Search Results (8)

One of the objectives of Directive (EU) 2020/2184 is to assess the amount of water leakage in water supply systems (WSS) and to reduce it if it exceeds a certain threshold. The Directive is binding on water supply companies supplying at least 10,000 m³/d or serving at least 50,000 consumers. The problem of water losses due to, among other things, aging infrastructure currently requires appropriate action to be taken by WSS management companies. This paper discusses the problem of water losses in the Visegrad Group countries and the challenges and opportunities associated with it. In order to analyze the problem, a bibliometric analysis of the state of knowledge was performed. The results of the literature review present the current directions of research on this topic in the V4 countries as former communist bloc countries. The strengths and weaknesses identified in the paper can be used to plan water loss reduction by water supply companies, researchers, and legislators. Full article

The European Green Deal (EGD), a complex policy program meant to address climate change and ensure a “just, fair and inclusive” transition into a more sustainable and greener Europe, was launched by the EU in 2019. It was clear from the very beginning that the opportunities and costs of the ambitious green transition would be very uneven geographically, not only within the EU but also among its regions and locations. Regions with higher environmental stress and/or less technological and economic capacities will inevitably be disadvantaged. The EGD requires large-scale public acceptance, which comes with democratic innovations and participative practices, which are less embedded in many regions. The former socialist bloc still struggles today with establishing decent levels of public participation, as well as with adopting and implementing democratic community principles in practice. The main aim of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, we intend to give an assessment of where Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries stand in the process of the green transition and what the major focus areas affecting them are, based on the existing academic literature. On the other hand, we intend to give a clear overview of the causes for and aspects of the weakness of civil society in the post-communist bloc and reasons why the adaptation of democratic innovations is lagging in this region. For this purpose, a systematic literature search and bibliometric analysis was performed based on articles indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Altogether, 172 articles published in the region were filtered and systematically analyzed according to the main themes of the papers related to the EGD. Research findings show that the interests of researchers in CEE countries largely differ from those in the mainstream academic discourse. Research topics, high on the agenda in Western countries, are hardly present in the academic discourse in CEE countries. On the other hand, issues like energy efficiency, urbanization’s impacts on green growth and renewable energy development, and innovations towards a circular economy dominate the research agenda. This region started the green transition process with major handicaps compared to the West, connected to path dependency and the legacy of socialist structures. The paper analyses the bibliometric aspects of articles published on these topics and highlights the highly sectoral and country-focused approaches taken with regard to the EGD. In our paper, we highlight the importance of the region on a geographic scale, which goes beyond the initial framework and offers a different approach to addressing the issue. The paper proves that the presence of EGD-related participation processes is significantly lacking in academic literature in the CEE region. However, the most important finding of our paper is the identification of an academic gap regarding democratic innovations and deliberation, as well as regarding active involvement and participation of people in EGD-related programs. This gives an even more important base for the assessment of the region in terms of the EGD, which faces growing populism and advancing authoritarian regimes, such that public participation and citizen control have become vitally important for the implementation of the green transition. Full article

This research is a reflection on the new challenges in former European communist countries in three areas of gender equality. The analysis employs the gender disparity index (GDI), which encompasses life expectancy, education, and income indices, each equally weighted by gender. The former communist states are categorized into two clusters: the first comprising European Union (EU) member states, and the second consisting of non-EU member states or those in the integration process. The findings indicate pervasive gender-based inequalities across the former European communist bloc. This study offers critical insights for countries seeking EU accession, highlighting the need for targeted policies to address gender disparities in multiple domains. Contrary to the hypothesis positing a connection between feminine cultural values and gender egalitarian practices, the data do not support this assertion. The implications of this research are particularly pertinent for aspiring EU member states, who must navigate issues of monopolism while striving to establish effective principles of business efficiency. Full article

The Khrushchev Thaw allowed Poland a slightly larger margin of freedom in its cultural exchange with Western Europe than it had since the end of the Second World War. In this newly relaxed political climate, two models of Polish cultural diplomacy emerged in the West. The first constituted the official foreign policy of Poland’s communist authorities, while the other remained unofficial, relying on a network of contacts with Poland’s government-in-exile. An examination of contemporary Polish art exhibited in Paris during the 1950s and 1960s reveals this dichotomy. The first type of cultural patronage was coordinated in Paris by communist representatives of the Polish Embassy. The second emerged in Paris within Polish political émigré circles. Its key proponents were the Literary Institute (Instytut Literacki), including the intellectual and artistic milieu of the monthly journal Kultura (“Polish-based Culture”) and the Lambert Gallery (Galeria Lambert). State foreign policy, funded by the state budget and anchored in agreements between Poland and France on cultural cooperation determined the former, while the latter constituted an oppositional stance against the Eastern Bloc, deriving its strength from the resolve of Polish political émigré circles, their extensive network of sympathetic foreign contacts, and an understanding of the mechanics of the art market. The communist model sought to build a friendly image of Polish culture despite the apparent ideological rift between Eastern and Western Europe. The émigré approach stemmed from a refusal to accept the political division of Europe and involved searching the world of art for evidence of forces in Poland that opposed the political status quo. Finally, the patronage model adopted by communist authorities followed the state-imposed policy of favoring figurative art over Polish abstract art, whereas the model championed by émigré circles pursued the opposite strategy. It showcased unrestrained, spontaneous, and mostly abstract art. It evidenced an affinity for international trends in the art of the time, including abstract expressionism and, in particular, Parisian Art Informel. How can these two strands of cultural diplomacy co-exist? Which resonated more with international audiences? Full article

