Eastern Journal of European Studies

 Tomaz Ponce Dentinho,  Karima Kourtit,  Peter Nijkamp

ABSTRACT: Q analysis is a frequently used, multivariate exploratory technique in the social sciences which seeks to identify and analyse commonalities and differences in the respondents' rankings of a set of relevant individual qualitative statements. It has some intrinsic weaknesses which may be overcome by widening and deepening the underlying multivariate statistical approach. This new technique, termed a Generalized Q method, is able to handle an enlargement of the number of ranked combined statements based on a structured re-combination of the rankings of simple statements. This method will be presented in this paper. We employ a simple illustrative data set in our study. In comparing the traditional and the Generalized Q analysis, the same questionnaire data are used to apply and assess both methods, to compare the results, and to highlight the advantages of the Generalized Q method. We find that the latter technique is able to take account of many simple questionnaires with trustful responses, allows for an expansion of the number of respondents, facilitates the naming and interpretation of the extracted multivariate components, and is able to test the consistency of the responses.

KEYWORDS: Q analysis; qualitative analysis; generalized Q method; Principal Component Analysis

Pages: 5-21 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0201

Viktorie Klimova, Klaudia Glittova, Vladimir Zitek

ABSTRACT: Innovation vouchers are a tool of innovation policy, which aims to initiate cooperation between different actors, particularly between the business and research entities. The paper compares the implementation of vouchers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Its objective is to compare the policy approaches to innovation vouchers in two countries in Central Europe which have a shared history, but which, at some point, went their own way. Vouchers in Czechia have a longer tradition and were first initiated at the regional level. In Slovakia, vouchers were only implemented at the national level and with a lower budget. The research confirmed the persistent differences in the innovation policies and the more proactive approach in Czechia. The paper's contribution also lies in the focus on transitive economies, which have received less research attention so far. Implications for the design of innovation policies in countries with emerging innovation systems are included.

KEYWORDS: innovation voucher, innovation policy, cooperation, Czech Republic, Slovakia,

Pages: 22-44 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0202

 Carmen Tamara Ungureanu,   Aura Elena Amironesei

ABSTRACT:  We are witnessing an accelerated technological evolution that has enabled the development of artificial intelligence in various fields, allowing it to gradually infiltrate the entire society. We intend to cover only a small subset of AI technologies in our paper, that of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). Our objectives are to shed light on the legal issues that GenAI can cause and to find solutions to them. We begin with a definition of GenAI in the much broader context of AI technologies. Answers to a few essential questions are to be found: 'How does GenAI work?', 'What could GenAI be used for?', 'What legal issues could arise from using a GenAI?'. To accomplish our goals, we first conduct a literature review to define artificial intelligence (AI) in general and GenAI in particular. Several lawsuits are chosen to illustrate the magnitude of the legal problems and to test the feasibility of possible solutions in both the national and EU legal systems. Then, we analyse GenAI's output, liability for its contents and for its use, altogether with examples of related contractual clauses.

KEYWORDS: generative artificial intelligence, training data, civil liability, advertising

Pages: 45-75 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0203

 Marie Ligocka

ABSTRACT: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between selected macroeconomic variables and the values of representative stock market indices for Central and Eastern European countries in the period Q1 2004 - Q4 2021. The results, based on the Johansen cointegration test, revealed that the selected macroeconomic variables have an impact on the value of stock market indices on the long term. These results are attributed to the importance of the state of the macroeconomic environment for stable business activity. The reason for this is that macroeconomic stability provides better grounds for predicting the development of the market situation and fiscal and monetary policy. The application of VECM estimations and the Granger causality test indicate that the selected macroeconomic variables affect the values of European stock market indices on the long term rather than on the short term. These findings may reflect the expectations of subjects and/or the consequences of policy measures, whose the impacts can only be estimated and may manifest with a significant delay.

KEYWORDS: macroeconomic variables, stock market indices, Europe, cointegration,

Pages: 76-107 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0204

 Anna Triantafyllidou,  Persefoni Polychronidou,  Ioannis Mantzaris

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the relationship between primary energy consumption and economic growth in Greece for the period 1965-2019 by using annual data. The main objective of this study is to investigate whether there is a causal relationship between economic growth and energy consumption. In terms of econometric specificity, ordinary least squares regression (OLS) is used to determine the model in the first step, while the vector self-regulating model (VAR) and the Wald test are used to detect causality. The study differs from the literature in terms of examining the individual energy sources. Total primary energy consumption in Greece is examined in relation to economic growth and individual energy sources separately. According to the results, primary energy consumption in Greece has a big impact on economic growth. The energy derived from non-renewable energy sources has the highest consumption rates. Causality tests show that there is a causal relationship between wind energy consumption and the GDP per capita while causality is observed from the GDP per capita to oil, coal, solar and hydropower consumption.   

KEYWORDS: energy consumption, economic growth, Greece, causality tests

Pages: 108-132 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0205

 Tim Gittins,  Laszlo Letenyei

ABSTRACT: Roma communities in the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) region predominantly work in the informal economy. By focusing on entrepreneurial activities of Roma individuals working in informal municipal waste collection, an induction driven ethnographically oriented research approach is applied whereby findings are thematically derived to create a conceptual model for integration of Roma entrepreneurial activities and formal working practices. In a wider contextual background of environmental sustainability embodied in the 'circular economy', outcomes primarily indicate that Roma informal entrepreneurial activities are driven by social capital formation and are serendipitously beneficial to society. Moreover, paradoxes arise in conflicting purposes of official and informal waste collection practices. The prime theoretical implication is that efforts to formalise Roma entrepreneurial activities are untenable in relation to their overall socio-economic benefits. In practical terms, the study provides indicators for integration of Roma informal entrepreneurial activities into development of circular economy oriented policy.

