The Death of Law

This is a talk about the decline and fall of constitutional law, an overarching characteristic of the new millennium. I focus on the period from the end of the Cold War—once described as the end of history—to what I call the "Second Cold War” beginning in the second decade of this century and having escalated in the proxy war in Ukraine. The Second Cold War is also characterized by an aborted cooptation of China through the World Trade Organization (to tame China's seemingly unstoppable ascension to global supremacy) as well as a state of permanent emergency.

"Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same". The Governance of Migrant Labour in Spanish and Italian Agriculture in the First Year of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic placed great stress on food supply chains, following the policies adopted to contain the spread of the virus. The labour shortages in agriculture emerged early in Spain and Italy during the first months of the pandemic revealed the essential role of migrant farmworkers in ensuring food security. The purpose of this article is twofold: firstly, to examine whether the coronavirus pandemic contributed to change the public and political attitudes towards farm work and migration;secondly, to assess which type of epistemological perspective prevailed in these countries when debating on seasonal migration and industrial agriculture. The article uses a mix of research methods based on the Critical Discourse Approach, which includes a systematic review of media sources, the examination of relevant legal and administrative acts, the analysis of secondary statistical data, and, finally, the analysis of auto-representations and proposals put forward by migrant farmworkers and trade unions through their blogs, websites, and Facebook accounts. The major trends found as a result of this analysis indicate that even though the pandemic contributed to shed light in both countries on the pivotal role of migrant farmworkers and the forms of labour exploitation they suffer in the agricultural sector, this increased visibility did not shift into real policy and attitudes changes. At the heart of this problem is the fictitious separation between labour and capital, whereby migrant agricultural labour remains on the sidelines of the major discussions centered around the capital that are undergoing in European advanced economies.

Parading Utopia on the road to nowhere? An introduction to the special issue on the policy impact of the European basic income experiments

Basic income experiments have emerged across Europe in recent years, but until now analysis has focused on their design and the scientific interpretation of their results, rather than the subsequent policy impact of these projects. This special issue addresses this gap. The papers all focus on whether and how the European basic income experiments have made an observable impact on the basic income debate and social security reform more generally. The special issue includes country case studies of the three countries in Europe that have completed their experiments, Finland, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as a case study of Scotland, where a feasibility study did not result in a field experiment, and of Ireland, which is in the process of planning at least one experiment. Two papers then also examine the effect of these experiments on the debate at EU level and outside Europe, in Australia. The special issue provides a novel contribution that advances both the scholarly and policy debates surrounding basic income at a time when COVID-19 appears to have increased interest in the policy and equally seems to have propelled the idea of experimenting with basic income even further into the mainstream.

Between Minimum Living Income and Basic Income: disputes over the government of poverty in Spain during the Great Interruption

In this article, the discourses around wealth redistribution policies in Spain based on the case of disputes around the Minimum Living Income during the Great Interruption ???the period of health and economic crisis from March to September 2020??? are analyzed. To do this, the most meaningful moments in the evolution of the public debate on the policy are synthesized and analyzed: the outbreak of the pandemic in March, the approval of the Minimum Living Income in June, and the first phase of implementation of the policy until September of 2020. The analysis of political, media and activist discourses shows the disputes in the ways of tackling poverty, on the one hand, with the initial openings of the political imagination to innovative policies ???such as the Universal Basic Income or the Quarantine Income??? or the normalization of an approach to the expansion of social and economic rights, and on the other hand, the transversal affirmation of the work ethic, the narratives of stigmatization of people without income, the modes of control, bureaucratization and government of the poverty, and the technocratic justification of the policy as an improvement of the minimum income system of the regions. Despite the continuities and discontinuities in the discursive frameworks, it is concluded that the disputes analyzed around the Minimum Vital Income express some of the social tensions derived from the trends of growing inequality since the 2008 which have not been reversed to date.

