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After Lithuania was accepted to the NATO, considering that call-up to the army on the national level was relinquished, the primary goal of military capability transformation has become to fulfil commitments to the international partners. Lithuania's deterrence posture became depended on the NATO extended deterrence strategy. Lithuania, as the integrated part of the NATO collective defence system, during the stable security period did not see any threats, which could mean that collective defensive commitments of NATO partners would not be realized. The goal of this paper – to determine Lithuania's military deterrence doctrine transformation and the main causes of changes, during 2004 – 2019. When Lithuania became a member of NATO, additional expenditures to the national defence has not been planned. Insufficient military capabilities were covered by the participation in the international operations. This strategy has helped create an image of Lithuania as a reliable international partner. Close cooperation on the international level could be considered as the communication to the adversaries, that NATO members will follow their commitments, including Article 5. During 2004 – 2014 within Lithuania membership in NATO was considered as the reliable instrument in order to ensure military deterrence. Although, this strategy was formal, because there were any defence plans or actions planned in the NATO strategic documents in order to defend Baltic region. Military conflicts in Georgia and Ukraine was breaking point within Lithuania, changing security posture externally and internally. The Baltic states have started to demand concrete defence plans, which helped strengthen deterrence posture. After 2014, then the real war threat emerged, on the political level in Lithuania it was understood, that national security could be ensured not only through the NATO organization, but through additional actions and measures as well – Lithuania's military must be capable to react to the small conflicts, in Lithuania there must be deployed permanent NATO troops. Because of these changes, Lithuania's deterrence posture from the theoretical discussions became real strategy, which led to create concrete action plans. Additionally, military expenditures within Lithuania was increased, call-up on the national scale was renewed, two more brigades "Aukštaitija" and "Žemaitija" were created. In the region, NATO forefront military troops were deployed, military exercises started to happen periodically.

After Lithuania was accepted to the NATO, considering that call-up to the army on the national level was relinquished, the primary goal of military capability transformation has become to fulfil commitments to the international partners. Lithuania's deterrence posture became depended on the NATO extended deterrence strategy. Lithuania, as the integrated part of the NATO collective defence system, during the stable security period did not see any threats, which could mean that collective defensive commitments of NATO partners would not be realized. The goal of this paper – to determine Lithuania's military deterrence doctrine transformation and the main causes of changes, during 2004 – 2019. When Lithuania became a member of NATO, additional expenditures to the national defence has not been planned. Insufficient military capabilities were covered by the participation in the international operations. This strategy has helped create an image of Lithuania as a reliable international partner. Close cooperation on the international level could be considered as the communication to the adversaries, that NATO members will follow their commitments, including Article 5. During 2004 – 2014 within Lithuania membership in NATO was considered as the reliable instrument in order to ensure military deterrence. Although, this strategy was formal, because there were any defence plans or actions planned in the NATO strategic documents in order to defend Baltic region. Military conflicts in Georgia and Ukraine was breaking point within Lithuania, changing security posture externally and internally. The Baltic states have started to demand concrete defence plans, which helped strengthen deterrence posture. After 2014, then the real war threat emerged, on the political level in Lithuania it was understood, that national security could be ensured not only through the NATO organization, but through additional actions and measures as well – Lithuania's military must be capable to react to the small conflicts, in Lithuania there must be deployed permanent NATO troops. Because of these changes, Lithuania's deterrence posture from the theoretical discussions became real strategy, which led to create concrete action plans. Additionally, military expenditures within Lithuania was increased, call-up on the national scale was renewed, two more brigades "Aukštaitija" and "Žemaitija" were created. In the region, NATO forefront military troops were deployed, military exercises started to happen periodically.

