Rendszerkritikai útkeresés 1989 után (Antikapitalista baloldal)

Author(s): Tamás Gerőcs,András Pinkasz / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 23/2018

This volume, edited by Eszmélet (Consciousness) is a collection of writings that seek to find a new role for the anti-capitalist cause in the Hungarian left since the regime change. The collection covers documents on the social and political experience of the capitalist transition, and debates amongst the contributors of the journal on that pieces of experience. The closing chapter is an evaluation of the workers’ council activity in 1956. The message of the volume can be summarized as the historical perspective of communal initiatives like the workers’ council in the revolution of 1956. The initiatives were beyond their own historical perspectives and carry more universal teachings that should be applied to the more recent crises-prone times.

Informális gazdaság, népi önszerveződés és „posztneoliberális” baloldali rezsimek Latin-Amerikában (Verónica Gago: Neoliberalism from Below)

Author(s): Ágnes Gagyi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 24/2018

In Neoliberalism from Below—first published in Argentina in 2014—Verónica Gago examines how Latin American neoliberalism is propelled not just from above by international finance, corporations, and government, but also by the activities of migrant workers, vendors, sweatshop workers, and other marginalized groups. Using the massive illegal market La Salada in Buenos Aires as a point of departure, Gago shows how alternative economic practices, such as the sale of counterfeit goods produced in illegal textile factories, resist neoliberalism while simultaneously succumbing to its models of exploitative labor and production. Gago demonstrates how La Salada’s economic dynamics mirror those found throughout urban Latin America. In so doing, she provides a new theory of neoliberalism and a nuanced view of the tense mix of calculation and freedom, obedience and resistance, individualism and community, and legality and illegality that fuels the increasingly powerful popular economies of the global South’s large cities.

Васил Мутафов. Колелото на съдбата. Българското гурбетчийско градинарство (етнографски аспекти). Велико Търново: ДАР-РХ, Издание на Изследователския институт на българите в Унгария към Българското републиканско самоуправление в Унгария, 2018

Author(s): Galya Chohadzhieva,Iliya Valev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2019

Book Review

Szolidáris gazdaság és kapitalizmus

Author(s): Ágnes Gagyi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 27/2020

In face of the global economic and climate crisis, a growing consensus of green, feminist and left movements converges around the idea of a reproductive, democratic economy. This article reviews the specific new models that have gained currency in recent discussions due to support by new Western movements, and then places these models in global and Hungarian contexts. First, it shows how new streams of thinking about reproductive autonomy in economy fit into a long-term tradition of critical thought on capitalism - and particularly, the tradition of critical research and strategic organizing that conceived capitalism not only in its relation to wage labor, but in terms of long chains of accumulation that reach from wage labor to various forms of informal, free and bonded labor, and “cheap” nature. Then, the article shows how system-level contradictions between capital’s limited accommodation capacity and labor’s reproduction have played out in the long crisis of the postwar global cycle starting from the 1970’s. It shows how labor’s capacity to reproduce itself outside of capitalist relations has served both as a puffer and a resource for maintaining relations of accumulation despite a decline in accommodation capacity, and as a new ground for anti-capitalist political organizing. The last part of the article looks at Hungary. It reviews the main shifts through which reproductive labor has been incorporated into accumulation streams throughout the history of modernization, and how growing areas of informal reproductive labor have been part of the social negotiation of the global crisis since the 1970’s locally. The article concludes that informal reproductive labor works as a systemic component in today’s accumulation regime. On the one hand, this shows its power - without the bottom-up subsidies informal reproductive labor provides to capital, systemic structures of accumulation would collapse. On the other hand, this shows that the capacities of reproductive labor are subordinated to accumulation streams. The question of solidarity economy, from this perspective, is how this existing capacity for reproduction can be organized in such a way that connects its power in growing reproductive circuits, and shields them from extraction.

