No 1 (2024)

Non-governmental organisations have been playing a significant role in international relations for a long time. When observing the Israeli NGOs, we see that those organisations who have gained prominence on the world stage to date are the NGOs that advocate for Palestinian rights and oppose the occupation. However, the role of pro-government NGOs (GONGOs) in Israel has also increased over the past ten years, both in defence of settlers’ rights and in defence of public interests. Given that the topic of Palestinian rights has been regularly on the agenda of UN bodies for a significant period of time, the activities of such NGOs could easily have been overshadowed by Israeli human rights organisations. This article focuses on GONGOs and examines their repertoire of collective action, with an emphasis on social movement theory. The main roots of GONGOs lie in the settlement movement established in 1974, but the main catalysts for their establishment, as reflected in the article, were the implementation of the unilateral disengagement plan in 2005 and the intensification of the call for a boycott of Israel. With objectives such as: preserving Israel’s image as a Jewish and democratic state and protecting the rights of settlers, GONGO has succeeded in reducing anti-Israeli rhetoric, a fact that is also reflected at the legislative level.

The Lake Chad Basin (LCB) has been an area of instability for centuries. Clashes between various tribes and communities, indigenous people and outsiders, Muslims and animists, farmers and pastoralists have occurred in the region since pre-colonial times. In recent decades, the permanent military-political and socio-economic crises in the LCB have been superimposed by new adversities associated with global warming – longer droughts, more destructive floods, less predictable rainfall, etc. Climate disasters have caused the reconfiguration of the lake coast, the reduction of arable and pasture lands, their erosion, the disappearance of many species of plants, animals and fish, which, in turn, has exacer bated conflicts between various groups of the local population over access to natural resources. Since the mid-2010s, the LCB has been invaded by Islamists, who raised the violence to previously unseen levels, but at the same time began to develop an economy of war in the region and provide services to the local population, thus en couraging Muslim civilians to join the jihadist movement. Communal self-defense groups, which were initially formed to support the regular armies of the LCB countries in their war on Boko Haram but gradually evolved into criminal struc tures, are also beginning to pose a threat to security in the LCB. The most important problem facing LCB residents is that they are constantly caught between two fires: Islamists con sider them “agents of the government”, while the authorities accuse them of collaborating with militants. Since the mili tary cannot always protect the population, communities develop their own survival strategies, which benefits the Islamists and weakens state power in the region.

EU countries are the main initiator of stricter economic measures of responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions. In order to achieve the goal of global carbon neutrality and minimize carbon leakage, the EU is implementing the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (СВАМ EC). As the largest emitter of carbon and the EU’s largest trading partner, China actively responds to the CBAM EU. This article reviews the history of the EU’s СВАМ and assesses the implications of the system for China. Authors show that, on the one hand, in the short term, the EU’s implementation of a higher border carbon adjustment tax will weaken the competitiveness of Chinese companies in the European market, especially in high-carbon industries such as steel and aluminum. On the other hand, trade patterns between China and Europe could change, which would to some extent facilitate Chinese companies to participate in the global carbon market and encourage them to invest more in combating climate change and reducing carbon emissions. The authors also propose measures to prepare for the implementation of the СВАМ and to improve China’s carbon regulatory system.

The article pays special attention to the development of the tourism industry of the Kingdom of Cambodia during the COVID-19 pandemic. A detailed analysis of the tourist flow from Russia to the country is presented. This sector of the Cambodian economy has faced a noticeable negative impact during the pandemic. Most countries have closed borders to reduce the burden on their healthcare systems, imposed restrictions on the movement of people, announced lockdowns, closed enterprises and organizations – all this has led to a sharp reduction in tourist flows and a noticeable decrease in the income and profits of companies operating in the tourism industry. This article deals with estimation of the impact of the spread of coronavirus infection not only on the tourism sector, but also related sectors of the economy. The features of the functioning of the “Russian-speaking economy” in Cambodia and the problems faced by entrepreneurs in a pandemic are considered. The prospects for the development of Cambodia’s tourism industry in the post-pandemic period, as well as the possibility of restoring the tourist flow from Russia, are determined.