Closer to Europe? Domestic Changes and the Europeanization Processes in Post-Revolution Ukraine and Armenia

Author(s): Aram Terzyan / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

This article explores the challenges and opportunities of the Europeanization processes taking place in post-Maidan Ukraine and post-Velvet Revolution Armenia. It argues that despite the constraining effects of “competing governance provider” Russia, the interests, perceptions and preferences of the domestic elites are critical to the implementation of the EU policies in Ukraine and Armenia. Thus, it offers a more dynamic structure- agency interplay approach to account for the dynamics of Europeanization in the EU-Russia contested neighbourhood. The article concludes that the domestic change in Ukraine has been positively correlated with its Europeanization, while Armenia has been showing positive signs of responsiveness towards the European policies since the 2018 “Velvet Revolution.” The article enquires into integration without membership dynamics between the EU and Eastern neighbours, as well as into the actorness of the EU in post-revolution state-building in Ukraine and Armenia.

Colecția de working papers "ABC-ul Lumii Financiare"

Frequency: 1 issues / Country: Romania

Working papers’ collection THE ABC OF THE FINANCIAL WORLD includes the students research results presented at the Scientific Session of the Faculty of Finance and Banking from Bucharest University of Economic Studies.

All rights to the papers published in this collection are reserved exclusively to authors. As a result, papers must be properly cited according to international good practice.

The findings, interpretations, points of view and conclusions expressed in each scientific paper belong entirely to the authors. These do not represent the point of view of the scientific coordinator or of the Faculty of Finance and Banking.

The authors assume full responsibility of the ideas expressed and the originality of the paper.

Combating corruption in Ukraine – awaiting the results

Author(s): Piotr Żochowski,Marta Jaroszewicz / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2017

Systemic corruption has been the dominant problem of an independent Ukraine for more than two decades. The takeover of the state by a political-business group led by Viktor Yanukovych had been one of the principal causes for large-scale street protests during the Revolution of Dignity. Following the 2014 power shift, slogans calling for combating corruption and cleaning up the elites have featured among the most important priorities announced by President Petro Poroshenko and two consecutive prime ministers – Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Volodymyr Groysman. Moreover, the fight against corruption remains the West’s main condition to support Ukraine.

Combating corruption in Ukraine – the beginning of a long march

Author(s): Marta Jaroszewicz,Piotr Żochowski / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2015

From a public opinion point of view, corruption has been the gravest problem of today’s Ukraine, excepting the armed conflict in the east of the country. The government might be able to delay certain key reforms such as the constitutional reform or the reform of local government structures, however, without stepping up measures to combat corruption they would face the risk of losing social support which has already been weak. There is no single strategy for combating corruption in Ukraine. What has been implemented is a series of often contradictory concepts and actions (initiated by the president’s office, the government, civil society institutions, or launched to meet the requirements of donors). The successes of the new government have included efforts aimed at fighting corruption at the middle level of government and the introduction of legislative changes in compliance with international practice. The main weaknesses, on the other hand, have been the lack of efficient mechanisms to implement the adopted legislation to ensure that an individual charged with corruption (regardless of political connections) could be effectively tried and the money received as bribery could be returned to the state. Similarly, the judiciary system has not been prepared to actively handle corruption cases.

COMPETITION IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION: ANALYSIS OF AN EXAMPLE OF UKRAINE

Author(s): Victoriia PSOTA,Lyudmyla CHYZHEVSKA,Olena OSYCHKA,Svitlana ZAIKA,Nonna KOVAL / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

Corruption, as a social phenomenon, destroys the system of government, jeopardizes basic democratic values, delays economic development, and impedes the development of healthy competition in the economy. The increasing number of anti-corruption measures that have arisen around the world in the past few decades testify to the importance of this issue. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the anti-corruption measures that exist internationally in the field of public procurement. This paper will also research and analyze the innovations that have been adopted into Ukrainian legislation, and consider their impact on overcoming corruption in the public economy sector.The results of the study show that thanks to public procurement reforms, the introduction of e-procurement, transparency in the tender processes, and increased leverage on unfair bidders, there has been a tendency to make savings in public finances. At the same time, competition remains low due to imperfect legislation and low trust in the integrity of officials.In the fight against corruption, the authors consider it necessary to increase competition in procurement by enhancing operational control of procedures, namely the development of a public procurement monitoring system.The study presented reveals the widespread corruption schemes that have been developed in the system of public procurement in Ukraine, reveals the cause and effect of the inadequacy of the reforms carried out, and develops directions for further reforms of the system in order to overcome corruption in the public sector.

