scholarly journals Political economy and the ghosts of the past: revisiting the Spanish and Romanian transitions to democracy

HISTOREIN ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Cornel Ban ◽  
Jorge Tamames
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
International Policy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Transitions To Democracy ◽  
Economic Constraints

Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan’s opus on democratic transition and consolidation put Spain and Romania at the extreme ends of these processes and paid little attention to the domestic and external economic constraints on the transition process. This paper interrogates these claims. It shows that in retrospect Spain looks a lot less exemplary and Romania a lot less hopeless than this iconic contribution suggested at the time. Moreover, while external economic shocks and local attempts to buffer them through social compensation shaped both transitions, Romanian governments faced balance of payments crises and international policy conditionality constraints, while their Spanish counterparts did not. This difference invites a greater appreciation of the role of political economy analyses when comparing the policy options of political elites ruling in times of democratic transition and consolidation.

The Political Economy of Easy Credit Policies

2016 ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Karim Azizi ◽  
Thibault Darcillon
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Consumer Credit ◽  
Majority Voting ◽  
The Political ◽  
Aggregate Consumption ◽  
The Past ◽  
Marginal Effects

During the past thirty years, U.S. economic growth has disproportionately benefited the richest percentiles of the American population, i.e., the top income earners. Although this phenomenon is difficult to explain from a “standard” political economy perspective (i.e., majority voting), recent literature emphasizes the role of consumer credit as a means of circumventing costly public redistribution. According to this theory, most OECD and, notably, American policymakers should have facilitated middleclass and low-income households’ access to consumer credit to cushion the effects of increased income inequality (i.e., an increased share of GDP held by top earners). Our contribution to this literature is to argue that increases in inequality (as measured by expansions in the share of GDP held by top income earners) should be associated with aggregate consumption increases. Indeed, in response to increased inequality, easy credit policies stimulate low-income and middle-class consumption, which contributes to an increased aggregate consumption level. Using a panel dataset of 20 developed OECD economies between 1980 and 2007, we show that such increases in inequality are actually associated with expansions of aggregate consumption. Finally, when computing marginal effects, we conclude that these expansions increase with the size of the financial sector.

From midden to megalith? The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in western Britain

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki Cummings
Keyword(s):  
Transition Process ◽  
The Other ◽  
Irish Sea ◽  
Technological Transformation ◽  
Neolithic Transition ◽  
Isle Of Man ◽  
The Past ◽  
Hunting And Gathering ◽  
The Irish Sea

The transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland remains one of the most debated and contested transitions of prehistory. Much more complex than a simple transition from hunting and gathering to farming, the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in Britain has been discussed not only as an economic and technological transformation, but also as an ideological one. In western Britain in particular, with its wealth of Neolithic monuments, considerable emphasis has been placed on the role of monumentality in the transition process. Over the past decade the author‧s research has concentrated on the early Neolithic monumental traditions of western Britain, a deliberate focus on areas outside the more ‘luminous’ centres of Wessex, the Cotswold–Severn region, and Orkney. This chapter discusses the transition in western Britain, with an emphasis on the monuments of this region. In particular, it discusses the areas around the Irish Sea – west Wales, the Isle of Man, south-west and western Scotland – as well as referring to the sequence on the other side of the Irish Sea, specifically eastern Ireland.

scholarly journals Historical education in the process of democratic transition: The Czech case

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-55
Author(s):  
Jaroslav Najbert
Keyword(s):  
School Environment ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Historical Consciousness ◽  
School Education ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Education

In his article the author focuses on the process of dealing with the past using the example of Czech democratic transition after 1989. First he defines the very concept ?dealing with the past? in order to define the role of historiography and school education in a symbolic level of such a process. He deals with three basic problems - cultivation of historical consciousness within school environment, implementation of modern didactical concepts and finally using the Czech experience with post-communist historical education he outlines problematic issues surrounding the process of dealing with the past. Besides other things he concentrates on didactic aspects of the concept of cultural and communicative memory.

