The Political Economy Of Independence In Europe

This book examines secessionism, separatism, and calls for independence in the European Union in recent history and within an economic context. It contributes to the deeper understanding of factors influencing the individual decision-making processes around secession, using economic analysis to answer a set of simple questions about who the secessionists are, what they really want, what their incentives are, and why it is easier to declare their secessionist tendencies than to vote for secession. This a highly topical theme, given the secessionist referenda in Catalonia, Scotland, Ukraine, Kosovo, and the United Kingdom, and this book offers a unique contribution to the debate. It is based on an exclusive survey carried out among members of the pro-independence parties and movements across 17 European countries and 56 European regions. It uses the instruments of the Political Economy of Conflict to reveal the importance of romantic and economic factors influencing the drive towards secession. Secessions have been regarded as a purely romantic phenomenon that cannot be rationalised, whereas this book connects the sensibility of romantic factors such as language, religion or ethnicity with the sense of economic factors through its rational, economic approach. Furthermore, it applies the standard methodology of microeconomic analysis to discover the impact of individual pro-secessionist factors. An integral part of the text presents a brief historic overview, uncovering the lesser-known path dependency. The book will find an audience among researchers, scholars, and students of economics and political science, as well as policy-makers and professionals engaged with a secessionist agenda.

First published in 1998, this volume contributes to the debate after the fall of the Soviet Union on the transition of Eastern European, former Soviet countries to a market economy. The transition was an enterprise as daring in practice and historically unprecedented as it is an analytical laboratory subject to constant reflection. The first two chapters address foreign direct investment in Central and Eastern European countries. The rebuilding of social insurance systems is then addressed, with a focus on state pension schemes. The subsequent two chapters examine the political and demographic features of transition countries, highlighting media reform as a key aspect for the consolidation of a democratic, law-based, market economy and society. Focus then turns to Poland, the country which is considered to display the most progress in the political economy of transition. Finally, the controversial issue of the electoral successes of former Communist parties in Central and Eastern Europe is discussed.

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Excerpt from History of Political Economy in Europe To attempt a narration of these experiences in Europe from the earliest period - their successes and their fail ures - was the task that M. Blanqui proposed to himself in writing the history under consideration. The result of his labors has been of necessity imperfect, because the material for constructing a complete record does not exist; and because the restriction of the discussion of such material as is available, which the author at the outset seems to have prescribed to himself, namely, two small 12mo volumes (in the French edition), did not admit of the entering at any great length into details, or the accomplishment of much other than the presenta tion of the more important economic transactions in the history of Europe, and the extent of their influences in promoting or retarding the world's material progress and development. Nevertheless the book as it exists to day, with its record terminating in 1842, is in the highest degree instructive, and in a popular sense, exceedingly attractive. It is moreover, one of the comparatively few books published during the last half century which has attained a world-wide reputation, and its translation and present re-publication fills a place, which so far as the observation of the writer extends, is not supplied by any other work in the English language. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.