State Collapse and Reconstruction in the Periphery

State Collapse and Reconstruction in the Periphery PDF Author: Jens Stilhoff Sörensen
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 9781845455606
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 332

Get Book Here

Book Description
"In the 1990s, Yugoslavia, which had once been a role model for development, became a symbol for state collapse, external intervention and post-war reconstruction. Today the region has two international protectorates, contested states and borders, severe ethnic polarisation and minority concerns. In this first in-depth critical analysis of international administration, aid and reconstruction policies in Kosovo, Jens Stilhoff Sorensen argues that the region must be analysed as a whole, and that the process of state collapse and recent changes in aid policy must be interpreted in connection to the wider transformation of the global political economy and world order. He examines the shifting inter- and intracommunity relations, the emergence of a 'political economy' of conflict, and of informal clientelist arrangements in Serbia and Kosovo and provides a framework for interpreting the collapse of the Yugoslav state, the emergence of ethnic conflict and shadow economies, and the character of western aid and intervention. Western governments and agencies have built policies on conceptions and assumptions for which there is no genuine historical or contemporary economic, social or political basis in the region. As the author persuasively argues, this discrepancy has exacerbated and cemented problems in the region and provided further complications that are likely to remain for years to come." -- Back cover.

State Collapse and Reconstruction in the Periphery

State Collapse and Reconstruction in the Periphery PDF Author: Jens Stilhoff Sörensen
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 9781845455606
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 332

Get Book Here

Book Description
"In the 1990s, Yugoslavia, which had once been a role model for development, became a symbol for state collapse, external intervention and post-war reconstruction. Today the region has two international protectorates, contested states and borders, severe ethnic polarisation and minority concerns. In this first in-depth critical analysis of international administration, aid and reconstruction policies in Kosovo, Jens Stilhoff Sorensen argues that the region must be analysed as a whole, and that the process of state collapse and recent changes in aid policy must be interpreted in connection to the wider transformation of the global political economy and world order. He examines the shifting inter- and intracommunity relations, the emergence of a 'political economy' of conflict, and of informal clientelist arrangements in Serbia and Kosovo and provides a framework for interpreting the collapse of the Yugoslav state, the emergence of ethnic conflict and shadow economies, and the character of western aid and intervention. Western governments and agencies have built policies on conceptions and assumptions for which there is no genuine historical or contemporary economic, social or political basis in the region. As the author persuasively argues, this discrepancy has exacerbated and cemented problems in the region and provided further complications that are likely to remain for years to come." -- Back cover.

Regime Change in the Yugoslav Successor States

Regime Change in the Yugoslav Successor States PDF Author: Mieczysław P. Boduszyński
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 0801899192
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 359

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the 1990s, amid political upheaval and civil war, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia dissolved into five successor states. The subsequent independence of Montenegro and Kosovo brought the total number to seven. Balkan scholar and diplomat to the region Mieczyslaw P. Boduszynski examines four of those states—Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia—and traces their divergent paths toward democracy and Euro-Atlantic integration over the past two decades. Boduszynski argues that regime change in the Yugoslav successor states was powerfully shaped by both internal and external forces: the economic conditions on the eve of independence and transition and the incentives offered by the European Union and other Western actors to encourage economic and political liberalization. He shows how these factors contributed to differing formulations of democracy in each state. The author engages with the vexing problems of creating and sustaining democracy when circumstances are not entirely supportive of the effort. He employs innovative concepts to measure the quality of and prospects for democracy in the Balkan region, arguing that procedural indicators of democratization do not adequately describe the stability of liberalism in post-communist states. This unique perspective on developments in the region provides relevant lessons for regime change in the larger post-communist world. Scholars, practitioners, and policymakers will find the book to be a compelling contribution to the study of comparative politics, democratization, and European integration.

Socialist Unemployment

Socialist Unemployment PDF Author: Susan L. Woodward
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691025513
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 468

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the first political analysis of unemployment in a socialist country, Susan Woodward argues that the bloody conflicts that are destroying Yugoslavia stem not so much from ancient ethnic hatreds as from the political and social divisions created by a failed socialist program to prevent capitalist joblessness. Under Communism the concept of socialist unemployment was considered an oxymoron; when it appeared in postwar Yugoslavia, it was dismissed as illusory or as a transitory consequence of Yugoslavia's unorthodox experiments with worker-managed firms. In Woodward's view, however, it was only a matter of time before countries in the former Soviet bloc caught up with Yugoslavia, confronting the same unintended consequences of economic reforms required to bring socialist states into the world economy. By 1985, Yugoslavia's unemployment rate had risen to 15 percent. How was it that a labor-oriented government managed to tolerate so clear a violation of the socialist commitment to full employment? Proposing a politically based model to explain this paradox, Woodward analyzes the ideology of economic growth, and shows that international constraints, rather than organized political pressures, defined government policy. She argues that unemployment became politically "invisible," owing to its redefinition in terms of guaranteed subsistence and political exclusion, with the result that it corrupted and ultimately dissolved the authority of all political institutions. Forced to balance domestic policies aimed at sustaining minimum standards of living and achieving productivity growth against the conflicting demands of the world economy and national security, the leadership inadvertently recreated the social relations of agrarian communities within a postindustrial society.