Smart dwellings

Author(s): Mihaela Zamfir (Grigorescu),Mihai Viorel Zamfir,Ileana Ciobanu,Andreea Georgiana Marin / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2021

Preamble: The pandemic with COVID-19 that we have been experiencing globally for almost one year now brings continuous challenges on many levels, the built environment being an important one. Social distancing meant that during this period housing has been requested differently, first as a shelter, now as a space in which we have to work or learn. Objectives: The research aims to identify dwellings parameters that need reconsideration from the pandemic experience with COVID-19, how these can be adjusted in order to meet safety and comfort requirements to ultimately maintain well-being. Prior work: The paper investigates the latest written documents on the influence of the pandemic with COVID-19 on the built environment, including published articles, peer-reviewed articles, digital blog posts, expert opinions. Approach: The research is of narrative review type and interdisciplinary investigation of the specialized literature but at the same time it is also a reflection of the personal experience of the authors during COVID-19 pandemic. The following parameters of the home are analyzed: areas, dimensions, functions, finishes, accesses, lighting, relationship with the outdoor. Results: Health, safety and comfort are 3 aspects that were tested during the quarantine period and are essential when we talk about housing and pandemic dwellings. It is estimated that there will be changes in the design of new residential buildings, collective and individual. Homes will need versatility, more generous spaces, functional expansions so as to cover both living and work or learning areas. There is talk of a living architecture but at the same time of touchless technology. The post-pandemic COVID-19 architecture will emphasize the user's well-being, but with much more emphasis on safety issues. Implications: The challenges of the pandemic will influence the design process with possible changes in regulations, with an impact on architects, verification requirements, and contractors but also costs for the beneficiary. The architecture of post-pandemic housing will be an interdisciplinary collaboration between architect and specialists such as medical doctor, biologist, psychologist, engineers. Value: The paper highlights the importance of the need for an interdisciplinary approach in the design of housing, a new aspect catalyzed by the pandemic with COVID-19.

Към политическата икономия на Aприлското въстание 1876 г.

Author(s): Pencho D. Penchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2021

Based on a politico-economic analysis, the paper provides answers to important questions about the April Uprising of 1876: why the Bulgarians revolted, why many Bulgarians did not revolt, and why the uprising was relatively short as a time-span. According to the available primary sources the Bulgarians who revolted in April 1876 revolted because they were relatively wealthy and as such they had something to lose. Revolutionary sentiments, however, did not prevail in their political views concerning the Bulgarian question. Here comes the role of the propaganda lie about the authority planned massacre of the Bulgarians. As a result, live and property of the future rebels, were considered as endangered. The response to the threat is a risky and desperate anti-state uprising. The organizers of the uprising did not overcome the free-rider problem. The population in the insurgent settlements was left to pay the price of putting the Bulgarian question before Europe. Additional difficulties in the implementation of a relatively mass riot pose the short deadlines for its preparation. They resulted in high prices of and do not allow the supply of larger quantities of weapons and gunpowder.

THE ASSESSMENT OF FISCAL DEFICIT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN TRANSITION COUNTRIES OF SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE

Author(s): Luljeta Gllogjani,Driton Balaj / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

The overall aim of this research is to observe the impact of fiscal deficit on economic growth in the transition economies of South-eastern Europe. The fixed-effects and dynamic linear regression were used to carry out this revision. The data used in this revision are quantitative data annually and cover the period 2005–2019. The outcomes detect that there is a confident and statistically important effect among the fiscal deficit and economic growth for the transition economies of Southeast Europe, supporting the Keynesian theory. Furthermore, the outcomes of this research show that public debt to GDP, foreign direct investment in GDP, exports, and imports in GDP have an important effect on economic growth. Findings have shown that public debt and imports have a positive influence on economic growth, unlike exports and foreign direct investment, which showed an adverse effect on economic growth. Moreover, for other additional factors, the inflation rate, the employment rate, and the real interest rate, the results of the study do not show any significant consequences on economic growth. The research also contributes in the macroeconomic aspect to the opening of discussions among the relevant stakeholders, including those coming from the policy-making area.

