VOLUME 8(1) • 2016
THE CASPIAN BASIN: GEOPOLITICAL DILEMMAS AND GEOECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES
ABSTRACT. Regions, rich in energy resources, continue to be of crucial interest for our carbon-powered world. There are numerous things at stake to begin with, from international legal status, ownership rights, energy routes, transit corridors, state and corporate interests, environmental hazards an..
A MODEL FOR DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION? WHY POLAND MATTERS
ABSTRACT. Poland is the sixth largest country in the EU and plays an increasingly important role in European affairs. Looking at its history and legacy, Poland has witnessed some of the most momentous events of the last century and in recent years has seen vast changes in its social, economic and po..
GEOPOLITICS, INSTITUTIONS, AND ECONOMICS: ON THE RISE AND DECLINE OF CIVILIZATIONS
ABSTRACT. Geopolitics and economics are interdependent. In the long run, economic growth upsets power balances among great powers and thereby sets the agenda for great power rivalry. As the rise of the West and the decline of China in the early modern age demonstrate, geopolitical factors also affec..
GOVERNMENT BUDGET CRISES
ABSTRACT. Budget crises are now routine. Some countries are drowning in debt, others are on the brink. We consider several explanations and suggest some remedies. (Some of these matters have been discussed in various previously aired venues, such as Machan’s book The Morality of Business [Springer V..
CHINA’S NINE-DASHED MAP: CONTINUING MARITIME SOURCE OF GEOPOLITICAL TENSION
ABSTRACT. The South China Sea (SCS) is becoming an increasingly contentious source of geopolitical tension due to its significance as an international trade route, possessor of potentially significant oil and natural gas resources, China’s increasing diplomatic and military assertiveness, and the U...
EXTREMISM AND ETHNICITY: A CRUCIAL INTERFACE OF CONTEMPORARY GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGY TO BE BETTER ADDRESSED BY INTERNATIONAL POLICY
ABSTRACT. In this six-part strategic assessment, I argue that fighting extremism will require practical institutional solutions for ethnically problematic areas and new Western task forces for the interface between ethnicity and religion. Analyzing the model of the territorial autonomy of the Autono..
IN DEFENSE OF THE EAST ASIAN REGIONAL ORDER: EXPLAINING JAPAN’S NEWFOUND INTEREST IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
ABSTRACT. There has been much debate about the motivations and ramifications of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s desire for Japan to play a more proactive role in strategic affairs in Southeast Asia. The paper argues that the desire to do so stems from a broadening of Japan’s interests in East A..
WAS THERE SOCIALISM IN THE USSR? REGARDING MYTHS IN RUSSIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY
ABSTRACT. The article is devoted to unmasking the myth of Soviet propaganda about the existence of socialism in the USSR. To expose this myth the author uses Marxist theory and explains that politarism, designated by Karl Marx as an Asian mode of production, flourished in Soviet Russia, and not soci..
BUILDING MEMBER STATES: HOW THE EU PROMOTES POLITICAL CHANGE IN ITS NEW MEMBERS, ACCESSION CANDIDATES, AND EASTERN NEIGHBORS
ABSTRACT. This paper reviews the literature regarding the modes of political integration the EU has developed and applied to shape state-building, democracy and rule of law in the new member states, in the current and potential candidates of the Western Balkans, and in the Eastern European Neighbour..
A MEASURE OF NET DEPENDENCY BETWEEN THE ECONOMIES OF THE USA AND ITS MAJOR TRADING PARTNERS
ABSTRACT. How interdependent are the economies of the USA and its trading partners and how does their net dependency evolve trough time? In an attempt to answer these questions, a measure of bilateral net dependency between the USA and a trading partner nation (i) is proposed where net dependency is..