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The article examines the models of organization of exchange activity of economically developed countries of the European Union and Great Britain, analyzes the legal framework of stock exchanges in the respective countries, similar features and differences of legal regulation of the European stock market, the impact of EU regulations and directives, as well as inner (local) rules of stock exchanges and stock exchange associations for the development of relations in the field of trading by securities and other financial instruments in these states, which, in turn, contributes to improving of investment climate in the economies of these countries.Initially, it is pointed at the changes in the structure of the European stock market, the volume of trading operations carried out on the stock exchanges of the EU, due to the Brexit procedure and the pandemic caused by COVID-19.It is further noted that European stock exchanges tend to combine both management and resource potentials, and the regulation of their activities is characterized by a certain unification of European legislation and its liberalization, which is expressed in the gradual granting of stock market entities an increasing amount of self-regulatory powers and self-control. This approach has a generally positive impact on the growth of EU stock exchanges, increasing the level of quotations of their indices on the international stock market, maintaining the credibility as of reliable and safe sources of investment.At the same time, despite the harmonization of European legislation through the adoption of regulations and directives, each European country leaves certain features of its own model of organization of exchange activities. The article describes the features of organizational and legal regulation of stock exchanges, mainly in five European countries (UK, Germany, France, Sweden and the Netherlands), as well as the European stock exchange association Euronext.There is a final conclusion that the legislative deregulation of exchange activities in the EU and the UK has significantly improved the financial market in these regions. Granting greater freedom of regulation to stock exchanges and their associations makes the system of stock exchange regulation more efficient and flexible, able to adapt to changes in the stock market faster than would have happened in terms of legal regulation. The implementation of such an approach in Ukraine (especially the French model) can most effectively influence the development of the Ukrainian economy ; В статье исследуются модели организации биржевой деятельности экономически развитых стран Европейского Союза и Великобритании, анализируются нормативно-правовые основы функционирования фондовых бирж в соответствующих странах, схожие черты и различия правового регулирования Европейского фондового рынка, влияние регламентов и директив Евросоюза, а также внутренних (локальных) правил бирж и биржевых объединений на развитие отношений в сфере торговли ценными бумагами и другими финансовыми инструментами в исследуемых странах, что, в свою очередь, способствует улучшению инвестиционного климата в экономиках этих государств ; Досліджено моделі організації біржової діяльності економічно розвинених країн Європейського Союзу та Великої Британії, проаналізовано нормативно-правові засади функціонування фондових бірж у відповідних країнах, схожі риси та відмінності правового регулювання Європейського фондового ринку, вплив регламентів та директив Євросоюзу, а також внутрішніх (локальних) правил бірж та біржових об'єднань на розвиток відносин у сфері торгівлі цінними паперами та іншими фінансовими інструментами в досліджуваних країнах, що, у свою чергу, сприяє покращенню інвестиційного клімату в економіках цих держав

The article examines the models of organization of exchange activity of economically developed countries of the European Union and Great Britain, analyzes the legal framework of stock exchanges in the respective countries, similar features and differences of legal regulation of the European stock market, the impact of EU regulations and directives, as well as inner (local) rules of stock exchanges and stock exchange associations for the development of relations in the field of trading by securities and other financial instruments in these states, which, in turn, contributes to improving of investment climate in the economies of these countries.Initially, it is pointed at the changes in the structure of the European stock market, the volume of trading operations carried out on the stock exchanges of the EU, due to the Brexit procedure and the pandemic caused by COVID-19.It is further noted that European stock exchanges tend to combine both management and resource potentials, and the regulation of their activities is characterized by a certain unification of European legislation and its liberalization, which is expressed in the gradual granting of stock market entities an increasing amount of self-regulatory powers and self-control. This approach has a generally positive impact on the growth of EU stock exchanges, increasing the level of quotations of their indices on the international stock market, maintaining the credibility as of reliable and safe sources of investment.At the same time, despite the harmonization of European legislation through the adoption of regulations and directives, each European country leaves certain features of its own model of organization of exchange activities. The article describes the features of organizational and legal regulation of stock exchanges, mainly in five