HOW GOVERNMENT OUTFLOW AND PUBLIC DEBT AFFECT INFLATION: EVIDENCE FROM SEE COUNTRIES

Author(s): Erëza A. Arifi / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

The study aims to address public debt and government outflow affecting inflation in some of the countries of Southeast Europe, observing a combination of factors both theoretically and econometrically. The investigation included six (6) SEE countries, including the 2006-2020 timeframe, with 90 observations. The dynamic approach, the fixed effect, and the Arellano/Bond estimator were used to check the parameters considered in the study using panel data. Furthermore, the study also applied diagnostic tests such as the Sargan over-identifying restrictions and Pedroni test for cointegration. The results of the fixed effect and Arellano / Bond estimation demonstrate that public debt, current budget outflows, and capital budget outflows affect inflation, while overall budget outflows are insignificant. For further studies, it would be useful to apply other dynamic models by applying other specific factors, which will be considered as a useful contribution to the academic, research, and policy-making structures.

Barbora Půtová. Antropologie turismu. Praha: Karolinum, 2019

Author(s): Vladimir Penchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2021

Book review

Establishing participative Smart Cities: theory and practice

Author(s): Léo J. Portal,Brian Fabrègue / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2022

In recent years, there have been efforts carried out by international organisations, like the OECD or the EU, to push for smart cities to take inclusion as one of their core pillars. This raises the question of a newly discussed concept: participative (or participation) smart cities. More specifically, it raises the question of whether such a setting or program is feasible , and how passive participants can be transformed into active stakeholder. Hence, the objective of this article is to investigate whether participative smart cities exist in 2021 and what drives their success. In order to answer the research question, this article intends to assess the level of citizen participation in a sample of selected smart cities. Based on existing knowledge, a framework listing the most common citizen participative practices, and with the help of a case design of each selected cities, we establish how participative smart cities are feasible and whether there are institutional and political characteristics that make them differ from smart cities that lack participative processes. We find that institutional determinants are key for cities willing to establish participative platforms involving citizens in the city management processes. The article concludes that if smart cities want to follow international organisations recommendations to make cities more inclusive and participatory, institutional reforms must be conducted.

An IoT system for healthcare in the smart city

Author(s): Aleksandra Labus,Branka Rodić,Miloš Radenković,Svetlana MITROVIĆ,Tamara Naumović / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2022

Urban lifestyle, stressful work, a large number of daily obligations significantly affect the occurrence of stress. If stress reduction is not addressed, adverse effects on human health may occur. This paper proposes a model of smart healthcare service based on the Internet of Things. The main goal is to develop an IoT system that will enable real time monitoring of citizens’ stress in a smart city, during their everyday lives. Users of this system can monitor stress level and receive notifications and recommendation how to low down stress via their mobile phones. Depending of the detected stress level, users of the proposed system can be provided with relaxation materials in the form of short relaxing video or audio contents. After the stress level is normalized, the user receives a notification and can continue with normal activities. Unlike well-known solutions for stress management, this solution is wearable and can provide biofeedback to both, users and therapist or healthcare workers. The proposed IoT system is developed using intelligent devices such as mobile phones, Raspberry Pi microcomputer, Arduino microcontroller, and sensors for monitoring heart rate and skin conductivity. As a support for monitoring stress level a responsive web application is developed. All the measured data are stored in the cloud. Based on obtained and analyzed data, users can manage the stress level and prevent disease. The obtained results could serve as a good basis for adoption and implementation of stress management as a smart city service.