The paper highlights the impact of excessive industrialization during the centralized economy era on urban spatial identity, as well as the disruption of this identity through political-administrative decisions, a phenomenon characteristic of the Central and Eastern European region during the era of centralized economies. The tendency to rebalance urban territorial systems is achieved through deindustrialization, together with reindustrialization and tertiarization. All these changes affect functionality, physiognomy as well as urban culture, and can be quantified through the changes in the memory of places. Urban toponyms related to industrialization are disappearing and are replaced by toponyms that illustrate the historical past of the city and, in general, its spatial identity. The paper aims to contribute to the development of research on the impact of oversized industrialization on the memory of places, in the context of the transition from industrial to service-based economies, a process that affected the states of the former Communist Bloc after 1990. Based on bibliographic sources and field research conducted between 2008 and 2020 in two cities in Romania (Bucharest, the country’s capital, and Galați, the largest river and seaport and the main centre of the steel industry in the country), we have evaluated quantitatively these changes with the help of indices resulting from the toponymic changes resulting from these processes. The study shows that the functional disturbances due to the oversized industrialization that characterized the communist period only managed to a small extent to affect the correlation between the spatial identity of the two cities and their toponymy. Full article

CO₂ emissions have become a key environmental contaminant that is responsible for climate change in general and global warming in particular. Two geographical groups of countries that previously belonged to the former bloc of socialist countries are used for the estimations of CO₂ emissions drivers. The research covers such Eastern European countries as Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Russian Federation, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, and Ukraine and such Central Asian states as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan during the period 1996–2018. The main goal of the research is to identify common drivers that determine carbon dioxide emissions in selected states. To control for the time fixed effects (like EU membership), random effect model was used for the analysis of the panel data set. Results: It is found that energy efficiency progress reduces per capita CO₂ emissions. Thus, an increase in GDP by 100 USD per one ton of oil equivalent decreases per capita CO₂ emissions by 17–64 kg. That is, the more energy-efficient the economy becomes, the less CO₂ emissions per capita it produces in a group of selected post-communist economies. Unlike energy efficiency, an increase in GDP per capita by 1000 USD raises CO₂ emissions by 260 kg per capita, and the richer the economy becomes, the more CO₂ emissions per capita it generates. The increase in life expectancy by one year leads to an increase in CO₂ emissions per capita by 200−370 kg, with average values of 260 kg per capita. It was found that an increase in agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector share (as a % of GDP) by one percentage point leads to the decrease in CO₂ emissions by 67–200 kg per capita, while an increase in industrial sector share by one percentage point leads to the increase in CO₂ per capita emissions by 37–110 kg. Oil prices and foreign direct investment appeared to be statistically insignificant factors in a group of selected post-communist economies. Conclusions: The main policy recommendation is the promotion of energy efficiency policy and the development of green economy sectors. The other measures are the promotion of a less energy-intensive service sector and the modernization of the industrial sector, which is still characterized by high energy and carbon intensity. Full article

Financial market imperfections constrain firms’ ability to obtain funds. This is especially true for the former communist bloc countries. However, the restrictions on access to financing and the attitudes of management in these geographies remain overlooked by academic research and represent an important obstacle on the roadmap to sustainable development. The objective of this paper is to fill this gap by analyzing the impact of ownership structure, institutional environment development, and debt market profile on the perception of financial constraints by the representatives of corporate top management from 28 countries of the former communist bloc. Our analysis spans over the period 2002–2013. We apply the probit and Heckman models to investigate nonlinear and multicast effects of the considered factors. We evidence that during the crisis and post-crisis periods, foreign ownership alleviates the restrictions on access to financial resources. We also discuss the role of state ownership. We find that the volume of local currency bond market has a nonlinear U-shape relationship. Our results are useful for policy makers focused on sustainable development of the former communist economies by means of improving access of businesses to financing. Full article

Land suitable for agricultural production is limited and should be used in a sustainable manner and protected. Countries of the former communist bloc, where the majority of the agricultural land was dynamically privatized, are in a special situation. Land has been used there also to serve the needs of growing cities, for investment speculation and as entitlement to subsidies. Therefore, legal regulations protecting agricultural land were introduced. In the case of Poland, particular attention should be paid to the radical act of 2016, which completely stopped the sale of Treasury resources and strongly limited sales on the private market. However, the new act caused a number of side effects and various pathologies. This article examines the real effects of policy aimed at combating the misuse of agricultural land. It was assumed that most of the side effects will be observed around big cities, defined as Functional Urban Areas. The following methods were used: a survey in Polish FUAs, analysis of transactions on the real estate market in 2015–2018 and in-depth interviews with representatives of local governments and relevant institutions. The study revealed a number of pathologies, such as ways of circumventing new restrictions or searching for legal loopholes. Full article