This thesis constitutes the first comparative study of the phenomenon of alternative art galleries functioning during the 1970s in two neighbouring state socialist regimes, namely, the German Democratic Republic and the People's Republic of Poland. Firmly contextualised in the cultural-political climate of Honecker's and Gierek's quasi-liberalisation, it examines the socio-cultural function of non-conformist exhibition spaces and focuses, specifically, on two case studies: Galerie Arkade in East Berlin and Galeria/Repassage in Warsaw. By looking at a wide variety of practices produced in those spaces, this thesis investigates the commonalities and differences in how the galleries operated and how they related to the divergent post-Stalinist conditions. For instance, due to more repressive cultural-politics in the GDR, it proved more difficult to accommodate experimental practices in Arkade, since even exhibiting abstract art was problematic for the East German officials. Conversely, in Poland Gierek's liberalisation resulted in the state's limited acceptance of radical artistic practices such as performance and conceptual art but only in the marginal spaces of artist-run galleries. Despite their alternative status, the galleries were, to a certain degree, dependent administratively and financially on these socialist institutions and were at the same time exposed to surveillance by the state security services. These aspects of galleries' activities are often neglected and so to remedy this lack this thesis offers new perspectives on and insights into various aspects of the functioning of alternative culture in this region. The originality of this research lies also in its references to new archival material which has not been published, nor interpreted before. The interpretation of these rich primary sources makes use of a new theoretical framework that combines Michel Foucault's theory of heterotopia in a macro-level analysis and Henri Lefebvre's ideas on the social production of space in a micro-level analysis. In particular, the galleries' histories are seen in this thesis as intertwined with the advancing process of disintegration of state socialism in the Eastern Bloc as this was perceptible to varying degree in different socialist states. Accordingly, it argues that the galleries were symptomatic of and, simultaneously, contributed through various practices to the 'post-socialist condition'.

Cette thèse s’intéresse au défi que représente le rattrapage des niveaux de prix pour la stabilité macroéconomique des pays en transition d’Europe centrale et orientale, dans la perspective de leur future participation à la zone euro. A cet égard, une modélisation du taux de change réel d’équilibre suggère que l’appréciation réelle liée au rattrapage économique recouvre des évolutions de prix relatifs différentes suivant les régimes de change, dont témoignent des trajectoires d’endettement extérieur contrastées. Dans les économies en changes flexibles, la hausse du taux de change nominal favorise une appréciation endogène des termes de l’échange à moyen terme, en orientant les investissements directs étrangers et la réalisation des gains de productivité vers le secteur exposé de l’économie, ce qui se traduit par une appréciation du taux de change réel d’équilibre et une amélioration des comptes extérieurs. Dans les économies en changes fixes, les effets de valorisation liés à la hausse des prix relatifs domestiques tendent à orienter les investissements vers le secteur abrité de l’économie, entraînant une érosion de la compétitivité extérieure, dont témoigne le gonflement de la dette externe. Par ailleurs, l’intégration monétaire comporte des risques spécifiques pour la stabilité macroéconomique des économies en rattrapage, dans la mesure où elle s’accompagne d’un processus marqué de convergence des conditions de financement entre Etats membres, dès lors que la perspective de l’adhésion à l’espace monétaire commun devient crédible. Un modèle dynamique à anticipations rationnelles permet de montrer que face au choc de demande lié à une telle convergence financière, l’appréciation du taux de change nominal se révèle cruciale pour limiter la surchauffe de l’économie. A l’inverse, dans les économies en régime de change fixe, l’abaissement des primes de risque pays est susceptible de provoquer une montée de l’endettement extérieur, suivi d’enchaînements déflationnistes une fois dans l’union monétaire. / This research investigates the challenges of price level catching-up for macroeconomic stability in Central and Eastern European transition countries seeking to enter the Euro area. In this respect, an equilibrium real exchange rate model suggests that the process of real appreciation observed along economic catching-up in these countries can be ascribed to different relative price developments, depending on the exchange rate regime, as exemplified by contrasted external debt trajectories. In flexible exchange rate economies, the increase in the nominal exchange rate fosters an endogenous appreciation of the terms of trade in the medium run, by channelling foreign direct investment and associated productivity gains to the exposed sector of the economy, thus appreciating the equilibrium real exchange rate and strengthening the current account over time. In fixed exchange rate economies, positive valuation effects associated with the increase in domestic relative prices tend to divert investment to the sheltered sector, thus undermining external competitiveness and bringing about higher external debt. Furthermore, monetary integration entails specific risks for macroeconomic stability in catching-up economies, because it implies a process of rapid convergence in the financing conditions across member States, which takes place as soon as the perspective of accession to the common monetary area appears credible. A dynamic, rational expectations model shows that the appreciation of the nominal exchange rate becomes crucial to curtail the economic overheating triggered by the demand shock associated with financial convergence. By contrast, diminishing country risk premia under fixed exchange rate regimes are likely to cause ‘boom bust’ cycles, with an increase in external indebtedness followed by deflationary developments once in the monetary union.

