New Forms of Dependency in Central and Eastern Europe? Reflections on State—Third Sector Relations in Public Service Provision in Post-Communist Countries

2014 ◽  
pp. 96-115
Author(s):  
Roxana Radu ◽  
Daniel Pop
2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 831-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Jezierska

Poland is often pointed to as the regional leader of transition processes with regard to the development and sustainability of civil society. This article presents a critical perspective on the direction in which Polish civil society has evolved after 1989. The author reconstructs existing frames of civil society within Polish elite NGO discourse and argues that one specific understanding of civil society—civil society as third sector/service provision—has gained a hegemonic position, marginalizing other conceptions and thus other functions of civil society. Civil society as moral blueprint, civil society as control power, and civil society as neoliberal gobbledygook are identified as coexisting, potentially counter-hegemonic frames. Thus, the quasi-public function, that is, providing services that the state does not, has become the dominant understanding of civil society suppressing its socialization and political functions, once so prominent in Central and Eastern Europe.


2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 41-52
Author(s):  
T. Cherkashyna

Using level of income inequality, the clustering of post-communist countries of the Central and Eastern Europe is carried out by the following indicators: Gini index, share in the national income of the second quintile group, share in the national income of the third quintile group, share in the national income of the fourth quintile group, share in the national income of 10% of the poorest, share in the national income of 20% of the richest.,Сluster analysis (k-means method), in the programming environment Statistica is used as analysis tool and five clusters are obtained. The first cluster includes 8 countries (Albania, Hungary, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Сroatia, Russia, Slovakia) is characterized by sufficiently low level of income inequality and can be explained by flow of foreign investment and business transnationalization contributing to the increase of incomes of the main population groups of these countries. The second cluster includes 4 countries (Belarus, Slovenia, Ukraine, Moldova) and is characterized by comparatively low level of income inequality, but high level of property inequality due to heredity, аccumulated wealth та concentration of physical and financial capital by so called «oligarchic clans». The third cluster includes 5 countries (Bulgaria, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia) and is characterized by medium level of income inequality. The fourth and fifth clusters include so called «Baltic tigers» (Latvia, Lihuania, Estonia) and is characterized by high level of income inequality as the result of the occurrence of «excess profits» of financial assets owners. In order to decrease the income inequality in the investigated countries, the following measures are proposed: for the countries of the first cluster to accelerate deconcentration of capital ownership by «spaying» (redemption) of privatized enterprises shares by all categories on preferential terms (so called «ESOP programs»); for the countries of the second cluster to implement progressive tax scale where the tax rate for different groups of population vary depending on the income received and citizens with the lowest incomes (at the level of subsistence minimum or minimum wage) do not pay individual taxes at all; for the countries of the third cluster to cope with «shadow» economy and informal unemployment; for the counties of the fourth and fifth clusters to decrease tax burden on private entrepreneurs and thus stimulate self-employment.


Author(s):  
Pertti Haaparanta ◽  
Tuuli Juurikkala ◽  
Olga Lazareva ◽  
Jukka Pirttila ◽  
Laura Solanko ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Pandelani H. Munzhedzi

Accountability and oversight are constitutional requirements in all the spheres of government in the Republic of South Africa and their foundation is in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996. All spheres of government are charged with the constitutional mandate of providing public services. The level of responsibility and public services provision also goes with the level of capacity of a particular sphere. However, most of the direct and visible services that the public receives are at the local sphere of government. As such, enormous resources are channelled towards this sphere of government so that the said public services could be provided. It is imperative that the three spheres of government account for the huge expenditures during the public service provision processes. The parliaments of national and provincial governments exercise oversight and accountability over their executives and administrations through the Public Accounts Committees, while the local sphere of government relies on the Municipal Public Accounts Committees. This article is theoretical in nature, and it seeks to explore the current state of public accountability in South Africa and to evaluate possible measures so as to enhance public accountability. The article argues that the current public accountability mechanisms are not efficient and effective. It is recommended that these mechanisms ought to be enhanced by inter alia capacitating the legislative bodies at national, provincial and local spheres of the government.


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