In a series of studies I analyze the past and present of Chinese higher education. The topic may be justified by the fact that up to now no comprehensive study has been published in Hungary about the long way China went along from the darkest years of communism to nowadays' education. In this second paper I summarize the four main phenomena of the reforms after the Mao-era: decentralization, marketization, privatization and internationalization. In the frame of decentralization, the external and internal governance of the universities changed resulting in a power shift from the central level to regional and institutional level. Marketization brought about significant change in the funding of higher education: instead of the state private actors pay for education. Privatization let private actors in the higher education arena, while internationalization means opening up China for foreign institutions and students and letting Chinese students to study abroad. I build my analysis on international literature and statistical data.
University of Debrecen, Centre for Agricultural Sciences and Engineering, Faculty of Applied Economics and Rural Development H-4032 Debrecen, Böszörményi str. 138. Today ICT (Information and Telecommunication Technologies) has an essential role in some sectors of the economy. Its development has sped up so much that if somebody is not able to follow this development there is no chance in the economy. It is effectual on both micro and national economic level. A nation's elementary interest is to make the opportunity to recourse of the more developed ICT, on micro level the enterprises' interest is to take advantage of it. Furthermore the knowledge-based society comes to the front more and more, because it is a national economic aim, so without reference to conditions ICT is must at everybody's disposal. So, it has to be available in a little village, as much as a city. If a country can build a suitable infrastructure for the population, it has a huge benefit on international markets and in competitiveness. But in order for the construction of an infrastructure, the first is to ensure the financial sources. EU offers many opportunities on calls for proposals with this object and the most important thing, that we can make the best of it. ICT infrastructure development has been realised on many settlements in Hungary, but not always on the most suitable places. In my opinion, an indicator system would be worthy to develop, by which it would be possible to specify where the development of ICT infrastructure is reasonable – where the use of development funds will be most efficient. Currently applied indicators are deform, they do not reflect the real regional situation, because these had not been worked out to our environmental conditions, but are suitable for only at macro-level, for uniform international comparison, and do not consider many things. Naturally, these are suitable for making international rankings, although such an indicator system would be useful, which shows the development of our own country, at regional level too. ; Az Információs és Kommunikációs Technológiák (IKT) ma már a gazdaság valamennyi szektorában nélkülözhetetlen szerepet töltenek be. A fejlődésük annyira felgyorsult, hogy ha valaki nem képes ezt a fejlődést követni, nincs esélye a gazdaságban. Ez mind mikro, mind pedig nemzetgazdasági szintre érvényes. Egy nemzetnek alapvető érdeke, hogy megteremtse a lehetőséget a minél fejlettebb IKT igénybevételére, mikro szinten pedig a vállalkozásoknak érdeke, hogy ezzel a lehetőséggel éljenek. Továbbá egyre jobban előtérbe kerül a tudásalapú társadalom, mint nemzetgazdasági célkitűzés, azaz mindenki számára rendelkezésre kell hogy álljanak e technológiák körülményektől függetlenül. Azaz egy kis faluban ugyanúgy jelen kell lennie, mint egy nagyvárosban. Ha egy ország megfelelő IKT infrastruktúrát képes megteremteni a lakosság számára, akkor óriási előnye van a nemzetközi piacokon, és versenyképességben. Azonban infrastruktúra létesítéséhez az első a pénzügyi források biztosítása. Az EU nagyon sok pályázati lehetőséget kínál ilyen beruházások céljára, és a legfontosabb, hogy tudjunk a lehetőséggel élni. Magyarországon is rengeteg településen történt IKT infrastruktúra kiépítés, azonban nem mindig a legmegfelelőbb helyen. A fejlesztési források minél hatékonyabb felhasználása érdekében véleményem szerint olyan mutatószámrendszert lenne érdemes kidolgozni, amely alapján pontosabban lehetne meghatározni, hogy hol érdemes fejleszteni, hol hasznosulnak legjobban a fejlesztési források. A jelenleg alkalmazott különböző külföldön kidolgozott indexek torzítanak, nem tükrözik a valós regionális helyzetet, hiszen nem a saját környezeti feltételeinkhez alakították ki őket, hanem makroszintű, egységes nemzetközi összehasonlításra fejlesztették, és ezért sok mindent nem vesz figyelembe. Ezek természetesen nemzetközi rangsor készítésére nagyon is alkalmasak, de mindenképpen hasznos lenne egy olyan mutatószámrendszer, amely a saját országunk tényleges fejlettségét mutatja, régiós szinten is.
