Journal articles on the topic 'Ireland – Foreign relations – European Economic Community countries'

The article deals with the current and insufficiently explored issue of Portugal's international relations with Latin American countries. It is shown that after a series of crises, the Portuguese economy managed to reach a growth trajectory, change the image of a European outsider and gain the authority in the world community. Special attention is paid to the current stage of structural modernization, the characteristic of which is the innovatization and digitalization of production processes, the development of high-tech industries. The ongoing changes have led to significant edits in the foreign economic strategy of the Portuguese authorities and the transition to an offensive export policy. The growth of the economy, the course towards its internationalization by supporting exports and expanding foreign economic relations have contributed to the intensification of cooperation with other regions of the world, including Latin American countries. It is noted that the Latin American direction is an important element of the foreign policy activities of the Portuguese authorities. Historically, Portugal's relations with the countries of the region have been built in different formats: at the bilateral level and through participation in regional and interregional groupings. In recent years, there has been an increase in the expansion of Portuguese business in Latin America. And although the process of trade development of Latin American markets faces objective difficulties and develops relatively slowly, the region is assigned the role of a promising partner of Portugal in the implementation of the strategy of export diversification, increasing the share of innovative products of high processing in it. It is emphasized that in every Latin American country, Portugal is trying (sometimes very effectively) to find its trade and economic niche. At the same time, Brazil has a special status in Portugal's relations with Latin American partners.

When the European Economic Community, the forerunner of the European Union was formed in 1958, it was agreed that the new integration would be a tariff union with common tariffs toward third countries, but also that it would have a common foreign trade policy. As the Union's executive body, the European Commission is responsible for proposing and implementing foreign trade policies. However, the main subject in creating foreign trade policies still remains the Council of Ministers as the EU's main decision-making and legislative body. The Commission negotiates trade agreements with outside countries on behalf of the Union. However, on foreign trade issues the Commission must report to a committee (the "133 Committee"), which assists the Commission in the course of the negotiations and before becoming valid all agreements must be ratified by the Council of Ministers. The Commission ensures that the European Parliament is kept quickly and fully informed at all stages of the negotiation and conclusion of international agreements, in such a way as to enable the Commission to take account of the European Parliament's view, but its role is purely consultative. The EU is trying to establish closer partnership relations with the USA through establishing transatlantic marketplace. However, as the EU is becoming a respectable economic power, an increasing number of trade disputes arise between the EU and the USA. The EU is trying to establish a closer relationship with the European countries since they are candidate countries for EU membership. However, some of them are closer to the membership than others. Therefore the agreements that the EU conclude with certain groups of countries differ among themselves. The EU has special relations with the countries in Africa the Caribbean and the Pacific, former European colonies, that have been granted a preferential treatment allowing preferential trade with the EU. Close relations have been established with countries and regional groups in Latin America as well. The EU has become a significant factor in international economic organizations. However, in order to become an economic power as respectable as the USA and Japan and to give strategic support to its companies in global competition, the EU must integrate politically as well.

The problems of trade and economic relations between West African countries and the European Union have been considered in the article in detail, a brief description of the Economic Community of West African States has been given. The essence of relationships between West Africa and the European Union based on the papers, both foreign and domestic researchers in the field of security, regional economic development and integration etc. has been disclosed. The historical path within the framework of international legal documentation that preceded the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement has been described. The conducted study was based on the analysis of the cost dynamics of exports, imports and trade balance, their structure has been briefly adduced. The main negative aspects faced by West African countries in connection with the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement, in particular tariff restrictions, the ban on the use of export taxes, which undermines the national sovereignty of the Economic Community of West African States, have been revealed. Nevertheless, the signed Agreement will allow West Africa to actively integrate into world trade, improve the economic and demographic situation, while the overall trade tariff will remain at the same level.

The article analyses the most recent experience of anti-recessionary policies in several EU member nations, such as UK, Nordic countries (especially Sweden), Ireland, Baltic countries and Greece. As for Great Britain, its government implemented traditional package of anti-crisis measures aimed at support of national financial system and stimulation of economic growth. By 2010 the nation reached relative economic stability and then proceeded into a slow recovery. Still, the crisis highlighted serious risks of ongoing financialization and de-industrialization in the UK. So, the government began to develop a long-term program of modernization and structural reshaping of national economy. Nordic countries also actively used Keynesian-type anti-crisis measures. The most interesting is Swedish case. The nation passed the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009 smoother than other EU members due to deep institutional reforms undertaken after the acute crisis of 1991-1993. Then Sweden experienced a deep fall of GDP combined with a crisis of local banks, surge of interest rates and unemployment level, weakening of national currency. This pushed Riksbank to introduce strict measures for limiting the inflation rate, Riksdag – caps for state budget expenditure. State sector of national economy was substantially decreased. These measures proved to have long-term positive implications. In contrast, Ireland that enjoyed an impressive economic growth before 2008 was badly prepared to external shocks. The Irish government’s reactions to financial and economic turmoil were rather spontaneous. The main task was to stabilize the local financial system that suffered from excessive dependency on foreign markets. Only by 2014 Ireland showed signs of economic recovery. Similarly, Baltic countries found themselves to be ill prepared for functioning under economic crisis conditions. Neither national governments nor EU Commission succeeded to propose efficient anti-crisis actions. As a result, population of Baltic nations most heavily suffered from the crisis. In Greece crisis made inevitable substantial revision of national social and economic model, as well as the political parties’ system. Under strong pressures from the EU Greece at last started to implement long-needed reforms in such spheres as budget planning, labor legislation, social insurance, healthcare and education. Acknowledgments. The article has been supported by a grant of the Russian Humanitarian Scientific Foundation. Project № 14-07-00047a “European Union as a Testing Site of New Anti-Crisis Technologies under Conditions of Globalization”.

The article deals with European integration processes through the prism of the President Eisenhower foreign policy. The transatlantic relations are explored considering the geopolitical transformations in Europe. It is noted that after the end of World War II, Europe needed assistance on the path to economic recovery. Eisenhower initially as Commander in Chief of NATO forces in Europe, and later as the U.S. President, directed his foreign policy efforts to unite the states of Western Europe in their post-war renovating and confronting the communist threat. For that reason, Eisenhower deserved recognition by the leading European governments and became a major American figure, which symbolized the reliable transatlantic ally. Eisenhower’s interest in a united Europe was explained by the need for the United States in a strong single European partner that would help to strengthening the U.S. positions in the international arena. The United States expected to control the European integration processes through NATO instruments and mediated disputes between the leading European powers. Germany’s accession to the Alliance was determined as one of the key issues, the solution of which became the diplomatic victory of President Eisenhower. The U.S. government was building its European policy based on the need to integrate the Western states into a unified power, and therefore endorsed the prospect of creating a European Economic Community (EEC). It was intended that the union would include Italy, France, Germany and the Benelux members, and form a basis for the development of free trade and the deeper political and economic integration of the regional countries. It is concluded that, under the Eisenhower’s presidency, Europe was at the top of priority list of the U.S. foreign policy that significantly influenced the evolution of the European integration process in the future.

International trade is an important component of the national economy of any country in the world, as well as a leading form of international economic relations. Changes in the main indicators of foreign trade, such as exports, imports, trade balance, can cause significant imbalances in the parameters of economic growth of the subjects of such relations.The article proposes an approach to analyzing the intensity of dynamic changes in international trade in goods on the example of EU countries during 2004-2021 with using such methodological approaches as grouping, comparison, calculation and analysis of absolute and relative characteristics of dynamics. For this purpose, two groups of countries where distinguished: countries that were members of the EU before 2004 (Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, France, Greece, Portugal, Sweden and Finland) and countries that became members of the EU after 2004 (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Cyprus. Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia). In carrying out the study, the cost indicators of trade transactions of the EU countries were used. With the help of such indicators as specific weight, chain and basic growth rates, coefficients of advance, the intensity of export and import dynamics in terms of selected groups where analyzed. The main trends and determinants of the development of export import activities, under the influence of which there were certain changes in the international trade of the EU countries during the period under study, were identified. These determinants include EU enlargement in 2004, the 2009 financial crisis and the COVID 2019 pandemic. Three periods of development of foreign trade of the member countries of this integration group are distinguished. The 5 largest exporter and importer countries, as well as the largest net exporters and net importers in terms of allocated groups, were identified. The results of the analysis also indicate that the countries that joined the EU after 2004 actively used their membership in the context of the development of foreign economic activity: they rapidly increased the volume of merchandise exports and imports. It has been proved that the proposed approach is effective for analyzing the nature of dynamic changes in international trade of any international organizations, integration associations, etc.

AbstractThe paper is a comparative analysis of health condition of EU-27 states that are differentiated with respect to demographic situation and the level of social and economic development with the use of methods of multidimensional comparative analysis. Relationships between macroeconomic values and health indices of EU populations were also studied with the use of demometric models. The study was performed for 2009. The most favourable health situation (in the light of diagnostic qualities adopted for the study) was observed in Cyprus, where the value of synthetic measure was almost 0.9. Cyprus is a relatively young country, with the lowest rate of mortality due to malicious tumours among all the countries of the European Community. Apart from Cyprus, Ireland was found in the first group (the lowest rate of people at 65+ years of age of all EU countries), Luxembourg (low rate of infant mortality) and Spain (relatively low mortality due to diseases of circulatory system). Definitely the worst health situation was observed in majority of the countries of the former Eastern bloc. On the grounds of the correlation diagram it was possible to conclude that, together with social and economic development of the country and resulting growth in expenditures on health protection per capita, mean life expectancy at birth significantly extended. However, these relations are not linear. Logarithmically constructed regression functions proved a strong and statistically significant impact of macroeconomic values on indices of population health condition.

Increased trade and economic cooperation between countries includes inter-state agreements on trade facilitation and the promotion of a wide range of cooperation. In the face of current global challenges, cooperation among countries is taking, inter alia, forms of integration processes, significantly transforming the established system of foreign economic relations and including in the agenda issues that are outside the traditional economic discourse. The environmental dimension of economic policy has become one of the cornerstones in determining conformity with the best international practices of trade policy and its incorporation into the rules of economic spaces. The inclusion of Ukraine in the European Single Economic Area under the Association Agreement and the introduction of the European Green Deal require a review of the environmental aspects of trade policy. Addressing this issue demands, inter alia, the development of incentives for green export flows in the context of integration processes. The aim of the article is to define the determinative the role of environmental factors in the formulation of policies to promote green exports in the context of European integration. The formation of economic systems based on the principles of sustainable development has generated a list of risks and challenges that have influenced national governments and the global community to rethink traditional frameworks and incentives, transforming structural and sectoral policies and programmes. In the face of increasing environmental concerns and their impact on the quality of future generations life, the implementation of the European Green Deal could potentially serve as a model for emulation and implementation in the partner countries of the European Union, including Ukraine through close socio-economic and political inter-state relations. One of the biggest challenges for the national economy is the timely and adaptive introduction of appropriate long-term economic policies that will increase the competitiveness of green goods and services in the European market. Further research should focus on the development of enabling measures and tools to support the technological upgrading of environmental exporters and the removal of barriers to increase their presence in new markets.

Abstract While Modern Languages are in decline generally in the United Kingdom’s post-primary schools, including in Northern Ireland (Speak to the Future 2014), the international focus on primary languages has reawakened interest in the curricular area, even after the ending in 2015 of the Northern Ireland Primary Modern Languages Programme which promoted Spanish, Irish and Polish in primary schools. This paper will consider the situation in policy and practice of Modern Languages education, and Irish in particular, in Northern Ireland’s schools. During the years of economic growth in the 1990s Ireland, North and South, changed from being a country of net emigration to be an attractive country to immigrants, only to revert to large-scale emigration with the post-2008 economic downturn. While schools in Great Britain have had a long experience of receiving pupils from diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, firstly from the British Empire and Commonwealth countries, Northern Ireland did not attract many such pupils due to its weaker economic condition and the conflict of the Northern Ireland Troubles. The influx from Poland and other Accession Countries following the expansion of the European Union in 2004 led to a sudden, significant increase in non-English speaking Newcomer pupils (DENI 2017). The discussion in Northern Ireland about a diverse democracy has hitherto concentrated on the historical religious and political divide, where Unionist antipathy led to the Irish Language being dubbed the ‘Green Litmus Test’ of Community Relations (Cultural Traditions Group 1994). Nevertheless, the increasing diversity can hopefully ‘have a leavening effect on a society that has long been frozen in its “two traditions” divide’ (OFMDFM 2005a: 10). This paper will revisit the role and potential of Irish within the curricular areas of Cultural Heritage and Citizenship. An argument will also be made for the importance of language awareness, interculturalism and transferable language learning skills in Northern Ireland’s expanded linguistic environment with a particular focus on Polish.

Foreign trade is one of the main expressions of international cooperation in the world, which indicates the specific location of trade policy in the policy of the countries or organizations. The history of trade shows the existence of two opposite trade coordinating practices: regional and multilateral. In the post-war history, there can be seen the coexistence of both trends. An excellent example of this is the European Union, where both practice of coordination the trade policy unite. On the one hand, the Community is in itself an exception to the principle of trade liberalization on a multilateral basis, on the other hand for many years it has actively participated in the creation of a common commercial policy for all at the forum of GATT and the WTO. Common commercial policy of the Union is one of the pillars of its existence, affecting significantly the region's economic development. Therefore, in a time of crisis it is important to question how the common commercial policy is being shaped today and whether changes in the global economy affect the change in its formation? Last years point out the increasing trend of regionalism in Community. The difficulties increasing in the formation the trade policy in the WTO effects in many changes. Even enthusiastic proponents of the idea of multilateralism in trade seek for new solutions. In this situation the European Union looks of possibilities to form of the widest possible bilateral relations with other countries or organizations.

Introduction. Today Brexit is one of the most pressing issues of world politics, due to the acquisition of global proportions. Of course, this process is a phenomenon at the regional level, but the very fact of the voting and the efforts being made to exit the UK economy from the EU created many questions around themselves, thereby giving rise to the idea in the minds of the population of other countries that the EU cannot cope with the main functions there is the possibility of holding a referendum and a decision to leave the union. The UK and the European Union have never been partners for each other from a historical perspective. Multiple prerequisites, which originated in the last century almost immediately after the signing of the decision on the accession of the Kingdom to the EU, tended to develop and grow. Disputes among members of parliament have always existed, but were not as pronounced as today. In this sense, the country's policy was divided into 2 camps: those who spoke and advocate for the measures of “tough” Brexit, and those who believed and believe that the exit process should be smooth and measured in order not to spoil relations with the EU point of no return.Methods. As the materials of the study were taken data presented in monographic studies and journalistic articles of domestic, but mostly foreign experts in the field of international law, the General modern history, the history of the UK, macroeconomics. The article is written on the basis of sociological research conducted by Western European agencies and Brexit research centers using the analytical type of research and its forms: sociological and expert surveys. The analysis of statistical economic information regarding the real GDP of the EU countries is presented using a comparative historical research method.Results and conclusions. Economic consequences for the European Union from Brexit will become noticeable after some time has passed since the date of the official UK secession from the European Union. Also a minus will be the reduction of anti-crisis programs that the European Union is trying to implement. Attention is deserved by the attitude of other European countries to the membership in the European Union. In this case, more and more we are talking about opposition movements, parties that develop the theme of Euroscepticism. This is especially true in drawing a parallel with the critical eurodirection, which has been traced in EU policy lately.

In this paper we researched European Union starting with the Agreement from Maastrich from year 1992, even though the European Union has a long traditional history and its origin is founded on regulations of economical integrations in Europe beginning from the 1950’s through the Roman treaty from year 1957 and the forming of the European Union Committee in year 1965. Further we follow her expansion and introduction of the European economic and monetary policy, to last, the joining perspective of Croatia. According to the Agreement from Maastrich, European Union lies on three posts: 1) Legal-political and regulative post, 2) Economical post, where the forming of European economical and monetary policy is in the first plan, especially the introducing of Euro as the unique European currency, 3) Post of Mutual foreign security policy within European Union. In that context we need to highlight the research conducted here and in European Union, including the world, regarding development of European Union and its economical, legal, political and cultural, as well as foreign diplomatic results, which are all perspectives of European Union. All the scientists and researches which were involved in exploring the development of EU with its modern tendencies and development perspective, agree that extraordinary results are achieved regards to economical, legal, political, foreign-security and diplomatic views, even tough many repercussions exist in progress of some particular members and within the EU as a whole. The biggest controversy arises in the perspective and expanding of European Union regarding ratification of the Constitution of EU from particular country members, but especially after the referendum was refused from two European countries, France and Netherlands. According to some estimates, the Constitution of EU would have difficulty to be adopted in Switzerland and some other Scandinavian countries, but also in Great Britain and other very developed countries. However the European Community and European Union were developing and expanding towards third European countries, regardless of Constitutional non-existence, where we can assume that if and when the Constitution of EU will be ratified, the EU will further develop as one of the most modern communities. This will enable economical development, especially development of European business, unique European market and free trade of goods and services, market of financial capital and labour market in free movement of labour. Being that EU has become one of the most largest dominating markets in the world, it offers a possibility to all new members to divide labour by using modern knowledge and high technology which insure economical, social and political prosperity. This results to forming a society of European countries which will guarantee all rights and freedom of development for all nations and ethnic groups. As well as, all European countries with somewhat less sovereignty, but in international relations will be stronger and significant, not only in sense of economics, but also in politics and military diplomatic relations. Therefore, Croatia has no choice and perspective if she does not join the European Union till year 2010, but until than it needs to create its strategy of economical and scientific-technological development, including demographic development, which will insure equal progress of Croatia as an equal member of European Union.