After Lithuania was accepted to the NATO, considering that call-up to the army on the national level was relinquished, the primary goal of military capability transformation has become to fulfil commitments to the international partners. Lithuania's deterrence posture became depended on the NATO extended deterrence strategy. Lithuania, as the integrated part of the NATO collective defence system, during the stable security period did not see any threats, which could mean that collective defensive commitments of NATO partners would not be realized. The goal of this paper – to determine Lithuania's military deterrence doctrine transformation and the main causes of changes, during 2004 – 2019. When Lithuania became a member of NATO, additional expenditures to the national defence has not been planned. Insufficient military capabilities were covered by the participation in the international operations. This strategy has helped create an image of Lithuania as a reliable international partner. Close cooperation on the international level could be considered as the communication to the adversaries, that NATO members will follow their commitments, including Article 5. During 2004 – 2014 within Lithuania membership in NATO was considered as the reliable instrument in order to ensure military deterrence. Although, this strategy was formal, because there were any defence plans or actions planned in the NATO strategic documents in order to defend Baltic region. Military conflicts in Georgia and Ukraine was breaking point within Lithuania, changing security posture externally and internally. The Baltic states have started to demand concrete defence plans, which helped strengthen deterrence posture. After 2014, then the real war threat emerged, on the political level in Lithuania it was understood, that national security could be ensured not only through the NATO organization, but through additional actions and measures as well – Lithuania's military must be capable to react to the small conflicts, in Lithuania there must be deployed permanent NATO troops. Because of these changes, Lithuania's deterrence posture from the theoretical discussions became real strategy, which led to create concrete action plans. Additionally, military expenditures within Lithuania was increased, call-up on the national scale was renewed, two more brigades "Aukštaitija" and "Žemaitija" were created. In the region, NATO forefront military troops were deployed, military exercises started to happen periodically.

International agreements dating back to the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action in 1994, and the Beijing Declaration Platform for Action, 1995, have recognized the right to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights (SRHR), enabling women to make their own decisions over their bodies. These agreements committed states to provide universal access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, including information and education, access to modern contraceptives, and safe abortion where legal. However, changes in the international political environment are demonstrating challenges in the protection of this agreed language on SRHR at the UN, having an impact on women's access to SRH services globally. The broadening of the Mexico City Policy attempting to censor the language on SRHR, both domestically and internationally, as well as systematic lobbying of governments at the UN by conservative groups, is having a direct impact on the current global SRHR agenda setting. The aim of this study was to determine whether the efforts of the conservative opposition who seek to roll back the language on SRHR has been replicated in the UN outcome documents and resolutions between 2014 and 2019, before and after the latest reimplementation of the Mexico City Policy. This study presents the first empirical research on the disappearance of the language over time on the basis of a document review. The Health Policy Framework by Walt and Gilson (1994) allowed for an overview of the context in which the lobbying is taking place, map who the actors are that oppose SRHR, describe the process, and analyze the content of the documents. The results demonstrated a disappearance of the language on abortion in the CSW outcome documents, and a changing of the language on comprehensive sexuality education in the CSW and UN resolutions, which saw the removal of sexuality and placed an increased emphasis on the role of families. Furthermore, there was an inability of some states to accept sexual and reproductive health at all. This study has shown that the original agreed language from the ICPD and Beijing commitments are not safe from relentless opposition, and suggests that, going forward, funding for SRHR may need to look at more sustainable sources which are not subject to the international political environment.