To solve ecological problems the contribution of international organizations, national governments, civil organizations, companies,academic researchers, and individuals is required. The unsustainable buyer, consumer and user patterns have to be changed.Fortunately, nowadays there are more and more efforts on the part of consumers, according to the results of consumer researches ecologicalconsciousness of consumers is ascendant over the world. The ecologically conscious consumer segment persistently rises, andthis segment can be featured accurately not by demographic, but by psychographic variables. Individuals have several opportunitiesto lower own environment use, one form of it is proenvironmental purchasing behaviour (Buy eco-labelled products, organic food orenergy-efficient household appliances, refuse animal tested cosmetics, disposable products and plastic bags, etc.). According to ourresearch, the Hungarian population have positive general environmental attitudes and can be divided into five clusters: Neglectfultownspeople, Environment sensitive people, Distance-keeping inquirers, Doubters, and Responsibility-taking countrymen. Hungarianpeople are not environmentally conscious in their purchases. In demographics gender, age and education have a weak or possibly amedium, property status and residence has a strong, significant influence. Positive attitudes increase while negative attitudes decreasethe possibilities of such activities. ; To solve ecological problems the contribution of international organizations, national governments, civil organizations, companies,academic researchers, and individuals is required. The unsustainable buyer, consumer and user patterns have to be changed.Fortunately, nowadays there are more and more efforts on the part of consumers, according to the results of consumer researches ecologicalconsciousness of consumers is ascendant over the world. The ecologically conscious consumer segment persistently rises, andthis segment can be featured accurately not by demographic, but by psychographic variables. Individuals have several opportunitiesto lower own environment use, one form of it is proenvironmental purchasing behaviour (Buy eco-labelled products, organic food orenergy-efficient household appliances, refuse animal tested cosmetics, disposable products and plastic bags, etc.). According to ourresearch, the Hungarian population have positive general environmental attitudes and can be divided into five clusters: Neglectfultownspeople, Environment sensitive people, Distance-keeping inquirers, Doubters, and Responsibility-taking countrymen. Hungarianpeople are not environmentally conscious in their purchases. In demographics gender, age and education have a weak or possibly amedium, property status and residence has a strong, significant influence. Positive attitudes increase while negative attitudes decreasethe possibilities of such activities.
The main guideline of my research was that according to one of the international price comparative studies published by the Hungarian Energy Utility Regulatory Office (henceforth: MEKH) at the beginning of 2017, Hungary's has the lowest price in electric energy consumption and natural gas from the member states of the European Union in recent years. I'd like to introduce in my article the European Union's electricity-energy price changes based on the EUROSTAT databases, and on the data of service providers and regulatory authorities in the member countries. In contrast, I would like to present the examination of natural gas prices on the basis of the specialization databases and to find a correlation with price change. Of course, for the sake of clarity, I look at the primary energy needs of the world and the European Union, the fossil fuels and the electricity consumption amounts of fossil fuels. I also consider, to the analyze import and export, because one of the reasons for energy dependency can be the inadequate energy balance.