European countries (UK, Germany, France, Sweden and the Netherlands), as well as the European stock exchange association Euronext.There is a final conclusion that the legislative deregulation of exchange activities in the EU and the UK has significantly improved the financial market in these regions. Granting greater freedom of regulation to stock exchanges and their associations makes the system of stock exchange regulation more efficient and flexible, able to adapt to changes in the stock market faster than would have happened in terms of legal regulation. The implementation of such an approach in Ukraine (especially the French model) can most effectively influence the development of the Ukrainian economy ; В статье исследуются модели организации биржевой деятельности экономически развитых стран Европейского Союза и Великобритании, анализируются нормативно-правовые основы функционирования фондовых бирж в соответствующих странах, схожие черты и различия правового регулирования Европейского фондового рынка, влияние регламентов и директив Евросоюза, а также внутренних (локальных) правил бирж и биржевых объединений на развитие отношений в сфере торговли ценными бумагами и другими финансовыми инструментами в исследуемых странах, что, в свою очередь, способствует улучшению инвестиционного климата в экономиках этих государств ; Досліджено моделі організації біржової діяльності економічно розвинених країн Європейського Союзу та Великої Британії, проаналізовано нормативно-правові засади функціонування фондових бірж у відповідних країнах, схожі риси та відмінності правового регулювання Європейського фондового ринку, вплив регламентів та директив Євросоюзу, а також внутрішніх (локальних) правил бірж та біржових об'єднань на розвиток відносин у сфері торгівлі цінними паперами та іншими фінансовими інструментами в досліджуваних країнах, що, у свою чергу, сприяє покращенню інвестиційного клімату в економіках цих держав

Il riconoscimento delle sentenze straniere è un tema chiave del diritto internazionale privato e processuale e proprio per questo coinvolge ampiamente i diversi ordinamenti: trova, infatti, il suo spazio a livello nazionale, comunitario e internazionale. La disciplina ha acquisito nel tempo una particolare rilevanza poiché si è posta in passato e si pone ancora oggi come la traduzione pratica di uno dei principi cardine della cooperazione giudiziaria tra i vari stati: il principio del mutuo riconoscimento, ossia un accordo di reciproca fiducia tra i vari stati per cui ciascun ordinamento cerca di "concedere fiducia" ai provvedimenti emanati dai giudici stranieri al fine, da un lato, di garantire una maggiore apertura rispetto agli ordinamenti stranieri e, dall'altro, di limitare costi, sia economici che tempistici. La disciplina positiva relativa all'efficacia delle sentenze straniere è il risultato delle scelte operate da ciascun legislatore rispetto all'accertamento del provvedimento posto in essere da parte dei giudici stranieri e riguardante una controversia che tocchi in qualche modo l'ordinamento interno. In particolare, in ogni sistema normativo viene considerata la possibilità che la sentenza emessa al di fuori del territorio nazionale produca i suoi effetti subordinando , tuttavia, la realizzazione di questi ultimi a determinate procedure aventi ad oggetto la dichiarazione di efficacia della sentenza straniera e volte alla verifica della sussistenza di particolari condizioni poste dal legislatore. La tesi è suddivisa in quattro capitoli. Dopo aver individuato al primo capitolo i punti di contatto tra le varie discipline, ponendo particolare attenzione al ruolo fondamentale che il riconoscimento delle sentenze possiede nell'ambito della cooperazione giudiziaria tra stati, viene trattato il tema nei vari ordinamenti e vengono affrontati casi applicativi. In particolare, il secondo capitolo si incentra sulla disciplina interna e la sua evoluzione: si passa, infatti, da un regime improntato ad un forte nazionalismo giudiziario, che sottoponeva il riconoscimento delle sentenze straniere al procedimento di delibazione di cui all'art. 796 c.p.c., ad un sistema aperto fondato sul principio del riconoscimento automatico delle sentenze, introdotto dalla legge n 218/1995. Il terzo capitolo definisce la disciplina convenzionale, soffermandosi in un primo momento sul ruolo fondamentale che questa possiede, e solo successivamente sulle varie convenzioni, di carattere bilaterale e multilaterale, che hanno trattato la materia, con particolare riguardo alla Convenzione di Bruxelles del 1968, concernente la competenza giurisdizionale e l'esecuzione delle decisioni in materia civile e commerciale, alla quale si ispireranno la disciplina Europea e la stessa legge di riforma del diritto internazionale privato e processuale. Infine, il quarto capitolo analizza la disciplina europea, soffermandosi in modo specifico sul Regolamento Bruxelles I ( n. 44/2001) e sul successivo Regolamento Bruxelles I bis ( n. 1215/2012), in quanto questo "sistema" non solo sostituisce la Convenzione di Bruxelles, ma ne rappresenta, altresì, la sua più concreta evoluzione. Si occupa, inoltre, di un caso applicativo concernente il principio dell'equo processo e di due casi a limite della disciplina Europea: il primo riguardante l'applicabilità della disciplina relativa al riconoscimento delle sentenze prevista dal Regolamento Bruxelles I ad una sentenza austriaca pronunciata nei confronti di un soggetto domiciliato in Repubblica Ceca prima che quest'ultima entrasse a far parte dell'Unione europea, il secondo relativo all'applicabilità del "sistema Bruxelles" al caso Brexit.