The article deals with issues of product certification in the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union. The objects of study are the economic systems of the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union. The area of research is the theoretical basis for monitoring the development of economic systems of these associations. According to the authors, the plan for an agreement on economic rapprochement between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union today seems fantastic. Relations between Russia and the European Union are currently in a significant crisis. Cooperation in the economic field is reduced in terms of mutual sanctions. At the same time, the authors believe that the European Union is capable of playing a major role in solving the issues of improving the states of the Eurasian Economic Union member states, primarily on an economic scale. The role of the Russian food import limit showed the degree of interdependence in foreign trade and the interest of European companies in the normalization of commercial and economic relations. The countries of the world community, including Russia, confirm the unity of their views on the process of harmonization of standards, understanding that in practice harmonized standards guarantee the quality of products and services, the environmentally friendly production and goods, occupational safety, interoperability of products and, if necessary, its interchangeability. In this regard, the issue of harmonization of European and Russian standards of conformity, paperwork for certification and assessment of conformity and quality of exported and imported products, the mechanism of quality management of works and services is relevant. The certification rules in the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union have been analyzed in the article, the CE and EAU marking and problems arising when applying these symbols have been considered, the influence of external (market requirements, competition) and internal (organizational, economic, etc.) factors on development of markets, placement of productive forces, increasing the efficiency of social production have been examined. It has been concluded, that standardization should be perceived as an effective element of the mechanism for managing the quality of products, works and services. This is confirmed by the fact, that the creation and application of harmonized standards allows one to get closer to the benchmarks of sustainable development and to remove many of the modern challenges from the agenda in a timely manner.

The article discusses the most dire problems of ensuring the energy and climate security of Germany and the political measures taken by Federal Chancellor O. Scholz’s government formed in 2021. Considering the sharply exacerbated situation in international politics as of 2022, adopting urgent and radical measures in order to reduce Germany’s dependance on energy import and to diversify it, along with actions in climate change mitigation, all have become priorities for the new coalition government in Berlin. Current strategy is aimed at the combination of economic growth with reduced energy consumption, strict measures on energy saving and enhancing the share of renewable energy sources. A crucial part in creating and implementing this strategy is played by new members of the government from ‘the Greens’ – R. Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and A. Baerbock, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs. The relation between energetic and ecological spheres, their impact on internal and external security is analyzed. The author looks into exact measures and mechanisms that ensure energy and climate security, also while addressing questions about the overall perception of respective threats among German expert community and society. The conclusion made is that in present-day circumstances the problems of energy security, climate change mitigation and shifting to carbon-free economy greatly affect Berlin’s foreign policy and foreign economic strategies, as well as Germany’s relations with EU partners, Eastern European countries and Russia.

November 20, 2015 marked 40 years since the demise of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. With his passing Spain entered into an era of tremendous economic and socio-political changes. At the stage of democratic development Spanish nation achieved three key objectives: it built an open and modern economy; in political sphere a relatively effective de facto two-party system was created; social protection was provided to the bulk of the population. All this strengthened Spain’s international positions and provided it an attractive image. The country attracted millions of immigrants. The world crisis of 2008–2009 stopped the growth of the Spanish economy. Spain was in crisis long six years and only recently began to come out of it basing on a new development model (a “rebound” model). By a number of parameters it is different from the pre-crisis paradigm of the growth. The crisis had serious impact on Spain’s foreign relations. In particular, serious reputational losses challenged Madrid’s efforts to counter the crisis, to reduce the negative effects of external shocks on the international scene and to find opportunities to give additional impetus to the development of the country. These challenges defined new foreign policy agenda: protecting financial and economic interests of Spain abroad, strengthening the positions of the Spanish companies in world markets, coordination of anti-crisis actions with partners in the European Union. Madrid stands for a sort of integration core within the EU, consisting of six founding countries of the European Economic Community (Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and France), as well as Spain and Poland. This projected grouping is intended to serve as the vanguard of the movement in the direction of making the EU more effective.

The processes of changing the world's space, turning it into a single zone, the unimpeded movement of goods, services, information, capital are aspects of the globalization of world economies. In this space, ideas that contribute to the development of relevant institutional formations and form their communicative connections are more freely distributed. Ukraine is on the way to solving the European integration tasks defined in the Association Agreement with the EU, the implementation of customs legislation, the purpose of which is not only the establishment and existence of a free trade zone, but also a more in-depth integration. The purpose of the article is to review possible scenarios concerning the conditions of movement of goods across the customs border, in the event of a final decision on the withdrawal of Great Britain from the EU Customs Unio Today, it has already been recognized that the integration persistence of the EU Customs Union was threatened by the name Brexit. This phenomenon, as a challenge to integration in a globalized world, gives impetus to a moderate choice of concept and form of integration for the future perspective of economic development of the member countries and candidate -countries for membership in the Community. The European integration policy of Ukraine's economic policy, along with urgent issues requiring a priority solution and fulfillment of obligations, should also be considered under the criterion of probable risks and threats to national interests. The article gives moderate arguments from UK analysts regarding the UK's exit from the EU, the urgent issues regarding the varied prospects of customs relations between the European Union and the UK, as well as the EU Customs Union. Influence of possible scenarios of "soft Brexit", "hard Brexit" on foreign economic activity of the country and its activity.

This article presents the results of the author's reflections on the theoretical principles, legal basis and practice of the international activities of the Federal Assembly – the Parliament of the Russian Federation, - in connection with the 25th anniversary of parliamentarism of new Russia. The author analyzes the country network of relations, forms of bilateral inter-parliamentary cooperation, shows the experience of cooperation with European inter-parliamentary structures and associations. Special attention is paid to parliamentary cooperation within the framework of the Union of Belarus and Russia, the collective security Treaty Organization, the Commonwealth of independent States and the Eurasian economic community. He also shows the demand for inter-parliamentary cooperation with BRICS countries and Shanghai Cooperation Organization. On the basis of the Concept of foreign policy of Russian Federation (dd. November 30, 2016, N 640), the speech of Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov at the Munich security conference February 16, 2019 and the message of the President of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to Federal Assembly February 20, 2019 the author presents the list of directions, topics and geography of international cooperation of Russian Parliament for the medium term future.

The author investigates the impact of COVID‑19 and macro-policy adjustment on China’s economic development. The aim is to describe the situation and trend of China’s economic development before and after COVID‑19. The research method is the comparative data analysis. The study shows that in response to COVID‑19, the Chinese government, on the one hand, has accelerated its opening-up, taken the opportunity of fighting against the pandemic to provide medical assistance to and cooperate with other countries, and actively promoted the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and the process of globalization. On the basis of the Belt and Road Initiative and multilateral, regional, and subregional cooperation mechanisms such as the United Nations, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), G20 (Group of 20), and APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation), China and the Eurasian Economic Union began to cooperate more frequently and the trade relations between Japan, South Korea, and European developed countries became closer. Meanwhile, committed to building a global interconnection partnership, China actively participates in global economic governance and provides various public products. The Chinese government has proposed “Six Guarantees” on the basis of “Six Stability”. In order to achieve the purpose of stabilizing foreign trade and expanding imports, China has imposed various measures to accelerate the liberalization and facilitation of international trade and investment, such as implementing the new version of the “Foreign Investment Law”, establishing free trade zones, and promoting its experience and organizing international import expositions. Additionally, the Chinese government also implemented targeted fiscal and monetary policies, increased support for enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, and promoted the construction of “new infrastructure” and innovation of business model, which have formed the driving forces for the transformation of the economic development model in China from traditional business to cloud business, from traditional marketing to live streaming marketing, from traditional sales to online sales. The author concluded thatChina’s adjustment of macro policies in response to COVID‑19 was effective and played an important role in the resumption of production and life, stabilizing foreign trade activities, releasing domestic demand and promoting stable and sustained growth of the economy

In the XXI century the system of international relations has undergone transformations, including non-traditional determinants. This research drew attention to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on modernization of the policies of great powers, which began to use pandemic countermeasures as a tool of their influence on future post-COVID international order. The authors analyze the peculiarities of using “hard power” (economic pressure) and “soft power” (economic aid, cultural interaction), and sometimes a combination of these tools on the example of Russia and China in order to lobby their own position under the pandemic of COVID-19 in the relevant geopolitically close regions – Europe and Southeast Asia. This research analyses all above mentioned peculiarities based on chronological period – at the beginning of pandemic situation in 2020. It was found that Russia most actively used the effects of the beginning of global pandemic on the European direction of foreign policy, under the impact of energy factor and the formation of the image of “peacemaker” and the role of “messiah” in the region. In the study, Italy is an example of the use of hybrid influence from Russia, the spread of fakes and the presentation of the “weakness” of the EU at the beginning of the pandemic in a rapid political response to the threat. Southeast Asia became the region of Chinese foreign policy in counteracting COVID-19, where China’s “mask diplomacy” acts as a countermeasure to overcome conflict in the South China Sea, form a system of “subordination” and realization the idea of “community of common destiny”. The findings reveal that Russia and China can be characterized as states that have political regimes with special tools and mechanisms for policy implementation. Beijing and Moscow not only aim to strengthen their influence in neighboring regions, but also to oppose the United States. Analyzing political actions and mechanism that Russia and China used at the beginning of pandemic, the authors confirmed that both countries aim to use “vaccine diplomacy” as an effective tool for influencing the coronavirus international order.

Introduction. Active engagement of Ukraine and its regions in the system of international cooperation in the context of the development of world integration processes is possible due to the use of cross-border cooperation tools. in the form of jointly developed programs of trade and economic, scientific-technical, environmental-ecological, cultural, historical-religious cooperation.The hypothesis of scientific research. Using cross-border cooperation will solve the problems of accelerating the socio-economic development of transboundary regions, improve the personnel infrastructure training of regions and the country as a whole in order to deepen cooperation with the EU, to solve urgent issues with the neighbors of the post-Soviet space; accelerate European integration processes.The purpose of the article is to develop theoretical propositions to substantiate the effective algorithm of cross-border cooperation development on the basis of synergistic combination of integration processes and innovations in all types of cooperation.Methods of research: an interdisciplinary approach – for combining a set of general scientific and special research methods; systemic and structural-functional analysis – to determine the system of international cross-border links; institutional approach – to determine the impact on cross-border cooperation created by political institutions; situational approach – for correlating the development of cross-border cooperation with a specific socio-economic situation; a comparative analysis – for comparing processes of cross-border cooperation in different countries of Europe and post-Soviet space.Results: the experience of the international community in implementing the system of cross-border cooperation is analyzed; the legal-legal and methodological principles of cross-border cooperation as a direction of European integration processes in Ukraine are researched; The mechanisms of development of foreign economic relations in the border regions of Ukraine in the conditions of realization of its European integration aspirations are revealed.Conclusions: development of theoretical positions on the substantiation of the active development of the regions as one of the elements of the pan-European system of priorities, which corresponds to the principled integration of states through the integration of regions, which represent joint actions aimed at establishing and deepening economic, social, environmental, scientific, technical, cultural and other relations between territorial communities, various institutions of transboundary regions with the relevant authorities of other states within the competence defined s national legislation.

Purpose: Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe, has a good geographical location, and has good bilateral relations and traditional economic exchanges with China, especially agriculture, high-tech, and existing and ongoing cooperation projects with China. "There are also difficulties in construction: Ukraine's economy has been in a difficult period since independence, its economic structure is very uneven, and its economic relations with Eastern European and CIS countries, as well as Russian economic relations, need to be improved. Ukraine needs to restore its national strength. China's "Belt and Road" initiative and the diplomatic concept of building a community of shared future for mankind have determined that the Chinese government is willing to help Ukraine restore its strength and restore normal political, economic, and diplomatic relations with neighboring countries. It will benefit the people through the improvement of the national economy This article aims to analyze how the two sides can use the "Belt and Road" platform to develop economic relations and strengthen cooperation to achieve mutual benefit results. Methodology: This article uses the literature research method, the combination of analysis and synthesis methods, observation method, investigation method. Originality: Since the Soviet Union, Ukraine has started friendly exchanges with China. After the founding of New China in 1949, Ukraine, as a part of the Soviet Union, made a greater contribution to China establishment of its national steel, machinery, agriculture and other basic industries. After Ukraine's independence, China-Ukraine relations have entered a new stage. China was the first country to recognize Ukraine's independence and established diplomatic relations with it on January 4, 1992. In the past 30 years of Ukraine's independence, the two countries have not had any conflicts of interest and no serious political and economic contradictions. The "Belt and Road" initiative proposed by Xi Jinping in 2013 provided a new platform for bilateral relations and created unprecedented opportunities for the development of bilateral relations. In the "Belt and Road" construction, Ukraine should play a greater role. Practical value: Participating in the "Belt and Road" construction is also a very important opportunity for Ukraine, helping the Chinese people to have a more comprehensive and clearer understanding of Ukraine, and more importantly, it is conducive to the trade between the two countries to bring more Ukrainian enterprises Trade exchanges to drive the economic development of Ukraine. Politically, Ukraine and China have good bilateral relations；On June 20, 2011, the two sides signed the "China-Ukraine Joint Partnership on the Establishment and Development of Strategic Partnerships. Economically, Ukraine and China have complementary economies. Economic exchanges have been established since the Soviet Union. In recent years, the existing and ongoing cooperation between Ukraine and China has continued to develop in high-tech fields such as agriculture, machine manufacturing, and aviation. More and more Ukrainian experts have pointed out that developing relations between Ukraine and China should become a priority direction of Ukraine's current foreign policy. Ukraine has a strong advantage in agriculture, military industry, and manufacturing, especially the engine manufacturing industry, and can develop machine manufacturing; Ukraine can provide transportation for China “Belt and Road” Convenient conditions.

The article considers the role and place of public authorities in shaping the policy of effective cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and the EU taking into account the national interests.Particular attention is paid to the principles and features of territorial cooperation, taking into account the specifics of the EU’s external cooperation as well as the interests of the participating countries.The basic principles of the cooperation are determined on the basis of connections as well as contractual interregional and interstate relations, in compliance with the national legislation and respect for the international obligations of the states that are subjects of contractual relations; the thematic objectives are defined.The current state of Ukraine and the EU countries cross-border cooperation development is characterized and the main factors limiting this process are outlined. The most significant ones are the insufficient level of the national economic development and inconformity of the national legislation with European standards; lack of well-balanced management at the local level; the impossibility of implementing international projects of economic and social development due to ineffective management; lack of proper infrastructure; lack of marketing which aims to facilitate the existing resource potential of the border regions; sparking interethnic conflicts; the lack of skilled personnel in different spheres of establishing effective cooperation between the authorities, business and the public, etc. are also among them.Lack of sufficient financial resources and managerial powers in local administrations, in particular, for establishing the information infrastructure necessary for the cooperation with the authorities of the foreign countries regions and the development of financial projects is a specific problem of cross-border cooperation.The role of international projects and regional programs such as EU4Business, cross-border cooperation (Black Sea, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland), EU programs, such as ERASMUS, HORIZON (61 projects amounting to 11.95 million euros were announced in 2016), COSME (May 2016) and their role in improving the socio-economic development of the border regions as well as solving common problems in ecology, health, safety and security, promoting the living conditions of citizens are grounded in the paper.The role of the united territorial communities (UTC) in cross-border cooperation activating, in particular their participation in international projects is grounded and the results of this activity in the Transcarpathia are presented. Insufficient level of professional training of public authorities representatives is pointed out. It is proved that cross-border cooperation is one of the main economic mechanisms of attracting foreign investments and grant funds for the economy modernization, for new jobs creation through the small business development, attraction of innovative technologies, access to the European market and the entry of Ukraine into the European community in the current economic situation.The expediency of working out the coherent effective state policy of cross-border cooperation with the EU, in which the legal, institutional and financial instruments should be clearly defined, along with the determined means of its implementation and mandatory public monitoring of the results is emphasized. The development of cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and the EU countries, ensuring a competitive economy running, the effective development of international trade, improvement of conditions and support of entrepreneurship, can be realized under the condition of implementation of the policy of public administration at the regional level.

The article is dedicated to relations between Ukraine and Moldova, taking pride of place in the foreign policy of Ukraine. This is due to a shared border, large ethnic community of Ukrainians in Moldova, similarity of foreign policy priorities, and development of mutually beneficial economic cooperation. Ukraine is an active stakeholder in the negotiations on the Transnistrian conflict and has the status of a mediator. Ukraine seeks to develop mutually beneficial relations with the Republic of Moldova based upon respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of both states. The bilateral cooperation of the two countries can be found in the spheres of environment, transport, energy, infrastructure, implementation of domestic reforms, and efficient struggle against corruption. An opening of a border bridge crossing for vehicles and prospective construction of a bridge are the steps enabling Ukraine and Moldova to enter the European transport network. An important upshot of the diplomatic activities is the consistent support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine by the Republic of Moldova. The external aggression notwithstanding, Ukraine continues to take proactive measures in the negotiations on the Transnistrian conflict. The common origins of the latter and of the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation bring about the necessity to combine forces and form common approaches for their settlement as well as jointly counter regional threats and challenges. The protection of rights of national minorities is yet another important aspect of bilateral relations. Ukraine has an interest in a socially and politically stable Moldova with a prosperous economy able to follow its policy of integration to the EU. Keywords: The Republic of Moldova, policy on integration to the EU, territorial integrity, domestic reforms, corruption.

The article updates the importance of using modern information systems and technologies of public administration and administration in the context of European integration processes. It has been substantiated that the efficiency of the work of authorities at all levels is largely determined by the quality and efficiency of their information and analytical services. The essential-meaningful characteristic of the information system of public administration and administration has been determined by generalizing the views of domestic and foreign scientists. The structure of the information system was defined through the allocation of four main components: means of fixing and collecting information; means of transmitting the relevant data and messages; information storage means; means of analysis, processing and presentation of information. The directions of the functioning of interconnected information systems that ensure electronic interaction of public authorities of different countries in the context of digitalization and globalization of socio-economic relations with representatives of business structures and civil society, allowing to form elements of the "virtual community" and "digital power" as transformed forms of public administration were characterized. Among them are: free movement of information data; expansion of forms of audiovisual communication through the development of modern computer technology; interactivity of modern media tools used in the public administration system; anonymity of collective and individual communication on the Internet; the rapid dissemination of information using modern communications; modern means of forming and transmitting information. The technology of information exchange in the information system of public management and administration in the context of globalization and eurointegration has been formalized. The advantages of information technologies in public administration for the implementation of socio-economic cooperation projects is highlighted, including: creating conditions for the availability of information on significant economic and social issues; strengthening the level of mutual trust in society; strengthening feedback between state and public subjects of public administration relations; creation of innovative forms of public participation in public administration; the formation of sources of transparency in the actions of interacting institutions; ensuring productivity growth of e-government while reducing time and labor costs in information processing and decision-making.

