The Small Border Traffic Zone between Poland and Kaliningrad Region (Russia): The Impact of a Local Visa-Free Border Regime

After Poland’s accession to the EU, the Polish-Russian border became the EU external border. This significantly changed its nature and started the new type of cross border relation. Since 2012, when the Small Border Traffic (SBT) zone came into force, the border has changed its blockade function and started instead to be treated as a resource. The fundamental loosening of the border crossing regime reduced the social and functional distance between Poland and Kaliningrad, and in a broader sense between EU and Kaliningrad. This paper will try to show how small but meaningful initiative, the SBT, has had an impact on cross-border region. The present paper will describe the relationship between larger geopolitical actors and how they affect local border relations. The aim of this paper is to present phenomenon of new visa regime at the Polish-Russian border. The paper likewise describes the impact of the SBT on local communities and their economies, as well as national relations between adjacent countries. The analysis is based on the interviews and surveys conducted in the Polish-Russian border region in late 2014.     

能源博弈与互依共存

一场围绕能源的新的大博弈即将来临。推动这一大变化的最主要力量是全球对于气候变化和能源安全的共同关注。在这场博弈中,国家利益在传统的市场规则中扮演越来越重要的角色。对于生产国和消费国来说,共同的挑战是认清互相依存的现实并为达成谅解而建立组织框架。中国目前的发展正锁定其能源消费模式从而带动未来数十年的能源需求。从消费角度来讲,中国、印度和美国在决定这场全球能源博弈规则的过程中,将扮演最重要的角色。资源民族主义的崛起以及全球寻找能源的行为,正迫使每个国家重新考虑各自的外交政策以及联盟关系。国家石油企业正寻求私营石油公司的技术,二者需要建立起与过去不同的新型合作关系。气候变化和能源安全带来的大变化大挑战,是这场能源大博弈的所有参与者都要面对的。关键在于创建可转化为互相信任和依存关系的利益平衡的理解框架。     

Managing capital flows in Poland, 1995-98

Poland has been encouraging foreign direct investment, including the purchase of company shares, but has been attempting to limit the inflow of speculative short-term capital. The policy so far has been effective without the use of any capital controls. The paper explains the policy and the reasons for its apparent success. The paper also discusses the evolving threats to macroeconomic stability of the Polish economy and policy responses to these threats.     

Tourism in protected areas: The case of Poland

The interrelationship between tourism and the protection of the environment plays a large part in Polish tourism and policy-making and is reflected in the extensive legislation aimed at the protection of natural resource attractions. In June 1983 a ‘Spatial System of Protected Areas’ was adopted by the General Committee for Tourism. This identified with three concomitant tourism strategies, three different regions for environmental protection: national parks and nature reserves, landscape parks and protected landscape areas.     

Whence reform? A critique of the stiglitz perspective

This paper discusses the key hypotheses which Joseph Stiglitz proposed, in his wide-ranging critique of the “Washington Consensus”, with regard to transition reforms and economic policies in China and Russia. The primary purpose is to evaluate the Stiglitz perspective in the light of empirical evidence, including the experience of countries outside China and Russia. Although some of the points Stiglitz makes are important for understanding what has happened in the transition, this paper argues that his perspective mis-interprets the key facts of the Chinese transition, mis-describes the facts of the Russian transition and fails to consider the theoretical and policy implications of the success of a “third model”, which is represented by some Central European and Baltic transitions.     

WHO''s health futures consultation

The World Health Organization's 1993 consultation on health futures examined the field from perspectives of the macro-environment, health status, health resources, emerging health technology, alternative care systems, and tools for health futures research. The consultation produced numerous suggestions about how WHO could promote and support health futures work. Among the ideas now being implemented are new efforts in global surveillance of infectious diseases, the publication of health futures articles, the establishment of an electronic health futures bulletin board, and preparation of a handbook for health futures studies.     

Technological condition for balanced growth: A criticism and restatement

According to prevailing opinion, only the neutral form of technological progress in the Harrod sense is consistent with balanced growth in a one-sector constant returns-to-scale economy. Though various definitions of balanced growth are in use in the literature, the above highly restrictive technological condition is believed to hold for all of them. The paper demonstrates that this belief is not correct. The condition is shown to be false if the definition of balanced growth (i) does not require the constancy of the marginal product of capital (or the interest rate), and (ii) permits the time semiinfinite or indeed any finite balanced growth path. More specifically, under (i) and (ii) there exists a balanced growth path consistent with a significantly wide class of technological changes of the capital-using (labour-saving) form in the Harrod sense. Alternatively, this condition is correct if either (i) the interest rate is required to be constant or (ii) growth is balanced if it is such for all time—that is, for both past and future. The condition is also correct if the socioeconomic institutions are such that the constancy of the savings ratio implies the constancy of the capital share.     

Economic factors in the democratization of socialism and the socialization of capitalism

Part I discusses Wlodzimierz Brus' neo-Marxian theory of social change: political democratization as a necessary requirement for socialization of public means of production, and socialization necessary for economic efficiency. Then there is a short discussion of some related features of Marxian theory. Part II gives a model of technological change and of the dynamics of long-run growth. This leads to a discussion of the role of capitalism and authoritarian socialism in rapid growth. The author concludes that for “true democratic socialism” to evolve, the growth explosion of the industrial revolution should have run its course.     

变革中的能源格局：21世纪的最大挑战

世界能源的地缘结构发生着转变,沙特-里海-西伯利亚-加拿大轴心将成为21世纪“地缘政治中的能源”驱动力量。以往的“石油博弈”正在变为“石油、天然气博弈”,更有可能成为“天然气、石油博弈”。如果抓住这次机会,就可能开创市场推动的替代能源、节能、可持续发展和国际合作创新的新时代。“能源安全”的定义已不仅是能源供应的安全,而是包含了政治、环境、基础设施甚至反恐怖主义的安全,同时涉及可持续发展和气候变化。世界即将进入新能源时代,美国必须发挥带头作用。任何有效的解决方案都应在推动供给的同时改善需求。我们需要面向不同市场和各种供需终端的一系列技术,以满足在实现更广泛目标过程中的经济和社会需求。无论是发展中国家还是发达国家必须首先达成需要新技术的共识。他们必须围绕关键问题建立某种形式的国际合作,并制定必要政策推进变革。新的能源竞技场将由政策设置界限,监管创建规则,政府充当裁判,市场决定价格以及输家和赢家。