Regional economic integration has long been recognized as a key strategy for enhancing trade, fostering economic development, and strengthening the bargaining power of developing regions. In this context, the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) marks a critical juncture in Africa’s economic trajectory. Beyond its aim to expand intra-African trade by harmonizing trade and economic policies across the continent, the AfCFTA also holds the potential of bolstering Africa’s negotiating position with external partners such as the European Union. At present, Africa–EU trade is governed by an overlapping network of bilateral and regional agreements with individual African countries or regional economic communities. The advent of the AfCFTA thus raises a critical question: to what extent can the agreement serve as a platform for a unified, inter-continent trade agreement with external partners such as the EU? Drawing on theories of regionalism, case studies of the EAC, ECOWAS, and Kenya—whose unilateral actions exemplify tensions between national and regional policies—and the history of Africa-EU trade, this article examines whether the AfCFTA can serve as a foundation for a unified African trade policy position. It concludes that while the AfCFTA creates a unique opportunity to consolidate Africa’s voice in global trade, major hurdles must be overcome, including divergent economic interests among member states, the need for deeper policy harmonization, and the complex challenges involved in establishing a unified customs framework.
History of Africa, African languages and literature
This article explores the amplification of challenges to sexual and reproductive healthcare provision during Nepal’s COVID-19 pandemic response and lockdown in 2020. In Nepal, the provision of essential primary healthcare is compromised by systemic weaknesses, infrastructure, and the economy. This includes healthcare and services supporting women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). During the pandemic, the government instituted a lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19. The government’s focus on controlling the disease, or on ‘pandemic preparedness’, amplified the pre-existing vulnerabilities in the healthcare system. Policy triage caused SRHR to be under-prioritized, widened the pre-existing gaps in the healthcare infrastructure, and compelled healthcare providers to rely more on improvisation. The article concludes by calling for a re-imagination of ‘pandemic preparedness’ as ‘lockdown preparedness’. In Nepal and in other low- and middle-income countries, ‘lockdown preparedness’ should inform pandemic responses and secure the prioritization of essential primary healthcare. Furthermore, ‘lockdown preparedness’ should direct political attention and priority towards decreasing systemic weaknesses and social inequalities, to counteract their amplification during future lockdowns.
На сучасному етапі глобалізації найбільшої уваги потребують дослідження основних аспектів соціокультурних змін, пов’язаних з проблемами самовизначення людини, опосередкованими духовними, ментально-ціннісними, етнонаціональними, інформаційними трансформаціями, що актуалізує необхідність формування толерантного ставлення до інших культур за умови збереження власної етнонаціональної ідентичності та культурної окремішності. Крім того, питання збереження національної ідентичності як окремої особистості, так і народу фундаментально пов’язані з ціннісно-моральними настановами культури, її національними трансформаціями. Для української поліетнічної культури проблема збереження власної самототожності, опосередкованої трансформацією ідентичності на індивідуальному рівні, особливо в умовах глобалізаційних викликів і антинацій, є чи не однією з найбільш актуальних.
Активні процеси культурно-інформаційної глобалізації розмивають підвалини культурної самототожності, а найбільше – традиції і мову. Домінуючими негативними викликами у вітчизняній мовній сфері є міграція і полікультурність, що провокують перемішування, перетин вітчизняних кордонів іномовними зразками. Своєрідність духовної етнонаціональної культури щонайбільше відображається в традиційних цінностях, які виконують роль ідеальних культурних конструктів. Їх руйнування призводить до закономірного опору, оскільки вони важко піддаються глобальному натиску почасти радикального індустріалізму.
In 2010 and 2011, rescue archaeological research took place on the route of the Arad-Timişoara highway in site 7, located in the hilly area of northern Banat, in the southwestern part of the bounds of Pişchia commune in Timiş County. It was identified to the east of the European road E69, Arad-Timişoara, and at a distance of 400 m north of the Măgheruş channel.
