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52. Labour Markets and Employment Development in South East Europe
- Author:
- Hermine Vidovic
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- In contrast to the Central European transition countries, the economies of South East Europe (SEE) have been facing complex and interrelated political and economic problems. The dis solution of Yugoslavia combined with market losses, war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, sanctions finally culminating in the Kosovo conflict were the main causes of political and economic instability in the whole region. Taking into account these factors, output recovery has been much slower in SEE than in the Central European countries. Measured in purchasing power standards, Croatia is the best per former in the region, with its GDP at about 38% of the EU average. Next comes Bulgaria (32%), whereas the respective values f or Serbia and Montenegro and Albania range between 15-17%. Looking at the economic performance in the 1990-2002 period, Croatia and Romania reached almost 94% of their pre-transitional level in 2002, followed by Bulgaria and Macedonia (about 88% each). Serbia and Montenegro, the worst-affected, reached only about half of what it was in 1990. The cumulative output decline there was one of the largest among all the Central and East European countries.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, Development, and Sanctions
- Political Geography:
- United States, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, and Montenegro
53. Azerbaijan: Turning Over a New Leaf?
- Publication Date:
- 05-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Oil-rich Azerbaijan, which borders Iran, Turkey and Russia and is still scarred from its defeat by Armenia ten years ago, gives cause for both hope and concern. The October 2003 election of Ilham Aliyev to the presidency that his late-father, Heydar, had held almost from independence, highlighted the stark choices which now face the country. Its government is a carefully designed autocratic system, which the father and former Soviet-era politburo member began to construct in the late 1960 s, with heavy reliance on family and clan members, oil revenues and patronage.
- Topic:
- Development, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Iran, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Armenia, and Azerbaijan
54. Defusing a Ticking Bomb? Disentangling International Organisations
- Author:
- Indra Øverland
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- This article examines how various organisations divide and coordinate their conflict prevention and development aid in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of southern Georgia, and how that coordination might be improved. There have been numerous early warnings of impending violent conflict and calls for conflict prevention in Samtskhe-Javakheti. Counter-claims have, however, been asserted that the region's problem is in fact not one of potential violent ethnic conflict, but rather one of poverty and peripherality, and that exaggerated, uncoordinated early warning might in fact inflate conflicts that were not initially acute. At one point it seemed that the Samtskhe-Javakheti case would provide an example of uncoordinated and one-sided focus on conflict prevention and early warning on the part of international organisations, and its potentially detrimental consequences. An overview of the activities of the organisations, however, shows the contrary. A critical, sensitive and deconstructive perspective is already incorporated into their approach, and their activities are well coordinated. More formalised institutions are nonetheless needed to ensure the inclusion of large multilateral actors such as the World Bank and Council of Europe in the process, and consistent coordination in other regions too.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Development, and International Organization
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, and Georgia
55. Potential and Limits of the Pact of Stability for South East Europe: Prioritising Objectives
- Author:
- Plamen Pantev
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- The Pact of Stability for South East Europe was “born” after the end of the Kosovo crisis in 1999 as a concept of dealing radically with the Balkan instabilities, but also as a geopolitical compromise of the great power centres, involved in the treatment of the post-Yugoslav conflicts. The ripeness of launching this concept and policy had several dimensions: Most of the countries from South East Europe, especially those in transition to democracy and market economy, had a definite strategy of integrating in both the European Union and in NATO; A certain level of regional cooperation had already been reached in the years that preceded the Kosovo crisis in 1999; Influential external powers had already realised that the Balkans need to be treated in the long-term only in a benign way to overcome historical deficiencies and belated modernisation of the economy, society, politics, technology and infrastructure; The disgusting consequences of four post-Yugoslav wars – a development that did not happen to two other former federal structures in Central and Eastern Europe (the Czechoslovak and the Soviet) necessitated a comprehensive and encompassing approach to deal with the plethora of issues in the Balkans, and the EU gradually evolved to the understanding that an additional strategic instrument needs to be launched to cope with the risks and instabilities in the region of South East Europe on the way of its own expansion and of turning the Balkan Peninsula into an integral part of the Union.
