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The World of Romania
They strove to avoid being overly-parochial or nationalistic. The collection is neither exhaustive nor hierarchical, while the selection has no algorithm whatsoever behind it and no other rationale for the choices than every author-student’s own desire to share ideas on the works of a fellow countryman of repute. It is a “pop” exercise of “science / art journalism”, aimed at outliving Romania’s 2018 Centennial celebration, by “trading abroad” pieces of time-proof contemplation. More
Populism.exe in Europe
In recent years, the populist and extremist movements have altered the European Union’s political landscape, cynically capitalizing on a speech based on hate, differences, or any other topic that promised to pay off - regardless of the consequences. Starting with Hungary and Slovakia and continuing with Italy’s Five Stars Movement, or Germany’s AfD, the trend is clear, while framing the issue is a mere step towards accepting that the fundamental European principles and values are at stake. The political forecast in the EU looks rather gloomy since most of the established parties have proved unable to tackle this insidious tide. On the other hand, one must not be surprised that the issues left unaddressed year after year have led to the current political unrest. The fact that demagogy and hatred have been fully operationalized during numerous electoral campaigns with such great success suggests that there is a widespread popular discontent that mainstream politics have failed to address. The number one issue is undeniably the so-called “refugees/migration crisis”. Populists and extremist electoral gains demonstrate something unimaginable a few years ago in the liberal and democratic societies: for the first time in the last couple of decades, people have spoken openly about immigration and how difficult it is to integrate minorities, especially ethno-religious minorities (predominantly Africans and Arabs). The so-called "silent majority" prefers not to participate in debates filled with formal speeches and to sanction this "politically-correct" approach by voting all sorts of anti-system entities. The vote given to populists does not necessarily mean that people identify themselves with their narrative, but that they want to condemn the inability of traditional parties to tackle these problems for such a long period of time. More
The Arctic Maritime Corridor
In the context of ever-growing concern regarding global climate and the consequences that will impact our society in its entirety, it is worthwhile to approach a topic that may be seen in a positive key – the emergence of a new transport route through the Arctic Ocean. This arctic passage would facilitate the maritime commercial link between East Asia and Western Europe and the East Coast of North America by providing an alternative route. On paper it is shorter and therefore could be deemed as a great economic advantage. This article gives a short analysis of the true feasibility of this new and presumptive transport corridor by examining it briefly from 4 points of view: geographic, logistic, economic, and in the end, the geopolitical perspective. More
Apple’s Handheld Evolution: From the Newton MessagePad to the iPhone
Ever wonder how some things came to be? Just look at your phone. We cannot even imagine life without it anymore, but it is not always that we think of how much sweat and tears were put into achieving this particular invention. To be more specific, let us take Apple’s inspiring story. You have most certainly heard of an iPhone. The smartphone that most of us are so familiar with and which has a personal note given by the first-person pronoun “I” is, technologically speaking, based on the touchscreen concept which makes reading, writing and watching videos much easier to carry out. It certainly is a key that opens up a tremendous number of doors for user interactivity and we probably would not be able to give single-word answers when asked “what advantages does the iPhone bring us?” More
Mutating Mindsets and Contagious Behaviours (Part III): Diagnosing the Geopolitical and Geoeconomic Risks of the Coronavirus Outbreak
In the previous parts, we argued why behavioural economics does a better job of explaining consumer and supplier behaviour in the time of the coronavirus outbreak than the neoclassical paradigm. Both approaches were discussed at a theoretical level and were then applied to the current situation as a case study. We can note that the common link between the demand-side behaviour and the supply-side behaviour is uncertainty – perhaps not so much with regards to the threat the virus poses for personal health, but rather towards the public policies and containment measures the authorities will implement which, decidedly, are not very transparent. More
Owning Now, Owing Then. Culturally Sustainable Development Is about Material Property as Much as It Is about Spiritual Legacy