The scientific article examines the issues of areas of international cooperation in the field of police training. Emphasis is placed on the best practices of Western Europe, the United States and Canada. At first it was emphasized that in modern conditions there is a rapid development of international relations on the principles of integration and mutual enrichment, and not on the terms of rigid differentiation. It is determined that the interaction is especially evident in the field of international cooperation of European law enforcement agencies. The author found that international police cooperation is carried out in several main areas: 1) assistance in training for foreign law enforcement agencies; 2) joint research of problems of struggle against offenses; 3) exchange of experience in the field of police training; 4) provision of logistical and advisory assistance. Emphasis is placed on the fact that an important factor is the recognition by the international community among other areas and the need for cooperation in the field of personnel training. The author formulates the main directions of international cooperation in the field of police training, in particular: integration into international bodies and organizations in the field of police training; integration into international police educational institutions; integration into the education system of leading foreign educational institutions, study of experience, analysis of the work of structural units, study of the scale of social activity, the field of scientific research, etc .; creating conditions for the development of police education in a particular country with the help of international partners and the experience of foreign countries; provision-receipt on a mutual, and more often on a unilateral basis to foreign colleagues of means of equipment, communication, equipment for use in police training. Finally, it is noted that the most intensive and effective police cooperation is carried out by the police of highly developed countries with similar economic, political and social conditions, similar legal attitudes and principles of law enforcement.

The main reason for the implementation of the next agrarian reform was the profound changes that have taken place in the field of socio-economic relations. The economy of the Russian Empire, after series of crisis and internal political upheavals, found itself in a state of prolonged depression. The economic lag behind Western European countries has led to dependence on foreign investment. The tasks set before the reform of February 19, 1861, were never realized. Starting the agrarian reform, the government headed by P. Stolypin set the task of comprehensively addressing the following issues: increase efficiency, marketability of agricultural production, strengthen the social resistance of the government in the countryside by destroying the community and transferring land to private ownership. It was believed that the appearance of the peasant’s sense of ownership would automatically remove the problem of dissatisfaction with the policy of the authorities in the countryside. The Peasant Land Bank was the main lever for reform. Pre-designed legislation expanded its powers. Of all the hamlets and cuttings, the highest were the share of those that appeared on the lands of the Peasant Land Bank. On the other hand, the State Noble Land Bank actually preserved the existence of the feudal in the form of the creation of aristocratic land tenure, credit support hindered the development of capitalist relations. The Peasant Land Bank, with the aim of lending to peasant land tenure, stimulated the growth of land prices, which indirectly helped the noble land tenure. The reform significantly accelerated the development of capitalist relations in the countryside: as a result of the destruction of the community, capitalist land ownership was created, strips were eliminated, the process of land concentration in the hands of wealthy peasants intensified, and the marketability of agriculture increased. However, in general, P. Stolypin’s reform did not achieve its goal – it did not ensure the creation of a strong capitalist system in the countryside, as aristocratic land tenure was preserved. During its implementation, there were no cardinal changes in land tenure and land use in the provinces of the Right Bank of Ukraine. The main reason was the predominant farmland ownership of peasants. The creation of farms and cuts contributed to a partial solution to the problem across the strip.

The article is dedicated to the elections to the State Assembly of Hungary on April 3, 2022, which ended with the victory and acquisition of a constitutional majority by the now ruling coalition of Fidesz-Hungarian Civil Union and the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) - (Fidesz–KDNP). It analyzes its electoral platform “War or Peace”, the center of which was the attitude to the Russian-Ukrainian war. It is indicated that this war divided the political forces of Hungary into two camps – supporters of neutrality (peace) or supporters of Ukraine (war). The ruling coalition advocated neutrality, non-intervention in the war, which guaranteed the preservation of peace and tranquility for the citizens of Hungary. All the opposition forces showed support for Ukraine against Russia. The authorities accused the latter of the fact that their pro-Ukrainian and anti-Putin activities posed a danger and threatened the spread of the war to the territory of Hungary. It is emphasized that thanks to this position, Fidesz–KDNP won a convincing victory in Hungary as a whole and especially among the Hungarian communities abroad, while the six-party opposition bloc, although it won convincingly in 17 of Budapest’s 18 districts, suffered a significant defeat in the country as a whole. The main reasons for the unexpected victory of the ruling coalition Fidesz - HDNP in these elections are highlighted. Among them: the coalition flexibly combined centrist and center-right values, synthesized them and rose above narrow party interests, turning into a broad popular front of the Hungarian nation. It is also noted that during the 12-year remaining stay in power in the country, transformations were completed, namely, a new Basic Law (constitution) was adopted, relevant legislation was formed, and a national democratic model of political and economic power was introduced according both to the state and EU standards that complies with state and EU standards. The internal policy was aimed at the development of traditional branches of the economy and the formation of modern forms of management. Relatively high economic development of the country was ensured thanks to by the effective use of foreign investments, international markets, which are far from being limited to EU countries. Hungary develops close cooperation with countries of all regions, if its national interests are ensured. Great attention is paid to the support and protection of Hungarian communities living in countries neighboring Hungary (Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine). At the legislative level, the status of Hungarians abroad is almost equal to that of Hungarians in the country itself. The policy of national unity, the recognition of Hungarians, regardless of their residency country of residence, as members of a united single Hungarian nation, gained general approval. The concentration of domestic and foreign policy on the priority of Hungarian interests helped Fidesz to turn into an authoritative and reliable political force of the country, which, using civilized methods, fights for the future of Hungary, the comprehensive development of its people, the preservation of the identity of Hungarian communities abroad, the prevention of assimilation, mass emigration and the restriction of their rights along national lines. In addition, the ruling coalition managed to form a reliable financial, personnel, and media potential, to significantly expand the electoral field of its activities, which no opposition political force is able to compete with, especially during the elections to the State Assembly. The qualitative composition of the new parliament was analyzed. The progress of the election of the new President of Hungary on March 9, the speaker of the newly elected parliament, his deputies and heads of parliamentary factions on May 2, and finally the Prime Minister of Hungary on May 16 and the approval of the country’s new government headed by Viktor Orbán on May 24, is highlighted. Great attention is paid to the formation of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations. The analysis of political processes during the election campaign and in the first months after the end of the elections, in particular the attitude of Budapest to the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, to the formation of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, allowed us to draw conclusions that the priorities of the international activities of the ruling coalition of Hungary will remain unchanged: serving the interests of the Hungarian nation on in all territories of its residence, in particular support, protection and assistance to Hungarian national communities in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine. The results of the parliamentary elections in Hungary on April 3, 2022 confirmed that these principles are unchanged and continue to be binding in the activities of the Hungarian government institutions. It is emphasized that the level of development of Hungary's bilateral relations with neighboring states will depend on ensuring the Hungarian foreign communities interests how the interests of the Hungarian foreign communities will be ensured (granting dual citizenship, autonomy status for the community, creating conditions for cultural and educational development based on in the national language and traditions). Hungarian-Ukrainian relations will be in the same condition state. Hungary supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, its European choice, condemns Russian aggression, supports the EU’s sanctions policy against the Russian Federation, and provided shelter for 800,000 refugees from Ukraine. More than 100,000 people from Ukraine stay are in Hungary illegally. Since July 19, Hungary has allowed the transit of weapons from other countries through its territory to Ukraine. Yet But it continues to maintain neutrality in the Russian-Ukrainian war, supports EU energy sanctions against the Russian Federation in such a way that it does not harm its economic interests. At the same time, it does not agree to the application of certain legal provisions on education the procedure for using the Ukrainian language as the official language on the territory of Ukraine, that came into force in 2017 and 2019 to the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia of a number of provisions of the laws on education and the procedure for using the Ukrainian language as the official language on the territory of Ukraine, which came into force in 2017 and 2019. It is emphasized that the settlement of cultural and educational issues of the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia should become a priority task for both countries.

The article is dedicated to the elections to the State Assembly of Hungary on April 3, 2022, which ended with the victory and acquisition of a constitutional majority by the now ruling coalition of Fidesz-Hungarian Civil Union and the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) - (Fidesz–KDNP). It analyzes its electoral platform “War or Peace”, the center of which was the attitude to the Russian-Ukrainian war. It is indicated that this war divided the political forces of Hungary into two camps – supporters of neutrality (peace) or supporters of Ukraine (war). The ruling coalition advocated neutrality, non-intervention in the war, which guaranteed the preservation of peace and tranquility for the citizens of Hungary. All the opposition forces showed support for Ukraine against Russia. The authorities accused the latter of the fact that their pro-Ukrainian and anti-Putin activities posed a danger and threatened the spread of the war to the territory of Hungary. It is emphasized that thanks to this position, Fidesz–KDNP won a convincing victory in Hungary as a whole and especially among the Hungarian communities abroad, while the six-party opposition bloc, although it won convincingly in 17 of Budapest’s 18 districts, suffered a significant defeat in the country as a whole. The main reasons for the unexpected victory of the ruling coalition Fidesz - HDNP in these elections are highlighted. Among them: the coalition flexibly combined centrist and center-right values, synthesized them and rose above narrow party interests, turning into a broad popular front of the Hungarian nation. It is also noted that during the 12-year remaining stay in power in the country, transformations were completed, namely, a new Basic Law (constitution) was adopted, relevant legislation was formed, and a national democratic model of political and economic power was introduced according both to the state and EU standards that complies with state and EU standards. The internal policy was aimed at the development of traditional branches of the economy and the formation of modern forms of management. Relatively high economic development of the country was ensured thanks to by the effective use of foreign investments, international markets, which are far from being limited to EU countries. Hungary develops close cooperation with countries of all regions, if its national interests are ensured. Great attention is paid to the support and protection of Hungarian communities living in countries neighboring Hungary (Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine). At the legislative level, the status of Hungarians abroad is almost equal to that of Hungarians in the country itself. The policy of national unity, the recognition of Hungarians, regardless of their residency country of residence, as members of a united single Hungarian nation, gained general approval. The concentration of domestic and foreign policy on the priority of Hungarian interests helped Fidesz to turn into an authoritative and reliable political force of the country, which, using civilized methods, fights for the future of Hungary, the comprehensive development of its people, the preservation of the identity of Hungarian communities abroad, the prevention of assimilation, mass emigration and the restriction of their rights along national lines. In addition, the ruling coalition managed to form a reliable financial, personnel, and media potential, to significantly expand the electoral field of its activities, which no opposition political force is able to compete with, especially during the elections to the State Assembly. The qualitative composition of the new parliament was analyzed. The progress of the election of the new President of Hungary on March 9, the speaker of the newly elected parliament, his deputies and heads of parliamentary factions on May 2, and finally the Prime Minister of Hungary on May 16 and the approval of the country’s new government headed by Viktor Orbán on May 24, is highlighted. Great attention is paid to the formation of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations. The analysis of political processes during the election campaign and in the first months after the end of the elections, in particular the attitude of Budapest to the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, to the formation of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, allowed us to draw conclusions that the priorities of the international activities of the ruling coalition of Hungary will remain unchanged: serving the interests of the Hungarian nation on in all territories of its residence, in particular support, protection and assistance to Hungarian national communities in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine. The results of the parliamentary elections in Hungary on April 3, 2022 confirmed that these principles are unchanged and continue to be binding in the activities of the Hungarian government institutions. It is emphasized that the level of development of Hungary's bilateral relations with neighboring states will depend on ensuring the Hungarian foreign communities interests how the interests of the Hungarian foreign communities will be ensured (granting dual citizenship, autonomy status for the community, creating conditions for cultural and educational development based on in the national language and traditions). Hungarian-Ukrainian relations will be in the same condition state. Hungary supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, its European choice, condemns Russian aggression, supports the EU’s sanctions policy against the Russian Federation, and provided shelter for 800,000 refugees from Ukraine. More than 100,000 people from Ukraine stay are in Hungary illegally. Since July 19, Hungary has allowed the transit of weapons from other countries through its territory to Ukraine. Yet But it continues to maintain neutrality in the Russian-Ukrainian war, supports EU energy sanctions against the Russian Federation in such a way that it does not harm its economic interests. At the same time, it does not agree to the application of certain legal provisions on education the procedure for using the Ukrainian language as the official language on the territory of Ukraine, that came into force in 2017 and 2019 to the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia of a number of provisions of the laws on education and the procedure for using the Ukrainian language as the official language on the territory of Ukraine, which came into force in 2017 and 2019. It is emphasized that the settlement of cultural and educational issues of the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia should become a priority task for both countries.

In contrast to the previous optimistic forecasts of the ruling elite in the late USSR and in the new Russia about how our country's relations with the West will develop positively after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist system in Eastern Europe, Russia's successful entry into the Western community; after the triumphalist sentiments in the West itself regarding the "collapse of communism", the after the victory in the cold war and the role of Russia, which has lost its role as a superpower, subordinate to the interests of the Western community, the real reality of international relations turned out to be completely different. At the turn of the century, as a result of NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia, the approach of troops and weapons of this bloc to our borders, open support in the West for separatist movements and wars on the territory of the Russian Federation, the process of disillusionment with previous illusions began. It sharply intensified after Vladimir Putin's Munich speech in 2007, Russia's recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and especially the conflict in Ukraine and the reunification of Crimea, which actually led to the beginning of a new cold war. Gradually, the ruling elites of Russia and the West began to realize that the decisive reason for the former "cold war" of 1946-1989 was not so much the notorious "communism" in the USSR and in Eastern European countries, but above all the fundamental civilizational and geopolitical differences between the West and Russia, dating back centuries, stable Russophobic sentiments of public opinion in the West. As the experience of history and modernity shows, Russia's successful domestic and international position is possible only if it preserves and strengthens the status of a great Eurasian power based on a sovereign domestic and foreign policy, a successful socio-economic course approved by the people and a wise state ideology.

The article analyses the main stages of development of the German economy during the 16-year reign of Chancellor Angela Merkel (2005–2021). During this period, Germany was reasonably successful in dealing with the impacts of the world financial and economic crisis it faced in 2008–2009. The 10 subsequent years witnessed economic growth, however, today the country is once again trying to find a way out of a crisis this time caused by the COVID 19 pandemic. In 2020, the GDP fell by almost 5%, while the industrial production declined by 10.4%. The return to the growth trajectory is being linked to improving the epidemiological situation and increasing foreign orders, primarily from China and the United States. The German economy is expected to reach pre-crisis levels in late 2022. Projections for further development assume that, due to a number of internal constraints and external risks, the GDP growth will not exceed 1% in 2023–2025. Angela Merkel is not leaving the country in the best of shapes. It is not her fault. Germany’s economy has more than once demonstrated its resilience to external shocks. Even today, Germany’s position looks preferable to that of most European countries. Its main advantage is a diversified and competitive industry, but the sentiments in the German business community vary greatly. Much depends on the sector and region. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially in the service sector, have been particularly hard hit. Many of them have run out of reserves, and their capacity to pay now depends largely on the financial support of the State. How long can the government “pump up” the economy with budget money without fear of a surge in inflation? Nor will the European Central Bank (ECB) indefinitely maintain interest rates at historically low levels. For many SMEs, the increase in the cost of credit, combined with the inevitable reduction in government support, will be a blow that not all will be able to withstand. People are tired of everything related to the pandemic and the years of familiar politicians. Everyone is waiting for the end of the epidemic and for new faces in politics. Whether the new politicians will be better than the old ones is a big question. Under all circumstances, in Germany’s recent history, Angela Merkel will remain a major political figure whose scale is yet to be truly appreciated.

The article examines the purpose, methods and tools of the monetary and credit policy of the National Bank of Ukraine. It is determined that the NBU is the main State-authorized institution in Ukraine, which is responsible for planning and implementing monetary and credit policy. Monetary and credit policy is a complex of measures in the field of money circulation and credit, which are intended to ensure the stability of the monetary unit of Ukraine due to the introduction of regulated by law funds and techniques. It is established that the financial sector is the key element of the national economy; its vital functions ensure the sustainable development of the economy, the creation and distribution of financial resources and services, the accumulation of investment capital, as well as the improvement of macroeconomic and monetary indicators. In today's harsh conditions such as: rising inflation, destruction of transport infrastructure, decline of business, reduction of sown areas, blockade of ports, devaluation of the UAH, growth of the budget deficit, issues of monetary regulation are becoming extremely important. The war projected on the country's economy, has become a difficult challenge for the National Bank in improving and adjusting the current monetary and credit policy, finding innovative mechanisms for its implementation. Carrying out an active foreign policy, attracting funds from the IMF, the World and European Banks, opening a special account to raise funds from individuals - these are some of the tools used by the NBU in wartime. On the other hand, the pressure on the world community is aimed at ending trade relations with the aggressor country, helping to minimize any attraction of funds into the Russian budget, thus depriving them of the opportunity to finance the war. Another important tool is the analysis of the world experience of countries in resolving the postwar crisis, and the adoption of their tools and mechanisms for economic recovery - all this is the purpose of this article.

