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"Moscow's increasingly assertive behavior has given rise to intensive speculation as to
what the ultimate goals of Russia's foreign policy are. Basically, the question that needs
to be answered is: What does Russia want?
I would argue that it is impossible to understand the logic of Russia's international conduct without investigating the intimate and intricate link between the country's domestic
politics and its foreign policy. The intent thus is to place a special emphasis on studying
how the nature of Russia's socio-political system influences Moscow's policies in the
international arena.
I start off with postulating a thesis that, ultimately, the goal of Russian foreign policy
efforts is to create conditions for preserving and perpetuating the current political and
economic regime, while seeking to attain its legitimation by the international community. Specifically, this means that the Kremlin's three-pronged objective is: to secure the
persistence of a system of authoritarian rule and of bureaucratic capitalism; to have
this system recognized as valid in its own right—being equal (or even superior) to the
Western liberal model; and to integrate Russian economy into the global system while
shielding the domestic policies from the "pernicious" outside influences.
My second thesis is that it is precisely the nature of Russia's socio-political system that
makes Moscow's policies both towards the West and its ex-Soviet neighbors within the
common neighborhood inconsistent and contradictory. Since the specific characteristics
of Russia's regime make integration with Western/EU institutions all but impossible,
the Kremlin leadership proclaims Russia's strategic independence.
The intent to cast Russia as an independent pole inevitably compels the Kremlin leadership to focus on the country's immediate strategic neighborhood—what has famously been
called the sphere of Russia's "privileged interests"—where Russia seeks leadership and
closer integration. But paradoxically, the seeming affinity between the authoritarian regime
in Russia and those in most East European countries appears to be the main factor preventing successful integration. The thing is that authoritarian power simply cannot be delegated.
This explains why Russia ends up being faced with the seemingly intractable attraction-
assertion dilemma. Being unable to integrate its neighbors, Russia seeks to aggressively
assert itself and its interests. But Moscow's increasingly muscular policies seem to contradict Russia's stated intention to attract allies and cast itself as an appealing socio-economic model to be emulated by the like-minded partners." [author's abstract]

Against the background of the increasing importance of evidence, knowledge and learning in both domestic and transnational policy development processes, this paper analyses how non-EU and intra-European Union knowledge arenas in spatial development policy and planning are connected by focussing specifically on the interrelationship between CEMAT and European Union activities and arenas of co-operation. The Council of Europe Conference of Ministers Responsible for Spatial/Regional Planning (CEMAT) has long served as a platform for pan-European (including both EU members and non-members) co-operation in spatial development, but has recently been sidelined by EU initiatives in this field of activity and even faced the possibility of discontinuation. Analysing potential areas of competition and complementarities/synergies and reviewing the recent Russian CEMAT Presidency, the paper argues that CEMAT retains an important role in connecting EU debates, practices and research with actors outside the European Union. However, institutionalised collaborative mechanisms and the systematic exchange of information between CEMAT and the EU in this field should be strengthened, particularly in a direction from EU to CEMAT and in the domain of research and evidence. Continuing with a sub-optimal level of co-operation between CEMAT and the EU in this field or even discontinuation of CEMAT would undoubtedly hamper the involvement and integration of non-EU members in the debate on European spatial development policy and would probably rather quickly lead to the significant disruption of the territorial knowledge channel linking the EU and Russia as well as that with the EU neighbourhood more broadly, while also significantly inhibiting the processes of learning on a pan-European level and stalling the development of a trajectory towards the emergence of something that would resemble a pan-European 'epistemic community' in spatial development policy and planning. ; The paper is published by the European Journal of Spatial ...

In the last decade, energy markets have developed substantially due to the growing activity of financial investors. One consequence of this massive presence of investors is a stronger link between the hitherto segmented energy and financial markets. This book addresses some of the recent developments in the interrelationship between financial and energy markets. It aims to further the understanding of the rich interplay between financial and energy markets by presenting several empirical studies that illustrate and discuss some of the main issues on this agenda.

The problem of the interrelationship between the political and military elite is very complex, multidimensional, multi-hierarchical and relatively protected from the scientific and professional public and, as such, more difficult to understand. It is particularly relevant in war, where ties are looser and where the self-initiative of individuals and social groups comes to full expression, which is precisely the subject of this analysis. However, the subject is not considered in its totality, but is limited only to the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) in the period from the 1980s onwards. The events out of that time were used as an empirical basis for illustrating and arguing one's own views. The subject of this paper is structured in five separate parts. In the first part, the epistemological and logic bases of the relationship between politics and the military in war are presented, with the focus on the noticed weaknesses in the theoretical and normative sphere and their consequences for real practice. In the second part, a comparative analysis of the goals of politics and the military has been done, with an emphasis on the necessary need for them to coincide at the state level and be conducted by joint efforts. The third part explains the relationship between the military and politics at the most general level. It has been proven that politics is more general and that it directs the entire activities of the society including the deployment of the military in war. The fourth part presents the models of the relationship between the military and politics at strategic level. It has been unequivocally proven that politics is superior to the military, which does not exclude the possibility of intensive negotiations before making definite decisions on the deployment in combat operations. Finally, the fifth part explains the relationship between local government representatives and units at tactical level. The links between management and cooperation between these entities with the focus on communication difficulties and consequences are explained.

Gender and development are among the two most important components of any economy to sustain its perpetual and sustainable economic growth in both the long as well as short run. The role of women in parliament and the interrelationship between gender and development is critically analysed. Women's representation in parliament is the dependent variable and the predictor variables considered are gender development index, female access to assets, female labour force, and country GDP per capita. Data were collected from the UNDP human development report for the period 2015 to 2021–2022 and World Bank for 188 countries of which finally 159 were considered to develop the model based on data availability. We have used the theoretical lens of social stratification theory and gender role theory to frame the hypothesis. A random effects model-based panel regression analysis of the data indicated a strong positive relationship between gender development index and the dependent variable, but no relationship between female labour force, and access to assets. The study addresses a critical gap in policy and development of the literature on gender, politics, and development using a global data set, establishing the importance of indicators such as gender development index, and laying down the path for future research on the subject.

The paper begins with a broad overview of shadow prices emphasizing their close relationship with the policy environment. This is followed by the description of an analytical framework which integrates shadow prices and policies. The analytical framework is then used to highlight some of the major project evaluation shadow pricing rules. The interrelationship between project investment and public policy reforms emerges from this discussion. The paper ends with a description of some major research issues that need to be considered in assessing public choice between project investment and policy reforms. This agenda for research will help in determining whether the approach described in the paper can be operationalized in terms of quantification and measurement. While the main thrust of the paper is on the analytical aspects, a brief review of actual practice provides the interface with the analytics in indicating the research agenda.

The paper begins with a broad overview of shadow prices emphasizing their close relationship with the policy environment. This is followed by the description of an analytical framework which integrates shadow prices and policies. The analytical framework is then used to highlight some of the major project evaluation shadow pricing rules. The interrelationship between project investment and public policy reforms emerges from this discussion. The paper ends with a description of some major research issues that need to be considered in assessing public choice between project investment and policy reforms. This agenda for research will help in determining whether the approach described in the paper can be operationalized in terms of quantification and measurement. While the main thrust of the paper is on the analytical aspects, a brief review of actual practice provides the interface with the analytics in indicating the research agenda.