NEW PRINCIPLES OF RESOURCE DISTRIBUTION IN THE EU AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE COUNTRIES OF THE BALTIC REGION

The Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021—2027 was adopted during the severe crisis caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In the face of a rapidly deteriorating economic situation, EU countries took unprecedented steps radically changing the principles of resource allocation in the Union. These included the recovery plan for Europe, making the EU budget conditional on respect for the rule of law and the new EU resources system. This article seeks to identify the essential characteristics of the decisions made within the Multiannual Financial Framework and define their significance for advancing integration. The study attempts to answer two questions: do these decisions mark the transition to a new stage of integration and to what extent do they comply with the law of the Union. Several EU initiatives related to debt redistribution are analysed, along with the impact of these initiatives on Eastern European countries, particularly those of the Baltic Sea region. The research explores the decisions from the standpoint of legal and political science. In particular, it is stressed that, when reaching a compromise on making the budget conditional on respect for the rule of law, the EU and its member states had to use a mechanism for postponing the execution of an act of the Union, which contradicts the basic principles of EU law. From a political point of view, the adoption of a package of legislative acts within the Multiannual Financial Framework means growing dependence of the member states and an increase in solidarity and loyalty within the Union. © Entin, M. L., Entina, E. G., Voynikov, V. V., 2022

The ESM Pandemic Crisis Support Facility: A Changing Conditionality?

Since late 2019, the globe has progressively been affected by a pandemic caused by a new virus named Covid-19. To face the economic and social effects of this crisis, the European Union has predisposed a plan hinged on four pillars. The Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency to provide financial assistance for work and jobs. A fund established by the European Investment Bank in favour of small and medium enterprises. A Recovery Fund to stimulate and support European recovery. A Pandemic Crisis Support facility under which the European Stability Mechanism may provide resources without macroeconomic conditionality in favour of direct and indirect healthcare, cure and prevention related to the Covid-19 crisis. With specific reference to this facility, the absence of macroeconomic conditionality questions its compatibility with the ESM and EU Treaties. This problem could have been cured in the amending process of the ESM Treaty. Unfortunately, it was not so and the solution must be sought elsewhere. This may be done by interpreting the no bail-out rule, holding that the no bail-out rule is suspended or finding that the no bailout rule is satisfied by the national recovery and resilience plans. Alternatively, the facility could have been placed under different umbrellas. However, the exceptional features of the facility are not replicable in the ESM context © 2022. Kluwer Law International BV, The Netherlands

Comparing disciplinary engagement in global health research across the social sciences

Objectives What did social science disciplines contribute to the study of global health before the coronavirus pandemic? This article compares the contributions of four major social science disciplines-anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology-to the study of global health. Methods We assessed disciplinary contributions through analysis of Web of Science;disciplinary annual reviews;and each discipline's top two general focus journals, complemented by literature reviews. Results Of the four disciplines, anthropology and economics have contributed relatively more in quantitative terms, although qualitative contributions have been refracted through the larger histories, methods, and theoretical concerns. Although interest in global health research has grown across the disciplines, only in anthropology has it achieved a measure of prominence in top journals. Conclusion Cross-disciplinary comparison draws out how each discipline approaches global health;which topics it studies;and the topic's centrality/marginality within the broader disciplines.

The International Monetary Fund and COVID-19: Old and New Challenges of a Post- World War II International Institution

The global pandemic caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 put the attention on the International Monetary Fund's ability to promote the cooperation between states in the fight against its dramatic economic and financial effects. The measures adopted by the IMF after the declaration of the health emergency of international concern related to the global outbreak of COVID-19 reveal the intensification of some of the traditional structural challenges of this Post-World War II intergovernmental organization. In this sense, the COVID-19 pandemic has strengthened the critics against the lack of democratic legitimacy of the IMF and has reinforced the competition that the Fund faces from other international financial institutions. The characteristics of the lending programs adopted by the Fund in response to this global crisis manifest states' persisting concerns and hostility towards the IMF's conditionality. The economic and financial crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has also created some new specific challenges for the efficient functioning of the Fund. It has highlighted that the IMF's work could not be separated from the respect of the human right to health and the protection of the environment, as existential prerequisites of sustainable economic development, monetary and financial stability, and social wellbeing. © 2021 Centro Universitario de Brasilia. All rights reserved.