Smart government in local adoption

Author(s): Christian SCHACHTNER / Language(s): English Issue: 03/2021

The digital revolution is an issue for local authorities to actively shape the dynamic change of service expectations.The Objectives of the research project are investigations in how AI-support can speed up decisions of authorities in unknown, dynamically changing situations professionally. The scientific interest lies in the question of possible linking options between learning theories of adult human education and deep learning strategies of machine learning approaches. The Prior work serves the element of service optimization for citizens or business concerning the use of AI-applications for direct interaction and for process optimization in the background of processing.The Approach is in addition to an introduction to the basic user scenarios of AI technology in the public task spectrum of local governance. In this respect, it bases on the empirical findings of the study ‘Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration - Fields of Application and Scenarios”.The Results concern the understanding that human and AI-basic technologies are action-oriented learning systems performing in the fields of creating services in the web 4.0, such as the internet of things. Development learning theories, such as transformative learning for Data Scientists and Public Managers, should have an impact on more customer related AI-applications.The Implications of this interdisciplinary projekt should give an impact to academics in the public management and data sciences as well as specialists of learning in the field of human and machine-interaction. For practioners and leaders of local authorities, the possibilities of implementing AI-services should become clear.The Value of the paper lies in the combination of administrative, learn-strategic, technological, and ethical requirements to be proposed in order to get the application scenarios of AI off the ground, also in the sense of acceptance management in the face of persistent innovation blockades of general ‘smart government’ measures.

Smart societies, gender and the 2030 spotlight - are we prepared?*

Author(s): Bissera Zankova / Language(s): English Issue: 03/2021

knowledge. Today this process is driven by the new information and communications technologies. While digitisation is permeating all areas of life, it has become clear that technological revolution is not just a purely technical (or economic) process, but also a social one and it is not gender-neutral. Technology can help women and girls access new opportunities, means of expression and channels for participation. However, technological boom can also cause imbalances in the convergent environment. People will need a variety of skills to be able to contribute on an equal footing to the digital transformations but these skills are not equally distributed across all social groups. Debates nowadays extend even further to encompass artificial intelligence and experts have repeatedly underlined that advanced automation technologies can bring about not only great opportunities for humanity but also risks. Challenges can stem from the accelerated use of artificial intelligence without respecting such categories like gender, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity. International bodies raise the admonition that “transparency and accountability for the data behind AI is critical to reducing bias, but very difficult to govern or enforce.” The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [1] embody a human rights’ based roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind. Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is a crucial goal among others in this important set of priorities for humanity. Only by ensuring the rights of women and girls across all the goals will we get thriving economies, a sustaining environment now and for future generations and genuine social inclusion for a smart society. The article will present a new elaborated version of the summary of the research on gender issues in the converged environment done in the period 2018 – 2020 within the EC COMPACT project.

Słowo od Redakcji: Nowe stulecie RPEiS / Editorial: Into the second century of the Poznań Journal of Law, Economics and Sociology

Author(s): Marek Smolak / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 1/2022

CHINA’S GEO-ECONOMIC INTEREST IN AFRICA: A SHORT OVERVIEW

Author(s): Jajati K. Pattnaik,Chandan K. Panda / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

The article examines China’s geo-economic interest in Africa. China intends to exercise its leverage over both coastal frontiers for trade and defense and its hinterland for rich mineral, metal, and fossil deposits. Furthermore, the debt trap seems to be one of the methods through which China intended to bargain with Africa to bag as much advantage as it could gain. The question that emerges from this critical engagement with China-Africa relations is to look into how the reality of Africa’s narrative of development is projected both from outside and within and the contradiction embodied in that projection. China used the narrative of development to set its feet on African soil. This paper discusses China’s penetration into Africa by offering interest-free loans and its gradual emergence as a neocolonial power through expanding its network. The method used in the study to establish China’s monopoly and interfering streak in African affairs through BRI is the analysis of available data based on which the objectives and the conclusions are drawn.

Взаимодействието културно наследство – творчество: как модните дизайнери преоткриват културното наследството като съвременен дизайн

Author(s): Kristina Savova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2021

The aim of the article is to outline and analyse the relationship between fashion and cultural heritage as a source of inspiration for fashion designers. Several examples of French fashion houses are considered, and fashion as art is discussed. In the highly competitive context of modern global fashion and luxury industry, creative practices and processes can be viewed in direct connection with cultural heritage. The interaction between cultural heritage and the creative process is strategic. It works at all levels and includes all components of the production chain, integrating the creation, design, production, and communication. Fashion designers, along with their aesthetic canons, rediscover archetypes, values and imagination, but rethink them in an appropriate, concrete and creative way. The designers offer new visions and meanings, as they experience original processes and approaches. Furthermore, they introduce social, political and cultural issues into the design philosophy, apply new craft skills in the design process or even utilize music and youth culture into the heritage of brands. In this way, cultural heritage is rediscovered as a modern and contemporary design.

