On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. What Putin’s regime ignorantly believed to pull off as a ‘small victorious war’ turned out into the largest conflict Europe has seen since World War II in scale, intensity, number of casualties and destruction. In light of the planned counteroffensive of Ukraine, this paper aims to conceptualise a new post-war security architecture in the region. The authors identify economic and political tasks for Ukraine, the EU and the US to guarantee the long-term integrity of Ukraine and to contribute to regional and global stability. The basis for future scenarios is the analysis of the major policy shift regarding the West’s attitude to dealing with the Russian aggression in Ukraine. An evolution from mere sanctioning policy against Russia to full-scale military support for Ukraine is observed and explained in-depth from hard and soft power approaches. Ukraine’s military and leadership managed to reestablish a reliable and competent image of Ukraine through remarkable institutional resilience and victories on the battlefield. They also utilised a smart soft power strategy drawing on emotional and value attachments of Western elites and the public to sustain long-term support for Ukraine.
The Working Community of the Danube Regions was founded over 30 years ago in Lower Austria. Since its foundation, the members of the working group have been pursuing a common vision for the Danube Region and the prosperity of its inhabitants. The following article will provide an overview of the development of the cooperation, from the first steps to the current problems the Working Community is working on. It also focuses on the challenges that arise when working together in cooperation with many different stakeholders from a very diverse group. The aim is to build up interregional friendships on which to rely in times of crisis and to contribute to problem-solving as bridge builders.
The International Association for Danube Research (IAD) was founded in 1956 to promote transboundary exchange in limnology and river management across the ‘Iron Curtain’. This was a necessity to tackle environmental problems, focusing first on pollution. After the political and socio-economic changes in 1989/1990, the IAD concentrated gradually on hydromorphology. As a scientific association that has acted in the Danube Region for decades, IAD could provide scientific input to management authorities, policymakers, and administrations. IAD scientists have contributed to activities of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) and the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), and they were involved in or led transnational projects funded by EU programmes. Scientific progress in lake and river ecology has shaped the IAD’s targets and scientific agenda. Keeping an ecological focus while admitting that ecosystems and humans are inextricably linked determines the future long-term goals of the IAD: conservation and rehabilitation of aquatic ecosystems; integral water protection, and sustainability; raising public awareness; and facilitating cooperation within the Danube River Basin, especially among young researchers.
Crisis periods have always been accelerators for new phases of country development. The Russian war in Ukraine and the granting of European Union candidate status are opening a space for new cooperation with European countries, reforms and opportunities for Ukraine in the education sector (exchange programs, alignment with European standards, quality improvement). At the beginning of the new academic year of 2022, two major issues are present: how to maintain the learning process during war and attacks, and how to improve the educational system for EU accession and strengthen the human capital of the state. In this study, the experience of Balkan countries (with special focus on the Yugoslav successor states) in the postwar period since the 1990s is investigated and some practical examples of innovative reforms are proposed. Major topics include academic freedom, brain-drain prevention and the involvement of EU investments and initiatives. Besides this, the pandemic benefitted society with tools of online learning, which became one of the measures to secure students' education in the current conflict and let them continue studies as much as possible. Ukraine has the potential to improve in all spheres, although at the same time human capital is endangered because of the war.
