Suchergebnisse

The author analyses the methodology of comparative studies used by the English and German speaking specialists in the 1950-1980th. With the collapse of the Communists block it seemed that such studies could become outdated because, as some scholars reasoned, economic systems started to lose their peculiarities and to drift in the same direction. Two decades after it can be stated that this didn't really happen. Comparative studies still have the reasons to be continued. At the same time, there still remain questions concerning their methodology. That is why a review of the methodology approaches is of prime interest of the article. The author starts from consideration of the question of the interaction between comparative studies and economic theory. This analysis is vital not only for the whole research field. It also helps to better understand the difference in Anglo-Saxon and German research approaches to comparative studies. The scholars from USA and Great Britain never paid special attention to this topic. On the contrary, some prominent German researchers attempted to produce a working theory of international comparisons. Further, the author reviews the evolution of the main approaches. The following phases are found: the conceptualization of theoretical approaches how different economic systems were set and how they could be compared; inter-comparison of existing and ideal systems drawn by the theorists; development of the institutional approach and the growing popularity of comparisons through quantitative indicators and later through institutions (rankings and top lists of countries). The final part of the article provides a detailed analysis of German approach to the comparisons of economic systems.

The article is devoted to the European Parliament elections held in May 2014. Their results are analyzed on two levels – national and pan-European. On the national one the authors provide case studies of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, Italy and Greece. The impact of economic crisis and later the severe public debt crisis in Eurozone countries on the EU Parliament elections is estimated. Another factor examined in the study is the public awareness of the EU's institutions in everyday life. The authors point out the contradiction between the public opinion on these institutions and the ongoing process of further integration due to the crises in such fields as finances and government expenditures. The latest process is viewed by the experts as a positive one, but the lack of public understanding resulted in abstention, protest voting and the rise of right-wing and populist parties. The national case studies showed that the situation varied from country to country. In some of them the pan-European agenda has played a greater role, in others it influenced the elections, but in the end they were mainly a referendum on the national government performance. The case of the UK illustrated the first tendency, but partly also the second one: the elections not only put the question about the country's role in the EU, but also reflected the citizens' discontent in mainstream politics. France, Greece and partly Italy showed that the voters disapprove the EU politics, especially concerning such fields as immigration and economic and debt crisis. The Polish case demonstrates that the lack of information on the EU's institutions can jeopardize the positions of centrist parties even in a very pro-European country. The election results in FRG confirm that the Germans are trying to identify their country's role in the European institutions and find the right attitude toward its growing responsibility for the integration process.

This forecast examines the major trends in Russia's relations with the world and in the Russian view of the world in 2016. The forecast looks firstly at Russia's role in the world in the context of the extant and emergent state of geopolitics. In a confused international environment, caught between the multiple, discordant and disorderly games of checkers of the present and the emerging design of a new grand chessboard for international relations, Russia and the West have been forced into cooperation. While far from easy and far from guaranteed to work – or last – this situation does offer the possibility of overcoming divides to pursue mutual interests. These interests become particularly apparent in the context of increased shared threats and the need to act jointly against them, the uncertainties created by rising powers, and the difficulties that Russia finds itself in. The key role of new mega-regional trade agreements in this emerging great game is also emphasised in the subsequent sections of the forecast, which deal, respectively, with foreign policy and political economy. The foreign policy analysis sees the US in flux in a presidential election year, and the EU caught at the crossroads of its own failure to capitalise on integration and a migration crisis of unprecedented proportions. Meanwhile, foreign policy in the post-Soviet space is characterised more by stasis than by substantial change, with frozen conflicts and stagnant reforms in Ukraine and limited room for manoeuvre for other players the order of the day. The Russian involvement in the Middle East, however, is anything but stagnant, with the military operations in Syria having dramatic effects in both the situation in Syria and global and regional geopolitics. The sustainability of this quest for influence, however, is questioned by the attitude of other players, but also by Russia's own internal weaknesses, notably its serious and deepening economic crisis.