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING MONEY LAUNDRING

Author(s): Ciprian Garleanu / Language(s): English / Issue: 5/2010

“To wash money” is an American expression which refers to the reinvestment in legal business of the money resulted from illegal business by the use of some complex internal and international financial circuits. In this way the money are practically removed from the offended area, hidden in one legal business accounts and then used by a legal company. This process is the nucleus of the main strategies of washing money as complex as they are.

Corruption as a Problem of Parallel Redistribution System

Author(s): Tomáš Otáhal ,Petr Wawrosz / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 0

We present a model of parallel redistribution system to explain the problem of corruption. Within this model we synthesize both agency theory and rent-seeking. More precisely, we argue that the principal-agent theory has problems accounting for the environment in which the agents offering and accepting corruption operate as well as explaining the importance of the agents for the survival of their environment. The rent-seeking theory, on the other hand, finds it difficult to establish socially effective legislation and ways to determine the barriers to entry that motivate agents to behave corruptly. Both problems, however, are central to solving the problem of corruption.

Corruption Out, Schengen In: Time for a Fair Discussion on Romania

Author(s): Anita Sobják / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2015

Although there is no technical link between Romania’s Schengen accession and the conclusion of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) in the fight against corruption, politically the two issues have been tied. This kind of conditionality is neither credible nor efficient. It is thus high time to decouple CVM from Schengen: continue the first, finding alternative incentives for Romania to improve the rule of law, and at the same time launch a frank discussion on the prospects of Schengen enlargement.

Corruption: A Problem in Romanian Public Procurement

Author(s): Ionel Preda / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2020

Even though the relevance of corruption is very high in all fields of activity, the specialized literature in the field of public procurement has paid very little or even no attention to this crucial phenomenon. The field of public procurement presents a high risk of corruption, the evidence being the large number of high-level corruption cases in several Member States of the European Union. The study presents the specialized literature related to corruption in public procurement in the European Union and United States of America, analyzes the level of corruption in public procurement in Romania, the causes that generate corruption and the main measures to combat it. The article also presents the results of a survey realized among the purchasers from Romania which addresses the main elements of corruption in the field of public procurement. The survey analyzes issues related to corruption in public procurement in Romania, such as: level of corruption, control over corruption, frequency of occurrence of corruption acts, procurement procedures most prone to corruption, characteristics of the procurement procedures that favors the occurrence of corruption, most widespread way of manifesting corruption, most important consequence of corruption, percentage of increasing contract costs due to corruption, most effective anti-corruption measure.

Criminalization as Anxious and Ineffective Response to Foreign Fighters Phenomenon in the Western Balkans

Author(s): Luka Glušac / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

Despite not being a new phenomenon, nor an Islamic specificum, only recently when the West has increasingly become a potential target of returning foreign fighters from the Syrian theater has the international community reacted. The UN Security Council called on Member- states to, inter alia, immediately amend their national legislation to criminalize travelling abroad for terrorist purposes. However, as I identify in this article, contrary to majority of the Western countries, the Western Balkan countries opted to amend their legislation to criminalize travelling abroad to join conflict irrespective of its connection with terrorism, going well beyond the intended aim of the Security Council’s resolutions. I argue that this broader criminal law approach is difficult to justify from either preventive or reactive perspectives. It is, in fact, an anxious and ineffective response to foreign fighters phenomenon. It is anxious because existing data shows that countries from the region have suffered fewer extremist attacks than the West. Notwithstanding, they still decided to introduce far more aggressive legislative changes, even though it only amplified securitizing moves performed by fighters` recruiters. I further demonstrate that the implementation of this new legislation has been ineffective particularly due to: (1) the challenge of securing court-strong evidence, especially those gathered through international intelligence cooperation; (2) its application mainly as an alternative when other terrorism-related offences cannot be proved; and (3) biased law application in countries that have returning fighters from both Middle East and Ukraine.