A doktori értekezés a nemzeti és etnikai kisebbségek országos parlamenti képviseletének kérdését járja körül, és azt kutatja, hogy a parlamenti képviselet biztosítása együtt jár-e a multikulturalizmus elméletéből következő egyéb követelmények teljesülésével, nevezetesen kulturális jogok és antidiszkriminációs intézkedések biztosításával. A kutatás tehát a multikulturalizmus és a képviseletelmélet szakirodalmi kontextusában elemzi 11 kelet- és kelet-közép-európai ország nemzeti és etnikai kisebbségeinek parlamenti képviseletét. A dolgozat elméleti megközelítése a multikulturalizmus definíciós kérdéseinek vizsgálata mellett elsősorban a nemzetiségi képviselet szükségességével és megvalósulási lehetőségeivel foglalkozik. A kutatás két fő módszerre épül. Első részében a vizsgált országok releváns intézményeinek vizsgálatához, a jogszabályban rögzített elemeken túl, a vonatkozó nemzetközi egyezmények monitorozási mechanizmusai kapcsán született jelentéseket elemzem. Így a kisebbségi képviseletet biztosító intézményeket a képviselet lehetséges minőségének szempontjából értékelem. Ugyanakkor elemzésem nem csak a különleges jogokra korlátozódik, a nemzetiségi pártok általi képviselet is az értékelés részét képezi. A kutatás második részében a parlamenti képviselet és egyéb jogosultságok közötti összefüggést, ezek együtt járását vizsgálja a dolgozat. Ehhez a jól ismert MPI index újragondolásával megalkottam a Kisebbségi Jogi Indexet, ami összesen 12 elemet foglal magába. A KJI index a nemzetiségeknek biztosított politikai jogokat, kulturális jogokat és antidiszkriminációs intézkedéseket értékel 9 fokú skálán. Nemzeti kisebbségségekkel foglalkozó szakértőket kértem arra, hogy egy kérdőíven, az általam alkotott pontozási szabályoknak megfelelően értékeljék az adott országot. Összesen több mint 100, minden országból legalább 6 kitöltés érkezett. A kutatás eredményei kapcsán arra lehet rávilágítani, hogy azokban az országokban, ahol a parlamenti képviselet magas pontszámmal értékelhető, ott egyéb jogosultságok terén is ...
Mass migration, as it appears in the 21st century, is one of the greatest challenges of our globalized world. The unanswered questions of European Union (EU) immigration policy that emerged over the past few decades have become more pressing than ever. One of these urgent questions is: how can we provide for a developing European economy in an era of demographic decline in a way that it is based on the opportunities opened up by legally regulated forms of migration. A second question is: how can the EU ensure the safety of the newly arriving people in need and, at the same time, keep away illegal migrants and eliminate criminal activities related to migration. The European Union is destined to spread the principles of peace and unconditional respect for human rights not only within its own borders, but also on a global scale, when engaging in international affairs. In addition to observing human rights, however, the EU must also take into account all security considerations that are pertinent in guaranteeing the free movement of its citizens within the Member States.
Central Europe means different political, economic, cultural, geopolitical and a "regional security community" contents in relation to my topic. Nowadays, this region, the "Central Europe" region primarily means the V-4 cooperation and the very important role and initiatives of the region in the EU. The V-4 cooperation, which was established in 1991, can be conceived as an attempt at creating a special form, as a mechanism and sub-stance to the political dimension of this region. The four members of the special mechanism are trying to get closer to one another by relying on solidarity with each other. The V-4 cooperation is based on the common history of the participating countries and close similarities between their recent transformation processes. Such resemblances explain the V4 structure's success, including parallel navigation in the problems of European Union and NATO accession. In the absence of permanent institutions [except the International Visegrad Fund (IVF)], the dimension and ambitions of the V-4 cooperation depends on the political objective of the governments and direct security environment, which impacts on these countries.
