{"title":"Cooperation Formats of China and Europe: Synergies and Divergences","authors":"I. Steinbuka, T. Muravska, Andris Kuznieks","doi":"10.1515/bjes-2017-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2017-0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This contribution articulates the synergies and divergences of the various formats of cooperation between China and the European countries. The EU and China have a strong interest in each other’s flagship initiatives, namely the Investment Plan for Europe, and the One Belt, One Road Initiative (Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road). The authors argue that there are certain synergies between these initiatives. Furthermore, the new initiative EU-China Connectivity Platform is aimed to explore these synergies. The authors explore the recent developments in the EU-China investments, trade cooperation and the challenges of the ever-growing CEEC-China partnership in different formats, including the new platform of 16+1. The authors examine these implications in relation to the need to expand and adapt the content and approach of the EU-China Bilateral Investment agreement. The article concludes that the CEEC-China relation does not go against the EU; moreover, neither the CEE countries nor China have any motivation to try to weaken the EU.","PeriodicalId":42700,"journal":{"name":"Baltic Journal of European Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":"118 - 98"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/bjes-2017-0007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41978827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Export Promotion Aims and Reality: A Comparison of the Iberian, Baltic and Central European Region","authors":"Andrea Éltető, K. Antalóczy","doi":"10.1515/bjes-2017-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2017-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract As a consequence of the international crisis in 2008-2009, the role of exports in economic growth came into focus in most countries. Exports of EU Member States gained momentum from 2010 onward but with certain changes in their structure and direction. In several countries, the turn towards non-EU areas, such as China or Latin America was part of the state export strategy. On the one hand, our article describes these foreign trade strategies and their institutional framework of the Iberian, Baltic and Central European governments, detecting possible similarities. On the other hand, we analyse recent export data. This way we can get a picture on the structure and direction of exports of periphery economies and this can be compared to the aims of the given states. Our hypothesis is that there is a gap between the reality and the intentions of the governments. The size of this gap varies and is influenced by certain factors such as the different involvement of multinational companies in foreign trade or the different economic structure of these countries. In our paper we list which countries adopted a government strategy and with what aim. We provide a short literature review on state trade promotion policies and discuss these policies and their institutions in the Baltic, Visegrád and Iberian countries.","PeriodicalId":42700,"journal":{"name":"Baltic Journal of European Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":"43 - 63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67273419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"EPR imaging and HPLC characterization of the pigment-based organic free radical in black soybean seeds.","authors":"Kouichi Nakagawa, Hayato Maeda","doi":"10.1080/10715762.2017.1291940","DOIUrl":"10.1080/10715762.2017.1291940","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We investigated the location and distribution of paramagnetic species in dry black, brown, and yellow (normal) soybean seeds using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), X-band (9 GHz) EPR imaging (EPRI), and HPLC. EPR primarily detected two paramagnetic species in black soybean. These two different radical species were assigned as stable organic radical and Mn<sup>2+ </sup>species based on the g values and hyperfine structures. The signal from the stable radical was noted at g ≈ 2.00 and was relatively strong and stable. Subsequent noninvasive two-dimensional (2D) EPRI of the radical present in black soybean revealed that the stable radical was primarily located in the pigmented region of the soybean coat, with very few radicals observed in the soybean cotyledon (interior). Pigments extracted from black soybean were analyzed using HPLC. The major compound was found to be cyanidin-3-glucoside. Multi-EPR and HPLC results indicate that the stable radical was only found within the pigmented region of the soybean coat, and it could be cyanidin-3-glucoside or an oxidative decomposition product.</p>","PeriodicalId":42700,"journal":{"name":"Baltic Journal of European Studies","volume":"6 1","pages":"187-192"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2017-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10715762.2017.1291940","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89387747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"China’s OBOR as a Geo-Functional Institutionalist Project","authors":"Yılmaz Kaplan","doi":"10.1515/bjes-2017-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2017-0002","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study analyses the feasibility of China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative from an institutionalist perspective. The initiative is undertaken as a ‘geo-functional institutionalist’ project, and this strengthens its feasibility. Firstly, the initiative aims to institutionalize a new international structure paralleling the existing Western-dominated one through which China could re-organize its position as an ‘agenda entrepreneur’ in the world without any clash with the West. Secondly, the initiative follows a functionalist strategy. It offers a ‘win-win’ functionalist framework without any hegemonic ambition; thus, the initiative attracts the attention of the rest of the world. China also follows a pure functionalist and bilateral/regional way to deal with the heterogeneity problem among the target countries. However, China’s institutionalization attempt might be isomorphic with the existing Western-dominated system in terms of its hegemonic structure due to the cognitive limitations in finding alternatives, and this might ruin the feasibility of the initiative.","PeriodicalId":42700,"journal":{"name":"Baltic Journal of European Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":"23 - 7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/bjes-2017-0002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67273374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"EU Soft Power in the Eastern Neighborhood and the Western Balkans in the Context of Crises","authors":"A. Patalakh","doi":"10.1515/bjes-2017-0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2017-0014","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The article aims to assess a change in the EU’s soft power in the Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership states in the light of the crises the bloc has undergone in recent years. Generally agreeing with the common argument that the EU’s attractiveness for those countries has decreased, the author challenges the popular wisdom that such a decrease is likely to reverse those states’ pro-EU foreign policy orientations. To prove it, the author applies Joseph Nye’s and