No AccessThe 2021–2022 Period and Slovakia’s Engagement in the EU Strategy for the Danube RegionMichal BlaškoMichal Blaškois the ambassador and national coordinator for the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR). He is the director of the Department of Transnational Cooperation Programs at the Slovak Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:Nov 2023https://doi.org/10.7767/dedo.2023.63.3-4.11SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book coverVolume 63Issue 3-4November 2023 ISSN: 0012-5415 eISSN: 2307-289X History Published online:November 2023 PDF download
No AccessIntroduction: Danube Conference “Growing Together or Drifting Apart? Regional Contributions to a Continental Struggle”Mag. Friedrich Faulhammer, Mag. Sebastian SchäfferMag. Friedrich Faulhammer Danube University Krems Austria Mag.; is the chairman of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) and serves as rector of the Danube University Krems (University for Continuing Education) since 2013. His work focuses on New Forms of University Governance and European Developments and Law Matters in Higher Education. He also took over the two-year presidency term of the Danube Rectors’ Conference in 2017 and again in 2023. In 2018, he was appointed to the board of the Ludwig Boltzmann Society (LBG) and, in 2019, to the board of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM). From 2020 until September 2022, he acted as deputy chairman of the IDM, and since 2021 he has been a member of the university council of the University of Teacher Education, Vienna. Since October 2022, he has been the chairman of the IDM.Search for more papers by this author, Mag. Sebastian Schäffer Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe Austria Mag., MA; is the director of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM). He is also secretary general of the Danube Rectors’ Conference (DRC), founder and CEO of SeminarsSimulationsConsulting (SSC) Europe, as well as an associate fellow at the Centre for Global Europe at the GLOBSEC Policy Institute in Bratislava.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:Nov 2023https://doi.org/10.7767/dedo.2023.63.3-4.7SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book coverVolume 63Issue 3-4November 2023 ISSN: 0012-5415 eISSN: 2307-289X History Published online:November 2023 PDF download
After the destruction of the European security architecture by the unprovoked and unjustified full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, a new format of cooperation in Europe is needed. While reflecting on different proposals made over the past year and the concept of a European Political Community (EPC) introduced by French President Emmanuel Macron, we explore the concept of a Greater European Council (GEC) as a new way forward. Especially with the historic decision to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, we believe that the institutions in Brussels need to change their policies and routine procedures. The EU’s decision to pursue a Wider Europe approach with the EPC can only be seen as the first step in providing the necessary answers to the changing geopolitical and security environment. With this article, we want to contribute to the question of how to build and institutionalise stronger ties between EU and non-EU states and also shed light on the enlargement issue.
No AccessEmployability for Students and Early-Stage ResearchersCeleste Luciano, Tiberiu Nica, Nikola Ranković, Karin Widmann, Gabriel ZvîncăCeleste Luciano University of Lund Sweden is a student, activist and geopolitical writer, currently enrolled in International Development and Management at the University of Lund. She has collaborated with different NGOs, both at the local and global level, as well as with magazines. Before interning in the WFP, she graduated in International Relations. Committed to volunteering, policy analysis and project management, her research focuses on sustainable growth, poverty reduction and equality., Tiberiu Nicais a project manager and training officer currently working at the crossroads of education, research, and public service. With years of first-hand experience in learning and development, social work, and intercultural management, as well as over five years of experience working in an EU affairs think tank, he has day-to-day work experience in coordinating EU-financed projects., Nikola Rankovićis a final-year student at LSE double-degree in Economics and Finance. Apart from his focus and expertise in banking and finance, he has developed a keen interest in various activities, ranging from summer schools in public policymaking, EU visions, business management, and ECPD, to participation in academic research in labour economics, education, and astronomy., Karin Widmann Andrássy University Budapest Hungary BSc; is a student of International Relations at Andrássy University Budapest, enrolled on the double master's degree in International Economics and Business with the University of Bamberg. She is a scholarship holder of the German Academic Exchange Service and the Higher Education Scholarship of the Hungarian State working on policies that ensure everyone has the financial education they need to determine their own path in life., Gabriel Zvîncă Babeș-Bolyai University Romania MA; is a PhD student at Babeș-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and the Youth Delegate of Romania at the United Nations. His interests are focused on the study of diplomacy, contemporary history, geopolitics, and international relations, with a particular focus on international organizations and the United Nations peacekeeping mechanism.Published Online:Feb 2023https://doi.org/10.7767/dedo.2023.63.1-2.113SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book coverVolume 63Issue 1-2February 2023 ISSN: 0012-5415eISSN: 2307-289XHistoryPublished online:February 2023 PDF download
Against the backdrop of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine and China's strategic manoeuvring in the Western Balkans and Danube Region, there is a need to consider the role of education and mobility as a means to both strengthen socio-economic prosperity and political security in Europe. This paper primarily explores the triangular intersection of EU-Balkan, Sino-Balkan, and Sino-EU relations, as the world enters a new multipolar age. Moreover, this paper argues that South-Eastern and Central Europe is on the front line of China's strategic meddling, both within and on the periphery of the EU. The case is made that improving education and mobility, in conjunction with reigniting the Berlin Process, is pivotal for the region's flourishment and for the realisation of the EU's goal of 'strategic autonomy'. In essence, the aspiration of this paper is to offer an analysis of geopolitical developments in the Balkan and Danube Region from an EU perspective, interwoven with considerations of education and mobility.
