Sailing in time of crisis: The European Central Bank's journey towards the European Systemic Risk Board

This paper explains how the European Central Bank gained new responsibilities in the European Monetary Union, through the creation of the European Systemic Risk Board. Special attention has been paid 1) to the economic and political features of a systemic crisis, 2) to the institutional position of the ECB in between financial markets and EU political decision-making arenas, and 3) to the role of ideas and actors strategies. This paper bridges thus the International Political Economy and Historical Institutionalism approaches by taking into account all these variables and how they interact. In a nutshell, the dependant variable of the paper is the weight of the ECB in EU macro-prudential framework, the independent variable is the Bank’s position in between financial markets and the political world, the intervening variable is the financial crisis and the mechanism working on the variables is the strategic selection of ideas. Two hypotheses are developed in this paper to explore these variables. Since financial crisis are unique events, agents are unsure of their interests and institutional reconfiguration is more likely. The ECB was thus a political entrepreneur, framing first the debate, and then proposing institutional solutions to address the identified problems. The Bank was able to diffuse its ideas thanks to its strategic positioning in between financial markets and policy-making and to its tactics of activation/deactivation of the ordo-liberal paradigm. The main findings of this qualitative research are that 1) systemic financial crisis offer more political space to actor‘s strategic expansion of competences (IPE approaches), 2) the ECB benefited from its past legacy of credible inflation-fighter (HI approaches) and was able to emancipate itself from this ideal past and 3) politically exploit its credibility and expertise towards financial markets to make its ideas matter. Finally, the paper is trying to foresee what could be the ―spill-over‖ effect of the ESRB, by looking at the possible future ECB‘s extension of competences over Commission‘s macro-imbalances program, EU banking supervision and data collection and diffusion

SWORD AND SPIRIT: UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLICISM AND NATIONALISM BETWEEN 1918 AND 1945

Religious nationalism, defined as the integration of civic and religious identities, was a popular vehicle for national struggle in eastern European countries like Poland and Romania during the interwar period through Catholicism and Orthodoxy. While some countries experience strong religious nationalist movements, others appear to be weaker. This research uses the case study of the Ukrainian independence movement, which experienced attempts to meld the Greek Catholic identity with nationalist causes between 1918 and 1945, to test which factors are relevant in forming a religious nationalism. This research explores the ability and effectiveness of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and Ukrainian nationalist groups, such as the Organization for Ukrainian Nationalists, to bring about the synthesis of religious and political aims and create a religio-national identity. Ultimately, Ukraine failed to foment religious nationalism between 1918 and 1945 due to an inability to find successful cooperation between religious institutions and nationalist groups. Debates regarding secular or Christian groundings of the future Ukrainian state, the use of political violence and internal factionalism in both groups prevented the formation of a clear religio-national identity in Ukraine. Successful repression of the Ukrainian nationalist cause from occupying countries, such as Poland and the Soviet Union, prevented the movement from engaging in explicit and intensive cross-cooperation, ultimately failing when the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church dissolved in 1946. The failure to form a resonating religio-national identity in Ukraine may be a relevant factor in the fractured political landscape of the post-independence era, particularly during the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution

Civil society and international governance: the role of non-state actors in the EU, Africa, Asia and Middle East

Structures and processes occurring within and between states are no longer the only – or even the most important - determinants of those political, economic and social developments and dynamics that shape the modern world. Many issues, including the environment, health, crime, drugs, migration and terrorism, can no longer be contained within national boundaries. As a result, it is not always possible to identify the loci for authority and legitimacy, and the role of governments has been called into question. \ud \ud Civil Society anf International Governance critically analyses the increasing impact of nongovernmental organisations and civil society on global and regional governance. Written from the standpoint of advocates of civil society and addressing the role of civil society in relation to the UN, the IMF, the G8 and the WTO, this volume assess the role of various non-state actors from three perspectives: theoretical aspects, civil society interaction with the European Union and civil society and regional governance outside Europe, specifically Africa, East Asia and the Middle East. It demonstrates that civil society’s role has been more complex than one defined in terms, essentially, of resistance and includes actual participation in governance as well as multi-facetted contributions to legitimising and democratising global and regional governance

Japanese nationalism : a transnational case study of Pan-Asianism in China and Vietnam, 1931-1945.

