Octavian-Dragomir JORA
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
Over the past three decades, the tectonic plates of the global order have shifted visibly, as economic growth, technological creativity, and strategic contestation have increasingly gravitated eastward, toward Asia – more precisely, the extended Asia-Pacific region (in a geoeconomic, often Sinocentric reading), or the Indo-Pacific (in a geopolitical and geostrategic framing of American origin). If the twentieth century was labelled the “American century,” following the earlier “British” one, the twenty-first is now frequently projected as an “Asian century”. Europe – largely, though not exhaustively, embodied by the European Union – finds itself compelled to renegotiate its role and stature: no longer the central node of the world economy, yet far from a marginal appendage. Aspiring to “open strategic autonomy,” it must recalibrate its orientations between a populous and proactive Asia, a United States whose hegemony is in remission but not resignation, and a Russia that is at once atavistic and aggressive, all within a tense environment shaped by compounded global challenges. For a medium-sized Euro-Atlantic state such as Romania, this evolving geostrategic landscape cannot be ignored. Firmly anchored in the EU and NATO, yet attentive to shaping a culturally attuned economic diplomacy toward Asia, Romania must move beyond passive, reactive postures and cultivate an intelligent and intelligible take on what may be called the “New Eastern Question”.
CARDINAL POINTS: TO SAY THE (L)EAST [PUNCTE CARDINALE: NECESARUL EST(IMAT)]
Raluca-Georgiana ROBU
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
Maria GHEORGHE (NIŢU)
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
Valentin COJANU
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
Alexia-Maria POPESCU
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
The paper analyses the evolution of Romania’s trade relations with Asia, in a global context marked by geopolitical transformations that have led to restructuring of value chains. The main purpose of the research is to evaluate Romania’s commercial and competitive position on Asian markets, using a descriptive-quantitative methodology based on statistical bases from Trade Map.
Keywords: Romania-Asia trade relations, structural diversification, trade dependency, export competitiveness
JEL: F10, F14, O24, O53
Between Opportunity and Dependency: The Evolution of Romania’s Trade with Asian Economies [Între oportunitate şi dependenţă: evoluţia comerţului României cu economiile asiatice]
Narciz BĂLĂŞOIU
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
Octavian-Dragomir JORA
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
Răzvan Marian PÎRCĂLĂBESCU
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
This study examines Romania’s positioning and margins of manoeuvre in the emerging Indo-Pacific order, arguing that the region has evolved from a peripheral concern into a structuring variable of European and Euro-Atlantic security and prosperity. As global economic gravity, technological innovation, and strategic competition shift eastward, Romania faces a complex adaptation dilemma.
Keywords: Indo-Pacific, geoeconomics, Romania, strategic alignment, weaponized interdependence, economic security, connectivity, Euro-Atlantic order
JEL: F02, F51, F52, F59, O19, P16
Romania’s Positioning and Room for Manoeuvre: The Dilemmas of Peripheral Adaptation in the New Indo-Pacific [Poziţionarea şi marjele de manevră ale României: dilemele adaptării periferice în noul Indo-Pacific]
Mădălina JURUBIțĂ
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
Accelerating geopolitical shocks and geoeconomic competition after 2020 have pushed the European Union to several reappraisals. This paper maps the key redefinitions required for the Common Commercial Policy (CCP), amidst supply-chain disruptions, war in the EU’s neighbourhood, systemic rivalry in the Indo-Pacific, and heightened contestation over technology and critical inputs.
Keywords: EU trade policy, Common Commercial Policy, geoeconomics, economic security, open strategic autonomy, de-risking and decoupling, global value chains, trade defence instruments, FDI screening, sustainability conditionality, EU-China relations, EU-US relations
JEL: F13, F15, F51, F52, F55, O19
Redefining EU Trade Policy for an Age of Geoeconomic Rivalry: Strategic Autonomy, Security, and Resilience
Geicun MUSTAFA
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
This article reframes Islamophobia from a primarily socio-political issue into an economic variable with systemic effects on cross-border exchange. It argues that it operates as an informal barrier to international economic and business relations by reducing trust, raising transaction costs, as well as amplifying uncertainty and reputational exposure for firms and public actors.
Keywords: Islamophobia, informal trade barriers, non-tariff measures, reputational risk, cultural risk, deglobalization, discrimination and identity politics, sanctions and boycotts, foreign direct investment, labour mobility, global value chains, economic diplomacy
JEL: D74, F14, F21, F22, F51, Z13
Islamophobia as an Informal Trade Barrier: Reputational Risk and the Political Economy of Deglobalization
Hesam JEBELI-BAKHT-ARA
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
This paper explores how racialized capitalism operates beyond the traditional North-South divide by examining the economic discrimination embedded in ethnic labour segmentation within Europe. Building on Cedric J. Robinson’s notion of racial capitalism, the study argues that ethnic and racial hierarchies are not residual features but structural mechanisms that sustain capitalist accumulation.
Keywords: racialized capitalism, labour market segmentation, economic discrimination, migrant labour, political economy of labour, Europe
JEL: F22, F66, J15, J46, J71, P16
Racialized Capitalism and Economic Discrimination: The Case of Ethnic Labour Segmentation in Contemporary Europe