Croatian Presidential Elections 2019-2020: The Anti-Corruption Myth

Author(s): Katarina Peović / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

Presidential elections held in Croatia on 22 December 2019 (first round) were the seventh presidential elections since Croatian independence in 1991. The presidential elections ended on 5 January 2020 in the second round with Zoran Milanović as the winner with a relative majority of 52.66% of the vote. Milanović defeated the conservative incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who received 47.34% of the vote. This was a disappointment for her party, the Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, HDZ), especially because of the upcoming intra-party and parliamentary elections. Milanović, a member of the main center-left political party in Croatia, the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske, or SDP), and who had previously served as Prime Minister of Croatia (2011-2016), become the 5th president of Croatia. Western media acclaimed social democrat Zoran Milanović’s election victory as a victory for the “left”. However, it is more likely a win for the “new extreme center” in Croatia, keeping in mind that during his premiership he “…implemented neoliberal reform of labor law severely slashing workers’ rights, introduced a controversial bankruptcy settlement law, and led a final phase of large-scale privatization of public infrastructure and resources”. This analysis will show why Milanović’s victory must be seen primarily as a consequence of fear on the part of Croatian civil society, who chose the “lesser evil” in order to defend itself from the growing and radicalizing right.

Cryptocurrencies as Instruments of State Economic Policy: Challenges and Opportunities

Author(s): Damian Wnukowski / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2019

Virtual currencies (“cryptocurrencies”) rely on decentralised payment systems independent of the control of state institutions. However, some countries are interested in creating their own cryptocurrencies, citing low costs and speed of transactions. National digital currencies could stabilise a financial system that uses private cryptocurrency. Their use, however, may challenge, for example, the effectiveness of economic sanctions or combating terrorism financing.

DANGERS OF CORRUPTION IN THE NATIONAL DEFENCE STRATEGY – WHY A MORE EFFICENT APPROACH IS NEEDED?

Author(s): Violeta Iulia Nagâț / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

Corruption has existed since ancient times, the proof being the term’s Latin origins (corruptio-onis). It was assimilated in Romanian through French, basically expressing inappropriate, immoral behaviour of public servants. Throughout centuries, an unstable geographic and historical environment, as well as violent and inefficient political systems generated acts and deeds of corruption that lead to initiatives, concerns and prevention actions and countermeasures, including means of legal regulations. Periods of crisis have especially experienced a weaker state authority, a degraded standard of living, altering of moral judgement, lack of efficient control leverages, lesser confidence in social institutions and values, a lack of cohesion between the law and the economic and social realities. Acts of corruption, that have been a part of public servants’ activity, result from violating human rights, freedom of speech and action, depending on social need.

Data Journalism and Politics: Election DataBot, European Data Journalism Network and Media 3.0 Foundation

Author(s): Paulina Kosobucka / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2019

The purpose of this article is to explain what a digital formof journalism, called data journalism, is and how it is applied in practicerelated to politics. Definitions and various aspects of data journalism (i.a.exemplary variables, most common in data journalism in general, waysof presenting data, factors that data journalists focus on in their worketc.) appear in the first part of article. Politics, as the title of this workindicates, is one of the areas in which this type of journalism is used.In this article, three projects related to data journalism are described.The first example of a tool, based on American politics, used to visualizeand obtain data on congressmen and elections in general, is ElectionDataBot. This paper provides a description of this tool, as well as informationabout organizations that launched it. The next two initiativesrelated to data journalism are: European Data Journalism Network(as the name suggests, it refers to European politics) and Media 3.0Foundation (related to Polish politics). They offer many practical optionsto observe, analyze and show political data. The research method used in the study is the analysis of thematic online sources. The hypothesisis that data journalism is still a growing branch of journalism that hasits adhibition in politics, thus supporting journalists, researchers andothers interested in obtaining and visualizing data.

Decentralized Punishments in Fighting Corruption: Experimental Evidence from Czech Republic

Author(s): Jiří Špalek,Zuzana Berná / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 0

The paper presents possibilities and limits of introducing experimental methods in measuring propensity to engage in and punish corrupt behavior. We are inspired by results of the multicultural experiments run to date. Our experiment is inspired by Cameron et al (2009), which took place in Australia, Indonesia, India and Singapore. It takes a form of a simple sequential game in which three players are involved. The decision of each player has an impact on the behavior and profit of the other players. Results of the experiment are in line with results of replicated experiment. We found several differences between the behavior of the Czech and Slovak participants. Particularly, the Czechs seem to be less tolerant to corruption behavior they witness.

Does Corruption Act as a Deterrent to Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries?