No AccessScientific Research for European Decision-MakingEmilia Blank, PhD Lukas Danko, Kata Katz, Dr. sc Volodymyr Polishchuk, Dr Ivan RubinićEmilia Blank University of Wuppertal Germany BA; is currently finishing her double master's degree from the University of Wuppertal and Andrássy University in Budapest. She is majoring in Policy Science and International Relations, while also working at the Institute for Democracy and Participation Studies as a research assistant. In addition to being the chairwoman of an association advocating for equal access to education around the globe, her interests lie in development cooperation between countries as well as educational policies within Europe., PhD Lukas Danko Tomas Bata University Czech Republic PhD; is an assistant professor and secretary at Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Faculty of Management and Economics, Department of Regional Development, Public Sector Administration and Law. With a background in economics, Lukáš has a range of interests in creative economy, collaborative spaces, and multi-level governance. He has published both qualitative and quantitative papers in WoS and Scopus, and book chapters in Routledge, and Springer., Kata Katz University of Arts Berlin Germany MA; studied Philosophy, Literature and Film Studies at the University of Szeged, Hungary. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Arts Berlin (UdK), Germany. She is an independent lecturer and one of the co-founders of the Project Failure Stories. Her research focuses on media and photography theory, philosophy of science and science history., Dr. sc Volodymyr Polishchuk Uzhhorod National University Ukraine Dr. sc; is a professor at Uzhhorod National University (Ukraine). He is a project manager and expert on many IT and scientific projects, whose interests include research and development in information technology and aviation, with an emphasis on assessing process control in complex systems. He is the author of more than 150 scientific works., Dr Ivan Rubinić Maastricht University The Netherlands Dr; is a postdoctoral researcher in European integration at Maastricht University. He is working toward the advancement of political economy, economic inequality, and international trade. Ivan is a political economist committed to exposing that excessive inequalities stand in the way of the European vision of shared prosperity, equality, and cohesiveness. His scholarly record is comprised of a number of publications, including Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge, and Oxford University Press.Published Online:Feb 2023https://doi.org/10.7767/dedo.2023.63.1-2.99SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book coverVolume 63Issue 1-2February 2023 ISSN: 0012-5415eISSN: 2307-289XHistoryPublished online:February 2023 PDF download
This study set out to shed light on the viewpoints and actions of EU actors surrounding the Montenegrin public debt increase as a result of the Bar-Boljare highway project. Therefore, four EU civil servants and five non-EU experts were asked about their perceptions of the EU as an actor in this case, and which actions it has taken or should best take. By comparing their expert opinions and by connecting them with other sources on the project and related subjects, the importance of professional research for policy-making is underlined. The paper argues that the perceived EU salience for and attitudes towards this transport project vary strongly between respondents. Expert interviewees differ in opinion on the gravity of the issue, with a possible presence of political bias. Multiple EU goals for this case were found in one or both of the interviewee categories, with most being socio-economic in nature. Finally, several potential institutions or initiatives are proposed for EU intervention in this issue, although case resolution by the Union is mostly seen as unlikely. Future research should point out if these conclusions are also supported by interviews with other relevant actors.
