Post-Communism's First Decade: A Primer for Non-Specialists

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Falk
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Grand Narrative ◽  
Social Experimentation ◽  
Political Economic

This article examines the lessons "learned" and the legacies inherent in the downfall of authoritarian communism in central and eastern Europe in view of post-communism's first decade. It is argued that the events of 1989-1991 were revolutionary in dramatically and unexpectedly establishing new regimes and ushering in simultaneous and multilateral (political, economic, social, national) change. Furthermore, 1989-1991 represents a rejection of "grand narrative" large-scale social experimentation in political arrangements in favour of hybridism and incrementalism. Ten key maxims are introduced as a means of analyzing this historical rupture and understanding the variety of experiences across the region.

Europe's Growth Champion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Piatkowski
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
High Income ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The West ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Inclusive Society ◽  
First Time ◽  
Global Growth

The book is about one of the biggest economic success stories that one has hardly ever heard about. It is about a perennially backward, poor, and peripheral country, which over the last twenty-five years has unexpectedly become Europe’s and a global growth champion and joined the ranks of high-income countries during the life of just one generation. It is about the lessons learned from its remarkable experience for other countries in the world, the conditions that keep countries poor, and challenges that countries need face to grow and become high-income. It is also about a new growth model that this country—Poland—and its peers in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere need to adopt to continue to grow and catch up with the West for the first time ever. The book emphasizes the importance of the fundamental sources of growth—institutions, culture, ideas, and leaders—in economic development. It argues that a shift from an extractive society, where the few rule for the benefit of the few, to an inclusive society, where many rule for the benefit of many, was the key to Poland’s success. It asserts that a newly emerged inclusive society will support further convergence of Poland and Central and Eastern Europe with the West and help sustain the region’s Golden Age, but moving to the core of the European economy will require further reforms and changes in Poland’s developmental DNA.

scholarly journals Landforms and rural development: The evolution of human settlements at alpine alluvial fans in the Admont Valley, Austria, since 1784 AD

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-43
Author(s):  
Andreas KELLERER-PIRKLBAUER ◽  
Julia EULENSTEIN
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Alluvial Fans ◽  
Spatial Analyses ◽  
Hazard Zonation ◽  
Risk Zones ◽  
Zonation Maps ◽  
Francis I ◽  
Insight Into

We used two historical maps that cover vast areas of central and eastern Europe at rather large scale dating to 1784 (First Military Survey of the Habsburg Empire; total extent 640,000 km²; scale 1: 28,800) and 1824 (cadastral land register of Francis I; 670,000 km²; 1: 2,880) to extracted individual buildings located at several alluvial fans in one valley in Austria (Admont Valley). Historic buildings were mapped and compared with present building (airborne–laserscanning based; 2008–2017), geomorphic (landform distribution), geomorphodynamic (documented damaging events at torrents), and spatial planning (hazard zonation maps) data. Results show that 69.2% of all present buildings are located at only 7% of the study area. Whereas the 1784–data are too inaccurate and unprecise for detailed spatial analyses, the 1824–data are very accurate and precise allowing spatial and socio–economic insight into the population and building evolution over a 190–year period. Results show for instance that despite a tremendous increase in buildings (911 in 1824; 3554 in 2008–2017), the proportion of buildings exposed to torrents–related natural hazards significantly decreased by 10.4% for yellow (moderate–risk) and by 13.7% for red (high–risk) zones. Similar historio–geomorphological studies as presented here might be accomplished in other countries in central and eastern Europe covered by the indicated historical map products.

What Have We Learned from the Collapse of Communism?

2015 ◽  
pp. 642-677
Author(s):  
Olga Nicoara ◽  
Peter Boettke
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Comparative Political Economy ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Collapse Of Communism ◽  
Communist Countries

Following the collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe (1989) and the Soviet Union (1991), the field of comparative political economy has undergone multiple stocktakings and revisions. In the former communist countries, Marxist economics was abandoned in favor of neoclassical economics, which dominated the profession in the West. But was neoclassical theory equipped to suggest adequate institutional arrangements in support of the transformations to capitalism in the former centrally planned economies of central and eastern Europe (C and EE) and the former Soviet Union (FSU)? What have economists working in the field of comparative political economy learned from the collapse of communism and the experience of transition so far? This chapter surveys the thoughts of leading transition scholars and assesses the new lessons learned in comparative transitional political economy.

Restitution of Private Property: Re-privatization in Central and Eastern Europe

1997 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej K. Kozminski
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Political Game ◽  
Property Restitution

The article deals with the relatively little researched problem of the restitution of property confiscated by the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, After the fall of communism, new democratic governments and parliaments were faced with the problem of compensating former owners. This problem has practical aspects related to investors' confidence, as well as moral, symbolic, and emotional ones. Quite often it becomes a pawn in the political game. Legislation adopted and proposed in the key countries of the region is examined and compared. The political, economic, and institutional context of re-privatization is analysed. From the point of view of the key objectives of property restitution, the different re-privatization formulas, practised throughout the region, are assessed.

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