Articles

On the importance of mainstream vs. mainline distinction in understanding economics, the power of ideas and education focusing on the link between philosophy, politics and economics, and the new master\'s PPE program in Prague with professor Peter Boettke talked Josef Šíma, president of CEVRO Institute, Prague.

A robot called Baxter truly exists. It takes him one hour to learn simple repetitive movements and then it is able to repeat them with objects which weight no more than 10 kilograms. Baxter costs 22 thousand US dollars. It is less than work costs of one employee with average salary in Slovakia for two years.

The European Union has done a fine job creating opportunities for its citizens and their goods and services. However, trade has become more digitalised. The online environment offers more and more opportunities. In most cases, it saves time compared doing it in the real world.

The conclusion for the Hungarian opposition shall therefore be quite obvious: they need to find an answer to the abovementioned economic needs. The refugee crisis may dominate the public discussion for now, but everyday lives of the voters are defined by the worsening economic situation and the fear of wash-out.

Although the frontlines are very clear when it comes to democracy, rule of law, European orientation – it is not the case in economic issues. Opposition parties have to remember this when creating a program and looking for alternatives instead of the regime of Fidesz: the Hungarian opposition is not right of left wing, rather eclectic – just like the government.

The sphere of entitlement and privileges of authorities and the sphere of rights and freedoms of citizens form a relationship which is characterised by inevitable and perpetual tensions. Every political system – may it be liberalism or democracy – works the same way.

With the president who is not willing to perform his duties as the guardian of the Constitution, it seems that it is thanks to the EU membership that there is still a kind of a safety net for Poland. Joining the EU back in 2004 now, in the light of the government that has set out to question the basic principles of European democracy, may prove a real lifesaver.

2015 was a year of many wins and losses for Ukraine. In the first half of the year, Ukraine faced a near-perfect storm of escalating military conflict, falling commodity prices and political instability. As a result already low export revenues went even further down and foreign currency reserves dropped to 5 billion dollars.

Estonia leads the rankings of women percentage in party memberships with 54%. This means that women form the majority of the party memberships, but they are not influential enough to have an effect on parties’ policies, electoral lists formation and at the end also on election outcomes.

Luckily, the world community in Paris was not as unrealistic as the German Federal Government. The climate treaty expressly allows for the equalization and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Now it\'s up to politicians to align national and international ambitions with the realism of social development and actual climate dynamics.