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On Normative Violence
The social contract (no matter its type: contractarian – John Rawls, of capability – Martha Nussbaum, or of resilience – Robert Nozick) was born precisely to eliminate or avoid the private violence or, at least, to guarantee protection against it, with the state as protector. The social arrangement against private violence is very sophisticated and, generally, functional enough to provide freedom and democracy – first of all, based on Constitution as the basic structure of the society. The problem is: what about public violence? Public violence can take the following three forms: a) violence between states (either economic, diplomatic or military); b) the violence of a dictatorial state against its own people; c) the violence of a democratic state against its own people. Since the first two forms are outside any problematization, I shall discuss more analytically the third one. More
The Year 2050, the Imaginary and the Unimaginable
Both “imaginariums” and “histories”, while differing on essential ingredients, visions and vestiges respectively, share an essential imperfection – incomplete information and/or bounded rationality. We compose mosaics (using also our imagination) about a past which we did not witness; and we extrapolate tendencies/trends (undoubtedly, with a historical basis) for a future which we may or may not be there to witness. Combining “path dependencies” with “disruptive revolutions”, we can generate scenarios with varying confidence. More
Austria Shouldn't Support Weakened Patent Protections
Austria has become a major producer and exporter of medicines. Today, Austria's pharmaceutical industry is the 12th largest in Europe. It adds an estimated €9.6 billion to our economy and supports more than 60,000 jobs. Unfortunately, a United Nations panel recently proposed several policies that would undermine Austria's drug industry, thereby harming the economy and decreasing access to medications across Europe and the developing world. The Austrian government ought to speak out against the panel's foolhardy recommendations. Its silence seems like tacit support. More
The Romanian Academy discussing National Sovereignty with Prof. Stephen Bowers
On October 19th of 2017, the Romanian Academy, through its Institute for World Economics, hosted Prof. Dr. Stephen Bowers, who teaches Government at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA and leads the Center for Security and Science. Prof. Bowers has an extensive background in the Armed Forces and working within the intelligence community and has emerged as an authority on Eastern Europe and low intensity conflicts. More
The Future of the EU Looks Rather Bleak
The last meeting of the European Council, from October 2017, indirectly pulled the plug on Turkey’s negotiations for EU accession. The EU heads of state and government have indirectly expressed their disinterest for the continuation of Ankara’s dialogue with Brussels in this particular regard. The public formula was that of redirecting EU funds for Turkey’s negotiations process to other purposes across the EU. More
Escaping the Middle-Income Trap
The Romanian Academy hosted on October 26th, 2017, a conference held by the well-known economist, Aurelian Dochia. The event was organized by the Academy’s Institute for World Economy, as part of the activity of its internal reflection group “GLOBAL 3G - Repositioning the Economic Agents in Globalization, the Geostrategic and Geopolitics' Impact”. More
The Anathema of Secession
Talking about secession in the house of the modern state is, depending on the tastes and the actual situation of the speaker, either something absolutely hilarious (if not even dangerous), or something absolutely legitimate (if not even necessary). It is a historical fact that the current world, in its settlement as state-centred reality, of cohabiting territorial monopolies of legitimate use of force, was built on a foundation which, in the meantime, became a geopolitical quasi-taboo: the principle of self-determination. This self-determination, in its pure form, does not involve something that should mandatorily be seen as insidious, but a natural prolongation of human liberty and personal property – two civilizational benchmarks which, we must admit, are still treated as indigest on certain lands, in certain times. And if the state is portrayed and perceived as a social contract, then it can only be accepted as valid if closed between free men, within the limits of their legitimate patrimony, including their territorial possessions, under a strictly consented jurisdictional framework. (Or not quite so?) More
The Transposition of the World
