Policy brief: Women are generally under-represented in political offices worldwide, and their under-representation becomes larger in more senior positions. This brief reviews some recent academic literature in economics and political science on the likely causes of women’s under-representation.

Policy brief: In recent years, press freedom in many Eastern European countries has increasingly come under threat. This policy brief provides an overview of the importance of a free press for democracy and the challenges to media freedom in these European transition economies.

New research on innovation suggests that RegTech providers are currently focused mostly on internal processes and associated compliance. The study recommends that RegTech providers begin offering solutions for the strategic management of regulations and not just pure compliance.

Fragile states are particularly vulnerable to adverse economic shocks and in need of international support. Through constructive collaboration with international partners, however, fragile state governments can successfully pursue ambitious reform agendas for the short and long run. SITE and MISUM (Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets) invited the Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Dr. Abdirahman Dualeh Beileh, and the Swedish ambassador to Somalia, Staffan Tillander, to discuss the role of international partnership in the recent development of economic reforms in Somalia.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every part of the globe. In the early phase of the pandemic, countries adopted nonpharmaceutical interventions. These interventions included school closures, travel restrictions, curfews, and quarantines. These strategies were motivated by the need for “social distancing” in order to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. But it was not always clear which of these interventions work best. For this reason, governments were faced with the dilemma of acting both quickly and correctly.

The European University of Social Sciences welcomes the European Court’s ruling on "Lex CEU".

Policy brief: Today’s political crisis in Belarus has given a rise to the phenomenon classified in political science as political illegitimacy. However, this is not a pure political phenomenon. It causes adverse and severe economic adjustments. In a short-term perspective, it gives a rise to numerous risks of financial destabilization. Moreover, it is likely to deepen the current recession and make it protracted. In the long-term, political illegitimacy causes adverse institutional adjustments and erosion of human capital, which is likely to lead a country into a long-standing depression.

Last year marked an important milestone as the world celebrated the 30-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first post-communist election in Poland. Despite the latest developments, there is still a large democratic gap between transition countries that became EU members and other transition countries.

Syrian refugees living in Lebanon today are facing limited freedom of movement, limited access to services, and constrained labor rights. For these people, mobile phones serve as essential tools for rebuilding social networks shattered by involuntary displacement.

Sweden is considered one of the most gender equal countries but the question remains whether there are still challenges when it comes to gender equality in Sweden. We interviewed Pamela Campa (Assistant Professor at SITE) where she shares her reflections on why there are still few women in power in Sweden.