The archaeological site is a successive overlap of settlements from the Eneolithic, the Bronze Age, from the second Iron Age (La Tène), from the ancient period (3rd–4th centuries AD), from the early medieval period (9th–10th centuries AD), as well as from the medieval era (12th–13th and 16th centuries).
Archaeological features from the early medieval period are few, only nine out of a total of about 625: six dwellings (locus 83, locus 92, locus 130, locus 150, locus 177, locus 600), two storage pits (locus 149, locus 602) and an oven
outside the dwellings (locus 133).
The vast majority of the pottery discovered was modeled with a slow wheel, from a semi-fine paste, usually with mica in the composition, but also with pebbles, from which they have a slightly rough appearance. The ceramic was oxidizing burnt, it has a brick and brown color, of various shades. There are very few fragments from gray or black vessels, reducing burnt. Pots predominate in form, but there are also fragments of bowls. There are also redbrick oxidizing ceramic fragments shaped on a high-speed wheel from a semi-fine paste with pebbles in the composition, which gives it a rough appearance. Of course, there are also hand-made ceramic fragments from the pots.
We note the presence of clay trays, usually of large and medium sizes (from locus 149, locus 600, locus 602), as well as clay rollers (from locus 150 dwelling).
The settlement dates back to the 9th–10th centuries AD, in the chronological range between the second half of the 9th century and the beginning of the 10th century. Of course, the objects cannot tell who their producers and
users were, but in the early medieval period populations of different origins and traditions through processes of acculturation gave rise to the communities that medieval written sources recall: Slavs, Bulgarians and Blachii i.e.
shepherds of the Romans lived in the territories once ruled by the Avars in the Danube and Tisa/Tisza region (source from the 12th century: Chronicle of the Anonymous Notary, IX).
This article is a re-evaluation of the Holocaust memory in the contemporary Romanian society. It shows that from its inception, Romania’s nation-building process went hand in hand with antisemitism. Furthermore, it points out that
after 1989 the country’s sense of frustration at its communist past managed to obscure the memory of the Holocaust. Despite Romania’s government recognition of the country’s involvement in the Holocaust (2004), a
wholehearted acknowledgement of the issue remains improbable at the general level of Romania’s society. A new law to counteract Holocaust denial was adopted in Romania in 2015. However, the country has proved ever since
that it has barely come to terms with its historical legacy.
This article examines the role played by Siberian underground musical phenomena in the development of rock and punk music in Russia, paying particular attention to the profile of Egor Letov and his relevant musical ventures. The authors situate the analysis within the broader framework of studies dealing with Russian rock music and Soviet underground culture in general and examine the hitherto insufficiently explored features that characterized the Siberian underground scene and enabled the emergence of original artists.
History of Eastern Europe, Slavic languages. Baltic languages. Albanian languages
Șoimoș castle is located on the northern bank of the Mureș River and it is one of the best preserved medieval castles from the territory of present-day Romania. The castle however has never been thoroughly investigated through archaeological methods; therefore the construction phases of the fortification, especially those dated at the beginning of its existence, are still not exactly established. The results of the test excavations carried out in 1966-1967 by a team of archaeologists; among them Marius Moga and Florin Medeleţ from the Museum of Banat, were unknown until now. The paper presents the excavation journal belonging to F. Medeleţ, kept in the archive of the Banat National Museum and the drawings of the plans and sections of the excavated trenches. A general excavation plan has also been sketched. The archaeological inventory from these excavations will be published on another occasion.
The article presents the transformation of stronghold in Poland in the 12th and 13th centuries. By providing the examples of Kruszwica (Kuyavia) and Ląd (Wielkopolska), attention has been drawn to the fact that, despite the collapse of the strongholds around which gords were once organised, they could continue development and remain political, societal, religious, economic and cultural centres. They allow historians to take a different view of the operations of the then territorial and administrative organisation in Poland as well as the gradual disintegration of the system.
History of Eastern Europe, History of Central Europe
Vitalij Sinika, Sergey Lysenko, Sergey Razumov
et al.