The study examines some recent developments in Hungarian higher education funding with some historical and international outlook. Its purpose is to present the causes of the anomalies that we are experiencing today (such anomalies include, for example, new institutional indebtedness and their central support, as well as instructor layoffs at some universities, and a sudden increase in tuition fees). The anomalies are surprising because, according to the government, the introduction of the Chancellor's system was successful in consolidating higher education. The paper states that the last ten years of Hungarian higher education were characterized by the transformation of the financing system, in addition to the reduction of state resources. In international comparison, the government support for domestic higher education compared to GDP is significantly below the average of developed countries. The government tried to deal with institutional management difficulties and indebtedness with the introduction of the Chancellor's system. (which drastically reduced autonomy), and by providing ad hoc, hand-guided cash grants. However, the financial condition of the institutions is permanently bad, which is obviously at the expense of quality, as the institutions are forced to dismiss older and more experienced trainers, and the conditions of education also deteriorate. Without widening public resources and widening economic freedom, the situation will continue to deteriorate. It is becoming increasingly evident that the idea of a government strategy to make Hungarian higher education institutions world-class is unrealistic. ; A tanulmány a hazai felsőoktatás-finanszírozás néhány újabb történését vizsgálja meg, némi történelmi és nemzetközi kitekintéssel. Célja bemutatni azt, hogy a napjainkban tapasztalható anomáliák – mint például az újabb intézményi eladósodások és azok központi kisegítése (miközben a kancellári rendszer bevezetésével állítólag sikeres volt a felsőoktatás konszolidációja), elbocsátások egyes tudományegyetemeken, hirtelen tandíjemelés – mire vezethetők vissza. Az írás megállapítja, hogy a hazai felsőoktatás elmúlt tíz évét az állami források beszűkülése mellett a finanszírozási rendszer átalakulása jellemezte. Nemzetközi összehasonlításban a hazai felsőoktatás kormányzati forrásai (az állami támogatások aránya a GDP-hez viszonyítva) jelentősen elmaradnak a fejlett országok átlagától. A mindezek nyomán kialakult intézményi gazdálkodási nehézségeket a kormány a kancellári rendszer bevezetésével – s ezzel együtt a gazdasági autonómia radikális és az akadémiai (oktatási és kutatási) autonómia vele járó nem jelentéktelen korlátozásával –, valamint eseti, kézzel vezérelt konszolidációs pénzosztogatással próbálta kezelni. Az intézmények kondicionális helyzete azonban tartósan rossz, ami nyilvánvalóan a minőség rovására megy, hiszen az intézmények az idősebb és tapasztaltabb oktatók elbocsátására kényszerülnek, és az oktatás feltételei is romlanak. Félő, hogy az állami források bővülése és a gazdálkodási szabadság kiszélesítése nélkül a helyzet tovább romlik. Egyre nyilvánvalóbban irreálissá válik a kormányzati stratégiának nevezett anyag azon célkitűzése, amely szerint minden magyar felsőoktatási intézmény világszínvonalú kell legyen azokban a diszciplínákban, amelyek a saját kiemelt területéhez tartoznak.
Jelen írás célja, hogy most, amikor a felsőoktatás és annak átalakulása, átalakítása központi témává vált hazai és európai szinten egyaránt, áttekintést nyújtson a Bologna-folyamatról, kitérve annak előzményeire, kiváltó okaira is. Releváns szakirodalmak és a felsőoktatási miniszterek találkozóin elfogadott nemzetközi dokumentumok segítségével feleleveníti a folyamat főbb állomásait, kiemelve a főbb trendeket, irányvonalakat és prioritásokat. Kitér az Európai Felsőoktatási Térség legjelentősebb felsőoktatási szervezeteire, azok létrejöttére, főbb feladataira, továbbá a folyamat nyomonkövetése érdekében tett erőfeszítésekre, az elért eredményekre, egyes aktuális trendekre, valamint a jövő kihívásaira. = The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the Bologna process, including its antecedents and causes, now that higher education and its transformation has become a central topic at both Hungarian and European levels. It revives the main stages of the process with the help of relevant literature and international documents adopted at the meetings of the Ministers of Higher Education, highlighting the main trends, directions and priorities. It covers the most important higher education organisations in the European Higher Education Area, their establishment, their main tasks, furthermore the efforts made to monitor the process, the results achieved, some current trends and future challenges.
