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At a time when many regions of the world, including Europe, see a resurgence of authoritarianism, three countries of Eastern Europe – Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova – are struggling to counter this trend with the aim of developing European-style democracies in the framework of their Association Agreements with the European Union. This book offers an in-depth analysis of this challenge, with expert contributions on the workings of these countries’ democratic and judicial institutions, their anti-corruption policies and the hazards they must overcome, including the strong presence of oligarchs. Other themes include how these countries are adapting to their precarious geo-political positioning between the EU and Russia and how the quality of their political and economic governance compares with the Balkan states. The book complements three landmark Handbooks (now in their 2nd edition and also published by Rowman & Littlefield International) explaining the progress achieved in implementing the comprehensive Association Agreements that each of these countries has entered into with the EU. The struggle to advance good democratic governance in these close neighbours of the EU represents a test case of the highest strategic significance for both the EU and the three states themselves. For the most part, the jury is still out over its outcome.
'Undeniably Good Governance in Central and Eastern Europe provides many insights in the political economy of institutional reform and constitutes an important contribution to the growing literature on "second-generation" reforms.' - Carlos Santiso, Democratization The implementation of a democratic order embedded in a market economy environment has proved immensely difficult. Furthermore, this process is subject to tremendous variety within Central and Eastern Europe. Ten years after the collapse of communism it was apparent that only Poland and Slovenia surpassed their 1989 levels of GDP. This book scrutinises the arrangements to enforce good governance in this area both by means of external help and domestic political leadership. From the popular assumption that transformation is a collective good, it follows that the problem of free-riding has to be faced. Consequently there is a danger that transformation may never be completed. This book empirically tests the relationship between economic performance and good governance focusing upon voluntary coercion as a means to prevent free-riding behaviour. The author examines the role of international organisations and discusses elite formation as an important element of good governance - something often ignored in the economic analysis of economic performance.
Edited by two of the world's leading analysts of post communist politics, this book brings together distinguished specialists on Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia/Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania. The authors analyse the challenge of building democracy in the countries of the former Yugoslavia riven by conflict, and in neighboring states. They focus on oppositional activity, political cultures that often favour strong presidentialism, the role of nationalism, and basic socioeconomic trends. Karen Dawisha and Bruce Parrott provide theoretical and comparative chapters on post communist political development across the region. This book will provide students and scholars with detailed analysis by leading authorities, plus the latest research data on recent political and economic developments in each country.
Europe remains divided between east and west, with differences caused and worsened by uneven economic and political development. Amid these divisions, the environment has become a key battleground. The condition and sustainability of environmental resources are interlinked with systems of governance and power, from local to EU levels. Key challenges in the eastern European region today include increasingly authoritarian forms of government that threaten the operations and very existence of civil society groups; the importation of locally-contested conservation and environmental programmes that were designed elsewhere; and a resurgence in cultural nationalism that prescribes and normalises exclusionary nation-building myths. This volume draws together essays by early-career academic researchers from across eastern Europe. Engaging with the critical tools of political ecology, its contributors provide a hitherto overlooked perspective on the current fate and reception of 'environmentalism' in the region. It asks how emergent forms of environmentalism have been received, how these movements and perspectives have redefined landscapes, and what the subtler effects of new regulatory regimes on communities and environment-dependent livelihoods have been. Arranged in three sections, with case studies from Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Serbia, this collection develops anthropological views on the processes and consequences of the politicisation of the environment. It is valuable reading for human geographers, social and cultural historians, political ecologists, social movement and government scholars, political scientists, and specialists on Europe and European Union politics.
This insightful book brings the study of coalitions and coalition governance in Central and Eastern European democracies up to date, with an analytical focus framed by difficult economic and social periods, such as the end of the economic crisis and the Coronavirus pandemic. The volume posits insights from a plethora of experts on party politics and coalition studies from their respective countries, with chapters on Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Embellished with illustrative tables and extensive datasets throughout, each chapter maps the developments of party system change, covering the coalition life cycle from the early 1990s until the end of 2021, and explores whether there has been transformation of the coalition, governance and dissolutions patterns due to heightened pressures. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of coalition politics, representative democracy, governance, political parties, European Union politics, East and Central European politics, and comparative politics.
Integrating the international pressures emanating from the Washington Consensus with an analysis of domestic interest representation, this book explores the political consequences of privatization and the progress of democracy in Eastern Europe. Chris Hasselmann investigates whether the issue of pension reform offers a natural controlled experiment with which to explore both issues throughout the region and the former Soviet Union. The volume will prove of value to those with an interest in public policy and governance issues, the politics of Eastern Europe and political theory more generally.
In light of the sudden collape of communist systems in Eastern Europe in 1989-90, this book attempts to explain their democratization from a variety of theoretical perspectives.
What impact does the European Union (EU) and other international donors have on the development of good governance in South Eastern Europe (SEE)? The comparative analysis shows that the externally-driven good governance reforms improve substantive legality (the alignment of domestic legislation with international best standards), state capacity and efficiency but weaken formal legality (the inner morality of law), many aspects of impartiality and the coherence of state structures and policies. As a result, good governance is undermined. To explain the persistence and reproduction of bad (i.e. fragmented) governance, the author offers a “vicious reform cycle” explanation, in which a fragmented governance structure is reproduced by competing and factionalized actors and by fragmented and politicized reform and policy processes. The implication is that externally-induced reforms, instead of allowing to transition towards good governance, are reproducing Balkanization and “bad governance”, i.e. fragmented, unaccountable, personalized and instable state structures, policies and formal rules. The main argument is supported by a mixed method study. A quantitative indicator-based analysis measures the development of good governance across six dimensions between 2003 and 2015. Qualitative interviews (with judicial and political representatives from SEE, the EU and international organizations), relevant data and secondary sources offer revealing insights on processes of hybridization and fragmentation.
The book presents an informed and wide-ranging examination of issues surrounding the development and future prospects of civil society in Eastern Europe. The contributions, mostly by leading East European scholars, relate the key concept of civil society to the processes that led to the collapse of communism and which bear on prospects for the establishment of a democratic order throughout the region. The development of the concept is related to questions like those surrounding economic policy and reform and the women's movement.
Europe remains divided between east and west, with differences caused and worsened by uneven economic and political development. Amid these divisions, the environment has become a key battleground. The condition and sustainability of environmental resources are interlinked with systems of governance and power, from local to EU levels. Key challenges in the eastern European region today include increasingly authoritarian forms of government that threaten the operations and very existence of civil society groups; the importation of locally-contested conservation and environmental programmes that were designed elsewhere; and a resurgence in cultural nationalism that prescribes and normalises exclusionary nation-building myths. This volume draws together essays by early-career academic researchers from across eastern Europe. Engaging with the critical tools of political ecology, its contributors provide a hitherto overlooked perspective on the current fate and reception of ‘environmentalism’ in the region. It asks how emergent forms of environmentalism have been received, how these movements and perspectives have redefined landscapes, and what the subtler effects of new regulatory regimes on communities and environment-dependent livelihoods have been. Arranged in three sections, with case studies from Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Serbia, this collection develops anthropological views on the processes and consequences of the politicisation of the environment. It is valuable reading for human geographers, social and cultural historians, political ecologists, social movement and government scholars, political scientists, and specialists on Europe and European Union politics.