MATRIX FORM OF FORMULATION OF BUSINESS. MARKETING DETERMINATIONS IN CONDITIONS OF COVID 19 PANDEMIC

Economics is a science based on the choice of business alternatives in the circumstances that characterize the analyzed business environment. Various circumstances are not under control of business decision-makers, but they must be considered and respected by them. It is known that the environment is an indispensable part of the business system and that their permanent interaction is present. The environment can be convinient and inconvinient for certain business systems, where top business ingenuity means adapting the business system to the environment and finding opportunities for functional progress, regardless of the environment. Business circumstances are experiencing revolutionary changes caused by the emergency situation related to the spread of COVID - 19 virus, with almost all business systems being affected by new and unexpected circumstances. The degree and form of business conditionality ranges from disastrous to favorable, but it is also determined by the ingenuity of business management, and not only by the appearance of a global pandemic. Modeling the business strategies according to the degree of impact conditioned by the nature of the activity requires the formulation of a payment matrix and thus the selection of the optimal business strategy in line with the capabilities of the business system. Marketing commitments are an instrument of rapprochement with users of products and / or services of the business system and logically arise from strategic commitments. The research task is to formalize the modelling of business systems strategic behaviour in the field of composing marketing activities cohering with the impact degree of economy conditions on business and the need for additional efforts to establish a new form of business to amortize the consequences of new circumstances. The matrix formulation of strategic solutions, intersected with the newly created circumstances expressed in the form of the conditionality degree of business activities to epidemiological circumstances, enables the selection of optimal business in accordance with business opportunities. More developed business systems that already use internet marketing and social media marketing have risen and positioned themselves in the market and as such their business will have the best chance of surviving a pandemic period. Marketing activities are to be adapted to the target market, where it is clear that the online market operates perfectly in circumstances other than analysed, globally more significant than in the analysed territory, where marketing would enable market expansion and preparation for standardization of created online or contactless offer, and thus prepare the market and users for the future business. The world will operate on the principle of raising awareness in various ways to overcome the negative impact formed in the global pandemic and this includes openness to: new technologies, online business, new techniques for changing beliefs, classical education, basic education in business economics, psychological topics to strengthen the mental state and immune system, as well as many others, which will have a positive impact on each individual as well as on companies as systems.

Let's lessen conditionality in times of force majeure events. The archaic righteousness of the policy of conditionality of international Institutions amid COVID-19.

This article investigates how international decision-making's conditionality aids countries during strenuous economic conditions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines and contrasts the European Union's conditionality policies, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank as the more influential and leading groups of institutions. The article reveals notable policy differences. As opposed to that of the IMF and WB, the EU's approach is more comprehensive and not confined to economic considerations. Those variations aside, the article draws on the same premise: expectations of compliance with the set conditions. While in-depth, structural requirements could guide ordinary decision-making and build up resilient national institutions and policies, this article questions the merits of large-scale comprehensive terms in the face of a situation created by a force majeure or a humanly uncontrollable event such as the COVID-19 pandemic. With no more initial research addressing the specific question of the application and adequacy of conditionality to force majeure emergencies or pandemic situations of the scale of COVID-19, this article argues in favor of a measured and targeted response limited to the development, design, or determination of policy choices that tackle the intended purpose. Also, for validly practical considerations that search for to ensure the better use of aid and avoid distracting or overburdening the recipient countries to the point of risking losses of devastating proportions, the article proposes to revise and limit conditionality during force majeure events to the essential aspects of transparent management of funds for the sole intended purpose. This in itself is a distinct democratic exercise of efficient and accountable public management decision-making.