In 1988-1989 a stream of East Germans sought refugee in Hungary at the Embassy of West Germany in Budapest. The three countries taking part in the issue made different solutions to deal with the increasing problem. The East German leadership tried to call back the refugees and calm down the emigration process, but it had lost its confidence. West Germany tried to solve the problem not only on the level of consulship but exten-sively, in part with recognizing the status those waiting for West German citizenship and those for refugee status - without any success. In the interest of the resolution and bring the Hungarian leadership to their point of view, they tried to make use of the international organizations. However, the Hungarian leadership made efforts to stay out of the issue to get the two German states make an agreement. But there was no chance for that so Buda-pest gave up its quasi neutrality and tried to solve the problem opening the border by avoiding Hungary to turn into a refugee camp of the region. Besides making this ad hoc arrangement, the whole issue needed more radical crisis management, not only in Hungary.
During the Cold War, the Philippines was an indispensable US ally, and this was still basically the case at the turn of the 21st century. However, the inauguration of President Rodrigo Duterte in June 2016 heralded great changes for the international position of the Philippines: a shift towards China and Russia occurred, followed by the emergence of a more balanced foreign policy. The partnership with the US has changed, too: during the Obama administration, the relationship between the two countries became cooler, although the foundations of the alliance were never contested. In the wake of Donald Trump's assumption of office in January 2017, the alliance seems to have become as strong as before, and economic as well as security-military cooperation has continued. The author's aim is to analyze the Philippines' position in the US-led world order from 1945 to the present, as well as the foundations of the United States–Philippines special relationship. After that the main components of Duterte's "independent" foreign policy and the fundamental changes in the Philippines' foreign relations are presented. The analysis focuses on the causes of the conflict at the end of Barack Obama's presidency, followed by the improving partnership during the Trump era and the main geopolitical challenges the alliance has had to face. According to its conclusion the US–Philippines security cooperation will remain strong under Presidents Duterte and Trump due to strategic considerations, which indicate the military alliance is in the interests of both nations.
It was sixteen years ago that recommendations and guidelines were worked out by the FAO/WHO about pre- and probiotics for professionals, industry and consumers (Pineiro and Ben Embarek, 2006). In the developed countries, conscious nutrition, health preservation and disease prevention are increasingly emphasized. In Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 in the EU has forbidden the use of antibiotics in animal feed as a stimulant for growth. As a result of this decision, the research of health-preserving, disease-preventing products developed rapidly both in the food and feed industries. In order to avoid misuse of prebiotic and probiotic terms, it is necessary to regulate precisely the description of the products. Regulation (EU) 258/97/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council is the first time that the concept of novel foods and food ingredients was introduced. This is the regulation that for the time deals with the introduction of microorganism as food ingredient into the food chain. Pre- and probiotics are present in the food and feed industry due to their beneficial effects on the body, so the regulation of the two areas in many cases merges. A good example is Regulation (EC) 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which provides both food, feed, safety conditions and also human and veterinary aspects. Food safety is an important issue for all countries in the world. Every country have an authority to made regulation within this important area, for example the EFSA in EU, the GRAS qualification in USA, the FOSHU category in Japan and the food safety regulation system in Canada. The ISAPP is an international scientific committee, who make guidelines about the usage of pre- and probiotics. This work provides insight to the EU's and other countries' food law regulations. ; Tizenhat éve születtek meg a szakemberek, az ipar és a fogyasztók számára a FAO/WHO által készített ajánlások és irányelvek a pre- és probiotikumokról (Pineiro és Ben Embarek, 2006). Mindemellett a fejlett országokban egyre nagyobb társadalmi hangsúlyt kap a tudatos táplálkozás, az egészségmegőrzés és a betegségmegelőzés. Továbbá a 1831/2003/EK európai parlamenti