No AccessScience and Learning in the Digital EraPhD Cristina Dumitru, Mihai Christopher Marian Radovici, Gresa Rasiti, PhD Ljiljan VeselinovićPhD Cristina Dumitru University of Pitești Romania PhD; is a lecturer in the Department of Education at the University of Pitești and coordinator of several Erasmus projects on Education and Specific Learning Disorders. With 15 years of teaching and research experience in working with SEN students, Cristina Dumitru is active in special education and inclusive education practice. Additionally, she has written several manuscripts on special education topics. © 2023, Mihai Christopher Marian Radovici Bucharest University of Economics Romania MA; is currently a PhD student specialising in International Relations and subsequent fields at Bucharest University of Economics. Christopher is currently engaged in following connex research projects abroad. As an alumni of DofE, SUSI, Aspen Institute, amongst others, he has continued being involved in civil society and also became the owner of a social entrepreneurship start-up., Gresa RasitiMA; works as a human resources manager for a real estate tech company. She holds a bachelor's degree in English Language Teaching and a master's degree in Democracy and Human Rights in South East Europe. During her studies, Gresa was part of a research group working on the topic of De-institutionalisation of Children with Disabilities, now published in the Global Campus of Human Rights repository., PhD Ljiljan Veselinović University of Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina PhD; is an associate professor at the School of Economics and Business (SEBS), University of Sarajevo, but is also engaged in the Education Laboratory and Quality Assurance Team at SEBS. His research focuses on various topics in business, economics and education, dealing with entrepreneurship, the labour market, business environment and education topics.Published Online:Feb 2023SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book coverVolume 63Issue 1-2February 2023 ISSN: 0012-5415eISSN: 2307-289XHistoryPublished online:February 2023 PDF download
No AccessIntroduction: Future Realities of Academia and ResearchMag. Daniel MartínekMag. Daniel Martínek Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe Austria Mag.; works as a research associate at the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) as well as manager of the Permanent Secretariat of the Danube Rectors' Conference (DRC) in Vienna. He has extensive experience in cross-border, regional and international cooperation together with sound knowledge of the macro-regional strategies of the EU, particularly the EUSDR.Published Online:Feb 2023SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book coverVolume 63Issue 1-2February 2023 ISSN: 0012-5415eISSN: 2307-289XHistoryPublished online:February 2023 PDF download
No AccessUniversity Autonomy and GovernanceYuliia Fetko, PhD Sergii Geraskov, Indira Hajnacs, Yuliia StoikaYuliia Fetko Uzhhorod National University Ukraine MA; is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Law of Uzhhorod National University. Yuliia has five years of experience in implementing international projects. Her research and project efforts focus on the cross-border cooperation of universities and local and regional authorities in Europe., PhD Sergii Geraskov Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Ukraine PhD; works as an associate professor at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. He holds a PhD in religious studies, taught at the relocated Donetsk National Technical University, and was a research fellow at Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan. From 2017–2021, he worked as a researcher at the National Academy for Public Administration for the President of Ukraine. His research and project efforts cover Japanese studies, religious studies and public administration., Indira HajnacsMA; is working as a partner manager for the Creative Bureaucracy Festival Berlin, that aim is to celebrate outstanding innovation in the public sector and to strengthen democracy as the basis for a more sustainable, just and thriving world. For similar reasons, she is participating in the Academy of City Diplomacy Program of Budapest´s mayor. On the vocational training she is learning to advance the Hungarian capital city's international relations and to implement green mayor Gergely Karácsony's foreign policy program. She has just finished her Master Studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin with a degree in Cultural and Literature Studies of the CEE region., Yuliia Stoika Uzhhorod National University Ukraine studies International Economic Relations at Uzhhorod National University. Yuliia has experience in study programme accreditation at the National Agency of Higher Education Quality Assurance in Ukraine. Currently, she is developing informal education at the International Online Youth Company.Published Online:Feb 2023https://doi.org/10.7767/dedo.2023.63.1-2.73SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book coverVolume 63Issue 1-2February 2023 ISSN: 0012-5415eISSN: 2307-289XHistoryPublished online:February 2023 PDF download
While the EU may have transcended narrow nationalism, Europe has not. Narrow nationalism is the source of all problems, internally and externally, that the EU is facing. Specifically, member states still perceive the European Union, to a large degree, as an instrument to enhance their foreign policy and achieve their national aims. The divisions with regard to the US invasions of Iraq and Libya, the response to the Ukraine crisis, and the process of EU enlargement prove that as long as the member states continue to perceive the EU only as an instrument, the EU will continue to be a weak international actor that mostly acts contrary to its own values upon which its global identity is based. This is the main hypothesis of this research. As long as member states do not transcend their Westphalian consciousness and sacrifice some of their national interests for the greater European agenda to advance an evolution in the EU's system of values and change its way of functioning, the EU will remain a weak international actor with impotent foreign policy that behaves according to double-standard principles and has no credibility. Ultimately, this could result in the downfall of the EU. Thus, member states risk losing the instrument they could leverage to achieve their national interests, while ironically, also undermining the attainment of those interests through the pursuit of nationalism. To examine this hypothesis, we adopt an ontological viewpoint and combine an objectivist approach with deductive reasoning to analyze the collected secondary data.