After Japan pragmatized bushido and formed a modernized nation-state in the late nineteenth century, it extended that same methodology to its East Asian neighbors, China and Vietnam. Despite state-sponsored bushido's success at home and cultural similarities with Asian peoples abroad, Japanese nation-state building failed in China and Vietnam. Was Pan-Asianism fully implemented as designed by Japanese architects? What were the repercussions of Pan-Asianism on nationalist movements in East Asia? Previous scholarship addressed these questions unfairly and critiqued Chinese and Vietnamese nationalists, who accepted Japanese aid, as collaborators or traitors. Additionally, historiography abruptly demarked Pan-Asianism's demise at Japan's surrender in 1945. Japanese nationalism and state-building succeeded in Japan but when applied transnationally from 1931-1945 and despite social, linguistic, and cultural similarities, Pan-Asianism failed in China and Vietnam due to differing historical experiences. This is an intellectual history that comparatively analyzes rhetorical, cultural, political, educational, economic, and military exchange between Japan, China, and Vietnam. Furthermore, it is a new interpretation of Pan-Asian exchange during World War Two that utilizes a transnational lens. It relies on primary sources from Japan, China, Vietnam, Great Britain, France, the United States, and numerous other countries involved from 1931-1945. The author does not simply employ sources from various countries but explains scholarly interchange and the formation of national narratives within East Asia. Moreover, the author references secondary sources from previous scholarship to establish a background and contribute a more rounded historical narrative. The author illustrates that despite cultural, linguistic, and social similarities between Japan, China, and Vietnam, Pan-Asianism was not effectively transplanted due to differing historical circumstances. The Japanese nation formed as a military culture and remained isolated from the seventeenth to nineteenth century. Japanese national-formation was juxtaposed to that of China and Vietnam, both of which were subjected to external incursions, consisted of various ethnic groups, and had different dialects. Despite Japan's failure in implementing Pan-Asianism directly, aspects of it survived World War Two into the Cold War in the form of post-colonial, nationalist movements in East Asia. This significantly contributes to historiography as a new, comparative study and intellectual history through a transnational lens

FROM SCIENCE TO PLANNING: NEGOTIATING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN LAND USE PLANNING IN QUY NHON CITY, VIETNAM

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2018

2016 GREAT Day Program

SUNY Geneseo’s Tenth Annual GREAT Day.https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/program-2007/1010/thumbnail.jp

Enhancing a Transition to a Circular Economy in the Water Sector: The EU Project WIDER UPTAKE

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) require an urgent transition from a linear to a circular economy operation/design concept with a consequent resource recovery and more sustainable waste management. Natural resources have to be preserved, and wastes have to become an opportunity for recovering resources and materials (water reuse, energy, sludge reuse). However, the transition toward a circular economy is a complex and long process due to the existence of technical, economic, social and regulatory barriers. These existing barriers are critical challenges for a modern and sustainable WWTP concept. The recovery of resources must be considered a strategic target from the earliest process-design phase. In this context, the European Union’s Horizon 2020 project “Achieving wider uptake of water-smart solutions—WIDER UPTAKE” aims to overcome the existing barriers (technological, regulatory, organizational, social and economic) toward the transition from a linear to a circular economy model for WWTPs. This study is aimed at increasing the awareness of the existing barriers to a circular economy and summarizes the key contributions of the WIDER UPTAKE project in terms of water reuse, sludge reuse and nutrient recovery

Ageing and the current account; simulations for the Netherlands

The ageing baby-boom generations in the OECD economies will have an impact on the global supply and demand of capital over the next decades. The size and direction of this impact have been the subject of much research, which we survey. We study the effects of alternative interest rate paths for the Dutch economy with the IMAGE general equilibrium model, emphasizing developments of the current account. Further simulations explore the sensitivity of the outcomes to alternative demographic projections, tax smoothing and exogenous participation increases. We find that tax smoothing is not the appropriate policy to generate a more equitable intergenerational distribution when changes in the world interest rate are taken into consideration

The Use of Electronic Ticketing - A Case Study

This thesis will look at the impact of electronic ticketing travel on the behavior and acceptance trends by airline customers, its effects on revenue generation and cost-cutting opportunities, and the implications in the established transaction flow processes. This form of ticketing is becoming increasingly popular among U.S. and European airlines due to the reduced costs in different areas of passenger and transaction flow handling when compared to the current paper-based ticketing method. While at first glance this new ticketing technology application seems like a move in the right direction for airlines, there is no evidence as to the views from customers. To this effect, the researcher will collect and analyze data from customers that have used the electronic ticketing approach and identify key areas where customer needs must be addressed or revisited. The subjects will voluntarily complete and return a survey which focuses on this subject matter

Foresight of aerospace and defence technologies in Greece up to 2020

Technology Foresight exammes the future of the Greek economy and in particular what the contribution of science and technology is to this. Greek Technology Foresight started in October 2001 as a programme co-financed by the European Union and the target was to create a functional view after two decades. The main purpose of this project is the identification of cost-effective Aerospace and Defence Technologies for Greece in the year 2020. Firstly, the capacity and capability of Greek industries and the research environment are examined in conjunction with the products demanded by Armed Forces. Secondly, comes the examination of all relevant factors (industry, university, government) which have a considerable contribution to research and innovation in order to promote networking and further institutional development. Research was absolutely necessary to foresee and evaluate specific technologies within a frame of long-term development strategy for the various stakeholders. This research area is directly related to my managerial role as I have been in charge of this programme during its implementation. The research methods employed are documentary evidence, interviews and the Delphi approach. Thus the data collected from a variety of sources ensure the qualitative character of the thesis. The main findings are that the outlined Aerospace and Defence technologies can playa decisive role in the three different scenarios for the future of the country and they are related to the outcomes of science and technology evolution. The general conclusion is that taking into consideration Technology Foresight results defence procurement could be managed better which would result an efficient contribution to national economy, an improvement in intra-community transfer and several benefits from export opportunities of dual-use products