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Energy Security will continue to remain as one of the top security concerns for Europe. Depleting reserves and growing energy demand have increased European dependence on external energy resources. Today, Russia is by far the largest supplier of oil, coal and the natural gas to Europe. Oil and natural gas revenues have played a vital role to rebound the Russian economy and have supported Putin's ambitions to reestablish Russia as a great power, increasing its influence over the former Soviet space. This complex energy relationship has increasingly been a cause of concern. The main question this study seeks to answer is to what extent Russia could use natural gas/energy supplies to leverage political outcomes. The study finds that the Soviet Union, then Russia, have used energy relations as a natural extension of their foreign policy. Energy subsidies were used to reward Russia's allies, while price manipulation, cut off threats and coercion were used against others. The study also finds that Russia has used energy relations to create a wedge amongst European countries that are members of the EU and NATO. Construction of natural gas pipelines, Nord Stream I and II, and Turk Stream has reduced Russia's reliance on the Soviet legacy pipeline network that runs through Ukraine. While the Nord Stream II pipeline appears at the heart of the crisis in Ukraine, the new pipeline networks have allowed Russia to manipulate energy flow and to weaponize energy to achieve political outcomes. Russia is also concerned to maintain its market share and reputation as a reliable supplier of energy to Western Europe, as fossil fuel revenues are critical to support its government's budget. While using every instrument of national power, diplomacy, military, and information, Russia has not threatened cutting energy supplies to Western Europe. This might change in the future as Russian exports are diversified to Asian markets. In case of a disruption, while increased Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) imports provide a short-term relief, to ...

<div><p><em>This study aims to analyze the effect of intellectual capital, firm size and bank liquidity on profitability and firm value. The experiment was conducted in the banking industry listed in Indonesia stock exchange from 2013 to 2015 as many as 40 banks. Data were analyzed using of </em><em>Analysis of Moment Structures Ver.22</em><em>. The results showed (1) intellectual capital has a positive and significant effect on the firm profitability and firm value; (2) firm size have a positive and insignificant effect on the firm profitability and firm value; (3) liquidity has a positive and significant effect on firm profitability, but liquidity have a negative not significant effect on the firm value; and (4) the firm profitability has a positive and significant effect on firm value.</em></p></div>

This article analyzes the structuring of party systems of four East Central European countries. At the outset an assumption is proposed that the region is by no means homogeneous (as is often treated) but exhibits different levels of ideological articulation and party formation. First, we concentrate on the left-right ideological identities and its' attitudinal-issue correlates as well as the social roots of left-right ideological orientations. The main part deals with socio-political attitudes as predictors of ideological orientations, both on mass and elite level. The results indicate different levels of ideological structuration and political divisions of the party systems in Eastern Europe, which are explained not only by socio-economic factors, but mainly by varying experiences of pre-communist rule, communist governance and pathways to democracy.

In East and Central Africa considerable investment in physical capital is now being made. This must be matched by investment in human capital, if the full benefit is to be gained. Professor John Lewis, of the University of London, stressed 'The Place of Adult Education in Education Development Planning' in his contribution to this conference. Educating children will produce results in six to ten years' time. Educational investment in adults can produce results more quickly. But at present the effort to educate adults, such as it is, is spread over many agencies. For significant results adult education must be integrated into a country's general development plan.

Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of board characteristics on debt choice.


Design/methodology/approach
The sample comprises of unique nonfinancial firms listed in the FTSE 350 over the period 2011–2018. This study uses Tobit and OLS regressions to check the impact of board characteristics on debt choice. The results are robust to the battery of robust checks.


Findings
This study finds that board size and board independence are positively associated with public debt. However, CEO duality and board meetings frequency are inversely associated with public debt. Overall, the findings are consistent with the "financial intermediation theory" that the firms with weak governance rely on bank financing, and firms with better corporate governance go for public debt.


Research limitations/implications
This study offers significant insights for investors and policymakers.


Originality/value
This study offers new insights regarding the role of board characteristics in firms' debt choice by showing the significant impact of board characteristics on debt choice. The findings indicate that the board's efficient internal monitoring may substitute external monitoring by the bank.

This paper provides current analysis of the ongoing quarter, and brief outlook on the forthcomingquarter. We use a field survey along with estimation of macroeconomic models to provide the assessmentand to make some projections on the monetary, the banking, and the payment system in Indonesia. Thispaper confirms the slowdown of the Indonesian economy during quarter two 2015 due to the slowinginvestment and the government expenditure, and the weak export performance. With the fiscal stimuluslaunched by the government, we expect to see an improvement in next two quarters. The lower currentaccount deficit and manageable inflation will help to maintain the macroeconomic stability; however, thehigh global uncertainty will put depreciation pressure on Rupiah.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acronyms and Initialisms -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction, Overview, and Methods -- Chapter 1 The March to Market Reform in Central America -- Chapter 2 Rule Makers and Rule Takers: Negotiating CAFTA -- Chapter 3 Resistance: Competing Voices -- Chapter 4 Ratification Politics: In the Chamber and in the Street -- Chapter 5 After CAFTA: Anti-Mining Movements, Investment Disputes, and New Organizational Territory -- Chapter 6 Electoral Challenges and Transitions -- Chapter 7 Post-Neoliberalism and Alternative Approaches to Change -- Appendix A Note on Interview Methodology -- Appendix B Presidential Election Results: Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, 1978–2011 -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

This article explores the parameters of choice available to small developing countries within the constraints imposed by the international economic system. Its thesis is that, since the 1930s, world economic recessions have helped accelerate waves of social discontent, political instability, and repression within the Central American nations. It concludes that international economic crisis was a necessary but not sufficient condition to exacerbate political instability in all countries. The thesis was supported in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama (which entered the 1930s with traditional authoritarian regimes) and rejected for Costa Rica (which began with a democratic regime). The article also discusses the dynamics of leadership transfer in the region and makes policy recommendations about how to minimize the negative impact of world economic cycles on small countries.