Author(s): Sanjib Guha,Niazur Rahim,Bhagaban Panigrahi,Anh D. Ngo,David Simmonds / Language(s): English / Issue: 21/2020

Developing countries institute policies to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that promotes growth and development. Corruption disrupts and complicates the implementation of policies that govern the inflows of FDI and the operations of foreign firms; such interference with policies is more than likely to disrupt and lower the inflows of FDI. This paper evaluates whether or not corruption reduces inflows of FDI into each and every developing country. Our study shows that developing countries with high growth rate (> 6% annual GDP growth) attract more FDI than countries with low growth rates although they are both steeped in corruption. Multi-national Corporations (MNCs) seem willing to cope with corruption in countries with high growth rates.

Eastern European Journal for Regional Studies (EEJRS)

Frequency: 2 issues / Country: Moldova, Republic of

The Eastern European Journal of Regional Studies (EEJRS) journal seeks to provide theoretical development, empirical analysis and policy debate in the multi- and inter-disciplinary with main focus on the field of innovation, entrepreneurship and regional development, as well as European History, European Economy, politics, European culture and society, EU law etc. EEJRS encourages theoretical and practical studies focusing on the regional aspect (including EU neighborhood) in order to better understand the integration process and to address its specific challenges, transformations and achievements. EEJRS is a two times peer-reviewed academic journal (June and December). More information about EEJRS is displayed on its webpage - http://csei.ase.md/journal/

Economic Freedom, Globalization, and the Shadow Economy in the European Union Transition Economies: a Panel Cointegration Analysis

Author(s): Yilmaz Bayar,Ömer Faruk Öztürk / Language(s): English / Issue: 20/2019

The presence of the shadow economy differs considerably among the countries. Therefore, determination of factors behind the differences in the size of cross-country shadow economy becomes more of an issue for designing and implementing the right policies to combat the shadow economy. This study investigates the influence of economic freedom and globalization on the size of the shadow economy in the European Union transition economies employing panel data analysis for the period of 2000–2015. The empirical analysis indicates that economic freedom reduces the size of the shadow economy in the long term in the overall panel, but globalization also has a relatively smaller detractive effect on the shadow economy in some countries.

EKONOMİK SUÇLAR ÜZERİNE BİR ALAN ÇALIŞMASI: KAYSERİ KAPALI CEZAEVİ ÖRNEĞİ

Author(s): Yeşim Kubar / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 7/2020

Economic analysis of criminal element is a new viewpoint in criminal area. According to economic viewpoint, crime is closely interested in environment, where people live, and events experienced in this environment. According to this, those committing offense have two purposes. The first is to make benefit from the offense committed and, the second is to defend themselves against the events experienced in their environment. Those committing offense, according to the case they are in, compare the profits and losses of legal and illegal activities provide and, when they consider that illegal activities are profitable, commit offense. Therefore, it is extremely important to increase punishment intensities of illegal activities such that they will prevent from being profitable. An important contribution of economic viewpoint to struggling with crime is that it utilizes econometric models. Using econometric models, it is aimed to reveal the economic determinants of crime and influence degree of these determinants. In the studies carried out, it was identified that the variables such as the income, family income, educational level, unemployment, economic status, social status, place where we live, and immigration were extremely effective on the phenomenon crime. In this study, the phenomenon crime was conceptually mentioned; it was dealt with the relationship between crime and economy; and economic models of crime was briefly mentioned. Using cross table analysis, it was aimed to determine the relationship between the crime the sample group consisting of 93 convicts in Kayseri Prison were punished and the age, marital status, economic status, and income among the economic and social factors influencing these crimes as well as the rates of violation –content crimes and economic crimes

ELITE CAPTURE OF BUDGET CORRUPTION IN THREE INDONESIAN REGIONS

Author(s): Salahudin Salahudin,Achmad Nurmandi,Zuly Qodir,Hasse Jubba,Dyah Mutiarin / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2020

This paper explores corruption patterns and networks in Malang City, Malang Regency, and Batu City, Indonesia. It applies a qualitative approach to analyze secondary data regarding corruption from the Supreme Court of Indonesia, as well as data from five popular and trusted media sources. Nvivo 12 Plus was used to analyze data. The Ncapture feature was used to explore case directories and online media websites. Crosstab analysis was then used to analyze and tabulate the nodes, while group analysis was used to map corruption patterns and networks. This study finds that budget corruption in Malang City, Malang Regency, and Batu City has occurred in the planning and execution of budget policy through abuse of power, bribery, negotiations, project fees, and fundraising activities. Corruption in these three regions has involved elite groups: regional leaders, bureaucrats, entrepreneurs, and political communities. Further research should apply both mixed methods and a political network approach.