В работе впервые публикуются результаты раскопок скифских курганов 18 и 19 группы «Водовод», изученных в 2019 г. у с. Глиное Слободзейского района на левобережье Нижнего Днестра. Научные данные, полученные при исследовании этих курганов, позволяют обратить особое внимание на некоторые элементы погребального обряда – сооружение насыпей только над детскими погребениями, устройство ритуальных ям, вторичное использование амфоры, погребения собак на зелёной подмазке, размещение отчленённой головы собаки на перекрытии ямы. На основании хиосской амфоры курган 18 датируется первой половиной V в. до н.э. Это старшая из скифских насыпей могильника. Курган 19, очевидно, был сооружён в IV в. до н.э.
У статті висвітлюються питання формування, реорганізації та бойових операцій Армії Української Народної Республіки спільно з військами Республіки Польської (квітень–жовтень 1920 р.) в сучасній українській історіографії. Зазначається, що в працях сучасних українських істориків значна увага акцентується на безвихідній ситуації, в якій опинилась УНР наприкінці 1919 р. після виснажливої боротьби з ворогами української державності «в чотирикутнику смерті». Проаналізовано здобутки сучасних українських науковців, де розглядаються причини та наслідки Варшавського договору між керівниками Польщі та УНР Ю. Пілсудським і С. Петлюрою, та акцентовано увагу на різноманітті думок і суджень вітчизняних дослідників стосовно цієї сторінки української історії. Розглянуто праці українських вчених, у яких висвітлюється практична реалізація Варшавських угод під час спільних бойових дій польських і українських військ в зазначений період та констатовано увагу на успіхах і невдачах цієї військової кампанії. Зазначено, що незацікавленість польського уряду після перемир’я Польщі з Радянською Росією 12 жовтня 1920 р. у зміцненні української армії, оскільки вона майже повністю залежала у воєнно-економічній площині від польської допомоги, звела нанівець самостійну бойову діяльність Армії УНР та закінчилась провалом стратегічного завдання – збереження української державності – і призвела до інтернування українських військовиків 21 листопада 1920 р. на польській території.
The paper highlights the drivers of contemporary fertility history in developed countries “forgotten” by theory: fundamental changes in the world system after the Second World War and in the late 1980s and early 1990s; competing ideas of the “right” family and family and demographic policy; centre-peripheral relations and their impact on the resource capabilities of such policy. Statistical analysis shows that the periods during which countries’ positions by total fertility rates remained stable were disrupted by intervals in which significant changes in these positions occurred. Twice, due to the Second World War and the disintegration of the Soviet bloc, such intervals coincided with fundamental shifts in the world system. In addition, such intervals occurred in Western countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the negative association between women’s participation in the labour force and fertility became positive, and then in the 2000s in Russia, countries of Eastern and Central Europe and the former Yugoslavia during fertility “recovery”. Contemporary fertility changes in the developed world are directed by “gravitational fields” of four attractors. Three of them are institutional traps created by low living standards, or contradictions between the “new” economy and “old” family relations, or, in varying proportions, both. The fourth attractor is an ideal condition in which generous family policy and men’s participation in the home maintain fertility at the replacement level. Currently, France and the Scandinavian countries come closest to this. The question of whether the developed semi-peripheral countries will be able to approach this condition, or, due to resource constraints, it will remain a privilege accessible only to the core countries, remains open.
ʿAbd al-Sattār Nāṣir (1947–2013) belonged to the group of Iraqi writers and intellectuals called Jīl al-Sittināt "the Sixties Generation", which dominated the cultural scene at the time.
This article examines Nāṣir as a driven writer, who initially wrote out of a morally induced reaction to expose the suffering and brutalization of all Iraqi peoples and ethnicities by a controlling totalitarian regime, and as a once-incarcerated author of brave novels he hoped would someday catalyze a popular overthrow of the lawless, abusive leaders, thereby ending the fears and violence possessing Iraq’s body politic. Two themes -- the destruction wreaked by those with extraordinary power and their use of lies and deception to control the people –- are central to the three novels chosen as representative of Nāṣir’s oeuvre: Abū al-Rīsh (2002), Niṣf al-Aḥzān 'Half Sorrows' (2000) and Qushūr al-Badhinjān 'Eggplant Peels' (2007).