From the United Kingdom's Brexit on June 23, 2016, to the formal Brexit on January 30, 2020, there has been a large amount of academic literature discussing the possible effects of Brexit. Among them, the literature on the impact of Brexit on tax policy reforms and capital markets in EU countries is too numerous to enumerate. However, the current research literature lacks a discussion of Central and Eastern European countries, and there is even less research on the link between capital markets and tax policy reforms. This article assumes that the impact of Brexit on the capital markets of CEE countries will cause the government to turn to tax increases to increase fiscal revenue. Three hypotheses are proposed under this assumption. In addition, the empirical research in this article uses the combination of the Poisson model and the Heckman selection model to conduct regression research on the overall taxation of CEE countries, changes in direct and indirect taxation tax policies and bond interest rates, government changes, and political parties left or right. It is concluded that Brexit has no significant impact on the capital markets of CEE countries, and has not caused enough shocks that the government will turn to the government to increase revenue by issuing more tax increases. And Brexit...

Ce mémoire porte sur le fruit de mon travail accompli lors de ma maîtrise en composition instrumentale de l’Université de Montréal. J’y présente mon approche poétique envers lacomposition où des expériences imaginées de paysages et de déroulements sont évoqués par des éléments musicaux. J’y discute également des méthodes que j’utilise pour parvenir aux agencements intervalliques afin de créer ces expériences. J’y traiterai aussi de ma nouvelle approche intervallique vis-à-vis la modalité à travers les modes multicycliques, la majorité de mon travail ayant été le développement de ce système. J’y aborderai ensuite les explorations hors mode dans des stades moins avancés, mais qui m’ont amené des solutions pour des procédés intervalliques moins réalisables dans un contexte strictement modal, à travers des traitements de cellules, des jeux d’intervalles purs et des sonorités provenant des idiomes folkloriques Européen de l’est, précisément des Balkans. Enfin, j’analyse également la forme de chaque œuvre composée lors de ma maîtrise en approfondissant davantage sur l’imaginaire extramusical qui détermine la forme ainsi que le caractère de chaque groupe thématique, y compris le choix du mode s’il y a lieu. / This memoir elaborates on the outcome of my work during my master's degree in the instrumental composition program of Université de Montréal. It begins with a presentation of my poetic approach towards composition, where experiences of landscapes and happenings within them are illustrated through musical devices. What follows is a discussion of all methods I apply to harness the power of intervals to create these experiences. A significant chapter will be devoted to a rather intervallic approach towards modality in the form of multicyclical modes, as most of my work of this master's degree focuses on development of their use. The next chapter focus on all my explorations outside the modal structures, which are at earlier stages of development but have already given me solutions to procedures that are less applicable in a strictly modal context. That includes the treatment of cells, working with just pure intervals and integration of colours derived from the folk traditions of Eastern Europe, more specifically the Balkans. Finally, there will be a chapter that analyzes every individual work included here while digging deeper into the extra-musical imagination behind every work, determining its form and the character of all the sections including the mode of choice if there is one.