In 2010, the Danish government launched a ghetto strategy with 32 initiatives in order to "dissolve parallel communities" in Danish housing areas and to (re)integrate them into Danish society (Statsministeret, 2010). Despite its negative offspring in the Muhammed riots (Freiesleben 2016, Houlind 2016), the strategy arguably presented a strategy for revalorization of space and, thereby, a new strategic approach combining social and physical initiatives in order to permanently transform deprived housing areas in a Danish contexts. With the ghetto strategy, Denmark is aligned with similar international regeneration programmes in order to close the socio-economic gap between housing areas and residents. Based on the recent architectural evaluation of social housing renewals for the Danish National Building Foundation (Bech-Danielsen & Mechlenborg 2017) and with a Lefebvrean perspective of a spatial trialectic (Lefebvre 1974/1991, Soja 1998), this paper reflects on the why Danish – like international - transformations are not able to realise the potential of the initiatives in the strategy. What are the effects of the initiatives they dorealise? And what does that tell us about the social impact of physical transformation in relation to the overall aim of the ghetto strategy? ; In 2010, the Danish government launched a ghetto strategy with 32 initiatives in order to "dissolve parallel communities" in Danish housing areas and to (re)integrate them into Danish society (Statsministeret, 2010). Despite its negative offspring in the Muhammed riots (Freiesleben 2016, Houlind 2016), the strategy arguably presented a strategy for revalorization of space and, thereby, a new strategic approach combining social and physical initiatives in order to permanently transform deprived housing areas in a Danish contexts. With the ghetto strategy, Denmark is aligned with similar international regeneration programmes in order to close the socio-economic gap between housing areas and residents. Based on the recent architectural evaluation of social housing renewals for the Danish National Building Foundation (Bech-Danielsen & Mechlenborg 2017) and with a Lefebvrean perspective of a spatial trialectic (Lefebvre 1974/1991, Soja 1998), this paper reflects on the why Danish – like international - transformations are not able to realise the potential of the initiatives in the strategy. What are the effects of the initiatives they dorealise? And what does that tell us about the social impact of physical transformation in relation to the overall aim of the ghetto strategy?

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health challenge worldwide. Implementing policies to cope with this challenge requires commitment from all stakeholders at various levels, and all necessary resources should be mobilised. Support for various HCV-related stakeholders can reduce the challenges and obstacles that can be encountered during the programme implementation. The present study aims to identify all stakeholders involved with HCV-related policy-making in Iran at different steps (policy development, implementation and evaluation) and to characterise them in terms of interest, position, power and influence, in order to provide valuable information for appropriate decision-making and design. The present study can also serve as a case study for healthcare systems in other countries. Method: An approach based on social network analysis was utilised. Data collected included relevant document searches and in-depth interviews to a sample of 18 key informants. Results: Various stakeholders were found to be involved with HCV-related policies in Iran. The extent of their participation and support in policy-making varied. Specifically, international agencies had a high interest for HCV-related policy-making, whereas media and members of the private sector were characterised by a medium interest and governmental and non-governmental bodies by a highly variable interest, ranging from low to high, depending on the specific organism. Moreover, media and members of the private sector, non-governmental institutions and international agencies were rated low in terms of position, whereas governmental actors were rated low to high. Media were rated medium in terms of power, whereas international agencies and members of the private sector were respectively rated low to medium and low. Non-governmental actors were rated low, whilst governmental bodies were rated low to high. Finally, media, members of the private sector and international agencies were rated medium in terms of influence, whereas non-governmental and governmental actors were respectively rated low to medium and low to high. Conclusion: Policy-making involves trust, negotiation and integration of the different views of all stakeholders. Social network analysis was critical for identifying stakeholders and showing that, in Iran, involvement in HCV-related policy-making is generally low. This information is of practical implication for policy- and decision-makers regarding the adoption of more favourable and effective strategies. © 2019 The Author(s).

After Lithuania was accepted to the NATO, considering that call-up to the army on the national level was relinquished, the primary goal of military capability transformation has become to fulfil commitments to the international partners. Lithuania's deterrence posture became depended on the NATO extended deterrence strategy. Lithuania, as the integrated part of the NATO collective defence system, during the stable security period did not see any threats, which could mean that collective defensive commitments of NATO partners would not be realized. The goal of this paper – to determine Lithuania's military deterrence doctrine transformation and the main causes of changes, during 2004 – 2019. When Lithuania became a member of NATO, additional expenditures to the national defence has not been planned. Insufficient military capabilities were covered by the participation in the international operations. This strategy has helped create an image of Lithuania as a reliable international partner. Close cooperation on the international level could be considered as the communication to the adversaries, that NATO members will follow their commitments, including Article 5. During 2004 – 2014 within Lithuania membership in NATO was considered as the reliable instrument in order to ensure military deterrence. Although, this strategy was formal, because there were any defence plans or actions planned in the NATO strategic documents in order to defend Baltic region. Military conflicts in Georgia and Ukraine was breaking point within Lithuania, changing security posture externally and internally. The Baltic states have started to demand concrete defence plans, which helped strengthen deterrence posture. After 2014, then the real war threat emerged, on the political level in Lithuania it was understood, that national security could be ensured not only through the NATO organization, but through additional actions and measures as well – Lithuania's military must be capable to react to the small conflicts, in Lithuania there must be deployed permanent NATO troops. Because of these changes, Lithuania's deterrence posture from the theoretical discussions became real strategy, which led to create concrete action plans. Additionally, military expenditures within Lithuania was increased, call-up on the national scale was renewed, two more brigades "Aukštaitija" and "Žemaitija" were created. In the region, NATO forefront military troops were deployed, military exercises started to happen periodically.

