Rubrics » Bridging News
Disciplining Disorder: A Juridical Meditation on Sanctions and Order in International Law
No. 56, Nov.-Dec. 2025 Who hasn’t heard of international sanctions these days has probably avoided reading any global news in the past decade. The annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation triggered an avalanche of reports, analyses, and commentaries about the sanctions imposed on Moscow — tens of thousands of articles published in the international press, academic centres, and political think-tanks. More recently, after February 2022, that number has increased more than fivefold, a clear sign that international sanctions have become not only instruments of foreign policy, but also products of media consumption. More
Paso Doble: Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy
No. 56, Nov.-Dec. 2025 Fiscal (budgetary) policies and monetary policies are macroeconomic and conjunctural in nature. They are developed and applied by different authorities, independent of each other, namely the government and the central bank. This does not mean that the two types of economic policies are not interdependent. Both act on the economy and influence its overall performance, and the interdependence between them is manifested by the reciprocal effects and constraints that they impose on each other. As a result, the coordination of fiscal and monetary policy is necessary for the stability of the economy, the promotion of sustainable economic growth and the efficient approach to various challenges. More
Salvation in Marble, Memory in Concrete – Romania’s Religious Return to Monumentalism
No. 56, Nov.-Dec. 2025 Renowned for its enchanting myths and timeless folklore, Romania continues to cling proudly to its spiritual dimensions. So much so, in fact, that the nation began a new era of (sacred) magnificence by raising the world’s largest Orthodox Cathedral, right in the very heart of Bucharest. More
Dissolving Dreams: Breaking Records for All (the Wrong) Reasons
No. 56, Nov.-Dec. 2025 2025 marks a bleak chapter for Romania’s economy. A number of structural and cyclical factors are responsible for a slowdown, including a 1.7% decline in gross fixed capital formation (investment) in 2024 (the first since 2020), a negative net foreign demand contribution brought on by a 3.6% year-over-year drop in exports and a 3.4% increase in imports, as well as a loss of momentum in important industries like construction following the most recent governmentally imposed austerity measures. More
AIconomics: More, Faster or Outrightly Different?
No. 56, Nov.-Dec. 2025 There is no such thing as a closed science – the problem is not the (un)expected novelty, but the old, still unresolved epistemic conflicts. It is also the story of economics. From the classics and the revelation of price as a social compass, to the marginalists and the subjective revolution of utility; from the Keynesians, with their emphasis on aggregate demand and public policies, to the monetarists’ reply and then to the rigorous micro-foundations of the neoclassical “synthesis”; from the new macro- to the behavioural economics to be incorporated into fancy impact assessments (which no longer add apples to oranges, but make juice out of the both). Each stage wanted to have the “last word”, but the quarrel of the wise (among themselves and then with the world) continues unabated. The contemporary “synthesis” is not a stable temple, but a construction site. With plenty of scaffolding and sequelae. More
Price Increases and Their Economic Consequences
No. 55, Sep.-Oct. 2025 In many countries, including Romania, the prices of goods and services tend to rise. This process is called inflation. Prices are determined by many factors: supply and demand, the cost of labour and raw materials, competition among sellers, and so on. But, in essence, inflation is related to supply and demand: if the demand for goods and services increases faster than the supply, prices tend to rise. More
It Is Time to Embrace an Anti-Polar World Order
No. 55, Sep.-Oct. 2025 For centuries, international relations have been defined by the rise or fall of great powers, but in today’s architectures we might be witnessing the emergence of a system where no power is truly great enough to lead. In this death of polarity what purpose do the uni-, bi-, multi- prefixes still have? More
Chinese-Style Industrial Development with American Characteristics
No. 55, Sep.-Oct. 2025 It’s not easy being a politician in America, especially a Republican one. The world’s largest economy is going through an ideological upheaval accompanied by a reorganization of the electoral coalitions that have dominated American politics for the past 50 years. The effects of demographic transformation, globalization, and social media are rewriting the rules of American politics in a very short time. More
Romania, Lowest Rate in the EU on Tertiary Educational Attainment
No. 55, Sep.-Oct. 2025 Romania has the lost lowest rate in the EU on tertiary educational attainment, according to data published by Eurostat for 2024. Ireland (65.2%), Luxembourg (63.8%) and Cyprus (60.1%) had the highest tertiary education attainment rates, while Romania (23.2%), Italy (31.6%) and Hungary (32.3%) had the lowest rates. More
Beyond Tragedy: Monuments of Hope and Mitteleuropean Legacy
No. 55, Sep.-Oct. 2025 Alexandru Potcoavă makes a keen observation in the August 2025 issue of the literary magazine Orizont, based in Timișoara: “You know you’re in a Central European city when, in one of its squares, you stumble upon a Column of the Plague, erected in Viennese Baroque style”. If in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, or Hungary these columns are a common sight (now cultural, religious, and artistic monuments, but with a less-than-pleasant origin), in Romania, we find columns of the plague only in Timișoara and Cluj-Napoca – proof that, if not geographically, at least ideologically, these two cities were (and continue to be) closer to a certain Central European ideal. More
Closer than We Thought
No. 55, Sep.-Oct. 2025 Before we discuss artificial intelligence, let’s test a bit of human intel. When carefully scrutinizing Romania–Kazakhstan relations, we have in mind a case study of Europe–Asia ties — between two countries coming from geographical and historical paradigms that make them so deeply different, yet (who knows?) surprisingly compatible. More
Economic Science and Economic Policy
No. 55, Sep.-Oct. 2025 Economic science (economics) contributes to the design of economic policy through its analyses of supply and demand, economic growth, taxation, regulations, financial stability, etc. This discipline sometimes guides public debates on economic policy. More