"For two hundred years, conservatism has defied its reputation as a backward-looking creed by confronting and adapting to liberal modernity. By doing so, the Right has won long periods of power and effectively become the dominant tradition in politics. Yet, despite their success, conservatives have continued to fight with each other about how far to compromise with liberalism and democracy--or which values to defend and how. In Conservatism, Edmund Fawcett provides a gripping account of this conflicted history, clarifies key ideas, and illuminates quarrels within the Right today. Focusing on the United States, Britain, France, and Germany, Fawcett's vivid narrative covers thinkers and politicians. They include the forerunners James Madison, Edmund Burke, and Joseph de Maistre; early friends and foes of capitalism; defenders of religion; and builders of modern parties, such as William McKinley and Lord Salisbury. The book chronicles the cultural critics and radical disruptors of the 1920s and 1930s, recounts how advocates of laissez-faire economics broke the post 1945 consensus, and describes how Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and their European counterparts are pushing conservatism toward a nation-first, hard Right. An absorbing, original history of the Right, Conservatism portrays a tradition as much at war with itself as with its opponents."--

This article applies an intersectional feminist lens to social media engagement with European politics. Disproportionately targeted at already marginalised people, the problem of online abuse/harassment has come to increasing public awareness. At the same time, movements such as #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo have demonstrated the value of social media in facilitating global grassroots activism that challenges dominant structures of power. While the literature on social media engagement with European politics has offered important insights into the extent to which social media facilitates democratic participation, it has not to date sufficiently accounted for patterns of intersectional activism and online inequalities. Using Nancy Fraser's feminist critique of Habermas' public sphere theory and Kimberlé Crenshaw's theory of intersectionality, this article explores patterns of gender and racial inequalities in the digital public space. By analysing both the role of racist and misogynistic online abuse targeted at women, nonbinary, agender, and gender-variant people in public life, as well as the opportunities for marginalised groups to mobilise transnationally through subaltern counter-publics, I argue that social media engagement is inextricably linked with offline inequalities. To fully understand the impact of social media on European democracy, we need to pay attention to gendered and racialised dynamics of power within the digital public sphere that have unequal consequences for democratic participation. This will involve expanding our methodological repertoire and employing tools underpinned by a critical feminist epistemology.

Christopher Grout, Registrar, Qatar International Court & Dispute Resolution Centre and Sir William Blair, Judge, QICDRC / The role of international commercial courts in commercial dispute resolution -- Thomas Schultz, Professor of Law, King's College London, and SNF Research Professor of International Law, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, and Clément Bachmann, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva / International commercial courts : possible problematic social externalities of a dispute resolution product with good market potential -- Christopher Vajda, Barrister, Moncton Chambers / Transnational adjudication and the court of justice of the European Union -- Ilias Bantekas, Professor of Law, HBKU Law, Lessons for International Commercial Courts from the Experience of the Proliferation of International Criminal Tribunals -- Janet Walker, Professor of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School / A comparative perspective to international commercial courts : jurisdiction, applicable law, and enforcement of judgments --Eva Lein, Professor, University of Lausanne, and Senior Research Fellow in Private International Law, BIICL / Jurisdiction and choice of court clauses in favour of international commercial courts -- Man Yip, Associate Professor of Law, Singapore Management University School of Law / The battle for jurisdiction through jurisdictional requirements : comparing between the 8 Chinese international commercial courts, the Singapore International Commercial Court, and the commercial court of England and Wales -- Mateja Durovic, Reader in Contract and Commercial Law, King's College London, and Franciszek Lech, KURF Research Assistant, King's College London / Harmonization of commercial law based on the common law : the role of international commercial courts -- Faris Elias Nasrallah, Solicitor, Senior Courts of England and Wales, and Researcher in International Arbitration, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology / Applicable laws in the International commercial courts of the Gulf -- Georgios Dimitropoulos, Associate Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, HBKU Law / The design of international commercial courts : from organizational hybridity to functional interoperability -- Marieke Witkamp, Judge, Court of Rotterdam / Internationalizing domestic courts in Europe : a comparative analysis on procedure, function, organization -- Catherine A. Rogers, Professor of Law, PennState Law and Bocconi University, and Professor of Ethics, Regulation and the Rule of Law, Queen Mary University of London / The legitimacy and ethics of international commercial court judges -- Zachary R. Calo, Professor of Law, HBKU Law / Counsel ethics in transnational lawyering : the case of international commercial courts -- Pietro Ortolani, Professor of Digital Conflict Resolution, Radboud University / The use of technology at international commercial courts -- Julian Bailey, Partner, White & Case / The interplay between international commercial courts and ordinary courts -- Michael Patchett-Joyce, Barrister,The 36 Group / Private autonomy in international commercial dispute resolution : international commercial arbitration and international commercial courts -- Georgia Antonopoulou, PhD Candidate, Erasmus School of Law / Procedure before international commercial courts and ordinary courts : a comparative perspective -- Salvatore Caserta and Mikael Rask Madsen, Director of iCourts, Copenhagen / Hybridity in international adjudication : how international are international commercial courts? -- Julien Chaisse, Professor of Law, City University of Hong Kong, and Xu Qian, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong / The China international commercial court : architecture, pitfalls, and promises -- The Rt. Hon. The Lord Woolf CH and Christopher Campbell-Holt / The emergence of international commercial courts and dispute resolution centres in frontier markets : a perspective from Kazakhstan -- Geert Van Calster, Professor of Law, and Head of the Institute of Private International Law, KU Leuven / Brexit and the competition of dispute resolution fora in Europe : whither the rush to English courts post withdrawal? -- Susan L. Karamanian, Dean, HBKU Law / international commercial courts, dispute resolution, and the rule of law.

