This comparative study focuses on the barriers to social and economic inclusion, as well as the integration and coping strategies of Arab and Moldovan migrants in Romania. We explored the integration barriers they face, the main individual and societal aspects that lead to their resilience, and their self-perception of vulnerability, by carrying out 35 psychosocial interviews and four focus groups with young migrants (aged 18 to 29), belonging to the two different subgroups (of Arab and Moldovan origins, respectively). The comparative analysis revealed that migrants from Arab countries face harsher integration barriers compared to Moldovan migrants, they have a more severe self-perceived vulnerability, and their integration may be a longer and more complex process. Results showed that mastery of the language and the network of acquaintances play an indispensable role in inclusion. Moldovans integrate more easily than Arabs, thanks to their fluency in Romanian, the native language shared with the majority local population, the geographical and cultural proximity to the country of destination, and the larger personal network. We highlight the need for improving integration policies for young migrants, tailoring them to the specific problems and barriers that migrants are facing.

During the Second World War, Kurt Lewin was part of a wider research team commissioned by the U.S. Department of Defense to study how dietary habits of American citizens could be changed so as to avoid protein starvation due to the lengthy war efforts. Lewin’s research on food habits can be linked to his earlier studies on social fields. This paper aims to interpret Lewin’s findings on changing dietary habits by using his very own field theory approach, in order to hypothesize how the such findings can be drivers of social change, with the findings being applicable for business management settings as well. Concepts of time and space, as well as ‘simultaneity’ and ‘psychological ecology’ are brought up to discussion in order to back up the purpose of research.

The popular mindset and widespread narrative, at least until not so long ago, was that in outer space affairs the fiefdom belongs, politically and economically, to governments and big businesses. An array of alliances between few states and their privileged partners from the corporate world constituted the highly exclusivist space ecosystem. Little room was supposed to be available to non-full-fledged spacefaring nations and enterprises originated from them, a configuration furthermore jammed by the fact that international agreements – i.e., the “Outer Space Treaty” (1967) an the “Moon Treaty” (1979) – seem to be rather dismissive of extensive exploitation of celestial bodies, adding to the already prohibitive costs of such endeavours if legitimized. Devoted mainly to scientific exploration paired with exploitation only of planetary proximities – viz., the large satellite population orbiting the Earth, with their support and serviced industries, all estimated at half a trillion dollars –, the space economy, in its high-tech dimension, steadily democratized itself, becoming more competitive, and collaborative too, opening up to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), many coming from emerging spacefaring nations. The literature covering SMEs contribution to the development of the space economy is on track of consolidation, as the process itself is unfolding, with data covering only the most powerful space players (e.g., US, EU). Valuable insights are added starting from the common wisdom that institutions (channelling economic information and incentives) are the main drivers in space development, rather than business size, even more in a competitive- collaborative global economy. A case study is dedicated to the Romanian experience (that of a relatively new and little player in European/global space affairs). A conclusion is that in an economy of unbounded creativity and borderless capital, visionary enterprises, big or small, fit even into the space industry value chains, if a pro-market, pro-business climate is secured.

This study focuses on the integration facilitators of young migrants in Romania, as resulting from the information gathered through a Photovoice participatory action research method. Young third country nationals were asked to take photos which they thought best summed up their migration experiences. Next to the photos, the migrants were also asked to submit short texts describing the captured images and the meanings that these had for them, thus adding richness and nuance to the data. The evidence gathered reveals that several factors, such as access to education, interacting with a new culture, and with new places and people, are perceived as opportunities and positive migration outcomes. Therefore, human and social capital, as well as the natural or urban environment in the host country, contribute to the enhancement of integration opportunities for young migrants. The paper sets out to analyze how such factors which can facilitate integration are captured in a PAR. Research results show that young migrants perceive their experiences in Romania as enhanced by some factors through which they advance in their integration paths.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a praised and promoted business behavior nowadays, widely understood as the entrepreneurs’ and managers’ attempts to make amends for some of the excesses that their economic activities bring about, for instance with regard to environmental negative externalities or to public ecological assets under-provision. It is of utmost importance to duly process and profess the CSR concept, one placed at a subtle interplay between business profitability and civic/social responsibility, between economic and ethical/legal realms, since the misrepresentation of economic agents’ benchmark of proper conduct might harm both social landscape and ecological environment. Still, despite its rich occurrence in scholarly literature as well as recurrence in business practices, CSR requires both further and thorough clarification, since many studies postulate that the free-market mindset is rather dismissive of CSR solicitudes. The current research paper fills such a sensitive conceptual gap by explaining why CSR regards are logically compatible with the free markets, with no reason to decree a market failure in this matter. The work takes the form of an analytical research, of an explicitly conceptual nature, based on praxeologically-deductive argumentation, documenting the fundamental compatibility of CSR with the free market order, populated by profit-driven capitalist corporations that, far from being reckless, are disciplined by the rule of law of clearly defined, defended, divestible property rights. As such, the plea adopted the methodological acquis of the Austrian School of law and economics. The main findings of the present study reveal that (a) in economic commonsense, the “profit motive” is the prima facia rule of judiciousness as the care for third-parties’ welfare can be ensured only after own well-being has been secured, while (b) ethically, “social responsibility”, as an extra-contractual duty, does build up on top of, not as trade-off with a robust property rights order.

After the fall of communist regimes, Central and Eastern European states have been encouraged to Europeanise by aligning to Western standards. Even if politics and economy have been primarily concerned, football has often allowed easier and faster contact to occidental cultures than other facets of the civic society did. From a football club perspective, being Europeanized involves the abilities to establish a constant presence in continental cups, as well as to raise performances to higher, international standards. The game itself has strongly Europeanised over the years, with UEFA transforming its two continental inter-club competitions into iconic brands, ‘pluralizing’ fan attention between domestic leagues and international cups, with the latter ones enjoying increased awareness. While some UEFA member associations have properly mastered the process of Europeanisation, others saw their teams struggle to perform in Europe, which led to the creation of a cleavage between ‘elitist’ and ‘periphery’ countries. Results of Romanian teams in European competitions have fluctuated over the past and a half decade. The purpose of this research is to find out how far Europeanised Romanian football can be currently considered. The research question asks what is the current European dimension of Romanian club football? UEFA Country Coefficients are used as input data for computing statistical observations such as means and standard deviations, which are then compared with a three-levelled center-periphery model designed by Maguire (2001). Results indicate that Romanian football is still far away from the continental ‘center’ status it pretends to have. The Discussions section addresses some of the reasons for this distance. The article tries to fill in a research gap as most Europeanisation studies so far have focused on the hardcore concepts of economics, politics, or law, but rather few on social and cultural alignments, such as football (Pyta, 2005).