From Class to Identity

From Class to Identity PDF Author: Jana Bacevic
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 6155225729
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 252

Get Book Here

Book Description
From Class to Identity offers an analysis of education policy-making in the processes of social transformation and post-conflict development in the Western Balkans. Based on a number of examples (case studies) of education reform in the former Yugoslavia from the decade before its violent breakup to contemporary efforts in post-conflict reconstruction it tells the story of the political processes and motivations underlying specific education reforms. The book moves away from technical-rational or prescriptive approaches that dominate the literature on education policy-making during social transformation, and offers an example on how to include the social, political and cultural context in the understanding of policy reforms. It connects education policy at a particular time in a particular place with broader questions such as: What is the role of education in society? What kind of education is needed for a 'good' society? Who are the 'targets' of education policies (individuals/citizens, ethnic/religious/linguistic groups, societies)? Bacevic shows how different answers to these questions influence the contents and outcomes of policies.

A History of Yugoslavia

A History of Yugoslavia PDF Author: Marie-Janine Calic
Publisher: Purdue University Press
ISBN: 1612495648
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 443

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why did Yugoslavia fall apart? Was its violent demise inevitable? Did its population simply fall victim to the lure of nationalism? How did this multinational state survive for so long, and where do we situate the short life of Yugoslavia in the long history of Europe in the twentieth century? A History of Yugoslavia provides a concise, accessible, comprehensive synthesis of the political, cultural, social, and economic life of Yugoslavia—from its nineteenth-century South Slavic origins to the bloody demise of the multinational state of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Calic takes a fresh and innovative look at the colorful, multifaceted, and complex history of Yugoslavia, emphasizing major social, economic, and intellectual changes from the turn of the twentieth century and the transition to modern industrialized mass society. She traces the origins of ethnic, religious, and cultural divisions, applying the latest social science approaches, and drawing on the breadth of recent state-of-the-art literature, to present a balanced interpretation of events that takes into account the differing perceptions and interests of the actors involved. Uniquely, Calic frames the history of Yugoslavia for readers as an essentially open-ended process, undertaken from a variety of different regional perspectives with varied composite agenda. She shuns traditional, deterministic explanations that notorious Balkan hatreds or any other kind of exceptionalism are to blame for Yugoslavia’s demise, and along the way she highlights the agency of twentieth-century modern mass society in the politicization of differences. While analyzing nuanced political and social-economic processes, Calic describes the experiences and emotions of ordinary people in a vivid way. As a result, her groundbreaking work provides scholars and learned readers alike with an accessible, trenchant, and authoritative introduction to Yugoslavia's complex history.

Investment and Property Rights in Yugoslavia

Investment and Property Rights in Yugoslavia PDF Author: Milica Uvalic
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521122580
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this book, Milica Uvalic examines the theoretical and empirical issues related to investment in Yugoslavia since 1965. She explores investment policies, sources of finance, macroeconomic performance, enterprise incentives and current property reforms in relation to Western theory on investment behavior in the labor-managed firm and Kornai's theory on socialist economies. In line with Kornai's theory, the author argues that the fundamental causes of problems in Yugoslavia are generic to socialist economic systems, rather than the specific characteristic of self-management.

Market Socialism in Yugoslavia

Market Socialism in Yugoslavia PDF Author: Christopher Prout
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Get Book Here

Book Description
Economic analysis of post-war economic developments in Yugoslavia - considers the ideologycal basis and implementation of decentralization, economic recession, and the 1963 economic reforms; looks at the transformation of the industrial enterprise, economic planning, workers self management, role of the state, etc.; analyses the functioning of the financial market, the labour market and the product market; discusses market stabilization and economic growth (incl. Employment, inflation and the balance of payments). References, statistical tables.

Serbian Nationalism and the Origins of the Yugoslav Crisis

Serbian Nationalism and the Origins of the Yugoslav Crisis PDF Author: Vesna Pešić
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nationalism
Languages : en
Pages : 52

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China

The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China PDF Author: Susan L. Shirk
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520912217
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 411

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the past decade, China was able to carry out economic reform without political reform, while the Soviet Union attempted the opposite strategy. How did China succeed at economic market reform without changing communist rule? Susan Shirk shows that Chinese communist political institutions are more flexible and less centralized than their Soviet counterparts were. Shirk pioneers a rational choice institutional approach to analyze policy-making in a non-democratic authoritarian country and to explain the history of Chinese market reforms from 1979 to the present. Drawing on extensive interviews with high-level Chinese officials, she pieces together detailed histories of economic reform policy decisions and shows how the political logic of Chinese communist institutions shaped those decisions. Combining theoretical ambition with the flavor of on-the-ground policy-making in Beijing, this book is a major contribution to the study of reform in China and other communist countries. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1994. In the past decade, China was able to carry out economic reform without political reform, while the Soviet Union attempted the opposite strategy. How did China succeed at economic market reform without changing communist rule? Susan Shirk shows that Chine

Europe from the Balkans to the Urals

Europe from the Balkans to the Urals PDF Author: Renéo Lukic
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198292005
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 472

Get Book Here

Book Description
The disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in 1991 shed entirely new light on the character of their political systems. There is now a need to re-examine many of the standard interpretations of Soviet and Yugoslav politics. This book is a comparative study of the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union - as multinational, federal communist states - and the reaction of European and US foreign policy to the parallel collapses of these nations. The authors describe the structural similarities in the destabilization of the two countries, providing great insight into the demise of both.