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Nurturing resilience of states and societies in its neighbourhood has become a strategic priority for the European Union (EU). This chapter reviews the concept of resilience across different European External Action Service's (EEAS) strategic documents, investigates the means and the ends that accompany it and explores the potential of fostering resilience through entrepreneurship. The latter is becoming a multi-dimensional tool associated not only with economic development but also with peace fostering, responsible citizenship, social innovation, opportunities management, risk-taking, decision-making, problem-solving, creativity, adaptability etc. We examine how entrepreneurship deals with the EU's approach to resilience and whether the EEAS harnesses entrepreneurship potential. This is an interdisciplinary research project bringing together insights from EU studies, diplomatic studies and entrepreneurship. In terms of methodology we use a content analysis approach of primary resources combined with semi-structured interviews with EEAS staff and secondary sources review. Our findings indicate that EEAS could meet resilience goals through entrepreneurship; yet the use of entrepreneurship as a tool for EEAS′ purposes is sporadic, scattered and unidimensional. We suggest that the EEAS should adopt a cohesive strategy for entrepreneurship promotion connecting internal with external policies. Acting this way would also serve the purpose of a more ‘joined-up union’ and reinforce the EU's power of attraction.

The world's energy markets remain uncertain, with no accurate, optimistic forecasts. The authors of the research note that the energy crisis has a cumulative effect; its beginning has changed the rules of energy cooperation in the market. This contributed to increased demand, prices and competition. The European Union (EU) is a major market participant whose policies affect all energy connections. Russia is an energy core that offers its energy sources to balance the market. This is the economy; there is no talk of ‘political pressure.’ As a result, the authors conclude that the project ‘Nord Stream-2’ is not a political project but a purely commercial one, which will help reduce even spot prices in the European gas market because all other countries that extract gas cannot meet the growing energy needs of European countries.

This article explores two gaps in the literature on European Union (EU) crises: firstly, the external effects of the crises on EU actorness and its relations with other countries and regions and, secondly, the uniqueness of the EU crises when compared to other world regions. The article explores these questions and argues that the crises did affect external views on the EU and its role in the world due to the influence of third country perspectives on its actorness and its “intermestic nature,” but that the EU is not the only regional organization in crisis. As the case of Latin American regionalism shows, other regions have suffered from common systemic factors at the global level as well as from the decreased EU support of regionalism abroad.

This chapter examines the effects that airports have had on economic development in cities from 1950 to 2010. It uses a novel dataset consisting of previously unexploited data on the origins and history of the aviation system in the United States. Applying the method of synthetic controls to a set of medium and small airports, I examine both the overall impacts and the heterogeneity within the outcomes of various airports. Then, I use regression analysis to determine key factors differentiating successful airports from less successful ones, as it pertains particularly to population and employment growth. I find that, first, on average, cities have benefited from airports over this period. Airports, overall, provided a causal contribution of 0.2– 0.6% per year on population and employment growth over the time period. Second, I show that city-level factors contributing to airport success include: (1) closer proximity to a major research university, (2) a capital city location, and (3) climate factors, particularly higher January mean temperatures and/or hours of sunshine. City size is a consideration as well; cities in larger metropolitan areas, with larger shares of employment in nontradables in the 1950s, were also better positioned to reap the benefits that airports provided on city growth. Significant differences were not found across regions, airport governance structures, or other factors.

Discuss in detail the uses which might legitimately be made of the following passage by the writer of a profound study of economic life and thought in France at the end of the reign of Louis XIV. In answering the question make full use of your knowledge of (a) historical criticism; (b) French economic and general history.