""Coming out of the current COVID crisis, many expect further industry consolidation across sectors. The Global Rule of Three lifts the curtain on what this future could look like. The book is packed with great insights into the dynamic forces shaping most industries: above all, that those who know how to truly serve will be the long term winners." -Paul Polman, Co-Founder & Chair, IMAGINE and former CEO, Unilever "Congratulations for writing a seminal book on how industries evolve, grow, plateau and revitalize over time! Simultaneous coexistence of both the volume driven full line competitors (oligopoly) and the margin driven niche players (monopolistic competitors) is unique to competitive positioning Globally." - Philip Kotler, S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing (emeritus), Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA "The Global Rule of Three is an eye opener! It provides a blue print on how to compete globally especially against growing competition from Multinationals from the Emerging Markets such as China and India. Buy it, you will like it!" -Ram Charan, Best Selling Author and Advisor to Global Enterprises "The Global Rule of Three offers a plethora of historical as well as contemporary examples to chronicle the evolution of hypercompetition leading up to the current pan-industrial revolution. A must read for every manager interested in the spiraling competition from multinationals of emerging markets such as China and India." -Richard D'Aveni, Bakala Professor of Strategy, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, USAIn our increasingly digital, mobile, and global world, the existing theories of business and economics have lost much of their appeal with the phenomenal rise of Chindia, the reality of Brexit, the turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the seismic shifting of the global center of gravity from west to east. In the area of innovation, the traditional thinking that a developed country, often the US, will come up with the next major innovation, launch at home first, and then take it to other markets does not ring true anymore. Similarly, the world where conglomerates go bargain-hunting for acquisitions in emerging markets has been turned upside-down. This book reveals and illustrates the Global Rule of Three phenomenon, which stipulates that in competitive markets only three companies (which the authors call "generalists") can dominate the market. All other players in the market are specialists. Further, whereas the financial performance of generalists improves as market share increases, specialist companies see a decrease in financial performance as their market share increases, as the latter are margin-driven companies. This theory powerfully captures the evolution of global markets and what executives must do to succeed. It is based on empirical analyses of hundreds of markets and industries in the US and globally. Competitive markets evolve in a predictable fashion across industries and geographies, where every industry goes through a similar lifecycle from beginning to end (or revitalization). From local to regional to national markets, the last stop in the evolution of markets is going global. The pattern is so consistent that it represents a distinct and natural market structure at every level. The authors offer strategies that generalists and specialist should follow to stay competitive as well as twelve expansion strategies for global companies from emerging markets. This book chronicles this global evolution and provides impactful managerial implications for executives and students of marketing and corporate strategy alike."--Page 4 of cover

When Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, had responsibility for the civil service, it was agreed that the numbers would be cut down to pre-Brexit levels,  i.e. 65,000 or 13%.  In October, "Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced civil service 'expansion' would be 'frozen' and a plan would be put in place to return to its size before the Covid-19 pandemic." Apparently it would be the 'most ambitious public sector productivity review ever'. The reality is that the civil service continues to increase in size. Footnote 25 in the Chancellor's 2023 Autumn Statement says "According to the latest ONS official statistics on public sector employment in the UK, there were 457k FTE in June 2023, compared to 391k in March 2019, excluding devolved administrations. If the size of the civil service remained at June 2023 levels, instead of increasing at the average 2016-2023 growth rate, up to £1bn could be saved by March 2025."The word "could" is significant here as we currently don't know how the government plans to achieve this. He has asked departments to come up with some ideas for reductions sometime next year- probably through ceasing new hires and using artificial intelligence. But in last year's Autumn Statement when he declared that was not the way to do things. Meanwhile, in July 2022, Government announced that a civil service "Governance and Accountability review will be led by former Cabinet Office Minister Lord Maude, who will chair the work and recommend ways to make government more efficient in autumn."  This 140 page document was sneaked out earlier this month with so little fanfare that most of us failed to notice it.  The more controversial aspects seem to have been removed. In particular, the aim now seems to be efficiency, rather than a reduction in the size of the civil service.  In fact, the size of the civil service and number of civil servants are not mentioned in the published report. The 57 main recommendations are about structure and HR. The report does, at least, make many good, often amusing, criticisms of the civil service institution, as distinct from the civil servants themselves. And he is right to say that ministers and their special advisers are part of the problem.  Churn is excessive and neither receive any training for their roles. Recommendation 45 says: "Ministers should generally stay in post for longer and there should be an element of continuous professional development (CPD) for all serving ministers." But otherwise, the report complicates matters.In February 1988, the government approved the Ibbs Next Steps report which proposed that the civil service be reduced "to a small 'core' of policy makers and 'transferring' other officials to work under free-standing agency boards" which we would now call "Executive Agencies". In other words, the civil service structure would be simplified to two types of unit: each department would have one small team advising ministers on policy and as many Executive Agencies as were necessary to ensure policies took affect.  The latter would have annual reports showing performance against objectives. Needless to say, it never happened.There is no doubt that this model of the civil service would produce better government than the new more complex one, especially if Maude's recommendation 45, reducing ministerial churn and adding training for ministers and social advisers, was included. What will actually happen? Frankly, probably very little.

