Suchergebnisse

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of the commercial diplomacy of Ukraine on its export. Within this field of research we mutually compare various official representations abroad and their effects on export flows. We consider embassies, consulates general and honorary consulates as commercial diplomacy actors abroad. The main contribution of the paper is that it is the first empirical study of Ukrainian commercial diplomacy in terms of export promotion. We use an empirical trade model to verify the impact of economic, cultural, geographical and diplomatic factors on Ukrainian exports. The panel data incorporates 1386 export flows to 198 destinations during the period from 2007 to 2013. In the end, we conclude that embassies are more relevant instruments of export stimulation than consulates general or honorary consulates. Adapted from the source document.

The aim of this article is to explore the various ways in which people represent social groups. The author shows that a prominent role in such processes is played by psychological essentialism. People represent some of their social identities as inherent qualities that are based on the sharing of a presumed 'essence': something unobservable, diffi cult to remove, irreversible, and causally responsible for overt behaviours. Empirical evidence suggests that no particular causal process of essence acquisition is constitutive for essentialism in folk models of society. Some authors believe that folk essentialism is necessarily connected with the presumed innateness of an essence (its biological transmission across generations). Innate potential and biological inheritance, however powerful they may be for the human cognitive mind in the domain of folk models for biology, are far from necessary in essentialist folksociological classifications. Essentialism in folk sociology is not defined by any particular causal process of essence acquisition. Even when it is possible to detect that a given group of people claim the innate essence of a particular folk sociology, it is always necessary to look for other features of essentialism (inherence, sharp boundaries, the immutability of identity, etc.). The article reviews some influential cognitive proposals concerning folk models of society (Astuti, Gil-White, Hirschfeld) and ethnicity, and provides arguments and empirical evidence collected in Western Ukraine in support of the claim that presumed innateness is not the constitutive part of folk models of society, let alone of psychological essentialism.

Critical security studies have become increasingly popular among Czech scholars, but most studies in this field are based on securitization theory and other discursive approaches to security analysis. This paper argues for broadening the scope of theoretical approaches to security studies and introduces International Political Sociology as a promising strand of research in this respect. International Political Sociology is based on the study of security as practice, and offers a more complex understanding of how security is constructed and performed. The article discusses the theoretical roots of this approach, reviews the main strands of contemporary International Political Sociology research, and introduces its analytical tools. Finally, the paper critically reflects on the theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects of International Political Sociology and outlines possible avenues for this research in the Central European context. Adapted from the source document.

The Lisbon revision of the primary law led to the confirmation of the pre-existing Commission's commitment to carry out 'broad consultations' while preparing European legislative acts. The aim of this article is to elucidate formulation of the Commission's public consultation practice and evaluate positions of the interest groups to the Commission's strategy. The attention is accorded to the analysis of the consultation's level of formalization and inclusivity, the two principal consultation' components. The analysis is built upon the study of the selected interest groups' positions brought forward during the years 2002-2012 and upon the reaction of the Commission to the interest groups' feedback. The available empirical data suggests that the interest groups appreciated the introduction of the minimum standards for consultation, however, they have been steadily alerting to their frequent breach and arbitrary application. Adapted from the source document.