Problem setting. The article highlights the topical problems of the EU’s dependence on the supply of energy resources from Russia against the background of military aggression towards Ukraine and substantiates the importance of overcoming such dependence. Analysis of resent researches and publications. A considerable number of scientific papers published in recent years shows that the issues of energy security and legal support of cooperation between the EU Member States in the energy sector have often been studied by Ukrainian and foreign scientists both lawyers and economists. Currently, in legal and economic doctrines, the sphere of energy relations and, in particular, energy security is most often associated with the names of S. D. Bilotskyi, T. A. Grabovych, R. R. Dubas, M. V. Muzychenko, M. Roggenkamp, K. Talus, P. D. Cameron and others. The war in Ukraine has significantly intensified attempts to maintain a proper state of energy security in Europe and, accordingly, scientific developments in this sphere. Аrticle’s main body. The invasion in Ukraine significantly sway the state of energy security of the EU member states and the entire European continent in general. This, in turn, activated the process of developing a new and improving the existing EU legal framework in the energy sector in the shortest possible time. The author analyzes a set of EU legislative initiatives aimed at helping member states to get through the heating season without large-scale upheavals. From the proposals of the European Commission analyzed by the author, it can be seen that the provisions of the REPowerEU transformation plan, which provides for the use of ecologically clean energy for the needs of the EU, can make a significant contribution to overcoming European energy dependence on Russia. The author comes to the conclusion, that economically effective, rapid and wide-range development of sustainable renewable energy in accordance with the theses of the European Green Deal and the REPowerEU communication can’t be attained by states-members independently. Certainly, that leveling of negative consequences is impossible without effective co-ordination and association of actions of all EU member states. Last decades power politics is the central point of foreign policy of EU and now comes forward as a source of many spores that prevent to the attempts of EU to put right strategic relationships with the neighbours and suppliers of energy. Therefore, research of problems of dependence on the third countries and search of ways of their decision answer the major necessities of contemporaneity and has a substantial value for further development of the EU energy sector. It is concluded that such a set of measures will certainly be accompanied by consequences of an economic nature in the budgetary sphere, in investment policy, the structure of industry production, in the sphere of amortization expenses, price policy and taxation, etc. Conclusions and prospects for the development. The challenges and uncertainties facing the European energy system are the biggest in almost fifty years, since the great energy crises of the 1970s, and therefore the set of measures to overcome the consequences of the war in Ukraine for the EU energy sector is unprecedented. Cost-effective, rapid and large-scale deployment of sustainable renewable energy in line with the provisions of the European Green Deal and the REPowerEU Communication cannot be achieved by Member States on their own. Taking into account the different energy policies between Member States, action at EU level, backed by a robust governance structure, is more likely to achieve the EU’s climate goals and will require a greater deployment of renewables than national or local measures alone. Further measures could also include regulation of gas supply in the form of improved coordination of gas procurement and promotion of joint purchases by European gas market operators on the international market. Furthermore, it would be advisable to consider over time legislative measures to require diversification of gas supplies from individual Member States that have had such experience in the past. Particular attention should also be paid to improving the energy partnership with Ukraine. This would address the issues related to the importance of Ukraine as a transit country as well as those related to the reforms of the Ukrainian energy market, such as the modernisation of the gas network, the establishment of an appropriate regulatory framework for the electricity market and the improvement of energy efficiency in Ukraine as a means of reducing its dependence on imported energy. In the near future, the intention is to strengthen cooperation in the energy sector with the Energy Community, which will ensure closer integration of the EU and Energy Community energy markets, effective implementation of the EU environmental policy and stimulate investments in the energy sector.

The article is devoted to the study of cryptocurrency as a new means of payment, which is relevant both in Ukraine and abroad. The urgency of the problem described in the article is due to the accelerated scientific and technological progress and global computerization of society, where modern technologies contribute to the emergence and development of new mechanisms of the economy, in particular, relations using non-cash payments. The main features of cryptocurrency are considered and argued in the form of its advantages: availability, speed, decentralization, security, and disadvantages: unreliability, distrust of users, inability to cancel transactions, use to commit illegal acts. The features that are controversial in modern conditions are anonymity and transnationality. The main problems of cryptocurrency and its legal regulation are generalized. Emphasis is placed on the practice of regulating the cryptocurrency market in the European Union, as well as on the legislation of the Republic of Estonia in the field of virtual assets. The legal status of cryptocurrency in Ukraine is considered, which is an urgent problem on the way to its legalization both in the legislative and technical plan. Attempts to legally regulate a new type of currency are analyzed. Bills and acts of the National Bank of Ukraine in the field of cryptocurrency circulation are described. Gaps in the current legislation, in particular in the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention of Corruption", were identified, and ways to solve such problems were suggested. It is concluded that it is necessary to develop and create effective legislation in the field of regulation and control of cryptocurrency circulation not only at the national but also at the international level, because otherwise there is a threat to economic and financial life of the state and society and other problems for the international community. in the form of criminal acts with cryptocurrency, because today in Ukraine there is no effective legislation on the circulation of cryptocurrency, and the number of problems with the use of digital currency is growing every day, so it is worth paying attention to such components as the Internet and virtual assets, as in the leading countries of the world this direction is important in domestic and foreign policy.

Abstract. Introduction. Active recreation tourism is more effective for physical, emotional, intellectual recreation than passive recreation tourism. Active forms of tourism give dosed in terms of volume and intensity of physical activity for participants, which is the main factor in their recreation and effective recovery. Active tourism is becoming an increasingly important segment of the tourism industry. Active tourism includes more and more types of recreational and tourist and tourist and sports activities. It performs several functions - health, prevention, rehabilitation, training, and education. World experience shows that recently the share of active, extreme, and adventure tourism is growing rapidly. Therefore, the study of current trends in the world and domestic experience of organization of active tourism is relevant. Purpose. The article aims to study current trends in the world and domestic experience in the organization and functioning of active tourism. In the long run, this will help improve the tourist image of the country, region, community and increase tourist flows. Results. International practice shows that, at the present stage of the development of economic systems, tourism is the most dynamically developing area. It is also worth noting that international tourism for some developing countries is the main export ofservices and one of theprincipalsources of foreign exchange in these countries; acts as a stabilizing lever for the formation of their budgets and credit and financial relations with other states. At the beginning of the XXI century, international tourism became one of the most important economic activities in the world, and its history begins long before the invention of the word tourist in the late 18th century. According to the Western tradition, organized trips can be found in ancient Greece and Rome, which claim origins as "heritage tourism" (historical monuments of recognized cultural significance) and beach resorts. Analysis of global trends in active tourism shows that there is a growing interest in more extreme travel "nomadic recreation"; familyextreme trips; immersion in the ocean; space travel; micro-trips or weekend tours; extreme-recovery. In response to the growing demand, travel agencies in the European Union offer a wide range of cycling tours, hiking, rafting, diving, sightseeing, and fauna. Analysis of the development of tourism in Ukraine shows that due to the fast pace of life, inactive, addiction to gadgets, more and more tourists today have begun to prefer active recreation. This holiday will be especially interesting for citizens who live in highrise buildings, among the asphalt and want to change their everyday life for a while for the beauty and splendor of nature. Each region of Ukraine has potential opportunities for the development of each type of tourism: hiking, biking, car, water, fishing, hunting, horseback riding, and mountaineering. In recent years, there has been an increasing number ofspecialized tour operators and guides offering relevant services. Also, the network ofspecialized shops, suppliers, points of hire, and service of modern tourist equipment, establishments, various tourist information, maps, guides are expanded. Conclusions. It is claimed, thatthe word demand is growing for active, extreme tourism because humanity is increasingly suffering from overwork and digital dependence. Given that most areas suffer from overtourism new concepts of recreation are becoming increasingly popular, where it is possible to restore inner peace, mental and spiritual condition. In addition, the identity of local culture and the identity of territory have a significant influence on interest among tourists. Ukraine has the potential for the development of active types of tourism. Also, the world experience will help diversify the range of ideas for the development of tourism.

Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the European Union is due to the potential of economic ties and the high complementarity of economies in the field of energy exchange, telecommunication systems for mineral fertilizers, however, in the crisis conditions (2008) and the sanctions regime (2014 and at present), trade cooperation is undergoing some changes. It is important to note that the above crisis points had an impact on the trade and economic relations of partners, but did not destroy the definitive supply chains of energy resources from Russia to the countries of the European Union and light industry goods and food products from the European Union to Russia. It is also worth paying attention to the deep mutual partnership between Russia and the countries of the European Union in the field of investment cooperation. Direct foreign investments from Russia to the countries of the European Union account for about 93 % of the total volume of direct foreign investments directed from Russia, and from the European Union to Russia — 70 %. At first glance, the current sanctions regime should have significantly weakened trade and economic relations between Russia and the European Union, however, today, Germany and Italy are the suppliers with the greatest potential for exporting all products to Russia along with China (largely due to high demand on the Russian market). Despite the high elaboration of the problem, this topic is relevant, because, firstly, the Russian Federation and the European Union are in close partnership, and secondly, the foreign economic cooperation of the partner countries is complicated by political and economic factors that are relevant to the world community. Thus, the study of these problems and the search for solutions are the most relevant in modern conditions.

This article addresses economic security which is an indispensable resource of daily life that enables the individual and the human community to achieve their aspirations. It depends a lot on how effective Moldova's economic relations with the rest of the world are. The state of transition of the Moldovan economy, the need to overcome the crisis urgently requires a substantial increase in economic and political relations with developed countries. The country needs foreign capital and investments in advanced technologies, imports of food and consumer goods. At the same time, the expansion of these relations should not lead to the country's economic dependence and loss of security. Economic security is the state of the economy, which ensures sustainable economic growth, meeting social needs, efficient management, protection of economic interests at national and international level. Economic security includes the system of the following levels: international, national, at the level of individual economic structure and personality.

The study of various initiatives of the European Union is highly pressing in terms of current globalization and regional integration processes. The Eastern Partnership is an EU initiative aimed at deepening and strengthening relations between the EU, its member states and the six countries of its Eastern neighborhood. The study of the issues concerning the economic development of the three associated countries (Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova) of Eastern Partnership is very important. Therefore, if these countries carry out significant reforms and the EU supports the development of the initiative, the integration of all three countries with the EU will possibly deepen. The paper discusses the indicators and peculiarities of socio-economic development of the EU Eastern Partnership Associated Countries. These countries are actively seeking for further integration into the global economy. Trade relations between Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and the European Union have significant prospects. The share of Georgian exports to the EU in total exports amounted to 22%. EU plays an important role in Moldova’s exports; in 2019 the share of the EU in Moldova’s exports was 64%, which is the highest among the associated countries. Ukraine's trade with the EU is also high among these countries. In 2019, Georgia's foreign trade turnover (%) accounted for 75% of GDP, which is quite high. Negative trade balance is a very important problem for the country; trade deficit (%) accounted for 32% of GDP. In 2019, the share of trade turnover (%) of Moldova and Ukraine reached 72-72% of GDP. It should be noted that territorial integrity of all these countries within internationally recognized borders is violated which significantly hinders the economic development of the country; in addition, it also poses a serious threat to maintaining security and stability; and hinders their striving towards the EU. The Eastern Partnership allows its member countries, including Georgia, to accelerate the process of trade and economic integration with the European Union through bilateral and multilateral cooperation. The EU Eastern Partnership initiative promotes further integration of the member states into the EU, as well as the socioeconomic development of its member states. The Eastern partner countries have a common communist past. Georgia has the highest negative trade balance in foreign trade in goods among Eastern Partner countries. In addition, Georgia has the highest negative trade balance and negative import-export ratio. In case successful economic reforms are carried out Georgia might be the first Eastern Partner country to be awarded the status of an EU candidate country. None of the Eastern Partner countries is a member of NATO. There is no direct link between the EU and NATO; however, the recent enlargements have shown that before joining the EU the country first becomes a member of NATO. Georgia should continue further integration with the European Union and increase trade and economic cooperation with the EU and its member states. Increasing Georgia's exports to the EU remains a major challenge for the country. The Eastern Partner countries have to continue their effort to develop their economies and further integrate with the EU and the international community. Thus, Georgia has a good opportunity to get closer to the EU, develop the national economy, make it competitive and increase trade and economic cooperation with the EU. The Eastern Partnership allows its member countries, including Georgia, to accelerate the process of trade and economic integration with the European Union through bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

In the recent years, the power dynamics of Sino-European relations has shifted with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) becoming more assertive and strategic. However, with disruption and uncertainty in Europe due to the former US Trump administration, Brexit, and the Ukrainian war, the EU needs PRC’s international engagement to build a resilient international political community. PRC also needs the European market to expand outwardly, via the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), to overcome its stagnation of domestic economy. Amidst this sensitive phase of the developing Sino-European relationship, the pandemic of Covid-19 hit the world. According to complex interdependence theory, the social and economic interconnectedness of the world transcends intergovernmental relationship. The pandemic brought a negative impact and weakened political resilience and European countries began to re-examine negative effects of complex interdependence, especially with PRC. The objective of this paper is to examine if this unique phenomenon of the pandemic has altered the trajectory of the Sino-European relationship. This literature is significant as few scholars in the field of Social Science have analysed Sino-European relations, specifically in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Relevant organisations, or actors, include PRC, the EU and EU member state governments, ambassadors, State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), and private firms. There is no clear theory on how these actors react to pandemics in the complex interdependent modern era. Hence, this study takes an inductive approach by gathering relevant evidence for analysis. The main conclusion and implication of this study is that the actual data appears to show a decline of Chinese FDIs (Foreign Direct Investments) in Europe after the pandemic. However, the EU increasingly recognizes PRC as a systematic rival and involved parties are raising concern on PRC’s influence over Europe.

Problem setting. The peculiarities of the foreign experience are considered regarding the land resourses management of the territorial community. The role of the country in ensuring the rational use of land resources of the territorial community is shown. The main guarantees of effective management and rational use of land resources are pointed out. It is proposed on the basis of the analyzed international experience to form a unified national land management system that combines successful foreign experience, which will make it possible to guarantee the socio-economic development of the territorial community.Recent research and publications analysis. The problems of land resources management in the context of decentralization have been studied by the following scientists as V. Horlachuk, O. Dorosh, I. Drobot, I. Zalutsky, O. Klimenko, V. Kozhurina, R. Taratula and others. The study of foreign experience in land management was carried out by the scientists as O. Bihunenko, T. Zinchuk, N. Krasiuk, O. Suprun, Y. Khvesyk, V. Chuvpylo, O. Shkuropat and others.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. Despite the significant amount of the foreign experience study in land resourses study, it is urgent to develop new grounds for mechanism formation of the efficient land resources management in nowadays conditions of the state power decentralization based on the examined international experience considering the national peculiarities ensuring social-economic development of the territorial communities.Paper main body. Today, at the stage of land decentralization completion, the issues of land resources management in the territorial community are extremely acute at the national level. The land for the territorial communities is an important resource, which their economic and social development depends on. Efficient and rational use of land has become possible after the expansion of the territorial communities authorities in the field of land management, which in turn made it necessary to ensure the control and supervision function of the country in accordance with the delegated powers of the territorial communities. The issue of rational use of land resourses becomes increasingly important in the system of decentralization. The modern reformation of the land relations in UKraine is due to the solution of the rational land use tasks as the most important resourse of the territorial community.Three-level system of land resource management is peculiar for the vast majority of the countries: governmental, regional, local (municpal). But at the same time a uniform model of land relations regulation does not exist, each country in this respect is unique. Management in the sphere of land regulation and land transactions in European countries differs depending on the territorial structure and system of public administration. The system of land regulation in the federal countries is much more diverse, since many issues on land use is given to the jurisdiction of individual territories. All countries have special governmental, public or private structures engaged in regulation and management of land resources.The article examines and analyzes the experience of the old members of the European Union of Germany, Italy, France and new EU members – Poland and Latvia, as well as China, a country where the main form of land ownership is state.The entire territory of the federal state of Germany is divided into communities. Only territories owned by the state do not belong to the territories of communities, for example, military airfields, highways, and governmental forests. Within the territory of the community, the primacy of planning within land plans belongs exclusively to the community.An important aspect of the Italy's experience for Ukraine is land for those who are engaged in its processing, assistance from the state in the form of affordable credit and control by the state for effective use through forced leasing, namely the transfer of the right of use to a more efficient user.French legislation is aimed at preserving the purpose of agricultural land and developing farming. It is forbidden to buy and sell particularly fertile land for non-agricultural use, the owner must not leave agricultural land without cultivation for more than five years, otherwise the land may be transferred to other persons.The goal of the land reform in Poland was to move to market-based principles of economic development, increase agricultural productivity, and improve the standard of living and social-economic development of rural areas.The negative experience of Latvia, where agricultural land was in free circulation after independence, should be a warning factor for Ukraine in order to prevent a similar situation from occurring.The experience of China shows that in order to effectively manage the land resources, which will lead to the social-economic development of the territorial community, it is necessary to provide affordable credit to the farmers and avoid mass land sales.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. Summarizing, we can conclude that the world integration processes in the sphere of land management have proven to mankind that land is one of the main sources of economic well-being, which needs to be organized for rational use and protection. Land resources management directly influences upon the social-economic development of the territorial communities. The modern state of land resources management requires new approaches aiming to increase management efficiency and ensure rational use. The foreign experience demonstrates us that from the perspective of national interests and national security there should be control and limitations on the part of the government considering the agreements implementation as to the right to own, use and dispose the land resources.The international experience makes it possible to point out the principal guarantees of efficient management and rational use of the land resources, in particular:– determination of legislation restriction as for the foreigner-buyers;– granting preferential right to purchase agricultural land plots to persons who are associated with agricultural activities and have appropriate education, as well as to take into account the availability of production means and required capital;– fullness of the state land cadastre and continuous updating of data;– establishment of the State Land Bank Institute for long-term lending to the agricultural sector;– state control over effective use through compulsory leasing, in particular, transfer of the right of use to a more efficient user.The promising areas for further research are development of substantive proposals for improving modern land management based on the foreign experience and recommendations for their practical application.

PurposeThe phenomenon of growth spillover occurs because of domestic shocks, global shocks and shocks to a foreign country or region, and these are transmitted through specific channels. This study investigates the strength of the economic linkages between Caribbean Community (CARICOM) economies and its main traditional partners, including the European Union (EU-27), and emerging trading partners, such as China, with a view to determining the presence and extent of spillover growth which results from the interdependence among these economies. The paper hypothesizes that the presence of these spillovers can be leveraged to chart the future for the region's integration in the global sphere.Design/methodology/approachBased on the existing theoretical and empirical literature, a structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model was developed and employed to examine the strength of the economic linkages between CARICOM economies and its main trading partners, such as the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and the EU-27, alongside some of the non-traditional partners such as China. This method has been widely used by institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, to profile economic linkages between economies. To this end, the methodology was formulated based on the IMF Spillover Reports which were produced from 2011 to 2015.FindingsThe model suggests that positive spillovers are likely to occur from continued deepened integration with the US, EU-27 and the UK, as traditional trade partners, but that opportunities also exist from a deliberate deepening of relations with non-traditional trade partners, for example, China. This becomes even more apparent when CARICOM is separated into categories consisting of more developed countries (MDCs) and less developed countries (LDCs). In addition, from the perspective of any trading partner, such as those in the EU-27, this research is relevant and timely as it contributes to the landscape of literature, which can be utilized for the purpose of negotiating parameters of trade and integration arrangements.Research limitations/implicationsThis study adds to the literature on evaluating the direction for deepened integration of CARICOM economies, both with selected traditional and non-traditional trade partners as the region pilots recovery in a post-pandemic global space.Practical implicationsPolicymakers can use the results of this study to leverage economic spillovers as a basis for determining which trade partners offer the most significant growth benefits as the region recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and it will also assist in steering regional integration. This result also implies that over time, the comparative advantage structure of CARICOM member countries' export profile should change to reflect the import profile of its trade partners. To this end, this study can be used to inform and better position the respective trade and industrial development policies of countries in the Caribbean region as they attempt to deepen integration regionally and internationally. From the perspective of the partner, traditional trading relationships such as those which exist with European countries, such as the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement, can be more deliberately utilized given the geographic benefits on offer with deepened relationships with economies in the Caribbean. Further, this research can also be a point of departure for future research.Originality/valueThis study is among the few empirical works that examine spillover effects as a strategy for rebuilding economic growth in the post-COVID 19 era. This study adds to the literature on evaluating the direction for deepened integration of CARICOM economies, both with selected traditional and non-traditional trade partners as the region navigates recovery in a post-pandemic global space.