A very strange insistence here:UK accused of plan to further cut cost of bananas at expense of poorest African producersUK refusing to commit to EU pledge to stop cutting tariffs on big producers despite bananas being as cheap today as three decades agoAre we sending gunboats to take the bananas cheaply or something? Not that we have any gunboats and we'd not do so if we did. But what's the complaint here?The government has now been accused of pursuing an irresponsible post-Brexit policy that could reduce the price of bananas further in the shops – but at the cost of the livelihoods of thousands of workers on small plantations in some of Africa's poorest countries.The British market is already dominated by the so-called "dollar banana" producers of Latin America who are able to sell cheaply having benefited from rolled-over EU-negotiated free trade deals that have cut the import taxes, or tariffs, on the fruit.The EU, however, promised in 2019 not to cut tariffs imposed on the big producers any further in recognition of the impact on the smaller African competitors. The UK's exit has freed it from that pledge to the world's poorest.According to Afruibana, the Pan-African association of banana producers and exporters, all the indications are that the result will be betrayal, with the UK government ditching the EU promise to protect them.So, we have tariffs against banana imports. Presumably preferential ones too. Such tariffs make bananas more expensive in Britain - that's what tariffs do. That's what tariffs are, they're a tax upon consumers. Logic would suggest that a British government, with the interests of Britons at heart, would not have a tax upon bananas. So, cutting those tariffs seems like an excellent idea. Britons will be better off.The complaint then is that those African producers will be worse off. To which one response is and? Whose government is this after all? Another, and a more subtle one, is that if people in Africa are growing high cost bananas then they're trapped in a low value occupation. What is actually desired is that they move into a high value occupation. Maybe growing date palms, or oil palm, or maize. Or possibly flooding into the factories which is what made this country rich. Or, well, something, anything, else than adding very little value by growing high cost and thus low value added bananas.But the insistence here is that by deliberately fiddling the terms of trade we should continue to trap those Africans in their poverty. Keep them on those high cost banana plantations where they earn little - because the value add is low.So, actually, the policy being demanded here is that we trap Africans in poverty by making bananas more expensive for Britons. We tend to think that fails on both counts. It's also possible to be very much more basic about this. Don't have a trade policy, don't have tariffs. Simply leave free trade be in its totality. If we then also want to help poor Black Africans then let us then go and help poor Black Africans. And finally, who really benefits from the preferential tariffs? Well, it's the capitalists in Africa who own the banana plantations, isn't it? And why do we want to benefit them at the cost of cheap fruit (yes, we know, it's an herb) for Britons?

In many developed countries, the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) has become important in paving the future path in how data is managed and secured in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector. SMEs in these developed countries have created their own cyber regimes around AI and ML. This knowledge is tested daily in how these countries' SMEs run their businesses and identify threats and attacks, based on the support structure of the individual country. Based on recent changes to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Brexit, and ISO standards requirements, machine learning cybersecurity (MLCS) adoption in the UK SME market has become prevalent and a good example to lean on, amongst other developed nations. Whilst MLCS has been successfully applied in many applications, including network intrusion detection systems (NIDs) worldwide, there is still a gap in the rate of adoption of MLCS techniques for UK SMEs. Other developed countries such as Spain and Australia also fall into this category, and similarities and differences to MLCS adoptions are discussed. Applications of how MLCS is applied within these SME industries are also explored. The paper investigates, using quantitative and qualitative methods, the challenges to adopting MLCS in the SME ecosystem, and how operations are managed to promote business growth. Much like security guards and policing in the real world, the virtual world is now calling on MLCS techniques to be embedded like secret service covert operations to protect data being distributed by the millions into cyberspace. This paper will use existing global research from multiple disciplines to identify gaps and opportunities for UK SME small business cyber security. This paper will also highlight barriers and reasons for low adoption rates of MLCS in SMEs and compare success stories of larger companies implementing MLCS. The methodology uses structured quantitative and qualitative survey questionnaires, distributed across an extensive participation pool directed to the SMEs' management and technical and non-technical professionals using stratify methods. Based on the analysis and findings, this study reveals that from the primary data obtained, SMEs have the appropriate cybersecurity packages in place but are not fully aware of their potential. Secondary data collection was run in parallel to better understand how these barriers and challenges emerged, and why the rate of adoption of MLCS was very low. The paper draws the conclusion that help through government policies and processes coupled together with collaboration could minimize cyber threats in combatting hackers and malicious actors in trying to stay ahead of the game. These aspirations can be reached by ensuring that those involved have been well trained and understand the importance of communication when applying appropriate safety processes and procedures. This paper also highlights important funding gaps that could help raise cyber security awareness in the form of grants, subsidies, and financial assistance through various public sector policies and training. Lastly, SMEs' lack of understanding of risks and impacts of cybercrime could lead to conflicting messages between cross-company IT and cybersecurity rules. Trying to find the right balance between this risk and impact, versus productivity impact and costs, could lead to UK SMES getting over these hurdles in this cyberspace in the quest for promoting the usage of MLCS. UK and Wales governments can use the research conducted in this paper to inform and adapt their policies to help UK SMEs become more secure from cyber-attacks and compare them to other developed countries also on the same future path.

