Through fiscal policy, the government can influence businesses and individuals in order to regulate their behaviour. The research used panel data from all 27 EU countries covering the period 2008–2020 to investigate the impact of direct taxation on economic growth at the level of two main clusters of countries concerning fiscal efficiency. Therefore, the analysis employed cluster methods to classify the main EU countries in both groups of countries with a high level of fiscal efficiency and those with a rather limited level of fiscal efficiency. The study employs fixed effect models and dynamic GMM methods to investigate the effect of direct taxation components (personal and corporate income taxes) on economic growth. The analysis also considers the informal economy’s role in relation to the official economy. The empirical results revealed that corporate income taxes significantly negatively impact economic growth for both clusters of high- and limited fiscal efficiency countries. Additionally, personal income tax was associated with lower economic growth for countries in the limited fiscal efficiency group. Thus, from the perspective of policymakers, lowering direct taxation can increase disposable income, stimulate consumption and economic growth, encourage investment leading to job creation, increase competitiveness, and reduce tax evasion and avoidance, thereby leading to a more efficient tax system.

Resilience is a concept borrowed from different fields of research like psychology, ecology and engineering and established in security studies. But the stability and relevance of the concept is not yet established as we have till the end of 2024, according to NATO agenda, to settle its substance and content. On the epistemological area, we need to establish the usefulness of such a concept as well as its identity and concrete added value to security studies since it overlaps with number of other concepts like security, vulnerability, good governance, sustainability and so on.

Scenariile prospective (Chifu 2022) se adună, acum, în ajunul contraofensivei anunțate de Ucraina pentru a-și revendica teritoriile și pentru a crea avantaje strategice clare, în perspectiva unor eventuale negocieri cu Rusia (Menon 2023). Și, în timp ce criteriile și indicatorii unei evoluții pe termen scurt și mediu sunt mai ușor de determinat, la fel ca obiectivul aspirațional al Ucrainei de a-și recâștiga toate teritoriile ocupate (Wallander 2023), există numeroase puncte de inflexiune care pot apărea, tot așa după cum se profilează și o serie de game changers, elemente care ar schimba radical realitatea și cursul tendinței cunoscute. În acest sens, ne-am permis să schițăm, aici, un proiect actualizat al evoluțiilor, scenariilor și opțiunilor viitoare ale Ucrainei, în cazul unui război de agresiune la scară largă al Rusiei, evoluții care, în mod firesc, influențează și ceea ce se va întâmpla cu lumea postbelică

Apărarea avansată nu este un concept nou. Este mai degrabă tradițional, provenind din timpul Războiului Rece și implicând, inițial, postura și strategia nucleară. Perspectiva unor posibile atacuri pe teritoriul NATO – în viitorii 2-3-5-8 ani – necesită o revizuire a conceptului și, în consecință, a deciziilor politice, a planificării strategice, a aplicării acestor decizii și a dezvoltării forțelor și capabilităților pe teren. Combinând capabilități nucleare flexibile, o strategie de ripostă masivă cu forțe convenționale și de descurajare prin asigurare, descurajare prin negare, prezență avansată, capabilități de proiecție rapidă, hotărâre, luare de decizii eficiente, postură avansată, am putea construi o nouă doctrină actualizată de apărare avansată. Dar dezbaterea trebuie să aibă în vedere ce este teoretic dezvoltat, tehnic fezabil, politic acceptabil, sustenabil financiar și credibil din punct de vedere strategic în „noua apărare avansată” pentru a garanta inviolabilitatea teritoriului aliat. Iar limita de bază este definirea și perfecționarea apărării avansate fără o reconsiderare dincolo de mijloacele existente.

There is a full resurgence of populist, nationalist, right-wing extremist parties at the forefront of European and world politics. These are not mere labels, and the differences between the various approaches within this political family are crucial. We have reviewed the different components of ideologies in the radical right space and the links with populism, conservatism, nationalism, anti-system or anti-elite, globalist, neo-liberalism approaches, including parliamentary representation and democratic governance, making a mirror of radicalization. We have also delved into the causes of the historical emergence and proliferation of these trends, and have looked at sociological studies that reveal the qualitative content and characteristics of the favourite targets of these trends. The study shows that the dominant criteria are technology, algorithms and message amplifiers as well as the lack of responsibility, and frustration that bring these trends to the fore, and not necessarily the obvious quantitative indicators such as investment in and level of education, economic development, or qualitative ones such as indiscriminate access to opinions in the guise of information and lack of critical thinking.

In the conundrum of legality, legitimacy, and morality regarding war and war operations, the concept of responsible warfare could find its place. The operational definition of such a concept or even behavior has its place somewhere between the legitimate and moral sides, since an ethical component is present in the idea of responsible warfare, not only in the legitimate access to force and use of military power, but also in the legal component associated with it. In this article, we aim to identify specific pieces of concrete behaviour in times of war that would substantiate this concept and could be a basis for responsible behavior. Our major test case is the recent attack by the US on Iranian nuclear facilities and the counterreaction from the regime of Ayatollahs to retaliate proportionally and avoid escalation. The link between promoting a responsible warfare and the effectiveness of reaching the objectives in war could be, however, instrumental to challenge as well as advocating to any extention of such a practice.