On the Borderlines of South-Eastern Europe : Migration in the Films of Aida Begić and Želimir Žilnik

This paper analyses recent works by Aida Begić and Želimir Žilnik— Never Leave Me (2017) and The Most Beautiful Country in the World (2018), respectively. These works narrate the evolving lives of migrants on the borderlines of the Balkan Anatolian region. Migrants’ aspiration to reach their “dream land” is interpreted as a journey towards unfolding “the virtual realities of consciousness” of both actors and directors. The reflections of both Begić and Žilnik on the issue of migration, filmed in an accented style, highlight their own post-Yugoslav perspectives, which allows us to analyse the two films in context of “return to homeland”—a concept present both in Naficy’s theories of an accented cinema and in Boym’s notion of “reflective nostalgia.”

The American Revolution and the Habsburg Monarchy

Jonathan Singerton’s is the first work to analyze the impact of the American Revolution in the Habsburg lands in full. He narrates how the Habsburg dynasty first received struggled with the news of the American Revolution and then how they sought to utilize their connections with a sovereign United States of America. Overall, Singerton recasts scholarly conceptions of the Atlantic World and also presents a more globalized view of the eighteenth-century Habsburg world, highlighting how the American call to liberty was answered in the remotest parts of central and eastern Europe but also showing how the United States failed to sway one of the largest, most powerful states in Europe onto its side in the War for American Independence.

Religion and Forced Displacement in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia

This book examines the social and political mobilisation of religious communities towards forced displacement in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. It analyses religious strategies in relation to tolerance and transitory environments as a result of the breakup of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the post-2011 Syrian crisis and the 2014 Russian takeover of Crimea. How do religious actors and state bodies engage with refugees and migrants? What are the mechanisms of religious support towards forcibly displaced communities? The book argues that when states do not act as providers of human security, religious communities, as representatives of civil society and often closer to the grass roots level, can be well placed to serve populations in need. The book brings together scholars from across the region and provides a comprehensive overview of the ways in which religious communities tackle humanitarian crises in contemporary Armenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

Compulsive buying among young consumers in Eastern Europe: a two-study approach to scale adaptation and validation

Purpose Although much research focuses on the compulsive buying behavior theory, little attention has been paid to evaluation and diagnosis of compulsive buying in Eastern Europe. This is surprising, given an increasing prevalence of consumerism in many transitioning economies. Young consumers are particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to adapt the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale to the Eastern European, specifically Polish cultural and language environment, and to validate it within a group of young Polish consumers, as well to assess the compulsive buying prevalence and the relationship between the compulsive buying and its precursors. Design/methodology/approach The Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale was selected for adaptation to the Polish context as it represents one of the best methodological and substantive compulsive buying measures in literature. The research is composed of two studies. Study 1 uses an in-person survey of young consumers (N = 504). A wide range of statistical procedures and latent variable modeling was used in the analysis. Study 2 (N = 756) uses an online survey to evaluate the correlation and relationship between the compulsive buying measure and its precursors, including consumers’ traits and states, by implementing a multiple indicators and multiple causes model. Findings The results of the two studies confirm that the adapted scale represents a valid and reliable measure of compulsive buying tendency in Poland, with the identified incidence rate of compulsive buying among Polish young consumers ranging from 11% in Study 1 to 11.6% in Study 2. In comparison with the results of other studies using the same measure, the current research findings reveal a similarity with the compulsive buying prevalence in China (10.4%; He et al., 2018), Brazil (9.8%; Leite et al., 2013) and slightly exceed the level found in western societies (e.g. 8.9% in the USA; Ridgway et al., 2008). The results of Study 2 indicate that compulsive buying in Poland is induced by low self-esteem and high levels of materialism, depression, anxiety, stress and negative feelings. Research limitations/implications The present research offers a methodological and substantive contribution by adapting and testing the original version of the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale within an Eastern European transitional market; specifically Poland. In addition, the study offers an empirical contribution to the international research on compulsive behavior, including its precursors, as seen in young consumers. Practical implications This research offers important public policy implications and highlights ethical implications for business organizations. In particular, the findings of this study offer suggestions for enhancing policies and processes of programing appropriate social and educational campaigns that can save young consumers from the negative consequences of compulsive buying. Originality/value The transitional status of the Polish economy and other Eastern European countries has given rise to compulsive buying behavior, especially among young consumers. This emerging consumer behavior trend in Eastern Europe is still underexplored and underreported; hence, there exists a strong need for exploring and measuring such behavior across different Eastern European markets.