In his paper, Ideology, Religion and Politics: Evolution of a Concept (Ideologia, religia și politica: evoluția unui concept), Associate Professor of Comparative Government and Politics Jeffrey Evan Key said: “Ideology, religion and politics all shape people's attitudes about the way that governments are organized and operate and the roles of rulers and citizens. Though they are related concepts, this relationship has evolved over time. Ideology, religion and politics have varied in their relative importance and sometimes become intertwined. Early in the 21st century, the ties between them are once again in a state of flux. Understanding this complex relationship is important to comprehend such issues as the recurrence of terrorist attacks in the Western world and the new political values espoused during the US Presidential elections in 2016 and beyond. In this, I refer you to a recent article written by Dani Rodrik, a Harvard University professor, titled The Future of Europe remains uncertain (Viitorul Europei rămâne nesigur), published by the World Economic Forum More
Three Unions in a (Life)Boat
The unions of states, in their either federalist or inter-governmental setting, are portrayed in economics and political science literature, by certain scholars and pundits, as quasi-romance stories and, by others, as purely-cynical undertakings: they are, for the first, expressions of common destinies, while for the second, mere cartels of political exploitation. Though, beyond charitable or circumspect translation of state gatherings, the undeniable facts are that the state, as an organization of humans, has a maximizing logic and that this logic is exercised as the monopoly of (legitimate?) violence with the privilege of (unconsented?) expropriation, by taxation, regulation and inflationary redistribution of purchasing power. Maximization logic of the state (apparatus) – rightly de-homogenized from the rest of society – leads to a triple choice: to increase domestic exploitation, to expand abroad, or both. More
Budapest, Again the “Capital” of 16+1
Budapest hosts this year on the 27th of November the sixth summit of 16+1 Initiative, designed China and its 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) partners. The first economic forum of the 16+1 countries took place also in Budapest, six years ago. The 16+1 mechanism was officially initiated in 2012 during the Warsaw Summit by the People’s Republic of China in order to stimulate the cooperation with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. The subsequent yearly summits (Bucharest, Belgrade, Suzhou and Riga) and side events such as business forums, national coordinators’ gatherings, seminars and various 16+1 Ministers' meetings have given a new impetus to China-CEE relations. More
On Free Competition, by the Book
On November 25th, 5pm, at the ASE Publishing House stand from the GAUDEAMUS International Book and Education Fair 2017, Andreas Stamate-Ștefan launches his book entitled Real și Imaginar în Teoria Economică a Concurenței. O Interpretare în Tradiția Școlii Austriece de Economie [Real and Imaginary in the Economic Theory of Competition. An Interpretation in the Tradition of the Austrian School of Economics], part of Studia Praxeologica collection developed by the publisher. The Market for Ideas will be present at the event by two of the book discussants – Professor Dumitru Miron, PhD (honorary editor of TMFI) and Associate Professor Octavian-Dragomir Jora, PhD (Founder and Editor-in-Chief of TMFI). Professor Radu-Cristian Mușetescu, PhD, and Associate Professor Mihai-Vladimir Topan, PhD, the scientific reviewers of the book, will join the debate. As the author himself, all the four speakers come from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, the Faculty of International Business and Economics. More
Walking and Writing Across Cultures:
Two Experiences
The Faculty of International Business and Economics (REI), together with The Romanian Institute for European-Asian Studies (IRSEA) has organized on the 8th of May, at 10:30 am, in the Aula Magna of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE), the “ASEAN Day” Conference dedicated to the 50th anniversary of ASEAN. The event benefited from the presence of their Excellencies, the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia in Romania, Diar Nurbintoro, the Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Tran Thanh Cong, and Dato Tajul Aman Mohammad, the Ambassador of Malaysia in Romania. The moderator of the event was Gheorghe Savuică, the former Ambassador of Romania in Indonesia and the current President of IRSEA. The conference was, firstly, dedicated to the students of the university, who were invited to find out more about the accomplishments of ASEAN as well as the challenges the Member States of ASEAN face in the complex international context. The event also appealed to specialists and other people interested in this part of the world, since they received interesting and valuable information from both the lectures and the discussions. More