Alexander Vuving’s “power currencies” approach to operationalize soft power, considering the bloc’s attraction as a combination of “brilliance” (the actor’s relationship with its work), “benignity” (the actor’s relationship with other actors) and “beauty” (the actor’s relationship with values and ideas). Elaborating on the crises’ influence on each of these currencies, the author shows that their lessening, first, has mainly taken place in absolute rather than relative terms, so the EU’s attractiveness remains strong compared to that of its competitors, and second, it has primarily affected the bloc’s soft power potential rather than its actual behavior towards the target countries.","PeriodicalId":42700,"journal":{"name":"Baltic Journal of European Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":"148 - 167"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/bjes-2017-0014","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67273395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Structural and Grammatical Analysis of the Estonian Constitution","authors":"Addi Rull, T. Tamme, L. Võhandu","doi":"10.1515/bjes-2016-0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2016-0013","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The authors propose a novel quantitative method to analyse the structure of legal texts. The method enables to determine grammatical similarity between legal texts. The authors use the external theory of fundamental rights to separate the text of fundamental rights of the Estonian Constitution into two categories of norms: constitutional rights and restrictions. Grammatical similarity between constitutional rights, restrictions and selected legal acts and case law is measured. The layer of special norms renders the best grammatical similarity with the text of fundamental rights. The same grammatical similarity tests can be replicated to cover other jurisdictions in the future. The research is experimental, but the authors believe that the method can be utilised in fields of computational linguistics and legal text mining, but also in research where legal text structures are analysed for various purposes.","PeriodicalId":42700,"journal":{"name":"Baltic Journal of European Studies","volume":"6 1","pages":"76 - 95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67272923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Patient’s Cross-border Mobility Directive: Application, Performance and Perceptions Two Years after Transposition","authors":"R. Riedel","doi":"10.1515/bjes-2016-0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2016-0012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper seeks to analyse the directive on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare. Two years after the transposition, it is time for first evaluations of its application, performance and perception. The analysis consists of three major elements: reconstruction of the legal scope and subject matter of the new legislation, conclusions of the evaluative reports monitoring its implementation and performance as well as the public opinion polls revealing the EU citizens’ perception of its details. These three components combined together deliver a picture of the state of play about the pan-European cross-border patients’ mobility. The bottomline conclusions negatively verify the supposition present in some earlier literature on patients’ cross-border mobility that the directive has a transformative potential leading towards the creation of truly competitive pan-European medical market. After two years of its operation, there is still no increased patients’ mobility across EU internal borders observed. As regards the speculations for the future, there are only some weak symptoms identified and they may result in intensified cross-border mobility for healthcare.","PeriodicalId":42700,"journal":{"name":"Baltic Journal of European Studies","volume":"19 1","pages":"58 - 75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/bjes-2016-0012","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67273211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cultural Diplomacy of Slavic European Union Member States: A Cross-country Analysis","authors":"B. Udovič, Ana Podgornik","doi":"10.1515/bjes-2016-0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2016-0015","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The article deals with the role of cultural diplomacy in Slavic EU Member States. Its basic idea is to present the main characteristics of cultural diplomacy as a field of possible cooperation between the Slavic EU member countries. The conclusions of the research are three: firstly, the cultural diplomacy of the Slavic EU Member States is fragmented and diversified. Secondly, each country promotes its own cultural diplomacy and there is almost no cooperation between countries in the cultural field. Finally, cultural diplomacy is still an omitted instrument of Slavic EU Member States and a fertile ground for future collaboration within the EU and in the region of Central Europe.","PeriodicalId":42700,"journal":{"name":"Baltic Journal of European Studies","volume":"6 1","pages":"117 - 136"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/bjes-2016-0015","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67273191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Re-shaping the Model of Economic Growth of the CEE Countries","authors":"Elena Makrevska Disoska","doi":"10.1515/bjes-2016-0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2016-0016","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The goal of this paper is to stress the importance of changing the present growth strategy of Central and Eastern European (CEE) economies. The economic model of resource and debt intensive growth they have enjoyed in the past two decades have proved to be ineffective and unsustainable. Given that the CEE growth model cannot be identified separately from the EU as a whole, we try to propose possible policy measures that would stimulate growth in the CEE in context of the policies at the EU level.","PeriodicalId":42700,"journal":{"name":"Baltic Journal of European Studies","volume":"6 1","pages":"137 - 159"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67273289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Concepts of Trademark Exhaustion and Parallel Imports: A Comparative Analysis between the EU and the USA","authors":"S. Dobrin, Archil Chochia","doi":"10.1515/bjes-2016-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2016-0011","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The article intends to analyze the closely correlated concepts of trademark exhaustion and parallel imports. The growing importance of these concepts in the current world, especially in the European Union, makes it an interesting research topic, even though the concepts are complicated due to their nature and different actors involved. The authors use comparative approach, concentrating on two world leaders in the field, in order to discover what is the approach of the EU as well as the approach of the USA to the concepts of trademark exhaustion and parallel imports, what are the benefits and weaknesses of these approaches, and analyze why these markets have arrived at certain conclusions.","PeriodicalId":42700,"journal":{"name":"Baltic Journal of European Studies","volume":"6 1","pages":"28 - 57"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/bjes-2016-0011","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67272963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}