AbstractThe 2010–2012 euro crisis prompted a wave of institutional reforms in the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), and one of the most remarkable changes was the creation of a permanent bailout facility for troubled sovereigns. The birth of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in 2012 was preceded by harsh debates, reflecting a conflict between a German view of country-level responsibility and French-Italian calls for more risk sharing. These tensions have remained ever since, which was also highlighted by conflicts regarding the ESMs overhaul at the end of 2019. Concerns of Italy then drew attention to the fact that a wide range of issues prevented the community from finalizing the post-crisis structure of the eurozone. This paper focuses on the evolution of the EMU financial assistance framework up until the latest efforts for its reform. We analyse the impact of related policy announcements on changes in sovereign bond yields of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland (i.e. the most vulnerable countries during the euro crisis). Our findings show that news on bailout arrangements significantly contributed to a contemporaneous moderation of periphery bond yields, especially in the case of shorter maturities. This result hints at the role of common facilities in supporting financial stability. To enhance this feature, a ‘package approach’ (i.e. multiple reforms together, as stressed by Italy) may well need to be considered. Such a broad perspective can help strengthen the euro area once the acute threat of the coronavirus pandemic is averted.

The Republic of Moldova is an important trade and economic partner of Ukraine. Shared border, closeness of foreign policy positions and interaction in the international arena, the commonality of history, culture, historically close cooperation in the economic and trade spheres, in dealing with contemporary challenges and threats, etc., necessitate a closer study of this country. This article is intended to highlight and analyze the main historical, geographical, socio-economic and cultural features of the development of Moldova. A thorough study of the processes in the modern Moldovan society, the nature of their emergence, etc. will allow different interested structures of Ukraine, including state authorities, to make more effective use of the opportunities of the two countries to build up mutually beneficial cooperation, both within the framework of multilateral and international platforms. This may contribute to solving similar problems facing the Ukrainians in building a completely new legal community in our country, a society based on recognized European and Euro-Atlantic values. The article is based on available scientific research, including copyrights on the Republic of Moldova, which in general provides an objective and useful cross-section of the basic features of this country. The article highlights the major historical milestones of state-building in Moldova, from ancient times to the present, formation of its basic public institutions, informs about the activities of state leadership and public figures, the state and administrative-territorial structure of the modern Republic of Moldova. The work shows the current political, socio-economic and humanitarian situation, in particular in the fields of culture, education and religion, level of relations of this country with Ukraine, place and role of the Ukrainian community both on the Right Bank and on the Left Bank (Transnistria) in the life of Moldova, etc. Prominent place in the article is devoted to the coverage of the basic parameters of the physical and geographical location of the Republic of Moldova, which determines its natural features, economic development, the structure of the national economy, tourist attractiveness and more.

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Problem setting. The article examines the possibilities of providing employment for young people through the activities of public communities. An environment that will allow young people to develop themselves in the communities where they were born, live and plan to stay.Recent research and publications analysis. Youth employment is very closely linked to the general employment situation. However, it has its own dimensions and problems that require specific measures. Domestic scholars, for instance, Yu. Palahniuk, O. Shtym, G. Koval, Y. Makogon paid considerable attention to the European experience of youth employment policy, and G. Koval, M. Karpulenko, Y. Hetmanenko studied the state youth policy in general. Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The article analyzes the typical challenges of youth employment: unemployment, going abroad; an insufficient level of qualification and opportunities to involve young people through the cooperation of educational institutions and opportunities to involve young people in cooperation of educational institutions; non-formal education; participation in local community self-government. As a result of the research, it is proposed to develop an effective state youth policy in ensuring youth employment in small communities through the development of youth entrepreneurship; activation of youth and involvement in community activities, inclusion of youth in councils and committees. Therefore, the object of study is youth employment through the activities of young communities in Ukraine. Paper main body. In Ukraine, youth unemployment is associated primarily with underdevelopment and economic growth, trends in the international economy’s globalization. It is migration processes that strongly influence the situation on the world labor market because, during the growth of cross-border movements, more and more young people leave their homes in the hope of finding work, which leads to migration from rural areas to cities or other countries. This will have an impact on labor markets in their countries as well as abroad. The International Labor Organization estimates that about 85,3 million young women and men were unemployed worldwide in 2020, or 44 per cent of the world’s unemployed. Many more young people try to earn a living in the informal economy and often end up as unemployed, unskilled young people. To replace older ones, they hire even younger children for lower pay, thus greatly reducing the chances of providing education for both. It is estimated that 59 million young people between the ages of 15 and 17 are employed in unsafe jobs.Unemployment is one of the problems of young people in small communities of Ukraine, as 73% of young people do not see opportunities for even temporary employment due to lack of supply in the market, and 27% due to housekeeping.Traditionally, the lower unemployment rate in rural areas is due to participation in housekeeping. However, this positive fact about the lower unemployment rate among rural youth is reduced by a longer unemployment period. According to the research, the experience of youth unemployment is more devastating for them than for their parents because parents have fewer economic means to support their children. Accordingly, the development of youth in the community is impossible without creating employment conditions.An important factor is to acquaint young people with the trends and directions of development of the whole territorial community and even better involve them in the planning process, allowing them to assess the threats and challenges to the development of small communities. Accordingly, contributing to education and informing about medium-term prospects and available vacancies are practical things that can already make youth unemployment low.The article describes the main provisions of the youth program “DOBRE”, which operates in Ukraine. This program offers its own 4-level system of youth involvement: “Hear youth”, “Develop youth”, “Strengthen youth”, “Support youth”. Addressing the lack of support and activity of young people in small communities is done by creating the opportunities they need for young people, namely creating enough jobs, developing opportunities, decent pay, and creating a sense that young people are included in community life. Also, the priorities are adhered to and supported by the community.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. To solve the problem of youth employment, it is necessary to form state guarantees aimed at stimulating self-employment and entrepreneurial activity of young people; improving the legal framework in the context of preferential taxation of enterprises that hire young workers; active control and monitoring of labor market and educational services indicators to timely adjust and take the necessary measures, as well as to implement a preventive policy of youth employment. An important area of problem-solving is forming a mechanism for effective interaction between government, business and education, which determines the coordination of efforts and joint activities aimed at improving the situation on the labor market and providing young people with jobs. The state’s policy in the field of youth employment needs to be improved, taking into account the current state of the labor market, new trends in social and labor relations through the introduction of best foreign experience and its adaptation to domestic realities.

The twentieth was, from one perspective, the democratic century — a span of one hundred years which began with no fully functioning democracies in existence anywhere on the planet (if one defines democracy as a political system in which there is both universal suffrage and competitive elections), and ended with 120 countries out of 192 classified by the Freedom House think tank as ‘democratic’. There are of course still many societies where democracy is denied or effectively neutered — the remaining outposts of state socialism, such as China, Cuba, and North Korea; most if not all of the Islamic countries; exceptional states such as Singapore, unapologetically capitalist in its economic system but resolutely authoritarian in its political culture. Many self-proclaimed democracies, including those of the UK, Australia and the US, are procedurally or conceptually flawed. Countries emerging out of authoritarian systems and now in a state of democratic transition, such as Russia and the former Soviet republics, are immersed in constant, sometimes violent struggle between reformers and reactionaries. Russia’s recent parliamentary elections were accompanied by the intimidation of parties and politicians who opposed Vladimir Putin’s increasingly populist and authoritarian approach to leadership. The same Freedom House report which describes the rise of democracy in the twentieth century acknowledges that many self-styled democracies are, at best, only ‘partly free’ in their political cultures (for detailed figures on the rise of global democracy, see the Freedom House website Democracy’s Century). Let’s not for a moment downplay these important qualifications to what can nonetheless be fairly characterised as a century-long expansion and globalisation of democracy, and the acceptance of popular sovereignty, expressed through voting for the party or candidate of one’s choice, as a universally recognised human right. That such a process has occurred, and continues in these early years of the twenty-first century, is irrefutable. In the Gaza strip, Hamas appeals to the legitimacy of a democratic election victory in its campaign to be recognised as the voice of the Palestinian people. However one judges the messianic tendencies and Islamist ideology of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it must be acknowledged that the Iranian people elected him, and that they have the power to throw him out of government next time they vote. That was never true of the Shah. The democratic resurgence in Latin America, taking in Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia among others has been a much-noted feature of international politics in recent times (Alves), presenting a welcome contrast to the dictatorships and death squads of the 1980s, even as it creates some uncomfortable dilemmas for the Bush administration (which must champion democratic government at the same time as it resents some of the choices people may make when they have the opportunity to vote). Since 9/11 a kind of democracy has expanded even to Afghanistan and Iraq, albeit at the point of a gun, and with no guarantees of survival beyond the end of military occupation by the US and its coalition allies. As this essay was being written, Pakistan’s state of emergency was ending and democratic elections scheduled, albeit in the shadow cast by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. Democracy, then — imperfect and limited as it can be; grudgingly delivered though it is by political elites in many countries, and subject to attack and roll back at any time — has become a global universal to which all claim allegiance, or at least pay lip service. The scale of this transformation, which has occurred in little more than one quarter of the time elapsed since the Putney debates of 1647 and the English revolution first established the principle of the sovereignty of parliament, is truly remarkable. (Tristram Hunt quotes lawyer Geoffrey Robertson in the Guardian to the effect that the Putney debates, staged in St Mary’s church in south-west London towards the end of the English civil war, launched “the idea that government requires the consent of freely and fairly elected representatives of all adult citizens irrespective of class or caste or status or wealth” – “A Jewel of Democracy”, Guardian, 26 Oct. 2007) Can it be true that less than one hundred years ago, in even the most advanced capitalist societies, 50 per cent of the people — women — did not have the right to vote? Or that black populations, indigenous or migrant, in countries such as the United States and Australia were deprived of basic citizenship rights until the 1960s and even later? Will future generations wonder how on earth it could have been that the vast majority of the people of South Africa were unable to vote until 1994, and that they were routinely imprisoned, tortured and killed when they demanded basic democratic rights? Or will they shrug and take it for granted, as so many of us who live in settled democracies already do? (In so far as ‘we’ includes the community of media and cultural studies scholars, I would argue that where there is reluctance to concede the scale and significance of democratic change, this arises out of continuing ambivalence about what ‘democracy’ means, a continuing suspicion of globalisation (in particular the globalisation of democratic political culture, still associated in some quarters with ‘the west’), and of the notion of ‘progress’ with which democracy is routinely associated. The intellectual roots of that ambivalence were various. Marxist-leninist inspired authoritarianism gripped much of the world until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the cold war. Until that moment, it was still possible for many marxians in the scholarly community to view the idea of democracy with disdain — if not quite a dirty word, then a deeply flawed, highly loaded concept which masked and preserved underlying social inequalities more than it helped resolve them. Until 1989 or thereabouts, it was possible for ‘bourgeois democracy’ to be regarded as just one kind of democratic polity by the liberal and anti-capitalist left, which often regarded the ‘proletarian’ or ‘people’s’ democracy prevailing in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba or Vietnam as legitimate alternatives to the emerging capitalist norm of one person, one vote, for constituent assemblies which had real power and accountability. In terms not very different from those used by Marx and Engels in The German Ideology, belief in the value of democracy was conceived by this materialist school as a kind of false consciousness. It still is, by Noam Chomsky and others who continue to view democracy as a ‘necessary illusion’ (1989) without which capitalism could not be reproduced. From these perspectives voting gave, and gives us merely the illusion of agency and power in societies where capital rules as it always did. For democracy read ‘the manufacture of consent’; its expansion read not as progressive social evolution, but the universalisation of the myth of popular sovereignty, mobilised and utilised by the media-industrial-military complex to maintain its grip.) There are those who dispute this reading of events. In the 1960s, Habermas’s hugely influential Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere critiqued the manner in which democracy, and the public sphere underpinning it, had been degraded by public relations, advertising, and the power of private interests. In the period since, critical scholarly research and writing on political culture has been dominated by the Habermasian discourse of democratic decline, and the pervasive pessimism of those who see democracy, and the media culture which supports it, as fatally flawed, corrupted by commercialisation and under constant threat. Those, myself included, who challenged that view with a more positive reading of the trends (McNair, Journalism and Democracy; Cultural Chaos) have been denounced as naïve optimists, panglossian, utopian and even, in my own case, a ‘neo-liberal apologist’. (See an unpublished paper by David Miller, “System Failure: It’s Not Just the Media, It’s the Whole Bloody System”, delivered at Goldsmith’s College in 2003.) Engaging as they have been, I venture to suggest that these are the discourses and debates of an era now passing into history. Not only is it increasingly obvious that democracy is expanding globally into places where it never previously reached; it is also extending inwards, within nation states, driven by demands for greater local autonomy. In the United Kingdom, for example, the citizen is now able to vote not just in Westminster parliamentary elections (which determine the political direction of the UK government), but for European elections, local elections, and elections for devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The people of London can vote for their mayor. There would by now have been devolved assemblies in the regions of England, too, had the people of the North East not voted against it in a November 2004 referendum. Notwithstanding that result, which surprised many in the New Labour government who held it as axiomatic that the more democracy there was, the better for all of us, the importance of enhancing and expanding democratic institutions, of allowing people to vote more often (and also in more efficient ways — many of these expansions of democracy have been tied to the introduction of systems of proportional representation) has become consensual, from the Mid West of America to the Middle East. The Democratic Paradox And yet, as the wave of democratic transformation has rolled on through the late twentieth and into the early twenty first century it is notable that, in many of the oldest liberal democracies at least, fewer people have been voting. In the UK, for example, in the period between 1945 and 2001, turnout at general elections never fell below 70 per cent. In 1992, the last general election won by the Conservatives before the rise of Tony Blair and New Labour, turnout was 78 per cent, roughly where it had been in the 1950s. In 2001, however, as Blair’s government sought re-election, turnout fell to an historic low for the UK of 59.4 per cent, and rose only marginally to 61.4 per cent in the most recent general election of 2005. In the US presidential elections of 1996 and 2000 turnouts were at historic lows of 47.2 and 49.3 per cent respectively, rising just above 50 per cent again in 2004 (figures by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance). At local level things are even worse. In only the second election for a devolved parliament in Scotland (2003) turnout was a mere 48.5 per cent, rising to 50.5 in 2007. These trends are not universal. In countries with compulsory voting, they mean very little — in Australia, where voting in parliamentary elections is compulsory, turnout averages in the 90s per cent. In France, while turnouts for parliamentary elections show a similar downward trend to the UK and the UK, presidential contests achieve turnouts of 80-plus per cent. In the UK and US, as noted, the most recent elections show modest growth in turnout from those historic lows of the late 1990s and early Noughties. There has grown, nonetheless, the perception, commonplace amongst academic commentators as well as journalists and politicians themselves, that we are living through a ‘crisis’ of democratic participation, a dangerous decline in the tendency to vote in elections which undermines the legitimacy of democracy itself. In communication scholarship a significant body of research and publication has developed around this theme, from Blumler and Gurevitch’s Crisis of Public Communication (1996), through Barnett and Gaber’s Westminster Tales (2000), to more recent studies such as Lewis et al.’s Citizens or Consumers (2005). All presume a problem of some kind with the practice of democracy and the “old fashioned ritual” of voting, as Lewis et al. describe it (2). Most link alleged inadequacies in the performance of the political media to what is interpreted as popular apathy (or antipathy) towards democracy. The media are blamed for the lack of public engagement with democratic politics which declining turnouts are argued to signal. Political journalists are said to be too aggressive and hyper-adversarial (Lloyd), behaving like the “feral beast” spoken of by Tony Blair in his 2007 farewell speech to the British people as prime minister. They are corrosively cynical and a “disaster for democracy”, as Steven Barnett and others argued in the first years of the twenty first century. They are not aggressive or adversarial enough, as the propaganda modellists allege, citing what they interpret as supine media coverage of Coalition policy in Iraq. The media put people off, rather than turn them on to democracy by being, variously, too nice or too nasty to politicians. What then, is the solution to the apparent paradox represented by the fact that there is more democracy, but less voting in elections than ever before; and that after centuries of popular struggle democratic assemblies proliferate, but in some countries barely half of the eligible voters can be bothered to participate? And what role have the media played in this unexpected phenomenon? If the scholarly community has been largely critical on this question, and pessimistic in its analyses of the role of the media, it has become increasingly clear that the one arena where people do vote more than ever before is that presented by the media, and entertainment media in particular. There has been, since the appearance of Big Brother and the subsequent explosion of competitive reality TV formats across the world, evidence of a huge popular appetite for voting on such matters as which amateur contestant on Pop Idol, or X Factor, or Fame Academy, or Operatunity goes on to have a chance of a professional career, a shot at the big time. Millions of viewers of the most popular reality TV strands queue up to register their votes on premium phone lines, the revenue from which makes up a substantial and growing proportion of the income of commercial TV companies. This explosion of voting behaviour has been made possible by the technology-driven emergence of new forms of participatory, interactive, digitised media channels which allow millions to believe that they can have an impact on the outcome of what are, at essence, game and talent shows. At the height of anxiety around the ‘crisis of democratic participation’ in the UK, observers noted that nearly 6.5 million people had voted in the Big Brother UK final in 2004. More than eight million voted during the 2004 run of the BBC’s Fame Academy series. While these numbers do not, contrary to popular belief, exceed the numbers of British citizens who vote in a general election (27.2 million in 2005), they do indicate an enthusiasm for voting which seems to contradict declining rates of democratic participation. People who will never get out and vote for their local councillor often appear more than willing to pick up the telephone or the laptop and cast a vote for their favoured reality TV contestant, even if it costs them money. It would be absurd to suggest that voting for a contestant on Big Brother is directly comparable to the act of choosing a government or a president. The latter is recognised as an expression of citizenship, with potentially significant consequences for the lives of individuals within their society. Voting on Big Brother, on the other hand, is unmistakeably entertainment, game-playing, a relatively risk-free exercise of choice — a bit of harmless fun, fuelled by office chat and relentless tabloid coverage of the contestants’ strengths and weaknesses. There is no evidence that readiness to participate in a telephone or online vote for entertainment TV translates into active citizenship, where ‘active’ means casting a vote in an election. The lesson delivered by the success of participatory media in recent years, however — first reality TV, and latterly a proliferation of online formats which encourage user participation and voting for one thing or another — is that people will vote, when they are able and motivated to do so. Voting is popular, in short, and never more so, irrespective of the level of popular participation recorded in recent elections. And if they will vote in their millions for a contestant on X Factor, or participate in competitions to determine the best movies or books on Facebook, they can presumably be persuaded to do so when an election for parliament comes around. This fact has been recognised by both media producers and politicians, and reflected in attempts to adapt the evermore sophisticated and efficient tools of participatory media to the democratic process, to engage media audiences as citizens by offering the kinds of voting opportunities in political debates, including election processes, which entertainment media have now made routinely available. ITV’s Vote for Me strand, broadcast in the run-up to the UK general election of 2005, used reality TV techniques to select a candidate who would actually take part in the forthcoming poll. The programme was broadcast in a late night, low audience slot, and failed to generate much interest, but it signalled a desire by media producers to harness the appeal of participatory media in a way which could directly impact on levels of democratic engagement. The honourable failure of Vote for Me (produced by the same team which made the much more successful live debate shows featuring prime minister Tony Blair — Ask Tony Blair, Ask the Prime Minister) might be viewed as evidence that readiness to vote in the context of a TV game show does not translate directly into voting for parties and politicians, and that the problem in this respect — the crisis of democratic participation, such that it exists — is located elsewhere. People can vote in democratic elections, but choose not to, perhaps because they feel that the act is meaningless (because parties are ideologically too similar), or ineffectual (because they see no impact of voting in their daily lives or in the state of the country), or irrelevant to their personal priorities and life styles. Voting rates have increased in the US and the UK since September 11 2001, suggesting perhaps that when the political stakes are raised, and the question of who is in government seems to matter more than it did, people act accordingly. Meantime, media producers continue to make money by developing formats and channels on the assumption that audiences wish to participate, to interact, and to vote. Whether this form of participatory media consumption for the purposes of play can be translated into enhanced levels of active citizenship, and whether the media can play a significant contributory role in that process, remains to be seen. References Alves, R.C. “From Lapdog to Watchdog: The Role of the Press in Latin America’s Democratisation.” In H. de Burgh, ed., Making Journalists. London: Routledge, 2005. 181-202. Anderson, P.J., and G. Ward (eds.). The Future of Journalism in the Advanced Democracies. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2007. Barnett, S. “The Age of Contempt.” Guardian 28 October 2002. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/comment/0,12123,820577,00.html>. Barnett, S., and I. Gaber. Westminster Tales. London: Continuum, 2001. Blumler, J., and M. Gurevitch. The Crisis of Public Communication. London: Routledge, 1996. Habermas, J. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989. Lewis, J., S. Inthorn, and K. Wahl-Jorgensen. Citizens or Consumers? What the Media Tell Us about Political Participation. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 2005. Lloyd, John. What the Media Are Doing to Our Politics. London: Constable, 2004. McNair, B. Journalism and Democracy: A Qualitative Evaluation of the Political Public Sphere. London: Routledge, 2000. ———. Cultural Chaos: News, Journalism and Power in a Globalised World. London: Routledge, 2006. Citation reference for this article MLA Style McNair, Brian. "Vote!." M/C Journal 10.6/11.1 (2008). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0804/01-mcnair.php>. APA Style McNair, B. (Apr. 2008) "Vote!," M/C Journal, 10(6)/11(1). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0804/01-mcnair.php>.

