The economic development and trade liberalization in the post-communist Albania

After the installation of the Communist Regime and rejection of the democratic elections in Albania in 1945, the relations with the West worsened. The rulers of that time implemented the Stalinist economic system, which testifies to the friendly relations between the Soviet Union and Albania, and later with the People's Republic of China. Through this research, we aim to highlight the transformation of the economic system in Albania, the state that in 1967 was declared as the first atheist in the world. The communist system of government and protectionism led to the violation of fundamental human rights and values, the isolation of the inhabitants from the rest of the world, and a ruined and destroyed economy. Using the descriptive and statistical method, we will reveal how Albania has benefited immediately after the collapse of the communist system and the centralized economy, replacing it with the democratic system and free trade. We will see how the economic trend in post-communist Albania has substituted, starting with the transition from state to private property, to Albania's participation in the international trade arena

Energy as a functional area for European integration

policy has historically played an important role in the development of the European Union (EU). This study examines the reasons for the choice of coal and atomic energy as the bases for constructing community institutions of governance and analyzes their successes and failures as functional areas of integration.Functionalist theory has provided the ideological foundations for the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. Functionalist theorists advocate technocracy as the means for overcoming the conflicts inherent in traditional political processes. Coal and atomic energy were chosen as regimes of integration because of their technocratic character and the importance attached to them, respectively, as the dominant energy source of the time and the perceived source of energy abundance in the proximate future. This vision of a process of technical integration paving the way for political union was predicated on the assumption that the political and technical functions of governance could and should be separated. In fact, energy regimes could not be removed from the political context of national governance. Hard energy regimes, which include coal and atomic energy, are technocratic polities which exclude ordinary citizens from the exercise of power and intensify international conflict. Their choice as regimes of integration bestowed on the institutions of the EC a technocratic character and made it difficult for them to claim political legitimac

The Greek independence revolution and beyond: the zooming of the albanian role and impact

The nineteenth century is generally considered a century which inspired many nations, both in the East and West, towards the path of independence. While their aims may have been similar, the approach, the overall struggles and management of their individual independence courses, were rather distinctive. One of the most striking examples was Greece. The ethnic Greeks may have had a great desire to obtain independence, but lacked strategy, commitment, and unwavering determination. Their independence fate, however, was destined to be heavy relied, upon their ancient neighbors, the Albanians. Indeed, the Albanians turned out to be the principal benefactor on the ground, conducive to Greek independence.The main aim of this research is to expose the Albanian role especially during the Greek independence revolution. A substantial part of the study delves in the Albanian leadership and responsibility (both military and political) during the respective revolution. The study also explores that thousands of Albanian soldiers from various factions took part in Greek revolution battles. In addition, the study addresses the fact that the Albanian soldiers resorted to fights, even, with their fellow Albanians, all related to the Greek independence. The key objective of the paper is exclusive reliability on the Western sources (British, American, German, Italian or French), vis-à-vis examined topics, to increase, as much as possible, the objectivity of the research outcome. Several distinct themes are examined, considering Albanian contribution to the establishment of the modern Greece, almost all of them, originating from the Western sources of the nineteenth century, the century when the revolution occurred. The paper also incorporates the descriptions of the accounts, of three Westerners (Thomas Gordon, British army officer, Samuel Gridley Howe, American Medical Doctor and George Finlay, a Scottish historian), who were part of revolution and witnessed the development

Examining the Causal Relationship between Exchange Rates, Foreign Investments and Inflation Rate: The Case of Turkey using data from January 2008 to December 2018

This study examines the relationships between exchange rates, foreign investments and inflation rate in Turkey using monthly data from 2008-2018. The vector autoregression (VAR) model is used to examine whether these three variables are correlated to each other. VAR results showed that Exchange Rates (ER) have a moderated impact on Foreign Investments (FI), where a percentage increase in Exchange Rates (ER) accounts for an increase of 27,58% on Foreign Investments (FI). Exchange Rates (ER) have a significant impact on Inflation Rates (IR), where a percentage increase in Exchange Rates (ER) is associated with an increase of 77,02% on Inflation Rate (IR). Pairwise Granger Causality test results’ showed that Inflation Rate (IR) does not cause Foreign Investments (FI) and Foreign Investments (FI) does not cause Inflation Rate (IR); Exchange Rate (ER) does not cause Foreign Investments but Foreign Investments (FI) cause Exchange Rate (ER); Exchange Rates (ER) does not cause Inflation Rate (IR) and Inflation Rate (IR) does not cause Exchange Rates (ER).The result of impulse function shows that Foreign Investments (FI) and Inflation Rate (IR) responded positively to Exchange Rates (ER) in earlier periods and negatively in late periods

Brief Overview of Novelties Within the New Criminal Code of Republika Srpska Regarding Legal Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Violence

After fourteen years of implementation of the reformer Criminal Code of Republika Srpska, in July 2017 a new Criminal Code of Republika Srpska came into force, and with it (partially) a new, post-reform stage in the development of contemporary criminal law in Bosnia and Herzegovina has begun. Although, the Code brings a number of novelties in the field of criminal law, the subject of this article are novelties regarding the legal protection of children and minors from sexual violence in Republika Srpska. The aim is to determine, after an analysis of relevant legal provisions, whether and to what extent the new Code has modified the legal protection of this group of passive subjects with respect to sex offenses (which, in addition to the standard consequences that they generally leave on the victims, can leave indelible consequences for victims whose psychophysical development is still not completed). Also, based on this analysis, the question whether the prescription of new legal protection of children and minors in the Republic of Srpska has been harmonized with or got distant from other positive criminal laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be answered. In this article descriptive, normative and comparative scientific methods will be applied