és tanácsi rendeletben a Tudományos Operatív Bizottság betiltotta az antibiotikumok hozamfokozó céllal történő felhasználását a takarmányokban. A döntés hatására rohamos fejlődésnek indult az antibiotikum kiváltására szolgáló, egészségmegőrző, betegség megelőző hatással bíró készítmények kutatása az élelmiszer- és takarmányiparban egyaránt. A prebiotikus és probiotikus fogalommal való visszaélés elkerülésének érdekében pontos szabályozásra van szükség a termékek leírására vonatkozóan. Az (EU) 258/97/EK európai parlamenti és tanácsi rendeletben jelenik meg első alkalommal az új élelmiszer és az új élelmiszer-összetevő fogalma. Ez a rendelet az, amely első ízben foglalkozik a mikroorganizmusok, mint élelmiszeralkotók élelmiszerláncba kerülésével. A pre- és probiotikumok a szervezetre gyakorolt jótékony hatásuknak köszönhetően jelen vannak az élelmiszer- és takarmányiparban egyaránt, így a két terület szabályozása sok esetben összeolvad. Erre jó példa a 178/2002/EK európai parlamenti és tanácsi rendelet, amely egyaránt rendelkezik az élelmiszerellátásról, takarmányozásról, ezek biztonsági feltételeiről valamint humán és állategészségügyi aspektusokról. Az élelmiszerbiztonság a világ minden országában fontos tényező. Minden ország rendelkezik olyan hatósággal, amelynek feladata az ide vonatkozó szabályok megteremtése, betartatása, felülvizsgálata. Az EU-ban az EFSA által hozott rendeletek, az USA-ban a GRAS minősítés, Japánban a FOSHU kategóriára vonatkozó rendelkezések, míg Kanadában az élelmiszereket érintő biztonsági értékelési rendszer. Az International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) pedig egy olyan nemzetközi tudományos társaság, amely segít a pre- és probiotikumok használatára vonatkozó tudományos szakvélemények megalkotásában. Jelen áttekintés segít bepillantást nyerni az EU és más országok élelmiszer- és takarmányjogi szabályozásának rendszerébe és azok kialakulásába.
This working paper investigates public policies that precede the rise of populism. A mixedmethod research design is applied: on the one hand, we use data from international surveys and databanks to explore the policy–populism nexus from a comparative European perspective. On the other hand, country case studies have been prepared to understand the country-specific historical and socio-economic features of populism and its potential policy roots. Four countries were selected as national case studies: two EU member states (Greece and Hungary) because of a strong, long-term support of populist parties; one EU member state (Lithuania), where support of populist parties remain moderate, although historical and socio-economic features suggest a likely rise of populism; and one country (Turkey) that exhibits the potential hybridization tendencies of populism and the role of policies in the shift from democratic towards authoritarian regimes. We found that the content of policies were weak predictors of the rise of populism. Country-specific measures were more important predictors than policy ideas. At the same time, our results demonstrate that the lack of activation policies may be a strong predictor of welfare populist attitudes of citizens, and the exclusion of a significant proportion of young people from the labour market clearly feeds populist attitudes. Another important finding is that crisis management policies matter, but not the socio-economic crisis in itself: the management of crisis by non-elected policy experts, through technocratic governance methods, will likely trigger populism. This is particularly true in societies where political polarization is high
In recent decades, the United States has increasingly used the means of economic warfare in its geopolitical struggles. Among these instruments – in addition to the financial markets – it most often launches geoeconomic attacks in the oil market against its geopolitical adversaries. The United States can cause significant economic damage both for oil exporter (eg. Iran, Venezuela) and oil importer (eg. Cuba, North Korea) countries by restricting their access to oil markets.This paper analyzes the economic warfare in the oil market between the United States and Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Through these examples this paper demonstrates how the United States organizes and executes geoeconomic attacks in the oil market and how it handles country-specific problems. The United States has the means to organize broad international coalition alongside the oil market sanctions – even in the lack of UN Security Council resolutions.United Nations has decided on a number of economic sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear program. These sanctions reduced the supply in the world oil market and resulted in about 10-20% price increase, while Iran – despite of the sanctions – found the way to sell significant amount of oil, mainly to China and India.Russia is a member