Successful and failed transitions to democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inmaculada Szmolka
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Independence Movement ◽  
Transitions To Democracy ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Institutional Architecture

This chapter studies the democratic transitions following the fall of the authoritarian rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. The chapter shows that the only successful democratisation occurred in Tunisia thanks to agreements between political actors, concessions from a dominant party and a strong and participative civil society. On the contrary, despite the Egyptian transition taking place in a similar scenario of polarisation between Islamist and secular parties as in Tunisia, Egyptian transition failed because of a lack of agreement between political forces, an exclusionary process led by the Islamists, and the interference of the army in political affairs. Democratic transition also failed in Libya, due to the lack of prior institutional architecture and of experience of party participation and political groups. Finally, the model of democratic transition that was carried out in Yemen was favourable to the achievement of democracy. It sought a broad social and political consensus for the new state before holding elections and approving a constitution, and had the involvement of the international community in the design and implementation of the transitional road map. However, empowerment of old regime elites in the transition process, the exclusion of revolutionary movements, the lack of consensus to satisfy the demands of the independence movement in the south, and antagonism between political forces and their regional backers have doomed the democratic transition to failure.

ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF THE US PRINTED MEDIA IN THE INFORMATION WAR BETWEEN THE USA AND RUSSIA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Е.V. MARTYNENKO ◽  
А.I. PENZINA
Keyword(s):  
Political Elites ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Negative Image ◽  
Printed Media ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Russian Federation

The article is devoted to the consideration of methods and ways of conducting information war by the US media against the Russian Federation over the past few years. On the example of publications about President Donald Trumps links with Russia, its possible to trace a traditional tendency to use the image of Russia as the main adversary (the socalled enemy image), which undermines the interests of American democracy. Under pressure from representatives of political elites and lobbyists, the US media systematically form a negative image of Russia, hindering the development of positive diplomatic, economic and political relations between the two strongest countries in the world. The authors of the study used the systemanalytical method, the method of analogies, the method of content analysis and the historicalanalytical method.

Transitions to Democracy and Transition through Transaction

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
DONALD SHARE
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Transitions To Democracy ◽  
Type Of Transition

Democratization from authoritarian rule has been an important focus of scholarly interest in the 1980s. However, no typology of democratic transitions currently exists. This article introduces a typology of transitions from authoritarianism to democracy with four major types: incremental democratization, transition through rupture, transition through protracted revolutionary struggle, and transition through transaction. The remainder of the article discusses the conditions for one type of democratic transition, transition through transaction, in Spain (1975-1978). As the Spanish case suggests, the conditions for this type of transition are quite different from those required for other forms of transition. The summary discussion of the Spanish case is divided into a consideration of the conditions for the initiation of transition through transaction, and an examination of the conditions for the implementation of transition through transaction. Both sections emphasize the crucial role of elite attitudes and skill in transitions through transaction.

scholarly journals Five Years Anniversary Since Renminbi was Included in the SDR Basket: Results and Prospects

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 59-70
Author(s):  
A. Polivach
Keyword(s):  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Moderate Growth ◽  
Financial Account ◽  
Trading Partners ◽  
Chinese Banks ◽  
International Role

Received 29.01.2021. The renminbi was included in the SDR basket from October 2016. In that time there were a lot of doubts about whether the renminbi was enough freely used currency to comply with the criteria of such inclusion. Other opinions focused on possibility that this inclusion would boost international usage of the renminbi. The author analyses statistics and comes to conclusion that the maximum boost of the renminbi usage was achieved right before the inclusion. The China’s statistics shows the boost of renminbi usage in the external transactions in 2016–2020, but statistics of its trading partners and SWIFT reveal only moderate growth or even stagnation in this period. One of explanation of this discrepancy may be that despite Chinese banks’ substantially increased external lending in renminbi in recent years, it looks that banks actually do not transfer renminbi abroad to borrowers. Banks just remit these sums to Chinese suppliers under the instructions by foreign borrowers. Then those borrowers repay those renminbi loans most likely in dollars. So China’s statistics record boost of renminbi usage, but its trading partners do not see those renminbi. The key obstacle for widening international usage of renminbi is remaining restrictions (formal and informal) for transactions under the financial account of China’s balance of payments. The author considers prospects of increasing the international role of the renminbi and comes to conclusion that it is likely that China is afraid of liberalisation of its financial accounts because there is a risk of long-term depreciation of the renminbi. Contrary to widely popular belief that China stands for and practiced with undervalued exchange rate of the renminbi the author statistically shows that in the past 25 years the renminbi was stronger than the G7’s currencies and substantially stronger than the currencies of China’s neighbour competitors. It looks that devaluation-averse sentiments hinder China’s decision makers from introduction of real liberalisation of its financial account, because free transborder movements of capital may create sharp depreciating impact on the renminbi and thus undermine Chinese economic achievements of last decades. That’s why it is unlikely that the renminbi will substantially increase its international role in the foreseeable future.