The twentieth was, from one perspective, the democratic century — a span of one hundred years which began with no fully functioning democracies in existence anywhere on the planet (if one defines democracy as a political system in which there is both universal suffrage and competitive elections), and ended with 120 countries out of 192 classified by the Freedom House think tank as ‘democratic’. There are of course still many societies where democracy is denied or effectively neutered — the remaining outposts of state socialism, such as China, Cuba, and North Korea; most if not all of the Islamic countries; exceptional states such as Singapore, unapologetically capitalist in its economic system but resolutely authoritarian in its political culture. Many self-proclaimed democracies, including those of the UK, Australia and the US, are procedurally or conceptually flawed. Countries emerging out of authoritarian systems and now in a state of democratic transition, such as Russia and the former Soviet republics, are immersed in constant, sometimes violent struggle between reformers and reactionaries. Russia’s recent parliamentary elections were accompanied by the intimidation of parties and politicians who opposed Vladimir Putin’s increasingly populist and authoritarian approach to leadership. The same Freedom House report which describes the rise of democracy in the twentieth century acknowledges that many self-styled democracies are, at best, only ‘partly free’ in their political cultures (for detailed figures on the rise of global democracy, see the Freedom House website Democracy’s Century). Let’s not for a moment downplay these important qualifications to what can nonetheless be fairly characterised as a century-long expansion and globalisation of democracy, and the acceptance of popular sovereignty, expressed through voting for the party or candidate of one’s choice, as a universally recognised human right. That such a process has occurred, and continues in these early years of the twenty-first century, is irrefutable. In the Gaza strip, Hamas appeals to the legitimacy of a democratic election victory in its campaign to be recognised as the voice of the Palestinian people. However one judges the messianic tendencies and Islamist ideology of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it must be acknowledged that the Iranian people elected him, and that they have the power to throw him out of government next time they vote. That was never true of the Shah. The democratic resurgence in Latin America, taking in Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia among others has been a much-noted feature of international politics in recent times (Alves), presenting a welcome contrast to the dictatorships and death squads of the 1980s, even as it creates some uncomfortable dilemmas for the Bush administration (which must champion democratic government at the same time as it resents some of the choices people may make when they have the opportunity to vote). Since 9/11 a kind of democracy has expanded even to Afghanistan and Iraq, albeit at the point of a gun, and with no guarantees of survival beyond the end of military occupation by the US and its coalition allies. As this essay was being written, Pakistan’s state of emergency was ending and democratic elections scheduled, albeit in the shadow cast by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. Democracy, then — imperfect and limited as it can be; grudgingly delivered though it is by political elites in many countries, and subject to attack and roll back at any time — has become a global universal to which all claim allegiance, or at least pay lip service. The scale of this transformation, which has occurred in little more than one quarter of the time elapsed since the Putney debates of 1647 and the English revolution first established the principle of the sovereignty of parliament, is truly remarkable. (Tristram Hunt quotes lawyer Geoffrey Robertson in the Guardian to the effect that the Putney debates, staged in St Mary’s church in south-west London towards the end of the English civil war, launched “the idea that government requires the consent of freely and fairly elected representatives of all adult citizens irrespective of class or caste or status or wealth” – “A Jewel of Democracy”, Guardian, 26 Oct. 2007) Can it be true that less than one hundred years ago, in even the most advanced capitalist societies, 50 per cent of the people — women — did not have the right to vote? Or that black populations, indigenous or migrant, in countries such as the United States and Australia were deprived of basic citizenship rights until the 1960s and even later? Will future generations wonder how on earth it could have been that the vast majority of the people of South Africa were unable to vote until 1994, and that they were routinely imprisoned, tortured and killed when they demanded basic democratic rights? Or will they shrug and take it for granted, as so many of us who live in settled democracies already do? (In so far as ‘we’ includes the community of media and cultural studies scholars, I would argue that where there is reluctance to concede the scale and significance of democratic change, this arises out of continuing ambivalence about what ‘democracy’ means, a continuing suspicion of globalisation (in particular the globalisation of democratic political culture, still associated in some quarters with ‘the west’), and of the notion of ‘progress’ with which democracy is routinely associated. The intellectual roots of that ambivalence were various. Marxist-leninist inspired authoritarianism gripped much of the world until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the cold war. Until that moment, it was still possible for many marxians in the scholarly community to view the idea of democracy with disdain — if not quite a dirty word, then a deeply flawed, highly loaded concept which masked and preserved underlying social inequalities more than it helped resolve them. Until 1989 or thereabouts, it was possible for ‘bourgeois democracy’ to be regarded as just one kind of democratic polity by the liberal and anti-capitalist left, which often regarded the ‘proletarian’ or ‘people’s’ democracy prevailing in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba or Vietnam as legitimate alternatives to the emerging capitalist norm of one person, one vote, for constituent assemblies which had real power and accountability. In terms not very different from those used by Marx and Engels in The German Ideology, belief in the value of democracy was conceived by this materialist school as a kind of false consciousness. It still is, by Noam Chomsky and others who continue to view democracy as a ‘necessary illusion’ (1989) without which capitalism could not be reproduced. From these perspectives voting gave, and gives us merely the illusion of agency and power in societies where capital rules as it always did. For democracy read ‘the manufacture of consent’; its expansion read not as progressive social evolution, but the universalisation of the myth of popular sovereignty, mobilised and utilised by the media-industrial-military complex to maintain its grip.) There are those who dispute this reading of events. In the 1960s, Habermas’s hugely influential Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere critiqued the manner in which democracy, and the public sphere underpinning it, had been degraded by public relations, advertising, and the power of private interests. In the period since, critical scholarly research and writing on political culture has been dominated by the Habermasian discourse of democratic decline, and the pervasive pessimism of those who see democracy, and the media culture which supports it, as fatally flawed, corrupted by commercialisation and under constant threat. Those, myself included, who challenged that view with a more positive reading of the trends (McNair, Journalism and Democracy; Cultural Chaos) have been denounced as naïve optimists, panglossian, utopian and even, in my own case, a ‘neo-liberal apologist’. (See an unpublished paper by David Miller, “System Failure: It’s Not Just the Media, It’s the Whole Bloody System”, delivered at Goldsmith’s College in 2003.) Engaging as they have been, I venture to suggest that these are the discourses and debates of an era now passing into history. Not only is it increasingly obvious that democracy is expanding globally into places where it never previously reached; it is also extending inwards, within nation states, driven by demands for greater local autonomy. In the United Kingdom, for example, the citizen is now able to vote not just in Westminster parliamentary elections (which determine the political direction of the UK government), but for European elections, local elections, and elections for devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The people of London can vote for their mayor. There would by now have been devolved assemblies in the regions of England, too, had the people of the North East not voted against it in a November 2004 referendum. Notwithstanding that result, which surprised many in the New Labour government who held it as axiomatic that the more democracy there was, the better for all of us, the importance of enhancing and expanding democratic institutions, of allowing people to vote more often (and also in more efficient ways — many of these expansions of democracy have been tied to the introduction of systems of proportional representation) has become consensual, from the Mid West of America to the Middle East. The Democratic Paradox And yet, as the wave of democratic transformation has rolled on through the late twentieth and into the early twenty first century it is notable that, in many of the oldest liberal democracies at least, fewer people have been voting. In the UK, for example, in the period between 1945 and 2001, turnout at general elections never fell below 70 per cent. In 1992, the last general election won by the Conservatives before the rise of Tony Blair and New Labour, turnout was 78 per cent, roughly where it had been in the 1950s. In 2001, however, as Blair’s government sought re-election, turnout fell to an historic low for the UK of 59.4 per cent, and rose only marginally to 61.4 per cent in the most recent general election of 2005. In the US presidential elections of 1996 and 2000 turnouts were at historic lows of 47.2 and 49.3 per cent respectively, rising just above 50 per cent again in 2004 (figures by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance). At local level things are even worse. In only the second election for a devolved parliament in Scotland (2003) turnout was a mere 48.5 per cent, rising to 50.5 in 2007. These trends are not universal. In countries with compulsory voting, they mean very little — in Australia, where voting in parliamentary elections is compulsory, turnout averages in the 90s per cent. In France, while turnouts for parliamentary elections show a similar downward trend to the UK and the UK, presidential contests achieve turnouts of 80-plus per cent. In the UK and US, as noted, the most recent elections show modest growth in turnout from those historic lows of the late 1990s and early Noughties. There has grown, nonetheless, the perception, commonplace amongst academic commentators as well as journalists and politicians themselves, that we are living through a ‘crisis’ of democratic participation, a dangerous decline in the tendency to vote in elections which undermines the legitimacy of democracy itself. In communication scholarship a significant body of research and publication has developed around this theme, from Blumler and Gurevitch’s Crisis of Public Communication (1996), through Barnett and Gaber’s Westminster Tales (2000), to more recent studies such as Lewis et al.’s Citizens or Consumers (2005). All presume a problem of some kind with the practice of democracy and the “old fashioned ritual” of voting, as Lewis et al. describe it (2). Most link alleged inadequacies in the performance of the political media to what is interpreted as popular apathy (or antipathy) towards democracy. The media are blamed for the lack of public engagement with democratic politics which declining turnouts are argued to signal. Political journalists are said to be too aggressive and hyper-adversarial (Lloyd), behaving like the “feral beast” spoken of by Tony Blair in his 2007 farewell speech to the British people as prime minister. They are corrosively cynical and a “disaster for democracy”, as Steven Barnett and others argued in the first years of the twenty first century. They are not aggressive or adversarial enough, as the propaganda modellists allege, citing what they interpret as supine media coverage of Coalition policy in Iraq. The media put people off, rather than turn them on to democracy by being, variously, too nice or too nasty to politicians. What then, is the solution to the apparent paradox represented by the fact that there is more democracy, but less voting in elections than ever before; and that after centuries of popular struggle democratic assemblies proliferate, but in some countries barely half of the eligible voters can be bothered to participate? And what role have the media played in this unexpected phenomenon? If the scholarly community has been largely critical on this question, and pessimistic in its analyses of the role of the media, it has become increasingly clear that the one arena where people do vote more than ever before is that presented by the media, and entertainment media in particular. There has been, since the appearance of Big Brother and the subsequent explosion of competitive reality TV formats across the world, evidence of a huge popular appetite for voting on such matters as which amateur contestant on Pop Idol, or X Factor, or Fame Academy, or Operatunity goes on to have a chance of a professional career, a shot at the big time. Millions of viewers of the most popular reality TV strands queue up to register their votes on premium phone lines, the revenue from which makes up a substantial and growing proportion of the income of commercial TV companies. This explosion of voting behaviour has been made possible by the technology-driven emergence of new forms of participatory, interactive, digitised media channels which allow millions to believe that they can have an impact on the outcome of what are, at essence, game and talent shows. At the height of anxiety around the ‘crisis of democratic participation’ in the UK, observers noted that nearly 6.5 million people had voted in the Big Brother UK final in 2004. More than eight million voted during the 2004 run of the BBC’s Fame Academy series. While these numbers do not, contrary to popular belief, exceed the numbers of British citizens who vote in a general election (27.2 million in 2005), they do indicate an enthusiasm for voting which seems to contradict declining rates of democratic participation. People who will never get out and vote for their local councillor often appear more than willing to pick up the telephone or the laptop and cast a vote for their favoured reality TV contestant, even if it costs them money. It would be absurd to suggest that voting for a contestant on Big Brother is directly comparable to the act of choosing a government or a president. The latter is recognised as an expression of citizenship, with potentially significant consequences for the lives of individuals within their society. Voting on Big Brother, on the other hand, is unmistakeably entertainment, game-playing, a relatively risk-free exercise of choice — a bit of harmless fun, fuelled by office chat and relentless tabloid coverage of the contestants’ strengths and weaknesses. There is no evidence that readiness to participate in a telephone or online vote for entertainment TV translates into active citizenship, where ‘active’ means casting a vote in an election. The lesson delivered by the success of participatory media in recent years, however — first reality TV, and latterly a proliferation of online formats which encourage user participation and voting for one thing or another — is that people will vote, when they are able and motivated to do so. Voting is popular, in short, and never more so, irrespective of the level of popular participation recorded in recent elections. And if they will vote in their millions for a contestant on X Factor, or participate in competitions to determine the best movies or books on Facebook, they can presumably be persuaded to do so when an election for parliament comes around. This fact has been recognised by both media producers and politicians, and reflected in attempts to adapt the evermore sophisticated and efficient tools of participatory media to the democratic process, to engage media audiences as citizens by offering the kinds of voting opportunities in political debates, including election processes, which entertainment media have now made routinely available. ITV’s Vote for Me strand, broadcast in the run-up to the UK general election of 2005, used reality TV techniques to select a candidate who would actually take part in the forthcoming poll. The programme was broadcast in a late night, low audience slot, and failed to generate much interest, but it signalled a desire by media producers to harness the appeal of participatory media in a way which could directly impact on levels of democratic engagement. The honourable failure of Vote for Me (produced by the same team which made the much more successful live debate shows featuring prime minister Tony Blair — Ask Tony Blair, Ask the Prime Minister) might be viewed as evidence that readiness to vote in the context of a TV game show does not translate directly into voting for parties and politicians, and that the problem in this respect — the crisis of democratic participation, such that it exists — is located elsewhere. People can vote in democratic elections, but choose not to, perhaps because they feel that the act is meaningless (because parties are ideologically too similar), or ineffectual (because they see no impact of voting in their daily lives or in the state of the country), or irrelevant to their personal priorities and life styles. Voting rates have increased in the US and the UK since September 11 2001, suggesting perhaps that when the political stakes are raised, and the question of who is in government seems to matter more than it did, people act accordingly. Meantime, media producers continue to make money by developing formats and channels on the assumption that audiences wish to participate, to interact, and to vote. Whether this form of participatory media consumption for the purposes of play can be translated into enhanced levels of active citizenship, and whether the media can play a significant contributory role in that process, remains to be seen. References Alves, R.C. “From Lapdog to Watchdog: The Role of the Press in Latin America’s Democratisation.” In H. de Burgh, ed., Making Journalists. London: Routledge, 2005. 181-202. Anderson, P.J., and G. Ward (eds.). The Future of Journalism in the Advanced Democracies. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2007. Barnett, S. “The Age of Contempt.” Guardian 28 October 2002. < http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/comment/0,12123,820577,00.html >. Barnett, S., and I. Gaber. Westminster Tales. London: Continuum, 2001. Blumler, J., and M. Gurevitch. The Crisis of Public Communication. London: Routledge, 1996. Habermas, J. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989. Lewis, J., S. Inthorn, and K. Wahl-Jorgensen. Citizens or Consumers? What the Media Tell Us about Political Participation. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 2005. Lloyd, John. What the Media Are Doing to Our Politics. London: Constable, 2004. McNair, B. Journalism and Democracy: A Qualitative Evaluation of the Political Public Sphere. London: Routledge, 2000. ———. Cultural Chaos: News, Journalism and Power in a Globalised World. London: Routledge, 2006.