This dissertation uses Critical Discourse Analysis to examine China's strategic use of desecuritised language in its 16/17+1 foreign policy targeting the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. Through the lens of securitisation theory and strategic narratives, the analysis suggests that China's foreign policy narrative targeting the CEE countries is strategic in nature and is a representation of China's ambition to form a new global order. As such, the desecuritisation strategies are used instrumentally to alleviate 'China threat' perception, increase the attractiveness of China in the region, and to further achieve its economic and geopolitical goals. Among political elites in the Visegrád 4 countries, namely Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, the level of reception of China's strategic narratives varies. The pro-China attitude at the governmental level is mainly motivated by economic incentives promised in the Chinese narrative as well as the governments' own political agendas. In a parallel process, converse anti-China sentiments and re-securitisation of China in the countries are largely connected to the primacy of the trans-Atlantic relationship with the US as well as the importance attached to European values. Keywords Chinese foreign policy, Central and Eastern European Countries,...

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Widely found throughout the archaeological and artistic records in capacities ranging from burial contexts to early evidence of artistic expression, red ochre has been studied in archaeological and art conservationist communities for decades. Despite this, literature discussing binders is disparate and often absent from accessible arenas. Red ochre is important historically because its use can be used to help further the understanding of early humans, their predecessors, and their cognitive capabilities. However, there is not much written speculation on the processes involved in binder selection, collection, and processing. Based on the idea of these three activities associated with binders, I propose a schema for what the use of already prepared and obtained items doubling as binders might look like in the archaeological record. Using an experiment in which I used red ochre mixed with various binders to paint standardized shapes on a rock surface, I propose ways in which more experiments could be done in this vein. I suggest ways in which scales of desirability can be created based on different traits painters might have found important in the binder selection process, such as ease of paint reconstitution, texture of the paint, and the appearance of the paint mixture once on the stone. This research is one small step in the direction of expanding and diversifying the literature on binders in prehistoric paintings, and opening new avenues of conversation about the choices and motivations of early painters.

The work motivation construct is central to the theory and practice of many social science disciplines. Yet, due to the novelty of validated measures appropriate for a deep cross-national comparison, studies that contrast different administrative regimes remain scarce. This study represents an initial empirical effort to validate the Public Service Motivation (PSM) instrument proposed by Kim and colleagues (2013) in a previously unstudied context. The two former communist countries analyzed in this dissertation—Belarus and Poland— followed diametrically opposite development strategies: a fully decentralized administrative regime in Poland and a highly centralized regime in Belarus. The employees (n = 677) of public and nonprofit organizations in the border regions of Podlaskie Wojewodstwo (Poland) and Hrodna Voblasc (Belarus) are the subjects of study. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed three dimensions of public service motivation in the two regions: compassion, self-sacrifice, and attraction to public service. The statistical models tested in this dissertation suggest that nonprofit sector employees exhibit higher levels of PSM than their public sector counterparts. Nonprofit sector employees also reveal a similar set of values and work attitudes across the countries. Thus, the study concludes that in terms of PSM, employees of nonprofit organizations constitute a homogenous group that exists atop the administrative regimes. However, the findings propose significant differences between public sector agencies across the two countries. Contrary to expectations, data suggest that organization centralization in Poland is equal to—or for some items even higher than—that of Belarus. We can conclude that the absence of administrative decentralization of service provision in a country does not necessarily undermine decentralized practices within organizations. Further analysis reveals strong correlations between organization centralization and PSM for the Polish sample. Meanwhile, in Belarus, correlations between organization centralization items and PSM are weak and mostly insignificant. The analysis indicates other factors beyond organization centralization that significantly impact PSM in both sectors. PSM of the employees in the studied region is highly correlated with their participation in religious practices, political parties, or labor unions as well as location of their organization in a capital and type of social service provided.

This thesis entitled "Transformation through Trade. The pioneers of the New Eastern Policy in the 50s and 60s." examines the efforts of the German entrerpreneurs during the Cold War to revive trade relations with the Sowjetunion and to the states within its sphere of power. Because Europe was divided politically into two antagonistic systems, and due to the embargo imposed on West Germany by the Allied Powers, the entrepreneurs encountered extreme difficulties in their attemps to renew trade. The determined efforts of the economic diplomats, which were fundamental in creating conditions for the new eastern policy, reached their peak in 1970 when the Gas Pipeline Deal was concluded. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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