PurposeUsing the constructal law of physics this study aims to provide guidance to future scholarship on global supply chain management. Further, through two case studies the authors are developing, the authors report interview findings with two senior VPs from two multi-national corporations being disrupted by COVID-19. This study suggests how this and recent events will impact on the design of future global supply chains.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply the constructal law to explain the recent disruptions to the global supply chain orthodoxy. Two interviews are presented from case studies the authors are developing in the USA and UK – one a multi-national automobile parts supplier and the other is a earth-moving equipment manufacture. Specifically, this is an exploratory pathway work trying to make sense of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on supply chain scholarship.FindingsAdopting the approach of Bejan, the authors believe that what is happening today with COVID-19 and other trade disruptions such as Brexit and the USA imposing tariffs is creating new obstacles that will redirect the future flow of supply chains.Research limitations/implicationsIt is clear that the COVID-19 response introduced a bullwhip effect in the manufacturing sector on a scale never-before seen. For scholars, the authors would suggest there are four pathway topics going forward. These topics include: the future state of global sourcing, the unique nature of a combined "demand" and "supply shortage" bullwhip effect, the resurrection of lean and local production systems and the development of risk-recovery contingency strategies to deal with pandemics.Practical implicationsSupply chain managers tend to be iterative and focused on making small and subtle changes to their current system and way of thinking, very often seeking to optimize cost or negotiate better contracts with suppliers. In the current environment, however, such activities have proved to be of little consequence compared to the massive forces of economic disruption of the past three years. Organizations that have more tightly compressed supply chains are enjoying a significant benefit during the COVID-19 crisis and are no longer being held hostage to governments of another country.Social implicationsAn implicit assumption in the press is that COVID-19 caught everyone by surprise, and that executives foolishly ignored the risks of outsourcing to China and are now paying the price. However, noted scholars and epidemiologists have been warning of the threats of pandemics since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus. The pundits would further posit that in their pursuit of low-cost production, global corporations made naive assumptions that nothing could disrupt them. Both the firms the authors have interviewed had to close plants to protect their workforce. It was indicated in the cases the authors are developing that it is going to take manufacturers on average one month to recover from 4–6 days of disruption. These companies employ many thousands of people, and direct and ancillary workers are now temporarily laid off and face an uncertain future as/when they will recover back to normal production.Originality/valueUsing the constructal law of physics, the authors seek to provide guidance to future scholarship on global supply chain management. Further, through two case studies, the authors provide the first insight from two senior VPs from two leading multi-national corporations in their respective sectors being disrupted by COVID-19. This study is the first indication to how this and recent disruptive events will impact on the design of future global supply chains. Unlike the generic work, which has recently appeared in HBR and Forbes, it is grounded in real operational insight.

Under the "Third Vote" method, the voters cast no votes but are asked about their preferences on policy issues as declared in the party manifestos (like in voting advice applications, e.g. German Wahl-O-Mat). Then the policy profile of the electorate with the balance of public opinion on every issue is determined. The degree to which the parties match with it is expressed by the parties' representativeness indices of popularity (the average percentage of electors represented on all the issues) and universality (the percentage of cases when a majority is represented), and the parliament seats are distributed among the parties in proportion to their indices. The voters are no longer swayed by politicians' charisma and communication skills but are directed to subject matters behind personal images and ideological symbols. The focus on choice properties (e.g., political and economic implications of Brexit) is supposed to make vote more rational and responsible and representative democracy "more representative" and "more democratic". This method has been approbated during the 2016 and 2017 elections of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Student Parliament (StuPa). The 2016 experiment showed that the method increased the parliament's representativeness but also revealed that the critical point was the selection of questions by the election committee. Indeed, they can be favorable for one party and unfavorable for another, or they can poorly discriminate between the parties, finally causing an equalization of sizes of the party factions in the parliament (regarded by some as the method's malfunction). These problems were tackled in the 2017 experiment. The eligible parties were asked to formulate questions themselves and to answer all of them, including the questions by other parties. The collected 94 questions were reduced to 25 using a model aimed at contrasting as much as possible between the parties by maximizing the total distance between the vectors which characterized their policy profiles. Thereby, the accusation of partiality in the question selection was avoided, the gain in the parliament representativeness was confirmed, but the equalization effect was still persistent. The 2018 experiment has three distinctions. Firstly, we use an advanced model to reduce the list of questions. It enhances the multi-dimensionality of the set of parties' policy profiles aimed at covering the policy space most evenly. For this purpose, the least squares criterion is applied to principal component variances of the correlation or distance matrices for the parties' policy profiles. Then the reduced set of questions results in a ball-shaped "cloud" of parties' policy profiles rather than in a stretched ellipsoid, as in the 2017 experiment. Secondly, we test several variants of the Third Vote, using different optimization models to select questions, and compare their impact on the representativeness of the parliament elected. It turns out that the StuPa is by far most representative if elected by the third votes based on the questions selected using the advanced criterion, and this superiority is observed for all groups of electors considered in the experiment. Thirdly, we tackle the Third Vote's equalization effect. For this purpose, we reduce the party indices, retaining only their part beyond the threshold between representative and nonrepresentative values. The parliament reallocated in proportion to the reduced indices has a similar faction ratio as the one elected by party name, is still more representative than the latter, but less representative than the one allocated in proportion to the complete indices. This means that the optimal proportional representation of public preferences leads to a certain equalization of party factions. Consequently, the equalization effect should not be regarded harmful; it can be tackled, if desired, but at the price of reducing the gain in the parliament representativeness.