In these three novels, Nāṣir exposes the unimaginable terror, violence and cruelty of Saddām Ḥusayn and his henchmen, as well as their propaganda, which consisted of lies and deception. Saddām is depicted as a ruler who presents himself as an inspiring revolutionary, but in fact is a tyrant who deceives the citizens, subjecting them to brutal control and leading them into deadly wars.
Following George Orwell’s 1984, Nāṣir’s literary corpus attempts to rip the masks from the faces of the dictator and his lackeys, who oppress the people, deny them any freedom of thought and keep them under constant surveillance.
Abstract Background Hedera (ivies) is one of the few temperate genera of the primarily tropical Asian Palmate group of the Araliaceae, which extends its range out of Asia to Europe and the Mediterranean basin. Phylogenetic and phylogeographic results suggested Asia as the center of origin and the western Mediterranean region as one of the secondary centers of diversification. The bird-dispersed fleshy fruits of ivies suggest frequent dispersal over long distances (e.g. Macaronesian archipelagos), although reducing the impact of geographic barriers to gene flow in mainland species. Genetic isolation associated with geographic barriers and independent polyploidization events have been postulated as the main driving forces of diversification. In this study we aim to evaluate past and present diversification patterns in Hedera within a geographic and temporal framework to clarify the biogeographic history of the genus. Results Phylogenetic (biogeographic, time divergence and diversification) and phylogeographic (coalescence) analyses using four DNA regions (nrITS, trnH-psbA, trnT-trnL, rpl32) revealed a complex spatial pattern of lineage divergence. Scarce geographic limitation to gene flow and limited diversification are observed during the early-mid Miocene, followed by a diversification rate increase related to geographic divergence from the Tortonian/Messinian. Genetic and palaeobotanical evidence points the origin of the Hedera clade in Asia, followed by a gradual E-W Asian extinction and the progressive E-W Mediterranean colonization. The temporal framework for the E Asia - W Mediterranean westward colonization herein reported is congruent with the fossil record. Subsequent range expansion in Europe and back colonization to Asia is also inferred. Uneven diversification among geographic areas occurred from the Tortonian/Messinian onwards with limited diversification in the newly colonized European and Asian regions. Eastern and western Mediterranean regions acted as refugia for Miocene and post-Miocene lineages, with a similar role as consecutive centers of centrifugal dispersal (including islands) and speciation. Conclusions The Miocene Asian extinction and European survival of Hedera question the general pattern of Tertiary regional extinction of temperate angiosperms in Europe while they survived in Asia. The Tortonian/Messinian diversification increase of ivies in the Mediterranean challenges the idea that this aridity period was responsible for the extinction of the Mediterranean subtropical Tertiary flora. Differential responses of Hedera to geographic barriers throughout its evolutionary history, linked to spatial isolation related to historical geologic and climatic constraints may have shaped diversification of ivies in concert with recurrent polyploidy.
Documentation of archaeological heritage is a fundamental tool for understanding and protection. Although we have a number of laws, conventions and recommendations to protect heritage at national, European and international level, their application in practice is not easy anywhere. Since 2000, The Romanian Ministry of Culture and CIMEC – The Institute for Cultural Memory (now a Department in the National Heritage Institute, since July 1, 2011) developed national databases for archaeological documentation, including sites, investigations and reports. By the end of 2013, there are three main archaeological databases at national level, all available online. The last 12 years means a great progress in regulating modern archaeology in Romania, agreeing national legislation with European and international ones, providing of tools and responses to the challenges of reality, primarily immediate threat to the archaeological heritage. Further development and integration of national archaeological databases is an aim which, unsupported, may not be fulfilled. But in today’s world, it is becoming increasingly difficult to put a monopoly on information. Information via the Internet is powered from a variety of sources, sometimes richer, fresher and more accurate than that hierarchically one gathered by the authorities. Therefore we may be are worried for today but optimistic for tomorrow.