China is at the midpoint of its urbanisation&mdash ; the largest scale in human history. The recent smart city movement is influencing the discourse and practice of China&rsquo ; s urbanisation, with numerous cities claiming to build smart cities and/or adopting some forms of smart city strategies and initiatives. A so-called &lsquo ; latecomer&rsquo ; s advantage&rsquo ; is being exploited to advance their pursuit for a smart city status, not only to catch up with overseas counterparts, but to overtake them and become international leaders. This local-level enthusiasm strikes a chord with the central government&rsquo ; s strategy of building an &lsquo ; innovative nation&rsquo ; to drive its economic transformation towards a knowledge economy. This converging central-local interest is creating a &lsquo ; smart city mania&rsquo ; across the nation, which, however, has not received due attention in the international literature, and thus deserves critical examination and reflection to inform policy debates. To address this gap, this study investigates the state of smart cities in China, based on a case study of Shenzhen, China&rsquo ; s fastest-growing, experimental city. Shenzhen grew from a fishing village into an international metropolis in 40 years, and has now won a nickname of &lsquo ; China&rsquo ; s Silicon Valley&rsquo ; or &lsquo ; China&rsquo ; s smartest city&rsquo ; . This study analyses the state of Chinese smart cities and the pursuit for a smart Shenzhen from the perspectives of the smart city as a concept, as an urban development paradigm, and as an urban regime, drawing upon the international smart city literature. It concludes that a technology-centric approach to smart cities in China, as illustrated by the Shenzhen case, have advanced innovation capacity and economic growth through capitalising on a &lsquo ; latecomer&rsquo ; s advantage&rsquo ; . However, this &lsquo ; latecomer&rsquo ; s advantage&rsquo ; may translate into a &lsquo ; latecomer&rsquo ; s disadvantage&rsquo ; for this approach&rsquo ; s lack of institutional adaptation, and for its insufficient attention to social and environmental problems covered under the shiny economic boom. This latecomer&rsquo ; s disadvantage is likely to impact the long-term sustainability of Chinese cities.

This article is aimed at making two main contributions: first, to provide theoretical elements to the study of transnational activism, and, second, to introduce empirical elements to the study of the recognition process of the Afro-descendant population in the Mexico. According to information from Inegi's Intercensal Survey 2015, around 1.4% of Mexican population of Mexico is of African descent, showing how these population has been organizing over the years to claim constitutional recognition. Through the creation of a defense network that has been strengthening both in the domestic and the international contexts during recent years, the Afro-Mexican movement has achieved political recognition thanks to an open international policy structure of opportunities that at the federal level is mainly closed; showing greater openness at State level. The impact of the actions described in this work is achieved with the support of international actors or the influence of international events such as the year and the decade of the Afro-descendants, as well as the Durban Conference. ; En este artículo se pretende realizar dos aportes: por una parte, brindar elementos teóricos a los estudios sobre el activismo transnacional, y, por otra con, elementos empíricos al estudio del proceso de reconocimiento de la población afrodescendiente en el caso mexicano. Tomando en cuenta la Encuesta Intercensal 2015 del Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (Inegi), alrededor de 1,4% de la población de México es afrodescendiente; allí se observa cómo este sector se ha organizado a lo largo de los años para reivindicar su reconocimiento constitucional. A través de la creación de una red de defensa que comienza a fortalecerse tanto en el contexto doméstico como en el internacional en los últimos años, el movimiento afromexicano ha logrado tener reconocimiento político gracias a una estructura de oportunidades política internacional abierta y una política nacional que en el ámbito federal ha sido cerrada, mientras que en lo estatal ha mostrado mayor apertura. La incidencia aquí mencionada se logra con el apoyo de actores internacionales o la influencia de eventos internacionales como el año y el decenio de los afrodescendientes, así como la Conferencia de Durban.