Marx's Inferno

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Clare Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Textual Scholarship ◽  
The Past ◽  
Classical Political Economy

This book reconstructs the major arguments of Karl Marx's Capital and inaugurates a completely new reading of a seminal classic. Rather than simply a critique of classical political economy, the book argues that Capital was primarily a careful engagement with the motives and aims of the workers' movement. Understood in this light, Capital emerges as a profound work of political theory. Placing Marx against the background of nineteenth-century socialism, the book shows how Capital was ingeniously modeled on Dante's Inferno, and how Marx, playing the role of Virgil for the proletariat, introduced partisans of workers' emancipation to the secret depths of the modern “social Hell.” In this manner, Marx revised republican ideas of freedom in response to the rise of capitalism. Combining research on Marx's interlocutors, textual scholarship, and forays into recent debates, the book traces the continuities linking Marx's theory of capitalism to the tradition of republican political thought. It immerses the reader in socialist debates about the nature of commerce, the experience of labor, the power of bosses and managers, and the possibilities of political organization. The book rescues those debates from the past and shows how they speak to ever-renewed concerns about political life in today's world.

Models, markets, and power: political economy and the Asia-Pacific, 1989–1999

2000 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL MASTANDUNO
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Hegemony

The political economy of the Asia-Pacific region has been transformed over the past decade. Three important developments are (1) the demise of the US–Japan economic rivalry and the associated competition over the most appropriate model of capitalism; (2) challenges to the ‘Washington Consensus’ on the optimal foreign economic strategy for emerging economies; and (3) the renewal of US hegemony in the context of a unipolar international structure. An understanding of these developments requires attention to the interaction of international and domestic forces. These developments suggest that a major challenge facing governments in the region will be to manage the tension between the state and the market. They also suggest that the United States is well positioned to play the role of regional stabilizer in the Asia-Pacific. Whether it does so effectively will depend on its domestic politics and the quality of its statecraft.

scholarly journals The Early Modern Silesian Gallows (15th–19th Century) as an Example of Stray Animals Utilization before the Rise of Institutional Veterinary Care

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1210
Author(s):  
Aleksander Chrószcz ◽  
Dominik Poradowski ◽  
Paweł Duma ◽  
Maciej Janeczek ◽  
Przemysław Spychalski
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
The Past ◽  
Minimum Number ◽  
Sanitary Conditions ◽  
Lower Silesia

In the past, executioners played an important role in the legal system. Besides sentence executions, they also worked as dogcatchers (i.e., eliminating stray animals or cadavers of dead animals from towns), and were responsible for sanitary conditions within their towns and closest neighborhoods. Archaeological explorations of gallows in the towns of Lower Silesia (Poland) provide evidence of such activities, including animal skeletal remains. Archaeozoological analysis of these materials from the towns Kamienna Góra (Landeshut), Złotoryja (Goldberg), and Jelenia Góra (Hirschberg) are the subjects of this study. Our work also stresses the nature of the executioner’s profession in animal health control and town hygiene maintenance before the development of modern veterinary services. The results show significant differences in the frequency of species and distribution of anatomical elements in accessible assemblages compared with animal skeletal remains unearthed in typical waste pits or classical inhumation, allowing the assumption that the animals were anatomically adults, and their health statuses were generally good. The dominant species, equids and dogs, were represented by skeletal remains, with the predominance of less valuable body parts (distal parts of appendices, caudal parts of the vertebral column). The fragmentation of accessible bone assemblages narrows the ability of larger conclusions (i.e., minimum number of individual estimations). The work enlightens the complex role of executioners pertaining to the hygiene of early modern town communities, a role later replaced by professional veterinarians with all of the consequences of the transition process.

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