- Topic:
- Security, NATO, Development, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, and Balkans
56. Sustainable Regional Development through Institutionalised Trans-frontier Cooperation in the Sofia-Skopje-Nis Triangle--Towards the Establishment of a Euroregion
- Author:
- Stoyan Totev and Maria Boyadjieva
- Publication Date:
- 04-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- The transition process in Central and Eastern Europe was associated with increasing intra-regional disparities. It appears also that the regional inequalities in South east Europe are relatively high creating in the same time significantly higher economic and social problems. That refers to Bulgaria, Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia whereas every reform face serious difficulties due to the lower readiness for accession to the EU structures as well as for their backwardness in the economic development. In countries like Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia there exist enough resources for facing the negative effects from one or another reform as well as the necessary readiness of the population the reform s to be carried out.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Macedonia
57. Regional Poverty and Income Inequality in Central and Eastern Europe: Evidence from the Luxembourgh Income Study
- Author:
- Michael Förster, David Jesuit, and Timothy Smeeding
- Publication Date:
- 09-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- This paper reports levels of income inequality and poverty in four Central and Eastern European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Russia. Unlike many previous researchers who examine transition economies, we aggregate the detailed individual-level income surveys made available through the efforts of the Luxembourg Income Study at the regional level of analysis. Although national-level investigations have contributed much to our understanding of the income distribution dynamics, these studies mask intracountry variance in levels of income inequality and thus may not capture the true distribution of household income and accurately reflect individual wellbeing. Accordingly, we compute summary measures of inequality and relative poverty rates, using both local and national relative poverty lines, for the most recent waves of data available. We offer comparisons between regional and national median incomes and assess levels of inter- and intraregional income inequality. In addition, we make comparisons to regions within Western European countries and find that, contrary to what is often asserted, interregional disparities in Central and Eastern Europe countries are not as large as those found in some Western European countries.
- Topic:
- Development and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Eastern Europe, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Luxembourg
58. Optimality and Overuse of Labour in Estonian Manufacturing Enterprises
- Author:
- Almas Heshmati and Jaan Masso
- Publication Date:
- 07-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- For transition economies labour market flexibility is necessary for successful restructuring and reallocation of labour force and for coping with the requirements of the European Monetary Union. In this paper we apply a novel approach to the issue of labour market flexibility in transition countries by studying the optimality and efficiency of labour usage among Estonian manufacturing enterprises. A dynamic model is employed where both the long run optimal level of employment and the speed at which actual employment is adjusted to the optimal are modelled as functions of several variables. Firm level panel data from 1995 to 1999 were used. The results showed that in the long run employment responds greatest to wages, followed by valueadded and capital stock. Speed of adjustment and labour use optimality and efficiency show much greater variations over firms than over time. In the course of time there occurs both labour saving technical change and an increase in the efficiency of labour usage. On average there is shortage of labour compared to firm's own optimal level, while over use of labour compared to best-practice technology. Capital seems to be a binding constraint on the development of employment in the Estonian labour market.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe
59. Reading, Writing and Reconciliation: Educational Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Author:
- Valery Perry
- Publication Date:
- 09-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues
- Abstract:
- The post-war reconstruction and state-building process in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has been complex, with priorities changing as the country gradually normalizes and donor interests evolve. In mid-2002 the international community in BiH began a significant effort to modernize and reform BiH's education system to better prepare the country's youth to play productive social, economic and political roles in the future. Although educational reform gained significant attention in 2002, reforms efforts have been occurring at a variety of levels since 1996.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Development, Education, and Reform
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Eastern Europe
60. Building Bridges In Mostar
- Publication Date:
- 11-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Making another attempt to unite the divided city of Mostar has become, unexpectedly but appropriately, a very high international priority in Bosnia " Herzegovina (BiH) in 2003. By late summer, it had come to be ranked by High Representative Paddy Ashdown among his four major projects for structural reform. In each case, the High Representative appointed a foreign chairman to lead commissions composed of domestic representatives and charged with finding statebuilding solutions in the symbolically or substantively important realms of defence, intelligence, indirect taxation - and Mostar. All aim to unify divided and dysfunctional institutions. The first three commissions, which have already reported and whose draft legislation is proceeding through the various parliaments, have also sought to empower the state over the entities and their respective national establishments.
- Topic:
- Development, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Eastern Europe