland of Podolia and moldova in the late Eneolithic and the prologue of the Bronze age . The focus is on the state of research (chiefly taxonomic and topogenetic) into the sequence of taxa in the age of early ‘barrow-building’, identified in the funerary rituals of societies settling the forest-steppe of the north- western Black Sea Coast in the 4th/3rd-2nd millennium BC .

The effects of celebrity endorsement on the consumers’ perceptions towards global brands

Brands are those lifestyles which consumers chose to buy in order to gain the value offered by the company, in order to be part of the community created through the brand equity elements and validated in the purchase of the products. Companies have understood how important it is to build a strong brand and many of them spend millions on aligning the brand with the design and style of the products, projecting the face and values of the company into the advertising campaigns. One of the most popular methods is through endorsement, placing a renounced celebrity and leveraging on the positive feedback of those customers that also follow the activities of the star whose face is on the cover of the marcom campaign. Celebrities have been used for a very long time to promote brands, sell products and services. Research has shown that those spokesmen of a brand who are more attractive can improve the statistics of recall and appeal more interest to the promotion campaign, as well as influence more on customer’s intention of buying the product (Kahle and Homer, 1985). The main purpose of this research is to investigate how celebrity endorsements influence the brand equity dimensions (brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand associations) as well as stimulate consumers’ word-of-mouth through brand identification, growth in interest and the advertising memorability. The hypotheses were tested with the aid of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) in the PLS (Partial Least Squares) software. The survey is comprised of a target group of 589 respondents, from three countries – Brazil, Moldova and Portugal. Results evidence that the Attitude towards the Celebrity influences different Brand Equity dimensions and affects brand identification, growth in advertisement interest and advertising memorability, generating positive word of mouth (or negative, depending on the type of advertisement and reputation). Based on these findings we suggest further investigation in this area with the possibility to gain more data about the different fields of marcom and the different types of CE which are more appropriate for the given type of business.