Centrifugal forces in a hegemonic environment: the rise of small-state coalitions in the Economic and Monetary Union

A hegemonic power can guarantee the status quo in an international economic system. However, domestic or international changes may unsettle a hegemon’s priorities. In such phases, smaller states benefiting from the existing system may fear that the hegemon will fail to keep the system stable. How do they react if they lose trust in the hegemon’s ability or will to maintain the status quo? This article argues that in such cases, free riding becomes less rewarding. Therefore, smaller states build publicly visible coalitions to ‘voice’ their preferences. Applying this argument to the role of small ‘creditor states’ in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the article draws on original in-depth interviews to analyze the ‘New Hanseatic League’ as a strategy to defend the present euro regime and counterbalance the Franco–German tandem. By elaborating and tracing a fine-grained causal mechanism, the article thus explains the emergence of vocal small-state coalitions in a hegemonic environment.

The failed reform of the eurozone

This chapter is the story of a political failure. When Moscovici arrived in Brussels, he promised to reform eurozone governance, with a eurozone budget and a European finance minister. The Commission’s ambition was laid out in a Five-President Report that promised great institutional advances. Moscovici’s staff devoted considerable time and effort to push for federalist and Keynesian ideas against the ordoliberal consensus originating from Berlin and The Hague. Focusing on discussions and working meetings between political advisors and DG ECFIN officials, this chapter documents the battle of ideas waged—and lost—by the Moscos against the New Hanseatic League…until COVID-19 changed everything.

К вопросу о страдательном залоге в языках, распространенных на берегу Балтийского моря, с акцентом на севернорусском диалекте

The two characteristics of the passive voice found in the North Russian dialect and in other Circum-Baltic languages, the accusative case of the patient or theme as an argument of a verb with passive morphology and intransitive verbs passivized raise a number of related questions. The author of the present paper explores the issues under discussion from an areal-historical perspective, concluding that the aforementioned languages have a tendency for the agent to be the same element as the subject and the patient or theme to be the same element as the (direct) object of the sentence. In the North Russian dialect, we can see an example where the above fact holds true irrespective of whether the verb has an active or a passive morphology as the theme of the sentence assumes the accusative case regardless of whether it is an argument of a verb in the active or in the passive voice.The question as to what lexical elements can function as subjects is itself interesting. Moreover, there seems to be a correlation between what level of abstraction the syntactic category of subject has reached in a language and the existence of a pure passive mean- ing. The less abstract the category of subject is, as in case of Circum-Baltic languages, the farther structures with a passive morphology seem to be from a pure passive meaning. In languages such as English, however, where virtually any noun can function as a subject, there seems to be a pure passive meaning and there is only one morphological way of form- ing passive sentences.The nature of linguistic similarities found in genetically less related languages spoken in the same area has been given a number of varied accounts. The most salient of them ap- pears to be B. Drinka’s explanation based on the influence of Western European languages on ones spoken in the East of the area where once the Hanseatic League existed in the middle ages and I. Seržant’s theory concerning the foregrounding of the agent as passive structures with a stative interpretation gradually assumed a dynamic one.In fact, participles in the North Russian dialect ending in -n / -t can express a dynam- ic, that is, eventive interpretation with a perfect meaning and can even co-occur with the -sja / -s’ postfix, the latter phenomenon being absolutely unimaginable in Standard Russian, where the two affixes are in complementary distribution. The author assumes that the topic should be studied from the perspective of sociology and cultural anthropology as well since linguistic similarities and differences often reflect similarities and differences in thinking beyond the realm of linguistics.

Comparative legal analysis of the constitutional bases of combating corruption in some states of the New Hanseatic League

The article presents an analysis of sources of legal regulation at various levels on anti-corruption issues in certain countries of the Hanseatic League of Modern times. The purpose of the analysis is to compare approaches to the legal regulation of this sphere of public relations and to study the experience of implementing in practice long-term relationships between territorial communities of local self-government in some countries of the Hanseatic League of Modern times. The issues of positive centuries-old interaction of the Association of Hanseatic cities in the context of the development of interstate anti-corruption institutions are updated. The article examines the features of legal regulation of the anti-corruption framework in Germany, the Netherlands and the Russian Federation. Conclusions are drawn about the general features in the approaches to legal regulation of anti-corruption in the above-mentioned states. The authors draw attention to the consistent policy of states to reduce the level of corruption in these states.

Medieval shifts in the balance of power.

This chapter has eleven subsections that explain the context of the European political economy and trade during the late medieval period. The subchapters are about the late medieval European economy, spices in medieval cuisine, spices in medieval medicine, silk in medieval Europe, the world system in the thirteenth century, the Venetian trading empire, the Catalonian trade networks, the Hanseatic League, internal European trade and the Champagne Fairs, Genghis Khan and reopening of the silk route, and the end of the Crusader states and Muslim trade.

TRADE OF VELIKIY NOVGOROD WITH THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE IN THE XIV-XVI CENTURIES

The review examines the trade of Veliky Novgorod and the Hanseatic League, trade and customs policy of the Hansa, including in relation to Veliky Novgorod. Along with analytical materials, cites sources: originals and translations of letters from Hanseatic merchants. An analysis of the Novgorodskaya Skra, its originals and translations of the texts.

History of Medicine in the Baltic Sea region: Introductory remarks by the Editor

A new “Hanseatic League”, “a global hotspot for health”, “one of the most innovative science macro-regions in the world”? In the fields of life science and technology, politicians and managers of current large research projects describe the Baltic Sea region as a hub of cutting-edge research. How did these images emerge?

Trapped Within and Without: A Probe into the Causes of the Decline of the Hanseatic League

The rise of the Hanseatic League in the 13th century lasted for more than 400 years and had a profound impact on medieval European trade. The Hanseatic League was disbanded in 1669. There were many reasons for the decline of the Hanseatic League. First of all, the divided Germany could not provide support for the Hanseatic League. Secondly, the Hanseatic League, as the alliance of medieval commercial cities, also had the limitations of medieval cities. The organization of the Hanseatic League itself was relatively loose and did not achieve joint force. In the end, the opening of a new route and the formation of nation-states became the last straw that broke the camel's back. The Hanseatic League’s commercial status declined, trade partners began to protect their own domestic market, and the Hanseatic League eventually fell. As the most representative commercial alliance in the Middle Ages, the Hanseatic League is of reference value for understanding the commercial trade in medieval Europe.