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Although 30 years have passed since it was first formulated by the American political scientist Joseph Nye Jr, experts in international relations still debate on the contribution that soft power can give in foreign policy. This article aims to analyse the epistemological framework of soft power since its elaboration over the years till now. The research delves into two essential angles of soft power. The former is the study on the relevance of the concept of soft power in the current political dynamics. The latter is the definition of the idea of soft power with a focus on the evolution of such an idea since it was formulated by Joseph Nye Jr. The academic debate around the concept of soft power can be summarised mostly around four points: (1) the definition of soft power, (2) the relationship between hard and soft power; (3) resources and behaviours generating soft power; (4) the actors involved, when we speak about soft power. In the political debate of the last few years, some political scientists and practitioners have raised doubts about relevance and effectiveness of soft power in the current international political dynamics. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, which is reshaping the global order, is demonstrating that deploying effective public diplomacy is still crucial in international relations.

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The aim of the article is to analyse European space policy as a unique and innovative undertaking established within the European Union in order to acquire its strategic space autonomy. European space policy evolution, as well as its implementation and space assets being at the EU disposal, are key enablers of the EU space autonomy. The main assumption of the article is that the EU pursues a strategic autonomy in space because it is indispensable to achieve a strategic autonomy in almost all the realms including security and political ones. That is why European space policy was introduced and a key space programmes including Copernicus and Galileo were initiated. As a result, the EU joined the group of space-faring powers as an influential global player that makes an additional considerable contribution to the structural changes in the outer space governance. A qualitative approach used to analyse this topic should lead to several findings. A strategic space autonomy, which is crucial for the EU to perform its multiple roles, could be grouped into three functional levels: institutional, systemic, and military.

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Biometrics, as a field of science, analyzes the physical and behavioral characteristics of people in order to identify their personality. A huge amount of technology in the field of biometric data collection is developed by IT giants like Google, Facebook, or Alibaba. The European Union (EU) took an important step towards biometric data confidentiality by developing a unified law on the protection of personal data (General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR). The main goal of this action is to return control over personal data to European citizens and at the same time simplify the regulatory legal basis for companies. While European countries and organisations are introducing the GDPR into force, China since 2016 has launched a social credit system as a pilot project. The Social Credit Score (SCS) is based on collecting the maximum amount of data about citizens and assessing the reliability of residents based on their financial, social and online behavior. Only critical opinions can be read about the social credit system in European literature, although the opinions of persons being under this system – Chinese citizens – are quite positive. In this context, we should not forget about the big difference in the mentality of Asians and Europeans. The aim of this article is to compare EU law and the legislation of the People's Republic of China regarding the use and storage of biometric data. On the basis of statistical data and materials analysed, key conclusions will be formulated, that will allow to indicate differences in the positions of state institutions and the attitude of citizens to the issue of personal data protection in China and the European Union.

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Human rights are freedoms, means of protection and benefits, which, when recognized as rights, in accordance with contemporary freedoms, all people should be able to demand from the society in which they live (Encyclopedia… 1985: p. 502). Public confidence in the judiciary depends on many factors. One of them is judicial impartiality, generally understood as not being guided by prejudices against parties and participants in the proceedings and lack of interest in the case. The fundamental importance of this value in the administration of justice means that the law defines its specific guarantees, such as rules for determining adjudication panels, open proceedings, obligation to justify a decision, as well as the possibility of excluding a judge from participating in proceedings due to doubts as to his impartiality. The aim of the article is to indicate that the ability to assert rights is the most important aspect of human rights. These rights are not only lofty ideals or aspirations, but also the improvements underlying the claims. This is proved by outcomes of the analysis presented in this article.

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Since 2014 Ukraine has been implementing the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement in its domestic legal system and facing a lot of challenges introducing European rules and practices into the country’s daily life. The area of consumer protection is one of the most challenging fields due to the cross-cutting nature of consumer protection and its high relevance for all stakeholders: the state, businesses, and consumers. Reforming the Ukrainian consumer protection system and policy is one of the key tasks for the Government of Ukraine. These changes will affect almost the entire population of the country, but – as presented in this article analysis demonstrates – the progress in adjusting Ukrainian legislation in this field to the level needed to correspond to the European standards is moving rather slowly. The author concludes that a comprehensive and well-balanced consumer protection policy model instead of constant amendments to the consumer rights legislation needs to be developed in Ukraine with the proper consideration of the interests of businesses, the state and, first of all, the consumers. Amending the consumer rights legislation does not mean automatically the improvement of the consumer protection level in the country, especially in the situation, when the efficiency of the developed remedies and protection mechanisms depends on wider reforms in judiciary and executive branches in the state.

