Economic Change In The Balkan States

These papers describe the economic conditions in four Balkan Countries during the 1980s, examine the current economic programmes of their governments, and consider the prospects of their economies in the 1990s. The contributors include scholars from the West and from the countries concerned.

This edited volume brings together original scientific studies on current economic and developmental issues in the Balkan region, and is composed of papers by 25 authors from seven different countries. The Balkan region has gained significant interest in recent years due to its location and strategic position, representing a doorway to Europe, and the region’s stability and progress have direct consequences on various European countries. Because of this strategic position, there is currently much debate regarding a potential partnership of the Balkan states with the European Union. This book offers insights into the current economic and developmental status of the countries in this region, offering a series of chapters that analyse the area from a variety of perspectives. It begins with a discussion on the recent history of the region, especially with reference to the former Yugoslavia and its break-up after the turbulence experienced in 1990s. Other sections are complementary to each other in that they offer comparisons of the Balkan states in their economic progress at the micro and macro levels. Topics such as European integration policies and effects, economic transition, regional trade, tax incentive policy, regional capital markets, regional development agencies and systems, remittances and foreign aid contributions, import-export policies, fiscal policies, analysis of regional microfinance, and the tourism sectors are explored in detail throughout the book.

This book explores the economic and social development of the Western Balkan region, a group of six countries that are potential candidates for EU membership. It focuses on the key economic issues facing these countries, including the challenge of promoting economic growth, limiting public deficits and debt, and fostering international trade relations. Given the severe impact of the recent economic crisis on social welfare in the region, it also investigates the nature and extent of social exclusion, a factor likely to produce future political instabilities if not effectively addressed by a return to sustainable economic growth. The contributions explore these issues in light of the major influence of EU policy instruments and advice, which are currently guiding the economies along an accession trajectory to future EU membership.

Provides an assessment of the problems of transformation in the Balkan countries, covering topics on both politics and economics. The book gives an overview of the problems of transition, and also country-specific coverage, including Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and the former Yugoslavia.

The complex challenge of economic recovery and reconstruction in the Balkans is looked at in this book. The Balkan Stability Pact stands for a networked approach of international organizations to deal with these problems. This analysis critically looks into strategies, actors, and preliminary results. There are shortcomings and inconsistencies and there is some potential for transatlantic conflicts over the issue of burden sharing. There is also a risk of EU imperial overstretch facing eastern and south-eastern EU enlargement.

Geopolitical and Economic Changes in the Balkan Countries is a background work on the history, wars, and invasions of the Balkans. The ways in which this background has produced and altered the present unsettled situation in Bosnia and other parts of the peninsula is discussed. The recent involvement of the United States and the stabilizing role of Greece in southeastern Europe, as well as the potential economic cooperation between the Balkan countries and the European Union are analyzed.

Developing and ‘transition’ economies face myriad challenges in their attempts to achieve and maintain political stability and foster the economic growth essential for national security, the social well-being of current citizens and sustainable environments for future generations. Governments in the Western Balkans have striven to achieve all of the above, and this volume assesses the nature of their experiences as well as the level of their success in doing so. Featuring detailed case studies of public policy reforms in the region as well as comparative analysis on a range of indicators, the book analyzes the role of key players in setting the political agenda as well as implementing policy reforms. It also distils the lessons that can be learned from the Western Balkan experience, recommending strategies for enhancing the policy making process. In addition, it examines the developmental role played by the full spectrum of policy actors, including the private sector, NGOs, special interest groupings, international financial institutions, donor nations and the EU. Each case study has been prepared by academics with deep knowledge and experience of the western Balkans and addresses a core set of questions: identifying the policy issue and its broader context, defining the roles of specific individuals in formulating policy and reform and assessing the influence of networks and coalitions in the policy making process. With so little detailed literature on public policy making in a group of nations strategically positioned between Europe, Russia and the near East, the detailed insights provided by this volume will be widely welcomed. Our book provides case studies of specific public policy reform episodes in selected Western Balkan post-conflict and transition countries. The focus of these case studies extends beyond the technical aspects and entails substantive examination of the policy actors, constituencies and politics that ultimately shape the policy that emerges from the policy making process. This analysis draws lessons for strengthening the quality of policies, the transparency, consistency, and governance of the policy making process and ultimately for contributing to economic and social development of the region.

Western economic historians have traditionally concentrated on the success stories of major developed economies, while development economists have given most of their attnetion to the problems of the Third World. The authors of this pioneering work study a part of Europe neglected by both approaches. Modernizing patterns in Balkan economic history are traced from the sixteenth century (when the territory was shared by Ottoman and Habsburg empires), through the nineteenth century (when they emerged as independent states), to the end of World War II and its aftermath. Despite present differences in economic systems—Greece's private market economy, Yugoslavia's planned market economy, and the centrally planned economies of Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania—the authors find that shared origins and common subsequent experiences are ample justifications for treating the area as an economic unit. Balkan Economic History, 1550-1950 will be a major case study for development economists and will provide historians with the first analytical and statistical study to survey the entire region from the start of the early modern period.