International Trade Law & Economic Globalization
Country Risk Assessment and the Corruption Perception Index in the Context of National Culture
Country risk assessment; corruption perception; national culture; Hofstede dimensions; Central and Eastern Europe; governance indicators
The article examines whether Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture correlate with country-risk and corruption-perception indicators in Central and Eastern Europe. Its empirical comparison finds only limited and inconsistent relationships between cultural similarity, corruption levels, and country risk.
ILOIE, RALUCA ELENA – TRIPON, CIPRIAN RAUL
Economic Trends in the Central and Eastern European Region
Central and Eastern Europe; foreign direct investment; regional competitiveness; economic growth; global value chains; skilled labour
The article examines growth, foreign direct investment, trade dependence, productivity, and employment trends in Central and Eastern Europe. It argues that long-term regional competitiveness requires improved infrastructure, skilled labour, and education reform alongside continued integration into European value chains.
LUKÁCS, ESZTER
Cardinal Aspects of the Liberalization of International Trade and Its Effect on...
International trade law; state sovereignty; trade liberalization; GATT; World Trade Organization; dispute settlement
The article examines how international trade liberalization has transformed nation-state sovereignty. Through the development of the GATT and WTO systems, it analyses the growing influence of binding trade rules and dispute-settlement mechanisms on national economic and social policy.
PONGRÁCZ, ALEX
Data Localization, International Law Perspective
Data protection, data localization, data flow, international trade law, trade barriers, WTO panels
Although the core principles of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) can extend the agreement to the movement of data, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of GATS in the digital age, there is very little to prevent governments from implementing wide data localisation measures, as GATS provides broad exceptions that create leeway for circumventing these obligations. Additionally, the ambiguity surrounding internet technology has given governments more justification. After all, how could anyone challenge these policies when technology and intelligent services themselves were once incapable of detecting what Edward Snowden later exposed? In response to these uncertainties, and the existing security exceptions in GATS, countries continue to invent new data localisation measures through different approaches. China forbids data transfers by default, only allowing them as exceptions, and emphasises national security with ambiguous discretionary limits. The GDPR limits transfers from outside the EU in order to balance privacy and trade but provides exceptions. The USA, without a unified federal legislative framework, has focused localization on areas such as taxation and defence, motivated mostly by national security. Given these dynamics, and the sensitivity of national security, the author argues that greater emphasis should be placed on reactivating the role of WTO panels and, at the very least, establishing broad boundaries for what constitutes security, even if the concept itself is difficult to define precisely.
ALI, SHAREEF SANAR
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