KEYWORDS: informal entrepreneurship, circular economy, social capital, municipal waste collection

Pages: 133-161 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0206

 Aurika Paskar

ABSTRACT: The article explores the peculiarities of administrative jurisdiction during martial law and its role in safeguarding human rights through judicial protection. It delves into the specific legal regulations governing court activities in such circumstances, highlighting the challenges in protecting human rights. The collaborative mechanisms between courts and judicial self-government bodies are revealed, focusing on ensuring access to justice during martial law. The administrative court's pivotal role in human rights protection is emphasized, along with the disclosed mechanisms for facilitating administrative justice accessibility in martial law situations. The article also addresses the standards of access to justice, examining their implementation in administrative proceedings and analysing measures introduced to support court functionality. Importantly, it underscores that even in the most challenging conditions, the administrative court must leverage its powers to uphold constitutional rights and human freedoms. Beyond the immediate martial law context, the research subtly highlights the broader implications of digitalization in legal processes. The seamless integration of video conferencing not only ensures unimpeded access to justice but also showcases the transformative influence of technology on legal frameworks. The authors' insightful analysis makes a valuable contribution to the ongoing discourse on the benefits of digitalization in legal practices.

Keywords: judicial protection of human rights, administrative proceedings, martial law, access to the administrative court

Pages: 162-177 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0207

 Ewa Lazniewska,  Tomasz Gorecki,  Joanna Kurowska-Pysz

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic, as an external factor, quite strongly disrupted the existing trends in the evolution of employment in the Polish-German borderland. The objective of the article is to analyse how resilient Polish and German municipalities are to the COVID-19 pandemic. Border regions, due to their specificities, are characterized by weaker resilience to negative external factors, which meant that the COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental effect and caused an upturn in unemployment. The empirical part of the study concerns the Polish-German borderland as a clear example of the described tendencies. The study uses the counterfactual before-after comparison method. The novelty in this approach to the study of this hypothetical rate of unemployment involves filling the gap in the literature regarding research of cross border regions, while also developing the existing approaches in the research method used. The results of the survey indicate that the unemployment rate in the Polish-German borderland area has risen (after and due to the pandemic). There are some major differences in how the pandemic has impacted the labour market. Considering the counterfactual approach used, this difference can be described as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

KEYWORDS: resilience, labour market, Covid-19, Polish-German borderland

Pages: 178-199 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0208

 Oğuz A. Turhan

ABSTRACT: Why did the Russian leader take this course of action despite the risk of a severe armed conflict, which could potentially escalate to nuclear warfare and the prospect of an extreme sanction regime? This article discusses the question through Neoclassical realist lens, utilizing a case-centric, explaining-outcome variant of process-tracing analysis. The objective of the study is to establish a minimally sufficient explanation for the outcome in question. Within this framework, I identify three intervening variables: the foreign policy executive's (FPE) perception of the relative distribution of power; the political culture; and the FPE's extractive capacity. Findings indicate that three factors have played a crucial role in the process leading up to the war: first, the perception of the NATO enlargement as not only a threat to Russia's security, but also as a challenge to its great power status; second, the incompatibility of modern nation-building practices and narratives in Ukraine, coupled with a contrasting interpretation of the concept of sovereignty; third, a diminishing 'window of opportunity', viewed as a strategy within the context of preventive war.

KEYWORDS: Russia, Ukraine, Neoclassical realism, invasion, NATO

Pages: 200-220 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0209

 Ovidiu Gherasim-Proca

ABSTRACT: Unlike all other former socialist countries admitted as EU members before or after them, Romania and Bulgaria entered a particular supervision regime under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, which was supposed to help them to consolidate the rule of law and to actively impede corruption and organized crime. Years later, after the reforms it inspired engendered fierce political battles, the CVM came to an end. Should its policy instruments be abandoned or not after this sudden conclusion, it is increasingly obvious that their success or failure did not depend on technical decisions only, but also on multifaceted political intricacies of domestic partisanship and power struggles. Through the means of the political analysis, using a context-driven interpretative approach, this article underlines several crucial politically contested issues that have risen over the years and should be taken into consideration in any judicious assessment concerning the reform of the Romanian judiciary. Drawing from the observation of institutional change and public narratives, it distinguishes three persistent tensions: the uneasy relationship between judicial independence and autonomy, the problematic overemphasis of the role of public prosecutor's offices as agents of reform within a liberal-democratic normative framework and the prominence of mediatized contention at the expense of administrative problem-solving.

KEYWORDS: EU driven reforms, judiciary, rule of law, corruption, Romanian politics

Pages: 221-244 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0210

Dumitru Filipeanu, Florin Alexandru Luca, Liviu-George Maha, Viorel Țarcă, Claudiu Gabriel Țigănaș

ABSTRACT: This paper aims to analyse the relation between the digitalization process and the performance of the labour market in the context of the pandemic. Thus, some relevant indicators were used to measure digital proficiency (individuals using the online tools for interaction with public authorities, for sending/receiving e-mails, for finding information about goods and services, for seeking health-related information, and for doing an online course), while the performance of the labour market was evaluated through the employment rate. The main findings are related to the confirmation of the intensification of digital skills during the pandemic, compared to the period before, the increase in digitalization based mainly on online education, as well as the demonstration of the fact that countries with a high level of digital proficiency have high employment rates, especially during the pandemic.

KEYWORDS: digitalization; labour market; employment; pandemic crisis

Pages: 245-264 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0211

 Bashkim Rrahmani   

Pages: 265-268  | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-0212