An alarming absence of data on attitudes towards biobanking in the Central and Eastern Europe

In recent years, biobanking infrastructure has been gradually built in Central and Eastern Europe. The long-term success of biobanking, however, depends on the public’s engagement in the process. The available evidence indicates low informedness and hesitancy towards biobanking in CEE. Understanding of driving forces and barriers in laypeople’s participation in biobanking is thus a key challenge. The present paper aims to (1) summarize the available evidence, especially from the CEE countries, on public awareness and willingness to participate in biobanking, (2) provide the results of a systematic review on psychological correlates of engagement in biobanking in CEE, and (3) highlight the most pressing issues regarding the available evidence. In general, public awareness, biobanks’ communication and cooperation, ethical and legal regulations, and institutional/governmental trust seem to determine public engagement in biobanking the most. However, cultural specifics are likely to play a major role. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of behavioral data on this topic for the CEE countries. General recommendations on how to increase laypeople’s participation in biobanking are discussed. For the field to progress, future in-depth research on this topic conducted in the CEE countries is needed.

Cryptocurrency (Virtual Coins): Accounting Aspects and Tax Regulations

Lately, there have been many questions from specialists regarding the accountability of cryptocurrency. The lack of a legislation has allowed them to be interpreted as either intangible assets or stocks, even though Romania owns the biggest transaction platform in Eastern Europe (Bitcoin Romania). National Bank of Romania (NBR) acknowledges the lack of regulations and supervisions regarding cryptocurrency, regarding them as “speculative assets, extremely volatile and risky”. Simultaneously, this brings to attention the fact that these are not national coins nor currencies, and accepting them as a payment method isn’t, legally speaking, mandatory.

PERMIAN NON-MARINE BIVALVES FROM THE COLLIO AND GUNCINA FORMATIONS (SOUTHERN ALPS, ITALY): REVISED BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND PALAEOBIOGEOGRAPHY

Non-marine bivalves are key fossils in Permian continental stratigraphy and palaeogeography. Although known since the end of 19th century, the occurrences from the continental basins of the Southern Alps have never been extensively studied. The non-marine bivalves from the Lower Permian Collio Formation (Brescian pre-Alps) are herein revised, and those from the Guncina Formation (Athesian District) are described for the first time. These two units yielded non-marine bivalves belonging to the genus Palaeomutela sensu lato, which is widespread in the Permian continental successions of eastern Euramerica. Three Palaeomutela morphotypes have been herein described: oval-subtriangular, subtrapezoidal and elongated. The latter includes several specimens herein assigned to Palaeomutela (Palaeanodonta) berrutii sp. nov. and dominates the Collio Formation association. The Guncina Formation yielded also the genus Redikorella, for the first time co-occurring on the same stratigraphic horizon of Palaeomutela, herein assigned to Palaeomutela (Palaeanodonta) guncinaensis sp. nov. To-date, it was generally accepted that the first members of the genera Palaeomutela and Redikorella occurred during the Ufimian (late Kungurian of the global scale) in the non-marine basins of the Cis-Ural Foredeep and of Angara, respectively. Such new finds in the early-middle Kungurian of southwestern Europe, well constrained by radioisotopic dating, suggest new global first appearance (First Appearance Datum) and a possible new center of origin of these genera. This fact raises new questions on biostratigraphy, palaeobiogeography and palaeoecology, which will require further research. If we assume that the genera Palaeomutela and Redikorella had only one center of origin, we need to hypothesise possible migration routes from SW Europe to the continental basins of Eastern Europe and Angara. Apparently, such migration could be better supported by a Pangaea B palaeogeographic configuration.

‘The world’s shortest highway’: Entrepreneurial populism and the making of a personal campaign

‘The world’s shortest highway’ is 1 metre long and was built in 2019 by a Romanian businessman as part of the campaign ‘Romania wants highways’. This brought interesting evolutions to the landscape of social movements in Eastern Europe. It was a highly personalised campaign, one which faced several internal contradictions and displayed an uncritical adoption of stereotypes about progress and development. We argue that it produced a discourse that revolves around ‘Westernisation’ and ‘nationhood’. As this article seeks to demonstrate, the campaign is framed in a discourse of ‘entrepreneurial populism’. By analysing this discourse, we contribute with a peculiar case to the debates on the varieties of populism and on the culture of business celebrities. Our analysis indicates that, although this single-issue campaign is nominally about highways, its substance is rather about business celebrities occupying the space of social activism.