The Holy See is the organism of Catholic Church's government which is found physically in the small territory of the Vatican City State. This one is subject of International Law with international judicial personality. The Roman Curia is the executive branch of the Apostolic See government. The higher authority of the Holy Father spreads equally for ecclesiastical hierarchy and the faithful Christians, individually and collectively. The Pope, in virtue of his pastoral function, is the responsible of leading the Vatican City State as his chief of State. He also has to carry forward Peter's mission as his successor in front of the Apostolic See and exercise the service as Supreme Shepherd of the Catholic Church as Vicar of Christ, exercising the Petrine Ministry. ; La Santa Sede es el órgano de gobierno de la Iglesia católica, que se encuentra físicamente en el diminuto territorio del Estado de la Ciudad del Vaticano; que se encuentra sujeta al Derecho Internacional con personalidad jurídica internacional. La Curia romana es el brazo ejecutivo del gobierno de la Sede Apostólica. La autoridad suprema del Santo Padre se extiende por igual a la jerarquía eclesiástica como a los fieles cristianos; tanto individual como colectivamente. En virtud de su oficio pastoral, le corresponde dirigir al Estado de la Ciudad del Vaticano, como su Jefe de Estado; de llevar adelante la misión de Pedro como su sucesor al frente de la Sede Apostólica y ejercer el servicio de Supremo Pastor de la Iglesia católica en cuanto Vicario de Cristo, como ejercicio del ministerio petrino___________________________________________The Holy See is the organism of Catholic Church's government which is found physically in the small territory of the Vatican City State. This one is subject of International Law with international judicial personality. The Roman Curia is the executive branch of the Apostolic See government. The higher authority of the Holy Father spreads equally for ecclesiastical hierarchy and the faithful Christians, individually and collectively. The Pope, in virtue of his pastoral function, is the responsible of leading the Vatican City State as his chief of State. He also has to carry forward Peter's mission as his successor in front of the Apostolic See and exercise the service as Supreme Shepherd of the Catholic Church as Vicar of Christ, exercising the Petrine Ministry.

The article deals with the issue of social standards formation in the national legislation of Ukraine in view of the international level of their development. The problems that arise in the process of adaptation of national legislation in the field of social protection to the legislation of the European Union are identified and summarized. It is proved that the adaptation of the legislation is the process of bringing the laws of Ukraine and other normative legal acts in line with the acquis communautaire. The author notes that the problem is related to the old system of social protection of the population in the country, which is primarily due to the combination of Soviet and modern methods of government, which in the time of independence of our state did not fully transition to the latter. Therefore, the problem of implementation of international standards has become of practical importance for Ukraine today. It is clear that the lack of a mechanism for supervising and controlling the observance of international instruments leads to abuse of the law by the subjects of these relations, and the question of implementation of European standards in national legislation is quite acute. It was also found that one of the key problems of legislative approximation is the need to ratify certain ILO conventions governing social security,labor and other issues. Another problem is that the compliance of the legislation of Ukraine with regard to minimum social security standards to the European Social Security Code is contrary to international norms and urgently needs to be changed.It is determined that today the sphere of social protection is a key element in the mechanism of interaction of our country with the European Union and is defined as one of the priority directions and global goals in Ukraine, which is the basis of the Program of Sustainable Development until 2030. ; У статті досліджується питання формування соціальних стандартів в національному законодавстві України з огляду на міжнародний рівень їх розвитку. Виявляються та узагальнюються проблеми, які виникають в процесі адаптації національного законодавства у сфері соціального захисту до законодавства Європейського Союзу. Визначено, що на сьогодні сфера соціального захисту є ключовою ланкою в механізмі взаємодії нашої держави з Європейським Союзом та визначається як одним з пріоритетних напрямків і глобальних цілей в Україні покладена в основу Програми дій сталого розвитку до 2030 р.