Diaspora This article looks at diaspora through the transformations of an established public service broadcaster, the BBC World Service, by considering some of the findings of the AHRC-funded Tuning In: Contact Zones at the BBC World Service, which is part of the Diasporas, Migration and Identities program. Tuning In has six themes, each of which focuses upon the role of the BBC WS: The Politics of Translation, Diasporic Nationhood, Religious Transnationalism, Sport across Diasporas, Migrating Music and Drama for Development. The World Service, which was until 2011 funded by the Foreign Office, was set up to cater for the British diaspora and had the specific remit of transmitting ideas about Britishness to its audiences overseas. Tuning In demonstrates interrelationships between the global and the local in the diasporic contact zone of the BBC World Service, which has provided a mediated home for the worldwide British diaspora since its inception in 1932. The local and the global have merged, elided, and separated at different times and in different spaces in the changing story of the BBC (Briggs). The BBC WS is both local and global with activities that present Britishness both at home and abroad. The service has, however, come a long way since its early days as the Empire Service. Audiences for the World Service’s 31 foreign language services, radio, television, and Internet facilities include substantive non-British/English-speaking constituencies, rendering it a contact zone for the exploration of ideas and political opportunities on a truly transnational scale. This heterogeneous body of exilic, refugee intellectuals, writers, and artists now operates alongside an ongoing expression of Britishness in all its diverse reconfiguration. This includes the residual voice of empire and its patriarchal paternalism, the embrace of more recent expressions of neoliberalism as well as traditional values of impartiality and objectivism and, in the case of the arts, elements of bohemianism and creative innovation. The World Service might have begun as a communication system for the British ex-pat diaspora, but its role has changed along with the changing relationship between Britain and its colonial past. In the terrain of sport, for example, cricket, the “game of empire,” has shifted from Britain to the Indian subcontinent (Guha) with the rise of “Twenty 20” and the Indian Premier League (IPL); summed up in Ashis Nandy’s claim that “cricket is an Indian game accidentally discovered by the English” (Nandy viii). English county cricket dominated the airways of the World Service well into the latter half of the twentieth century, but the audiences of the service have demanded a response to social and cultural change and the service has responded. Sport can thus be seen to have offered a democratic space in which new diasporic relations can be forged as well as one in which colonial and patriarchal values are maintained. The BBC WS today is part of a network through which non-British diasporic peoples can reconnect with their home countries via the service, as well as an online forum for debate across the globe. In many regions of the world, it continues to be the single most trusted source of information at times of crisis and disaster because of its traditions of impartiality and objectivity, even though (as noted in the article on Al-Jazeera in this special issue) this view is hotly contested. The principles of objectivity and impartiality are central to the BBC WS, which may seem paradoxical since it is funded by the Commonwealth and Foreign office, and its origins lie in empire and colonial discourse. Archive material researched by our project demonstrates the specifically ideological role of what was first called the Empire Service. The language of empire was deployed in this early programming, and there is an explicit expression of an ideological purpose (Hill). For example, at the Imperial Conference in 1930, the service was supported in terms of its political powers of “strengthening ties” between parts of the empire. This view comes from a speech by John Reith, the BBC’s first Director General, which was broadcast when the service opened. In this speech, broadcasting is identified as having come to involve a “connecting and co-ordinating link between the scattered parts of the British Empire” (Reith). Local British values are transmitted across the globe. Through the service, empire and nation are reinstated through the routine broadcasting of cyclical events, the importance of which Scannell and Cardiff describe as follows: Nothing so well illustrates the noiseless manner in which the BBC became perhaps the central agent of national culture as its cyclical role; the cyclical production year in year out, of an orderly, regular progression of festivities, rituals and celebrations—major and minor, civic and sacred—that mark the unfolding of the broadcast year. (278; italics in the original) State occasions and big moments, including those directly concerned with governance and affairs of state, and those which focused upon sport and religion, were a big part in these “noiseless” cycles, and became key elements in the making of Britishness across the globe. The BBC is “noiseless” because the timetable is assumed and taken for granted as not only what is but what should be. However, the BBC WS has been and has had to be responsive to major shifts in global and local—and, indeed, glocal—power geometries that have led to spatial transformations, notably in the reconfiguration of the service in the era of postcolonialism. Some of these massive changes have involved the large-scale movement of people and a concomitant rethinking of diaspora as a concept. Empire, like nation, operates as an “imagined community,” too big to be grasped by individuals (Anderson), as well as a material actuality. The dynamics of identification are rarely linear and there are inconsistencies and disruptions: even when the voice is officially that of empire, the practice of the World Service is much more diverse, nuanced, and dialogical. The BBC WS challenges boundaries through the connectivities of communication and through different ways of belonging and, similarly, through a problematisation of concepts like attachment and detachment; this is most notable in the way in which programming has adapted to new diasporic audiences and in the reworkings of spatiality in the shift from empire to diversity via multiculturalism. There are tensions between diaspora and multiculturalism that are apparent in a discussion of broadcasting and communication networks. Diaspora has been distinguished by mobility and hybridity (Clifford, Hall, Bhaba, Gilroy) and it has been argued that the adjectival use of diasporic offers more opportunity for fluidity and transformation (Clifford). The concept of diaspora, as it has been used to explain the fluidity and mobility of diasporic identifications, can challenge more stabilised, “classic” understandings of diaspora (Chivallon). A hybrid version of diaspora might sit uneasily with a strong sense of belonging and with the idea that the broadcast media offer a multicultural space in which each voice can be heard and a wide range of cultures are present. Tuning In engaged with ways of rethinking the BBC’s relationship to diaspora in the twenty-first century in a number of ways: for example, in the intersection of discursive regimes of representation; in the status of public service broadcasting; vis-à-vis the consequences of diverse diasporic audiences; through the role of cultural intermediaries such as journalists and writers; and via global economic and political materialities (Gillespie, Webb and Baumann). Tuning In thus provided a multi-themed and methodologically diverse exploration of how the BBC WS is itself a series of spaces which are constitutive of the transformation of diasporic identifications. Exploring the part played by the BBC WS in changing and continuing social flows and networks involves, first, reconfiguring what is understood by transnationalism, diaspora, and postcolonial relationalities: in particular, attending to how these transform as well as sometimes reinstate colonial and patriarchal discourses and practices, thus bringing together different dimensions of the local and the global. Tuning In ranges across different fields, embracing cultural, social, and political areas of experience as represented in broadcasting coverage. These fields illustrate the educative role of the BBC and the World Service that is also linked to its particular version of impartiality; just as The Archers was set up to provide information and guidance through a narrative of everyday life to rural communities and farmers after the Second World War, so the Afghan version plays an “edutainment” role (Skuse) where entertainment also serves an educational, public service information role. Indeed, the use of soap opera genre such as The Archers as a vehicle for humanitarian and health information has been very successful over the past decade, with the “edutainment” genre becoming a feature of the World Service’s broadcasting in places such as Rwanda, Somalia, Nigeria, India, Nepal, Burma, Afghanistan, and Cambodia. In a genre that has been promoted by the World Service Trust, the charitable arm of the BBC WS uses drama formats to build transnational production relationships with media professionals and to strengthen creative capacities to undertake behaviour change through communication work. Such programming, which is in the tradition of the BBC WS, draws upon the service’s expertise and exhibits both an ideological commitment to progressive social intervention and a paternalist approach drawing upon colonialist legacies. Nowadays, however, the BBC WS can be considered a diasporic contact zone, providing sites of transnational intra-diasporic contact as well as cross-cultural encounters, spaces for cross-diasporic creativity and representation, and a forum for cross-cultural dialogue and potentially cosmopolitan translations (Pratt, Clifford). These activities are, however, still marked by historically forged asymmetric power relations, notably of colonialism, imperialism, and globalisation, as well as still being dominated by hegemonic masculinity in many parts of the service, which thus represent sites of contestation, conflict, and transgression. Conversely, diasporic identities are themselves co-shaped by media representations (Sreberny). The diasporic contact zone is a relational space in which diasporic identities are made and remade and contested. Tuning In employed a diverse range of methods to analyse the part played by the BBC WS in changing and continuing social and cultural flows, networks, and reconfigurations of transnationalisms and diaspora, as well as reinstating colonial, patriarchal practices. The research deconstructed some assumptions and conditions of class-based elitism, colonialism, and patriarchy through a range of strategies. Texts are, of course, central to this work, with the BBC Archives at Caversham (near Reading) representing the starting point for many researchers. The archive is a rich source of material for researchers which carries a vast range of data including fragile memos written on scraps of paper: a very local source of global communications. Other textual material occupies the less locatable cyberspace, for example in the case of Have Your Say exchanges on the Web. People also featured in the project, through the media, in cyberspace, and physical encounters, all of which demonstrate the diverse modes of connection that have been established. Researchers worked with the BBC WS in a variety of ways, not only through interviews and ethnographic approaches, such as participant observation and witness seminars, but also through exchanges between the service, its practitioners, and the researchers (for example, through broadcasts where the project provided the content and the ideas and researchers have been part of programs that have gone out on the BBC WS (Goldblatt, Webb), bringing together people who work for the BBC and Tuning In researchers). On this point, it should be remembered that Bush House is, itself, a diasporic space which, from its geographical location in the Strand in London, has brought together diasporic people from around the globe to establish international communication networks, and has thus become the focus and locus of some of our research. What we have understood by the term “diasporic space” in this context includes both the materialities of architecture and cyberspace which is the site of digital diasporas (Anderssen) and, indeed, the virtual exchanges featured on “Have Your Say,” the online feedback site (Tuning In). Living the Glocal The BBC WS offers a mode of communication and a series of networks that are spatially located both in the UK, through the material presence of Bush House, and abroad, through the diasporic communities constituting contemporary audiences. The service may have been set up to provide news and entertainment for the British diaspora abroad, but the transformation of the UK into a multi-ethnic society “at home,” alongside its commitment to, and the servicing of, no less than 32 countries abroad, demonstrates a new mission and a new balance of power. Different diasporic communities, such as multi-ethnic Londoners, and local and British Muslims in the north of England, demonstrate the dynamics and ambivalences of what is meant by “diaspora” today. For example, the BBC and the WS play an ambiguous role in the lives of UK Muslim communities with Pakistani connections, where consumers of the international news can feel that the BBC is complicit in the conflation of Muslims with terrorists. Engaging Diaspora Audiences demonstrated the diversity of audience reception in a climate of marginalisation, often bordering on moral panic, and showed how diasporic audiences often use Al-Jazeera or Pakistani and Urdu channels, which are seen to take up more sympathetic political positions. It seems, however, that more egalitarian conversations are becoming possible through the channels of the WS. The participation of local people in the BBC WS global project is seen, for example, as in the popular “Witness Seminars” that have both a current focus and one that is projected into the future, as in the case of the “2012 Generation” (that is, the young people who come of age in 2012, the year of the London Olympics). The Witness Seminars demonstrate the recuperation of past political and social events such as “Bangladesh in 1971” (Tuning In), “The Cold War seminar” (Tuning In) and “Diasporic Nationhood” (the cultural movements reiterated and recovered in the “Literary Lives” project (Gillespie, Baumann and Zinik). Indeed, the WS’s current focus on the “2012 Generation,” including an event in which 27 young people (each of whom speaks one of the WS languages) were invited to an open day at Bush House in 2009, vividly illustrates how things have changed. Whereas in 1948 (the last occasion when the Olympic Games were held in London), the world came to London, it is arguable that, in 2012, in contemporary multi-ethnic Britain, the world is already here (Webb). This enterprise has the advantage of giving voice to the present rather than filtering the present through the legacies of colonialism that remain a problem for the Witness Seminars more generally. The democratising possibilities of sport, as well as the restrictions of its globalising elements, are well represented by Tuning In (Woodward). Sport has, of course become more globalised, especially through the development of Internet and satellite technologies (Giulianotti) but it retains powerful local affiliations and identifications. At all levels and in diverse places, there are strong attachments to local and national teams that are constitutive of communities, including diasporic and multi-ethnic communities. Sport is both typical and distinctive of the BBC World Service; something that is part of a wider picture but also an area of experience with a life of its own. Our “Sport across Diasporas” project has thus explored some of the routes the World Service has travelled in its engagement with sport in order to provide some understanding of the legacy of empire and patriarchy, as well as engaging with the multiplicities of change in the reconstruction of Britishness. Here, it is important to recognise that what began as “BBC Sport” evolved into “World Service Sport.” Coverage of the world’s biggest sporting events was established through the 1930s to the 1960s in the development of the BBC WS. However, it is not only the global dimensions of sporting events that have been assumed; so too are national identifications. There is no question that the superiority of British/English sport is naturalised through its dominance of the BBC WS airways, but the possibilities of reinterpretation and re-accommodation have also been made possible. There has, indeed, been a changing place of sport in the BBC WS, which can only be understood with reference to wider changes in the relationship between broadcasting and sport, and demonstrates the powerful synchronies between social, political, technological, economic, and cultural factors, notably those that make up the media–sport–commerce nexus that drives so much of the trajectory of contemporary sport. Diasporic audiences shape the schedule as much as what is broadcast. There is no single voice of the BBC in sport. The BBC archive demonstrates a variety of narratives through the development and transformation of the World Service’s sports broadcasting. There are, however, silences: notably those involving women. Sport is still a patriarchal field. However, the imperial genealogies of sport are inextricably entwined with the social, political, and cultural changes taking place in the wider world. There is no detectable linear narrative but rather a series of tensions and contradictions that are reflected and reconfigured in the texts in which deliberations are made. In sport broadcasting, the relationship of the BBC WS with its listeners is, in many instances, genuinely dialogic: for example, through “Have Your Say” websites and internet forums, and some of the actors in these dialogic exchanges are the broadcasters themselves. The history of the BBC and the World Service is one which manifests a degree of autonomy and some spontaneity on the part of journalists and broadcasters. For example, in the case of the BBC WS African sports program, Fast Track (2009), many of the broadcasters interviewed report being able to cover material not technically within their brief; news journalists are able to engage with sporting events and sports journalists have covered social and political news (Woodward). Sometimes this is a matter of taking the initiative or simply of being in the right place at the right time, although this affords an agency to journalists which is increasingly unlikely in the twenty-first century. The Politics of Translation: Words and Music The World Service has played a key role as a cultural broker in the political arena through what could be construed as “educational broadcasting” via the wider terrain of the arts: for example, literature, drama, poetry, and music. Over the years, Bush House has been a home-from-home for poets: internationalists, translators from classical and modern languages, and bohemians; a constituency that, for all its cosmopolitanism, was predominantly white and male in the early days. For example, in the 1930s and 1940s, Louis MacNeice was commissioning editor and surrounded by a friendship network of salaried poets, such as W. H. Auden, Dylan Thomas, C. Day Lewis, and Stephen Spender, who wrote and performed their work for the WS. The foreign language departments of the BBC WS, meanwhile, hired émigrés and exiles from their countries’ educated elites to do similar work. The biannual, book-format journal Modern Poetry in Translation (MPT), which was founded in 1965 by Daniel Weissbort and Ted Hughes, included a dedication in Weissbort’s final issue (MPT 22, 2003) to “Poets at Bush House.” This volume amounts to a celebration of the BBC WS and its creative culture, which extended beyond the confines of broadcasting spaces. The reminiscences in “Poets at Bush House” suggest an institutional culture of informal connections and a fluidity of local exchanges that is resonant of the fluidity of the flows and networks of diaspora (Cheesman). Music, too, has distinctive characteristics that mark out this terrain on the broadcast schedule and in the culture of the BBC WS. Music is differentiated from language-centred genres, making it a particularly powerful medium of cross-cultural exchange. Music is portable and yet is marked by a cultural rootedness that may impede translation and interpretation. Music also carries ambiguities as a marker of status across borders, and it combines aesthetic intensity and diffuseness. The Migrating Music project demonstrated BBC WS mediation of music and identity flows (Toynbee). In the production and scheduling notes, issues of migration and diaspora are often addressed directly in the programming of music, while the movement of peoples is a leitmotif in all programs in which music is played and discussed. Music genres are mobile, diasporic, and can be constitutive of Paul Gilroy’s “Black Atlantic” (Gilroy), which foregrounds the itinerary of West African music to the Caribbean via the Middle Passage, cross-fertilising with European traditions in the Americas to produce blues and other hybrid forms, and the journey of these forms to Europe. The Migrating Music project focused upon the role of the BBC WS as narrator of the Black Atlantic story and of South Asian cross-over music, from bhangra to filmi, which can be situated among the South Asian diaspora in east and south Africa as well as the Caribbean where they now interact with reggae, calypso, Rapso, and Popso. The transversal flows of music and lyrics encompasses the lived experience of the different diasporas that are accommodated in the BBC WS schedules: for example, they keep alive the connection between the Irish “at home” and in the diaspora through programs featuring traditional music, further demonstrating the interconnections between local and global attachments as well as points of disconnection and contradiction. Textual analysis—including discourse analysis of presenters’ speech, program trailers and dialogue and the BBC’s own construction of “world music”—has revealed that the BBC WS itself performs a constitutive role in keeping alive these traditions. Music, too, has a range of emotional affects which are manifest in the semiotic analyses that have been conducted of recordings and performances. Further, the creative personnel who are involved in music programming, including musicians, play their own role in this ongoing process of musical migration. Once again, the networks of people involved as practitioners become central to the processes and systems through which diasporic audiences are re-produced and engaged. Conclusion The BBC WS can claim to be a global and local cultural intermediary not only because the service was set up to engage with the British diaspora in an international context but because the service, today, is demonstrably a voice that is continually negotiating multi-ethnic audiences both in the UK and across the world. At best, the World Service is a dynamic facilitator of conversations within and across diasporas: ideas are relocated, translated, and travel in different directions. The “local” of a British broadcasting service, established to promote British values across the globe, has been transformed, both through its engagements with an increasingly diverse set of diasporic audiences and through the transformations in how diasporas themselves self-define and operate. On the BBC WS, demographic, social, and cultural changes mean that the global is now to be found in the local of the UK and any simplistic separation of local and global is no longer tenable. The educative role once adopted by the BBC, and then the World Service, nevertheless still persists in other contexts (“from Ambridge to Afghanistan”), and clearly the WS still treads a dangerous path between the paternalism and patriarchy of its colonial past and its responsiveness to change. 