The article considers peculiarities of international regulation of labour. Attention is drawn to the importance of international norms for regulating labour relations. The study examines external priorities for further development of the Ukrainian labour law, among which the author defines the acts of the European Union and the International Labour Organization.The above-conclusion is substantiated by the entry into force in 2017 of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union and its member states, as well as the fact that Ukraine has been a member of the International Labour Organization since 1954. In addition, it is emphasized that the ILO brings together 187 member states, which makes it not only the oldest but also one of the most influential international organizations whose main objective is to promote social justice and internationally recognized human rights in the world of work.The paper focuses on the fact that at the modern stage the international regulation of labour is undergoing its next stage of development, caused, first of all, by the political, social and technological factors accompanying the XXI century.Thus, in modern realities, international organizations and political associations of states face new challenges related to the achievement of the goals that were set when they were founded (as an example, the UK's withdrawal from the EU or Brexit).Driven by the economic and social imperatives, many developed countries are forced to loosen up the state interference in the regulation of labour relations, thus hoping stimulate the growth in number of labour contracts and reduce unemployment.The modern technological progress is also developing fast and putting forward entirely different requirements for work, which is increasingly untied from specific working environment (for example, telework delivered thousands of kilometres away from the employer) and requires, on the one hand, significant technical skills from the worker, and on the other hand – might be replaced by robotic mechanisms.The author proposes the following stages of genesis and development of international labour regulation: (a) the first stage (the second half of the XVIII century the first half of the XIX century), characterized by the birth of the labour movement and the emergence of complex theoretical thoughts devoted to the generalized legal regulation of labour relations; (b) the second stage (the second half of the XIX century the first half of the XX century), characterized by the emergence of the first international organizations in the area of labour regulation, a major impetus for the development of which was the First World War and its consequences; (c) the third stage (the middle of the XX century the end of the XX century), related to the creation and activities of the United Nations and the ILO as a UN specialized agency; (d) the fourth stage (the beginning of the XXI century – to date), featuring political, social and technological changes we are witnessing now. ; У статті розглядаються особливості міжнародного регулювання праці. Звертається увага на значення міжнародних норм для регулювання трудових правовідносин. Досліджуються зовнішні пріоритети для розвитку трудового права України надалі, серед яких автор визначає акти Європейського Союзу (в частині відповідності майбутнього національного законодавства стандартам зазначеного економічного та політичного об'єднання держав) та Міжнародної організації праці, членом якої Україна є з 1954 року. У роботі запропоновані такі етапи становлення та розвитку міжнародного регулювання праці: перший етап (друга половина XVIII сторіччя – перша половина ХIX сторіччя); другий етап (друга половина ХІХ сторіччя – перша половина ХХ сторіччя); третій етап (середина XХ сторіччя – кінець ХX сторіччя); четвертий етап (початок XХІ сторіччя – дотепер).