Background The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has recently set the ambitious "90-90-90 target" of having 90% of people living with HIV (PLHIV) know their status, receive antiretroviral therapy (ART), and achieve viral suppression by 2020. This ambitious new goal is occurring in a context of global "scale-down" following nearly a decade of heightened investment in HIV prevention and treatment efforts. Arguably international goals spur action, however, setting unrealistic goals that do not take weak health systems and variations in the nature of the epidemic across countries into consideration may set them up for failure in unproductive ways that lead to a decline in confidence in global governance institutions. This study explores how policy actors tasked with implementing HIV programs navigate the competing demands placed upon them by development targets and national politics, particularly in the current context of waning international investments towards HIV. Methods To examine these questions, we interviewed 29 key informants comprising health experts in donor organizations and government employees in HIV programs in Pakistan, a country where HIV programs must compete with other issues for attention. Themes were identified inductively through an iterative process and findings were triangulated with various data sources and existing literature. Results We found both political and governance challenges to achieving the target, particularly in the context of the global HIV scale-down. Political challenges included, low and heterogeneous political commitment for HIV and a conservative legal environment that contributed towards a ban on opiate substitution therapy, creating low treatment coverage. Governance challenges includedstrained state and non-governmental organization (NGO) relations creating a hostile service delivery environment, weak bureaucratic and civil society capacity contributing to poor regulation of the health infrastructure, and resource mismanagement on both the part of the government and NGOs. Conclusion Our findings suggest that in a context of waning international attention to HIV, policy actors on the ground face a number of practical hurdles to achieving the ambitious targets set out by international agencies. Greater attention to the political and governance challenges of implementing HIV programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) could help technical assistance agencies to develop more realistic implementation plans.

Durch die zunehmende europäische Integration, sowohl im Bereich des Erbrechts, als auch im Bereich des Güterrechts, war es von enormer Bedeutung für diese Gebiete ein einheitliches Regelungswerk zu schaffen. Dies gelang durch den Erlass der Europäischen Erbrechtsverordnung, welche am 16.08.2012 in Kraft trat und der Europäischen Güterrechtsverordnungen, welche am 29.07.2016 in Kraft traten. Beide Verordnungen behandeln sowohl das anzuwendende Recht, als auch die internationale Zuständigkeit und die Anerkennung und Vollstreckung von Entscheidungen. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich ausschließlich mit dem ersten Kapitel der Verordnungen, nämlich deren Anwendungsbereich. Die Festlegung des Anwendungsbereichs ist von zentraler Bedeutung, da nur wenn dieser eröffnet ist, die Regelungen der Verordnungen zur Anwendung kommen können. Ist dies hingegen nicht der Fall, bleibt es weiterhin bei der Anwendung des nationalen Rechts der Mitgliedsstaaten, einschließlich ihrer Vorschriften des Internationalen Privatrechts. Im Rahmen der Arbeit werden der zeitliche-, der räumlich-persönliche- und der sachliche Anwendungsbereich behandelt, sowie zentrale Begriffe der Verordnungen definiert. Darüber hinaus beschäftigt sich die Arbeit mit der Abgrenzung des Anwendungsbereichs der EuErbVO und der EuGüVO. Diese kann sich in der Praxis als schwierig erweisen, da güterrechtliche und erbrechtliche Regelungen oft in einem engen Zusammenhang stehen. ; As a result of increasing european integration, both in the field of succession law and in the field of property law, it was of enormous importance to create a uniform regulatory framework for these areas. This was achieved through the enactment of the european regulation on the law of succession, which came into force on 16.08.2012, and the european regulations on the law of matrimonial property regimes and matters of the property consequences of registered partnerships, which came into force on 29.07.2016. Both regulations deal with applicable law as well as international jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of decisions. This paper deals exclusively with the first chapter of the regulations, namely their scope. The definition of the scope is of central importance as only when it is open the rules of the regulations can be applied. If this is not the case, however, the national law of the member states, including their rules of private international law, will continue to apply. Within the context of the work, the temporal, spatially personal and material scope are dealt with, as well as central terms of the regulations are defined. In addition, the work focuses on the delimitation of the scope of the european regulation on the law of succession and the european regulations on the law of matrimonial property regimes and matters of the property consequences of registered partnerships. In practice, this can be difficult, because property law and succession law regulations are often closely related. ; vorgelegt von Sarah Tallian ; Zusammenfassung in Deutsch ; Abweichender Titel laut Übersetzung des Verfassers/der Verfasserin ; Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Diplomarbeit, 2019 ; (VLID)4431646