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Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. —John Milton (1608-1674) Introduction The publication of 12 cartoons depicting images of Prophet Mohammed [Peace Be Upon Him] first in Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005, and later reprinted in European media and two New Zealand newspapers, sparked protests around the Muslim world. The Australian newspapers – with the exception of The Courier-Mail, which published one cartoon – refrained from reprinting the cartoons, acknowledging that depictions of the Prophet are regarded as “blasphemous by Muslims”. How is this apparent act of restraint to be assessed? Edward Said, in his book Covering Islam has acknowledged that there have been many Muslim provocations and troubling incidents by Islamic countries such as Iran, Libya, Sudan, and others in the 1980s. However, he contends that the use of the label “Islam” by non-Muslim commentators, either to explain or indiscriminately condemn “Islam”, ends up becoming a form of attack, which in turn provokes more hostility (xv-xvi). This article examines how two Australian newspapers – The Australian and The West Australian – handled the debate on the Prophet Muhammad cartoons and considers whether in the name of “free speech” it ended in “a form of attack” on Australian Muslims. It also considers the media’s treatment of Muslim Australians’ “free speech” on previous occasions. This article is drawn from the oral testimonies of Muslims of diverse ethnic background. Since 1998, as part of PhD and post-doctoral research on Muslims in Australia, the author conducted 130 face-to-face, in-depth, taped interviews of Muslims, aged 18-90, both male and female. While speaking about their settlement experience, several interviewees made unsolicited remarks about Western/Australian media, all of them making the point that Muslims were being demonised. Australian Muslims Many of Australia’s 281,578 Muslims — 1.5 per cent of the total population (Australian Bureau of Statistics) — believe that as a result of media bias, they are vilified in society as “terrorists”, and discriminated in the workplace (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission; Dreher 13; Kabir 266-277). The ABS figures support their claim of discrimination in the workplace; in 1996 the unemployment rate for Muslim Australians was 25 per cent, compared to 9 per cent for the national total. In 2001, it was reduced to 18.5 per cent, compared to 6.8 per cent for the national total, but the ratio of underprivileged positions in the labour market remained almost three times higher than for the wider community. Instead of reflecting on Muslims’ labour market issues or highlighting the social issues confronting Muslims since 9/11, some Australian media, in the name of “free speech”, reinforce negative perceptions of Muslims through images, cartoons and headlines. In 2004, one Muslim informant offered their perceptions of Australian media: I think the Australian media are quite prejudiced, and they only do show one side of the story, which is quite pro-Bush, pro-Howard, pro-war. Probably the least prejudiced media would be ABC or SBS, but the most pro-Jewish, pro-America, would be Channel Seven, Channel Nine, Channel Ten. They only ever show things from one side of the story. This article considers the validity of the Muslim interviewee’s perception that Australian media representation is one-sided. On 26 October 2005, under the headline: “Draw a Cartoon about Mohammed and You Must Die”, The Australian warned its readers: ISLAM is no laughing matter. Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, is being protected by security guards and several cartoonists have gone into hiding after the newspaper published a series of 12 cartoons about the prophet Mohammed. According to Islam, it is blasphemous to make images of the prophet. Muslim fundamentalists have threatened to bomb the paper’s offices and kill the cartoonists (17). Militant Muslims The most provocative cartoons appearing in the Danish media are probably those showing a Muhammad-like figure wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse coming out of it, or a queue of smoking suicide bombers on a cloud with an Islamic cleric saying, “Stop stop we have run out of virgins”. Another showed a blindfolded Muslim man with two veiled Muslim women standing behind him. These messages appeared to be concerned with Islam’s repression of women (Jyllands-Posten), and possibly with the American channel CBS airing an interview in August 2001 of a Palestinian Hamas activist, Muhammad Abu Wardeh, who recruited terrorists for suicide bombings in Israel. Abu Wardeh was quoted as saying: “I described to him [the suicide bomber] how God would compensate the martyr for sacrificing his life for his land. If you become a martyr, God will give you 70 virgins, 70 wives and everlasting happiness” (The Guardian). Perhaps to serve their goals, the militants have re-interpreted the verses of the Holy Quran (Sura 44:51-54; 55:56) where it is said that Muslims who perform good deeds will be blessed by the huris or “pure being” (Ali 1290-1291; 1404). However, since 9/11, it is also clear that the Muslim militant groups such as the Al-Qaeda have become the “new enemy” of the West. They have used religion to justify the terrorist acts and suicide bombings that have impacted on Western interests in New York, Washington, Bali, Madrid amongst other places. But it should be noted that there are Muslim critics, such as Pakistani-born writer, Irshad Manji, Bangladeshi-born writer Taslima Nasreen and Somalian-born Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who have been constant critics of Muslim men’s oppression of women and have urged reformation. However, their extremist fellow believers threatened them with a death sentence for their “free speech” (Chadwick). The non-Muslim Dutch film director, Theo van Gogh, also a critic of Islam and a supporter of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, advocated a reduction in immigration into Holland, especially by Muslims. Both van Gogh and Hirsi Ali – who co-scripted and co-produced the film Submission – received death threats from Muslim extremists because the film exhibited the verses of the Quran across the chest, stomach and thighs of an almost naked girl, and featured four women in see-through robes showing their breasts, with texts from the Quran daubed on their bodies, talking about the abuse they had suffered under Islam (Anon 25). Whereas there may be some justification for the claim made in the film, that some Muslim men interpret the Quran to oppress women (Doogue and Kirkwood 220), the writing of the Quranic verses on almost-naked women is surely offensive to all Muslims because the Quran teaches Muslim women to dress modestly (Sura 24: 30-31; Ali 873). On 4 November 2004, The West Australian reported that the Dutch director Theo van Gogh was murdered by a 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan Muslim on 2 November 2004 (27). Hirsi Ali, the co-producer of the film was forced to go into hiding after van Gogh’s murder. In the face of a growing clamour from both the Dutch Muslims and the secular communities to silence her, Ayaan Hirsi Ali resigned from the Dutch Parliament in May 2006 and decided to re-settle in Washington (Jardine 2006). It should be noted that militant Muslims form a tiny but forceful minority of the 1.4 billion Muslims worldwide. The Muslim majority are moderate and peaceful (Doogue and Kirkwood 79-80). Some Muslim scholars argue that there is specific instruction in the Quran for people to apply their knowledge and arrive at whatever interpretation is of greatest benefit to the community. It may be that stricter practitioners would not agree with the moderate interpretation of the Quran and vice versa (Doogue and Kirkwood 232). Therefore, when the Western media makes a mockery of the Muslim religion or their Prophet in the name of “free speech”, or generalises all Muslims for the acts of a few through headlines or cartoons, it impacts on the Muslims residing in the West. Prophet Muhammad’s Cartoons With the above-mentioned publication of Prophet Muhammad’s cartoons in Denmark, Islamic critics charged that the cartoons were a deliberate provocation and insult to their religion, designed to incite hatred and polarise people of different faiths. In February 2006, regrettably, violent reactions took place in the Middle East, Europe and in Asia. Danish embassies were attacked and, in some instances, were set on fire. The demonstrators chanted, “With our blood and souls we defend you, O Prophet of God!”. Some replaced the Danish flag with a green one printed with the first pillar of Islam (Kalima): “There is no god but God and Mohammed is the messenger of God”. Some considered the cartoons “an unforgivable insult” that merited punishment by death (The Age). A debate on “free speech” soon emerged in newspapers throughout the world. On 7 February 2006 the editorial in The West Australian, “World Has Had Enough of Muslim Fanatics”, stated that the newspaper would not publish cartoons of Mohammad that have drawn protests from Muslims around the world. The newspaper acknowledged that depictions of the prophet are regarded as “blasphemous by Muslims” (18). However, the editorial was juxtaposed with another article “Can Liberty Survive a Clash of Cultures?”, with an image of bearded men wearing Muslim head coverings, holding Arabic placards and chanting slogans, implying the violent nature of Islam. And in the letters page of this newspaper, published on the same day, appeared the following headlines (20): Another Excuse for Muslims to Threaten Us Islam Attacked Cartoon Rage: Greatest Threat to World Peace We’re Living in Dangerous Times Why Treat Embassies with Contempt? Muslim Religion Is Not So Soft Civilised World Is Threatened The West Australian is a state-based newspaper that tends to side with the conservative Liberal party, and is designed to appeal to the “man in the street”. The West Australian did not republish the Prophet Muhammad cartoon, but for 8 days from 7 to 15 February 2006 the letters to the editor and opinion columns consistently criticised Islam and upheld “superior” Western secular values. During this period, the newspaper did publish a few letters that condemned the Danish cartoonist, including the author’s letter, which also condemned the Muslims’ attack on the embassies. But the overall message was that Western secular values were superior to Islamic values. In other words, the newspaper adopted a jingoistic posture and asserted the cultural superiority of mainstream Australians. The Danish cartoons also sparked a debate on “free speech” in Australia’s leading newspaper, The Australian, which is a national newspaper that also tends to reflect the values of the ruling national government – also the conservative Liberal party. And it followed a similar pattern of debate as The West Australian. On 14 February 2006, The Australian (13) published a reader’s criticism of The Australian for not republishing the cartoons. The author questioned whether the Muslims deserved any tolerance because their Holy Book teaches intolerance. The Koran [Quran] (22:19) says: Garments of fire have been prepared for the unbelievers. Scalding water shall be poured upon their heads, melting their skins and that which is in their bellies. Perhaps this reader did not find the three cartoons published in The Australian a few days earlier to be ‘offensive’ to the Australian Muslims. In the first, on 6 February 2006, the cartoonist Bill Leak showed that his head was chopped off by some masked people (8), implying that Muslim militants, such as the Hamas, would commit such a brutal act. The Palestinian Hamas group often appear in masks before the media. In this context, it is important to note that Israel is an ally of Australia and the United States, whereas the Hamas is Israel’s enemy whose political ideology goes against Israel’s national interest. On 25 January 2006, the Hamas won a landslide victory in the Palestine elections but Israel refused to recognise this government because Hamas has not abandoned its militant ideology (Page 13). The cartoon, therefore, probably means that the cartoonist or perhaps The Australian has taken sides on behalf of Australia’s ally Israel. In the second cartoon, on 7 February 2006, Bill Leak sketched an Arab raising his sword over a school boy who was drawing in a classroom. The caption read, “One more line and I’ll chop your hand off!” (12). And in the third, on 10 February 2006, Bill Leak sketched Mr Mohammed’s shadow holding a sword with the caption: “The unacceptable face of fanaticism”. A reporter asked: “And so, Mr Mohammed, what do you have to say about the current crisis?” to which Mr Mohammed replied, “I refuse to be drawn on the subject” (16). The cartoonist also thought that the Danish cartoons should have been republished in the Australian newspapers (Insight). Cartoons are supposed to reflect the theme of the day. Therefore, Bill Leak’s cartoons were certainly topical. But his cartoons reveal that his or The Australian’s “freedom of expression” has been one-sided, all depicting Islam as representing violence. For example, after the Bali bombing on 21 November 2002, Leak sketched two fully veiled women, one carrying explosives under her veil and asking the other, “Does my bomb look big in this”? The cartoonist’s immediate response to criticism of the cartoon in a television programme was, “inevitably, when you look at a cartoon such as that one, the first thing you’ve got to do is remember that as a daily editorial cartoonist, you’re commenting first and foremost on the events of the day. They’re very ephemeral things”. He added, “It was…drawn about three years ago after a spate of suicide bombing attacks in Israel” (Insight). Earlier events also suggested that that The Australian resolutely supports Australia’s ally, Israel. On 13-14 November 2004 Bill Leak caricatured the recently deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in The Weekend Australian (18). In the cartoon, God appeared to be displeased with him and would not allow him to enter paradise. Arafat was shown with explosives strapped to his body and threatening God by saying, “A cloud to myself or the whole place goes up….”. On the other hand, on 6 January 2006 the same cartoonist sympathetically portrayed ailing Israeli leader Ariel Sharon as a decent man wearing a black suit, with God willing to accept him (10); and the next day Sharon was portrayed as “a Man of Peace” (12). Politics and Religion Thus, the anecdotal evidence so far reveals that in the name of “freedom of expression”, or “free speech” The West Australian and The Australian newspapers have taken sides – either glorifying their “superior” Western culture or taking sides on behalf of its allies. On the other hand, these print media would not tolerate the “free speech” of a Muslim leader who spoke against their ally or another religious group. From the 1980s until recently, some print media, particularly The Australian, have been critical of the Egyptian-born Muslim spiritual leader Imam Taj el din al-Hilali for his “free speech”. In 1988 the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils bestowed the title of Mufti to Imam al- Hilali, and al-Hilali was elevated to a position of national religious leadership. Al-Hilali became a controversial figure after 1988 when he gave a speech to the Muslim students at Sydney University and accused Jews of trying to control the world through “sex, then sexual perversion, then the promotion of espionage, treason and economic hoarding” (Hewett 7). The Imam started being identified as a “Muslim chief” in the news headlines once he directly criticised American foreign policy during the 1990-91 Gulf crisis. The Imam interpreted US intervention in Kuwait as a “political dictatorship” that was exploiting the Gulf crisis because it was seen as a threat to its oil supply (Hewett 7). After the Bali bombings in 2002, the Howard government distributed information on terrorism through the “Alert and Alarmed” kit as part of its campaign of public awareness. The first casualty of the “Be alert, but not alarmed” campaign was the Imam al-Hilali. On 6 January 2003, police saw a tube of plastic protruding from a passenger door window and suspected that al-Hilali might have been carrying a gun when they pulled him over for traffic infringements. Sheikh al-Hilali was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting police (Morris 1, 4). On 8 January 2003 The Australian reminded its readers “Arrest Adds to Mufti’s Mystery” (9). The same issue of The Australian portrayed the Sheikh being stripped of his clothes by two policemen. The letter page also contained some unsympathetic opinions under the headline: “Mufti Deserved No Special Treatment” (10). In January 2004, al-Hilali was again brought under the spotlight. The Australian media alleged that al-Hilali praised the suicide bombers at a Mosque in Lebanon and said that the destruction of the World Trade Center was “God’s work against oppressors” (Guillatt 24). Without further investigation, The Australian again reported his alleged inflammatory comments. Under the headline, “Muslim Leader’s Jihad Call”, it condemned al-Hilali and accused him of strongly endorsing “terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas, during his visit to Lebanon”. Federal Labor Member of Parliament Michael Danby said, “Hilali’s presence in Australia is a mistake. He and his associates must give authorities an assurance he will not assist future homicide attacks” (Chulov 1, 5). Later investigations by Sydney’s Good Weekend Magazine and SBS Television found that al-Hilali’s speech had been mistranslated (Guillatt 24). However, the selected print media that had been very critical of the Sheikh did not highlight the mistranslation. On the other hand, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell has been critical of Islam and is also opposed to Australia’s involvement in the Iraq war in 2003, but the print media appeared to ignore his “free speech” (Dateline). In November 2004, Dr Pell said that secular liberal democracy was empty and selfish, and Islam was emerging as an alternative world view that attracted the alienated (Zwartz 3). In May 2006, Dr Pell said that he tried to reconcile claims that Islam was a faith of peace with those that suggested the Quran legitimised the killings of non-Muslims but: In my own reading of the Koran [Quran], I began to note down invocations to violence. There are so many of them, however, that I abandoned this exercise after 50 or 60 or 70 pages (Morris). Muslim leaders regarded Dr Pell’s anti-Islam statement as “inflammatory” (Morris). However, both the newspapers, The Australian and The West Australian remained uncritical of Dr Pell’s “free speech” against Islam. Conclusion Edward Said believed that media images are informed by official definitions of Islam that serve the interests of government and business. The success of the images is not in their accuracy but in the power of the people who produce them, the triumph of which is hardly challenged. “Labels have survived many experiences and have been capable of adapting to new events, information and realities” (9). In this paper the author accepts that, in the Australian context, militant Muslims are the “enemy of the West”. However, they are also the enemy of most moderate Australian Muslims. When some selected media take sides on behalf of the hegemony, or Australia’s “allies”, and offend moderate Australian Muslims, the media’s claim of “free speech” or “freedom of expression” remains highly questionable. Muslim interviewees in this study have noted a systemic bias in some Australian media, but they are not alone in detecting this bias (see the “Abu Who?” segment of Media Watch on ABC TV, 31 July 2006). To address this concern, Australian Muslim leaders need to play an active role in monitoring the media. This might take the form of a watchdog body within the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. If the media bias is found to be persistent, the AFIC might then recommend legislative intervention or application of existing anti-discrimination policies; alternatively, AFIC could seek sanctions from within the Australian journalistic community. One way or another this practice should be stopped. References Ali, Abdullah Yusuf. The Holy Quran: Text, Translation and Commentary. New Revised Ed. Maryland, USA: Amana Corporation, 1989. Anonymous. “Dutch Courage in Aftermath of Film-Maker’s Slaying.” The Weekend Australian 6-7 Nov. 2004. 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Submission. “Film Clip from Short Submission.” Submission. 11 June 2006. http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2655656?htv=12> The Age. “Embassies Torched over Cartoons.” 5 Feb. 2006. http://www.theage.com.au>. The Guardian. “Virgins? What Virgins?” 12 Jan. 2002. 4 June 2006 http://www.guardian.co.uk/>. Zwartz, Barney. “Islam Could Be New Communism, Pell Tells US Audience.” Sydney Morning Herald 12 Nov. 2004. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Kabir, Nahid. "Depiction of Muslims in Selected Australian Media: Free Speech or Taking Sides." M/C Journal 9.4 (2006). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0609/1-kabir.php>. APA Style Kabir, N. (Sep. 2006) "Depiction of Muslims in Selected Australian Media: Free Speech or Taking Sides," M/C Journal, 9(4). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0609/1-kabir.php>.