The purpose of this paper is to examine the decline and fall of British power. "Power" is defined as the ability to influence another party and Michael Mann's four sources of social power is employed as an analytical tool.While on the face of it Britain possesses a number of indicators which suggest that it is a major power, it is argued that those indicators may not reveal the full extent of the decline of British power over a period of time and which has been accentuated by the outcome of the Brexit referendum in June 2016.The downward trajectory of power is examined through the prism of two examples. The first concernsKorea and Britain's involvement in the war of 1950–1953 but also through the influence of Britain's then prime minister with the US President over the defence of Europe as well as lobbying the US on its threatened use of nuclear weapons. The contrast with the British stance on the latest crisis on the peninsular could not be starker and the silence of the British government reflects the fall of British influence notwithstanding claims to the contrary post referendum of a "Global Britain".The second example concerns Britain's situation post fall of the Berlin Wall, post Gulf War and even post Masstricht Treaty (which saw Britain secure several opt outs from the European Union) and its role in 1994 in securing the territorial integrity of Ukraine. British influence might be viewed as still significant although the ejection from the Exchange Rate Mechanism – a blow to its Political Power and EconomicPower – was a modest harbinger of its vulnerability to economic crises – an all too familiar theme of its modern history. The events post Crimean occupation and post invasion of Eastern Ukraine witnessed the UK absent from the ensuing negotiations which were led by Germany and France from the European side. The UK was already withdrawing into itself from its (relatively modest political although not insignificant defence) role in Europe, let alone a Global role it purported to aspire to. The curves of both events intersect at a point on a downward trajectory.The paper, in addition to Mann's Four Sources of Social Power, is supplemented by the introduction of his fifth – "Leadership" as well as considering the use of the intelligence services, which constitute a blend of both political and military instrumentality employed to achieve a desired set out of outcomes to protect its interests and further its aims in the global order. The paper also considers the interstices of the various sources. In particular, attention is drawn to the fifth source noted by Mann – that of "Leadership" and that British sources of social power had particularly diminished during the Cameron and May governments and with it, its strategic outlook.The paper is the first in a series that will examine the Decline & Fall of British Power since 1945. ; Метою статтi є пояснення занепаду й падіння могутності Британії. У той час як Великобританія демонструє низку показників, які свідчать про її міць, у статті стверджується, що ці показники можуть не розкривати всю масштабність падіння британської влади протягом певного періоду часу, що було підкреслено результатом чергового референдуму в березні – червні 2016 року. Як аналітичний інструмент застосовується теорія джерел соціальної влади Майкла Манна. У роботі також розглядаються межі між різними джерелами соціальної влади. Зокрема, звертається увага на п'яте джерело, зазначене М. Манном, – «лідерство», а також на те, що британські джерела соціальної влади були особливо ослаблені за уряду Д. Кемерона та травневого референдуму. Ця стаття є першою в серії, присвяченій вивченню падіння й занепаду влади/потужності Британії з 1945 року.

The development strategies being promoted in the EU – Europe 2020 and the 2014-2020 Cohesion Policy – aim to supersede the presumed incompatibility between efficiency and equity through a policy approach tailoring interventions to the key specificities of all territories, including the most disadvantaged. In this view, the socio-economic progress of lagging regions would help keeping under control any increase in inequalities potentially associated with the economic development process. However, the idea of promoting spatially-targeted interventions in economically backward areas has been conceptually questioned, and the effectiveness of the Cohesion Policy programme in poorer regions is yet to be convincingly proven. In the policy framework underpinning EU strategies, a key role is assigned to the quality of regional and local government institutions. Public institutions are conceived as instrumental for identifying and solving the bottlenecks inhibiting economic growth and perpetuating social exclusion in poorer places. Nevertheless, local governments may also be responsible for wastes and misallocations of financial resources. While theoretical contributions on the importance of government institutions for regional and local development abound, empirical evidence on their functioning is scarce. Through which mechanisms they influence the design and outcomes of public policies is unclear. Drawing from cross-country investigations and case-studies in the European context, the four quantitative studies composing this Thesis contribute to shed light on these related issues. Focusing on the United Kingdom, the first paper evaluates the economic and labour market impact of EU Cohesion Policy. Counterfactual analyses demonstrate that EU regional policies may have a beneficial impact on the labour market and growth path of peripheral regions. The study warns over possible negative repercussions of a discontinuation of EU financial support to poorer areas, a result of obvious relevance for the country after 'Brexit'. By exploiting panel samples of EU regions, the second and third papers shed light on the role of government institutions for the returns of regional investments and for labour market and social conditions in Europe. The second paper examines the link between institutional quality, transport infrastructure investments, and economic growth. It shows that improvements in secondary (local) roads are conducive to a better economic performance only in presence of sound regional governments. The third paper investigates the extent to which the factors at the centre of European growth strategies – institutions, innovation, human capital and transport infrastructure – contribute to the generation of employment and to social inclusion in EU regions. The evidence produced suggests that regional government institutions have been essential to mitigate social exclusion issues in EU regions. The fourth paper focuses on Southern Italy to examine how public finances are distorted by 'local governments captures' operated by organised crime. Collusions between mafia and local politics have a significant impact on the selection of investments and on the collection of fiscal revenues. The local policy agenda is modified to the advantage of the interests of organised crime. Overall, the evidence emerging from this Thesis suggests that policy interventions have the potential to boost the economic and labour market performance of the less developed EU regions. However, any favourable policy outcome (both in terms of efficiency and equity) is conditioned by the competence and the goodwill of government institutions responsible for defining development targets and enforcing investment plans. When politicians are conditioned by illegal pressures from criminal groups, investment decisions follow special interests rather than general welfare goals. In turn, inadequate governance harms the economic impact of selected interventions. The results are particularly relevant for the lively debate, within economic geography, on the pre-conditions and policy measures enabling 'smart and inclusive' development at the sub-national level.