of the UN Security Council, so no UN sanctions can be imposed on it, nevertheless the United States and its allies launched a geoeconomics assault against Russia after the annexation of the Crimea. Russia was prepared for these economic sanctions and could effectively reduce the negative effects on its oil export, which could even increase after the western sanctions. North Korea is under UN sanctions since 2006 because of its nuclear program. The sanctions refer to oil and oil products as well, but has no significant effect on world oil market and oil price, because North Korea is a relatively small country with low oil consumption.North Korea is suffering a huge economic burden due to severe restrictions and its only way to circumvent the embargo – according to American accusations – is to smuggle some oil from China and Russia. ; In recent decades, the United States has increasingly used the means of economic warfare in its geopolitical struggles. Among these instruments – in addition to the financial markets – it most often launches geoeconomic attacks in the oil market against its geopolitical adversaries. The United States can cause significant economic damage both for oil exporter (eg. Iran, Venezuela) and oil importer (eg. Cuba, North Korea) countries by restricting their access to oil markets.This paper analyzes the economic warfare in the oil market between the United States and Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Through these examples this paper demonstrates how the United States organizes and executes geoeconomic attacks in the oil market and how it handles country-specific problems. The United States has the means to organize broad international coalition alongside the oil market sanctions – even in the lack of UN Security Council resolutions.United Nations has decided on a number of economic sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear program. These sanctions reduced the supply in the world oil market and resulted in about 10-20% price increase, while Iran – despite of the sanctions – found the way to sell significant amount of oil, mainly to China and India.Russia is a member of the UN Security Council, so no UN sanctions can be imposed on it, nevertheless the United States and its allies launched a geoeconomics assault against Russia after the annexation of the Crimea. Russia was prepared for these economic sanctions and could effectively reduce the negative effects on its oil export, which could even increase after the western sanctions. North Korea is under UN sanctions since 2006 because of its nuclear program. The sanctions refer to oil and oil products as well, but has no significant effect on world oil market and oil price, because North Korea is a relatively small country with low oil consumption.North Korea is suffering a huge economic burden due to severe restrictions and its only way to circumvent the embargo – according to American accusations – is to smuggle some oil from China and Russia.
During the past centuries many great philosophers and statesmen dreamt about the possible constitutional scope of exceeding Europe's political division and fulfilling the unified/united Europe. Most conceptions outlined the practical realization at a supranational level, although in the last decades there has been a greater emphasis on the sub-national (regional, micro-regional) level or else the "multi-level" Europe. Considering its scientific importance there has been less mention of the importance of the local, regional networks, however, their functionality –in the form of sister town connections –has been experienced by many towns in Hungary. In my thesis I intended to shed light on the fact that the sistertown connections –if being able to overstep the mayors and the local authorities' protocol meetings -and it can be the pledge of their viability, take a prominent part in framing the "bottom up" Europe. The personal, civil relationships, the common interests and the solutions to collective problems may all lead to a continuity in the increasingly "multigeared" European integration. In order to present the subject matter I selected the analysis of sister town connections related to the county town, Zalaegerszeg. My research questions were as follows: to what extent the sister town connection of Zalaegerszeg has changed in terms of geographical and content orientation, what elements of networking, independent from any political orientation, have been used, how the intensity fluctuation of the connections can be explained. The conclusion of my research is that the citizens, the civil organisations and the local authority of Zalaegerszeg, whose number of sister towns –fourteen –is greater than the Hungarian average, build their sister town connections in a conscious way, meanwhile integrating them functionally and successfully at a local level into the network of international connections.