Effect of changing urban farming landscape on financing livelihoods and food security of urban farmers’ households in Ghana

High rate of concretization of urban areas presents a challenge to the sustainability of urban farms in Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), as farms are outcompeted to built-up areas for residential and commercial purposes. A major result of this concretization is a growing loss of farmlands in the metropolis. Our study explores the effect of urban growth on livelihood financing and food security of urban farming households. This is an exploratory study based on purposive sampling and snowballing techniques to inquiry. This qualitative study uses interview guides (semi-structured and structured) to collect primary data from farmers in the Accra metropolis. We bolstered this approach with spatial imagery tool to map out changing farm sizes in the metropolis. We find participants displaying greater wakefulness of the community as a key factor of urban farming in relation to food security, income and employment. This was because of inadequate land use planning and support to urban farmers. Some of the significant challenges identified were limited space for farming, limited resources, continuous increase in buildings and inadequate education. Conscious efforts should be made by the assemblies at all levels to develop comprehensive land-use plans to guide urban land management. As part of housing policy, vertical development (storey building) of housing and office accommodation is encouraged rather than horizontal expansion of offices and residential accommodation, which could encourage further growth in buildings. Moreover, the organization of urban farmer associations is a prerequisite to the improvement of urban agriculture

Dynamic Psycho-linguistics: The Impact of the Social Interaction System in the Individual Psycholinguistic Prototype

Speaking is a cognitive, motor activity apparently simple, which differentiates men from other animals and is made possible by a vast network of cerebral, cortical and subcortical structures. Language implies the relationship of the human being to his world while Psycholinguistics is the dynamic language process that leads to a mutual connection with the world external and with the other, which is other than self. In the history of Albanian psycho-pedagogical thinking there are evidences that reveal the efforts and contributions to understand and interpret the phenomena and problems directly related to the development and education of students of different school ages. The discussion of complex linguistic topics, communication and relationships is related not only to the exhaustion of the definition, but also the ability to take into consideration the circumstances that make them a social-ethnic reference system with the contribution of main references such as linguistic psychology, philosophy of language, linguistics and semiotics, cognitive level analysis and phenomenological aspects in a daily dimension, but also in the form of meanings, concept of reciprocity, social connotation and the dynamic process in the whole

Influences of Non-economic Responsibilities on Economic Responsibilities: A study on Consumers of Banking Industry in Sylhet

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) comprises of economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. However, these aspects of CSR may have significant influence over each other. The rest of the aspects of CSR may influence specifically the most critical aspect of CSR, economic responsibilities. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of philanthropic, ethical, and legal responsibilities on economic responsibilities of banks. In total 250 customers of different banks in sylhet district were surveyed for the study. Multiple linear regression method in SPSS was used to analyze the data. Among the non-economic dimensions of CSR, the ethical and philanthropic responsibilities found to be significant influencer of economic responsibilities of CSR. On the other hand, the legal responsibilities was concluded as an insignificant influencer of economic responsibilities. More precisely, one percent increase in ethical responsibility will increase the economic responsibility by 50 percent and alike one percent development in philanthropic responsibility will increase the economic responsibility by 20 percent

Lack of Storage Space for Dangerous Goods: Case Study of the Pristina International Airport "Adem Jashari"

The purpose of this paper is to define the dangerous goods classes and the lack of storage in Kosovo. The Pristine International Airport “Adem Jashari” (PIA) is the only airport that Kosovo has, and knowing that the number of flights in Kosovo is growing pushed me to analyze the current situation that is going on. The research method that is used in this paper covers an interview with professional people who are responsible for this issue. The research continued with empirical results from the questionnaire developed with a monkey survey covering 100 respondents. Further in the research paper, the author covers marking, labeling and the orientation of the packages that are used for dangerous goods during air transportation. In Kosovo, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible to firstly identify if the goods meet the condition asked from these authorities or not. Therefore, in case of any individuals or airlines wants to transport goods via air, they should ask for permission from CAA and after that, they might proceed with further application procedures. In the last part, the author gives some recommendations resulting from the findings of this research

A Legal Perspective on Career Limitations upon Female Astronauts Due to Cosmic Radiation Exposure

Triggered by the contemporary assumption that female astronauts are facing a manifestation of gender-based discrimination regarding career options due to NASA’s strict cosmic radiation exposure limit restrictions, the main purpose of this paper is to analyze the legal perspective of this issue through labor principles of opportunity and health. By recognizing galactic cosmic rays as a special type of radiation exposure naturally occurring within the astronaut’s working environment, it is questioned whether such a severe health threat deserves to be used as a justification for labor discrimination. While examining the legal status of astronauts in labor relations may contribute in realizing the importance of an astronaut’s profession as an individual as well as for the benefit of mankind, the capacities that space agencies, as employers, have in order to fulfill their obligation of eliminating health risks originating from cosmic radiation and solar storms, can be further examined in order to find out if this spaceflight opportunity limitation is just another well hidden demonstration of gender-based discrimination, mainly through the following determinants: 1) Duration of the space mission, and 2) Position of the space object. Also, given the fact that the notion of “outer space labor law” is still nonexistent, this paper additionally emphasizes the need for the establishment of international standards concerning protection against cosmic radiation, in order for astronauts, irrelevant of their nationality, to receive equal health protection measures, as subjects to labor relations