During the last few years, it had become fashionable to criticize the current state of democracy in every possible way. Then the unthinkable happened: a tiny virus revealed the fragility of democratic attitudes as well as democratic systems. While the governments both of authoritarian political systems as well as democracies restricted civil liberties and changed their policies many times, the media lapsed into a submissive state. Meanwhile, some parts of the population sought relief on social media platforms, where they found fake news and conspiracy theories that comforted them with emotions rather than with facts. This all had consequences for the perception and state of democracy. Blaming the politicians or the mainstream media is one way of dealing with the situation. And yet, the pandemic made clear that the population is also actively responsible for the development of democracy in a situation of crisis. Democracy cannot be taken for granted, but it also is able to recover if supported by the people.
Europe's last decade is widely regarded as the decade of crises. From the Eurozone crisis and the war in Ukraine, to the refugee crisis, Brexit, and most recently, the COVID–19 pandemic, we find ourselves in a precarious state: often divided, polarized, distrusting organizations, and even each other. This contribution presents a set of large-scale policy recommendations to ameliorate this situation. While based on empirical evidence, the paper focuses on a normative effort, charting a way to achieve positive social change by forming a pan-European social movement for a more equitable European public sphere. It justifies this main argument and offers specific recommended actions and policies in three sections. First, an overview of the theoretical foundations and conceptual terms is provided from which the main arguments of the paper are derived. Second, building on these, the paper identifies an inadequately configured European public sphere as the underlying problem. Third, the proposed policy solution of building a European social movement is provided in more detail with recommended actions grouped by stakeholders.
The paper draws lessons after 10 years of implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) from the perspective of a national coordinator in Austria. Starting by highlighting the double-nature origin of macro-regional strategies – being both an instrument for both foreign relations and development policies – it elaborates on a few selected value-added dimensions of the macro-regional approach and consequently concludes that the EUSDR's work has contributed to translating major EU strategic notions into concrete implementation activities in the region, has triggered flagship-type projects and initiatives which go beyond the typical EU-funded project logic, has been stimulating new types of inclusive partnership approaches in the regions by opening up to civil society and, last but not least, has also helped to stabilise transnational cooperation governance among Danube countries in times of crisis. Forward-looking, the article concludes that macro-regional cooperation is like drilling thick boards and requires a long breath. Thus, 10 years of the EUSDR can only be regarded the start of a longer-term process.
No AccessIntroduction: Shrinking Spaces – Growing ResponsibilitiesMag. Friedrich Faulhammer, Mag. Sebastian SchäfferMag. Friedrich FaulhammerMag.; studied Law in Vienna. He worked at the Institute for Legal History of the University of Vienna (1985–1990) as well as in the Legal Department of the University Directorate. In 1990 he moved to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research. Among other things, he was Deputy Section Leader in the field of university law and actively involved in the implementation of the Austrian University Law 2002. In 2005, he became Section Head of Section I of the Federal Ministry of Science and Research, and he has been Secretary General since 2009. His work focuses on New Forms of University Governance and European Developments and Law Matters in Higher Education. Since 1 August 2013, he has served as Rector of the Danube University Krems (University for Continuing Education). He also took over the two-year presidency term of the Danube Rectors' Conference in 2017., Mag. Sebastian SchäfferMag., M.A.; studied Political Science, European Law, and Slavonic Studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich and East European Studies at the University of Regensburg. He is the founder and CEO of SeminarsSimulationsConsulting (SSC) Europe, Secretary General of the Danube Rectors' Conference (DRC), and Managing Director of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) in Vienna. Schäffer is also an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Global Europe at GLOBSEC Policy Institute in Bratislava.Published Online:Feb 2023SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book coverVolume 62Issue 3-4October 2022 ISSN: 0012-5415eISSN: 2307-289XHistoryPublished online:February 2023 PDF download
