Editorial Note

Abstract

The second issue of Bulgarian Journal of International Economics and Politics comes out amidst a situation of heightening turmoil in international political and economic relations. By all means we could be witnessing the readjustment of the system of international relations in a deeper and more fundamental way compared to the one that took place at the end of the Cold war. The always-present political-economic juncture has become painfully poignant in the interactions on the international scene and at regional settings.

The articles in this issue cover a wide range of topics within the BJIEP scope and reveal the complex nature of the challenges in present-day international relations in their various dimentions – economic, environmental, ethno-religious, geopolitical, etc. Starting with a piece that critically examines models of business cycles and economic crises in classical and contemporary economic thought, the Journal next features an exploration of the global supply chains from human rights perspectives. The third article focuses on the intra-industry trade of Turkey’s manufacturing industry sector with some of the EU member-states countries. Next comes a study of the risks and challenges stemming from the ecological transition which central banks, regulators and supervisory authorities are currently facing. The fifth article addresses Turkey’s strategic potential for building up a prestige and trust among the Muslim communities abroad and specifically some specific Turkish policies for “export” of religiousness towards Muslims in Bulgaria. The last article is more than well-timed for it tackles the hot issue of EU-Russian relations covering the period from 2013 crisis in Ukraine untill the beginning of the war in Ukraine at the end of February 2022. Given the dynamic developments in the field of international relations and geopolitics from the last several months, we – both the author of the last text and the editorial team – had to catch up with the fast changing realities and the author accommodated by readjusting the timeframe of the study and writing a complementary text to address the new developments.

Finally, but by no means in importance, is the tribute we would like to pay to prof. Xavier Richet, a Professor Emeritus of Economics at Sorbonne Nouvelle University who passed away prematurely on 16 January 2022. An ardent supporter of the advance of academic studies and science in Bulgaria, prof. Richet took part and actively contributed to a number of worthy academic and scholarly endeavours in the country. In line with his persistent commitment to the Bulgarian academic and scholarly development, less than a year ago prof. Richet kindly accepted to become a member of the International Board of Bulgarian Journal of International Economics and Politics. We honour his memory of a world-wide intellectual and scientist by a scholarly review of his academic work and publications, written by two of his close associates in Bulgaria.