Валентина Ганева-Райчева, Десислава Димитрова, Петър Петров, Теодора Иванова, Юлия Босева, Яна Янчева (авт. кол.). Растения и хора. Приближения към биокултурните връзки. София: Ерове, 2021

Author(s): Natalia Rashkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2021

Book review

MANAGEMENT’S PERCEPTION OF THE DETERMINANTS THAT INFLUENCE SMEs PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM KOSOVO

Author(s): Sokol Krasniqi,Arta Jashari Goga,Ismail Mehmeti / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are now unquestionable contributors to economic development on the one side and employment creation on the other. To promote sustained growth, SMEs must meet specific prerequisites, particularly the leadership structures of this segment. Therefore, this research aims to investigate and identify the determinants that affect SMEs performance. The research employs a qualitative technique, using questionnaires containing 52 questions. The study surveyed 336 SMEs owners or managers from March to April 2022. The Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR) empirical technique explored the influence of education level, previous experience, training attendance, business plan, consultation services, and employees' insufficient competency in SMEs performance. The research has revealed that the level of education and consultancy services positively impact SMEs performance. In contrast, neglect of training and employees' insufficient competence harm SMEs performance. The study encourages SMEs owners and managers to take advantage of professional training opportunities and to invest in existing personnel through training to acquire acceptable competence, which will be reflected in management performance. From the perspective of the contribution, it provides the most recent evidence in the context of Kosovo's economy, employing the logistic regression analysis.

ACTUAL CHALLENGE IN INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE TAXATION: SHIFTING THE OBLIGATION OF CONDUCT INTO OBLIGATION OF RESULT

Author(s): Mihaela Tofan / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

The research answered whether cooperation in ruling corporate taxation, a traditional obligation of conduct of sovereign states, was undergoing profound transformation into the obligation of result. The analyzed topic was not whether the tax authorities want or should cooperate (which is answered per se), but rather how to appropriately respond to the international taxation requirements for strengthening the multilateral agreements. Tax authorities worldwide have expressed concerns about identifying efficient regulation, and the development of multilateral agreements to combat tax evasion was under long and often unproductive negotiation. The empirical analyses of relevant literature and jurisprudence helped formulate an opinion on the regulation’s efficiency in strengthening multilateral taxation. The need to change the nature of the state’s obligation to negotiate fiscal regulation was not mentioned explicitly in hard law. Still, it was indirectly supported by soft law instruments, such as state representatives’ continuous yet divergent dialogue and the approaches presented in the international courts’ jurisprudence. The consistent influence on the obligation to support developments in international law in corporate taxation was justified, given the limit when considering its conduct nature, compared to potential benefits generated by the obligation of result.

POLICY OF RAISING THE CAPACITY OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENTS FOR MANAGEMENT OF EMERGENCIES

Author(s): Samed M. Karović,Aleksandra Rankov,Siniša Domazet,Jelena Jesic / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Local self-governments (LSGs) cannot effectively manage emergencies. To overcome this problem, it is necessary to find action policies that would facilitate the increase of capacities of LSGs in such situations. The starting point for defining the policy was collecting data on the current abilities and capacities of LSGs in AP Vojvodina. The research covered 40% of the total number of LSGs and more than 64% of the population in the AP of Vojvodina. A combined open-ended survey questionnaire was constructed for data collection. The data was collected in field conditions through online procedures, direct sending of written surveys, and direct discussion of project implementation leaders. The statistical analysis of data identified that the legal aspect of LSGs and emergencies was not harmonized with other institutional documents at the level of LSGs. Most LSGs had serious difficulties in managing emergencies, especially civil protection. The platform is envisaged to facilitate raising the prevention capacity of LSGs by integrating all relevant information to provide early warnings and indications for implementing corresponding organizational, technical, and economic measures to deal with emergencies.