The Soviet tour in 1935 of the eminent Chinese male performer of female roles, Mei Lanfang, has attracted due international attention as a pioneering instance of cultural and aesthetic exchange. This is not least due to the fact, that it was the first time ever a traditional Chinese theatre troupe made a guest appearance in Europe and that so many prominent Russian and other European theatre innovators consequently eagerly followed the event and reacted to the traditional Chinese stage conventions according to their very different aesthetic points of view. However I shall demonstrate, that from the more pragmatic point of view of international politics at the time another aspect of Mei's tour was much more important: It had been staged by the host, the Soviet Union, as a pragmatic diplomatic gesture to the Republic of China to help break a deadlock in foreign relations between the two young states, and so to help facilitate their forming a defensive military alliance in response to the rapidly increasing Japanese aggression against them both. War memories, as well as memory wars, formed part of this foreign-policy staging from the wings of Mei Lanfang's Soviet guest appearance. ; The Soviet tour in 1935 of the eminent Chinese male performer of female roles, Mei Lanfang, has attracted due international attention as a pioneering instance of cultural and aesthetic exchange. This is not least due to the fact, that it was the first time ever a traditional Chinese theatre troupe made a guest appearance in Europe and that so many prominent Russian and other European theatre innovators consequently eagerly followed the event and reacted to the traditional Chinese stage conventions according to their very different aesthetic points of view. However I shall demonstrate, that from the more pragmatic point of view of international politics at the time another aspect of Mei's tour was much more important: It had been staged by the host, the Soviet Union, as a pragmatic diplomatic gesture to the Republic of China to help break a deadlock in foreign relations between the two young states, and so to help facilitate their forming a defensive military alliance in response to the rapidly increasing Japanese aggression against them both. War memories, as well as memory wars, formed part of this foreign-policy staging from the wings of Mei Lanfang's Soviet guest appearance.

Purpose
The acceleration of globalization is causing global trade transactions to become increasingly frequent, which leads to the internationalized design of consumer products. However, due to cultural differences, the user experience in different parts of the world with the same product may be different. In addition, the user experience is not static, but changes over the different usage stages for a product since the role of our senses may vary and different emotions may be elicited. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore how the interaction between the user and the product influences cross-cultural sensory modalities and emotional responses to products.


Design/methodology/approach
Due to the fact that drinking tea can provide dynamic feedback of users' sensory experiences including all five senses, two kinds of tea products from two considerably different cultures (China and the Netherlands) were chosen for the study. The experiment was conducted in five stages corresponding to different levels of interaction with two tea products. Measurements for both Chinese and Dutch participants were conducted by means of collecting subjective data for sensory modalities and emotions related to product experiences throughout the five stages.


Findings
Results showed that tea experience tends to be dynamic between the two different countries over different usage periods, including sensory modalities and the emotional responses.


Practical implications
The findings and design & market implications can be applied to optimize the design or market of international tea products or consumer products in other categories. They will be helpful for the international marketing of tea, especially for those who are interested in breaking into the Chinese tea market and those who are interested in promoting Chinese tea in new markets. In addition, the authors' methods to evaluate the dynamics of the importance of sensory modalities and emotions could be used to test the user experience in the product lifecycle to help develop a successful international product.


Originality/value
The findings and the linked design implications could be important not only for a theoretical understanding of cross-cultural sensory and emotional feedback from a product experience, but also for the optimization of product design for the international market.