Troubled Transition

Dissidence: A lonely voice

Kim Jong-il once declared he would transform North Korea into a great and powerful country by 2012, apparently believing that nuclear weapons would compel the international community to engage on his terms. With no such prospect in sight and Kim himself now in failing health, his regime faces a multitude of intractable problems. Kim has apparently chosen his twenty-something third son as his successor, but will North Koreans accept this inexperienced young man as their leader, and will he embrace new thinking to solve the country's problems? Why do North Korean leaders resist reform of an economic system that impoverishes the people? Can a country so dependent on outside help continue to defy the international community? In Troubled Transition, leading international experts examine these dilemmas, offering new insights into how a troubled North Korea may evolve in light of the ways other command economies and totalitarian states--from the Soviet Union and East Germany to Vietnam and China--have transitioned.

The revolutionary political upheavals in Africa in the early 1990s continue to have an impact almost two decades later. This book argues we must look to the defining period of transition to understand how politics in these countries changed since the fall of dictatorial one-party states.

Analyzes the socio-economic and political developments in Mozambique over the past 20 years, documenting the transition from socialism to market capitalism. Looks at international, regional, national, and local factors, and the prospects for pursuing such a strategy in a country with almost no indigenous capital-owning and entrepreneurial class. Paper edition (unseen), $25.00. Distributed by Humanities. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Theorizing Transition provides a comprehensive examination of the economic, political, social and cultural transformations in post-Communist countries and an important critique of transition theory and policy. The authors create the basis of a theoretical understanding of transition in terms of a political economy of capitalist development. The diversity of forms and complexities of transition are examined through a wide range of examples from post-Soviet countries and comparative studies from countries such as Vietnam and China. Theorizing Transition challenges many of the comfortable assumptions unleashed by the euphoria of democratisation and the triumphalism of market capitalism in the early 1990s and shows transition to be much more complex than mainstream theory suggests.

This book analyzes and assesses corporate restructuring and governance in transition countries focusing on the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Russia. Using original material and publications in local languages, the book addresses the core issues for these countries in transformation into competitive market economies.

This book, by one of the most experienced authorities on the subject, presents a deep analysis of the very difficult current situation in Afghanistan. Covering a wide range of important subjects including state-building, democracy, war, the rule of law, and international relations, the book draws out two overarching key factors: the way in which the prevailing neopatrimonial political order has become entrenched, making it very difficult for any other political order to take root; and the hostile region in which Afghanistan is located, especially the way in which an ongoing ‘creeping invasion’ from Pakistani territory has compromised the aspirations of both the Afghan government and its international backers to move the country to a more stable position.