Social Science and Humanities Research Association (SSHRA) is an international community of researchers, practitioners, students and educationists that is devoted to the development and the spread of ideas in the field of social sciences and humanities. SSHRA is promoted by Eurasia Research. SSHRA aims to bring together worldwide researchers and professionals, encourage intellectual development and create opportunities for networking and collaboration. These objectives are achieved through academic networking, meetings, conferences, workshops, projects, research publications, academic awards and scholarships. More
Romanian Capitalist Economic Thought (II)
“The disappearance of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 reflected the collapse of the existing belief system and accordingly the weakening of its support organizations” (North 1997, 18). Such a verdict catches the image of a bivalent process of deconstruction and institutional reconstruction: from former imposition of material and moral servitudes to economic and political liberalization. But that new order – of the market and of the multiparty system – could have been accomplished, ultimately and inevitably, with the same people who inhabited the old institutional and organizational architectures, both at the top and at the base of society. The intellectual scaffolding of transformation became a critical resource, and its training and performance were, among others, functions of epistemic tradition and transfer. More
The Great Firewall of Europe
This issue is about statecraft, long-term strategy and will: Wille zur Macht.Incidentally, it is also about EU policies in trade, defence, democracy, industrial strategy, cybersecurity and digital, the Security Union, counter-terrorism and finance.Europe’s slowness and apparent inability to take strong action to protect its interests has long been decried by stakeholders on all sides. Yet, at the conclusion of Juncker’s term (last #SOTEU 12/9), we have the means to finally protect Europe and start asserting ourselves as a world power. That is, if we manage to get the political understanding and will to wield what is at our disposal. We now have the tools. This is about a cluster of policies coming together. Cybersecurity is but one piece of the puzzle. More
People-to-People – The Fundament
Chinese pencils, Chinese pen cases for school, Chinese erasers, Chinese sneakers, Chinese toys - these are some of the symbols associated with China which are still present in the collective memory of the Romanian people. It is a real fact that, on the grounds of the great diplomatic relations that our country has built with China, we have all received with great joy these things, as children. On the other side, Romanian Music, Dance, Dacia, Roman, furniture as a symbol of luxury… But the relations among our countries have gone beyond diplomacy, trade, and mutual support in times of need. And these are perhaps the richest we ever build in the last 70 years, somehow different than any others. Because they are built on a strong, unique foundation: emotional connection between our peoples and sympathy. More
Has Facebook Really Incorporated Us?
Being a social network, Facebook is about protecting privacy with one hand and pledging for publicity with the other. With over two billion users, Facebook scales up (or down) the challenges of every human community (or those of the human species as a whole).While controversies continue to surround its “automatized algorithms” that are “manually… manipulated”, Facebook magnetizes more and more users to its socializing service.We Share the Following 10 essays written by students who Like to scout and scour. More
How to Regulate the Financial System in the Digital Age
In 1920, after the disaster that followed the First World War, contemplating the period before it, Keynes noted:„The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, in such quantities as he might see fit, and reasonably expect their early delivery upon his doorstep; he could at the same moment and by the same means adventure his wealth in the natural resources and new enterprises of any quarter of the world, and share without exertion or even trouble, in their prospective fruits and advantages”. More
ADI DASsler’s “Impossible is Nothing” and “The Miracle of Bern”
“It’s over! Over! Over! Germany are the World Champions!”, Radio reporter Herbert Zimmermann’s jubilant words still resound in the hearts of many Germans, as a newly-created West Germany conquered the most coveted trophy in international football, having beaten the famous “Golden Team” of Hungary in the 1954 World Cup Final. Thus, one of the greatest surprises in the history of the sport opened up new horizons for post-war Germany. What is often overlooked, though, is how Adolf Dassler’s entrepreneurial spirit paved the way for this remarkable performance, for his famous sports shoes helped the German players attain a decisive advantage over their rivals, since the football field from Bern was soaking wet at the hour of the match because of the heavy rain that had fallen that day. More