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The end of the Cold War resulted in an unprecedented geopolitical situation in Europe, presenting a challenge to the security in the continent and the integration achieved so far. The only solution to this geopolitical problem was the integration of the post-communist Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) into the European Union (EU). The CEE countries therefore had to undergo deep societal reforms, while simultaneously pursuing a new foreign policy agenda away from the orbits of Russia. The EU was perceived as a solution to all existing problems. The results of the research conducted in Bulgaria, presented in this article, demonstrate that preparation for meeting the membership criteria which on the surface seemed to correspond to the aims of the transition, substituted the due structural reform. Thus, the EU accession instead of being an instrument for achieving sustainable long-term goals, became an end goal in itself, as if it would be an international testimony of a successful transition. The reforms carried out became a formality, were partial and superficial, and therefore reversible. As a result, the rule of law is deteriorating, and we can observe a facade democracy.

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Political culture is a set of attitudes and practices of people that shape their political behaviour. It includes moral judgments, political myths, beliefs, and ideas about what makes a good society while language of politics is the way of using language and words in the political arena. Words are the “currency” of power in elections. Voter turnout is an indicator of the level of interest and civic participation in political decision making, competitive party offerings, and civic trust in political actors. Extensive participation, when it comes to a competitive system, significantly increases the responsibility of political actors for civic demands and concerns. The aim of the article is to analyze the political culture and electoral behaviour in North Macedonia and Albania. The author makes conclusion based on the analysis presented in the article, that the process of applying democracy in these countries would face extraordinary challenges, caused by the lack of democratic traditions, as well as by established values and attitudes unfavorable for the democracy development. Important aspects of the political culture includes mutual respect, contra voting, the constant and productive political dialogue, political and parliamentary collaboration, stable institutions instead of strong leaders, high level of participation in elections, and expanding the political decision-making area. All of these aspects are considered to be a fragile occurrence in all countries of Southeastern Europe and especially in Albania and North Macedonia.

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This article is examining the effects of party dynamics on changeability of party leaders, arguing that significant differences can be expected with regard to ideology, parliamentary strength, and involvement in government. Authors claim that leaders are more prone to change, when their parties lose elections or depart from the government. Moreover, they explore variations in leadership longevity in relation to degree of democratic consolidation, based on the analysis of experience from the Western Balkans and Visegrad Group countries. Findings confirm the hypotheses regarding electoral failure and departure from government, as well as regional differences between transitional and more consolidated democracies.

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The article demonstrates the phenomenon of the radical Salafism in Sweden in the context of terrorist threats. Due to the radicalisation of terrorism, it is an important problem that also affects many other European and non-European countries. The aim of the article is the analysis of the background of the activity of some radical groups and the terrorist cells that make references to the character of this problem. The article refers to some social and economic conditions for violent radicalisation and its challenges for the security. It is focused on the most important dimensions of the counter-terrorism strategy implemented by the Swedish authorities to fight and prevent extremism. The methodological analysis is based on the integration of historical and system method and refers to Marc Sageman’s theory of the jihadist networks, which is more appropriate to understand how they appear and operate. The main conclusion of the article is that jihadist extremism has appeared in the multicultural society which is based on the idea of integration and inclusion. Sweden has implemented the multidimensional and integrated counter-terrorism policy to prevent violent extremism. Regarding the positive attitudes towards immigrants still are the majority, it should be emphasised that the terrorist threat fuels the anti-immigration orientation.

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The increase in migration flows in 2010–2011 and 2015–2016 has brought the issue of immigrants’ integration in European countries to a qualitatively new level. The integration of immigrants and refugees is one of the central topics in academic and political discourses. This essay presents short analysis of the Swedish language policy towards integration of immigrants and refugees. The importance of this topic is determined by the fact that language is one of the instruments of inclusion in the host society.

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In the light of the deepening climate crisis and global challenges, the issue of energy security is discussed more broadly. The growing fears of the European Union characterised as a region that is highly dependent on energy import from non-EU countries, lead to the modernisation of the European energy sector. The EU is actively promoting the implementation of renewable energy and investments in a sustainable economyto ensure energy security. In this essay, the author analyses a research on the impact of renewable energy efficiency on the gradual reduction of dependence on energy supplies, that was carried out by Turkish scientists, F. Gökgöz and M.T. Güvercin, in 2018. In order to obtain a comprehensive perspective on this issue, the author confronts this publication with other scientific articles in the field of EU energy security.

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The protectionism of the last twelve years is forcing many countries to backtrack in the face of the devastating consequences of those policies on their economies and the world trade. The pandemic COVID-19 has highlighted even more how those policies may be destructive and produce impoverishment. The current global pandemic crisis is producing an abrupt and probably very long braking effect on international trade. However, it would be wrong to consider it as the exclusive or the most important cause of global trade stagnation. In fact, the ground had already been prepared by the economic-financial crisis of 2007–2008 and in particular by the choices of “economic nationalism” of neo-protectionist type, which made a precise political use of the modern linear border. Globalisation means mainly the overcoming of political barriers, borders, and the opening to the global free trade market. On the contrary, it is now still hindered by heavy political factors, among which protectionism has been the main one for many years. Those policies, implemented on the large areas by major world powers, have caused a long phase of “de-globalisation”, characterised by the renewed use of the modern border to enclose economies, well before the pandemic crisis.