Search results for "Economy"
showing 10 items of 2131 documents
The EU and global imbalances
2015
The EU’s Role in Fighting Global Imbalances looks at the role of the European Union in addressing some of the greatest challenges of our time: poverty, protectionism, climate change, and human trafficking. Contributions from ten leading scholars in the fields of economics, law, and political science provide in-depth analyses of three key dimensions of EU foreign policy, namely: the internal challenges facing the EU, as its 28 member countries struggle to coordinate their actions; the external challenges facing the EU on the global arena, in areas where global imbalances are particularly pervasive, and where measures taken by the Union can have an important impact; and the EU´s performance o…
Russian School in the Socio-Political Space of Latvia (1991 – 2021)
2021
Russian-language teaching schools, or bilingual schools, are the most important institution for the reproduction of the ethno-cultural collective identity of the Russian and Russian-speaking population in modern Latvia. The present and future of these schools are included in a very complex legal and socio-political context. On the one hand, Latvian legislation proclaims the right of ethnic minorities to preserve their identity, on the other hand, the dominant political discourse is focused on reducing teaching in Russian in these schools to a minimum. The article shows that it is the political context constructed by the leading political parties, and not the rights guaranteed by the constit…
Trade shocks and the nationalist backlash in political attitudes: panel data evidence from Great Britain
2021
This article leverages individual-level panel data on nationalist attitudes to contribute to the debate on the (economic) roots of popular opposition to globalization. We propose a ���nationalist backlash��� hypothesis: Individuals living in regions suffering from stronger import competition form more nationalist attitudes as part of a broad counter-reaction to globalization. Analyzing data from the British Household Panel Study (BHPS), we document not only a decrease in support for EU membership but also a general shift towards more nationalist attitudes among respondents from regions exposed to higher imports from low-wage countries���in particular, China. We thus uncover a direct individ…
INFLUENCE OF INTEREST GROUPS IN LATVIA ON CENTRALIZATION
2021
Latvia has experienced four administrative-territorial reforms in 30 years. In 1989, local and regional elections were the first democratic elections in Latvia since 1934. From 1990 to 1992, self-governments were the main authority for re-establishing national independence and transforming the country from totalitarianism to democracy. The transformation process starts with wide decentralization, including substantial fiscal decentralization and substantial administrative decentralization.
 The first reform was the centralization (1994) of Rīga city government (1 self-government instead of a two-tier system, with 6 district local governments and 1 city local government). The second re…
Latvia: 20 Years Stability … or Stagnation?
2021
Fraught with the legacy of a former Soviet Republic, Latvia has had to (re-)establish democracy, market economy and a nation state simultaneously. Today, Latvia is a consolidated democracy, backed by a vibrant civic sphere. Yet its political parties and parliament still lack capacity and societal embeddedness. Short-lived government coalitions have failed to facilitate more investment in competitive economic sectors, higher education and research. Key policy challenges include economic development, mitigating a dramatic demographic crunch and managing complicated relations with Russia.
Obstacles Facing Smaller Business in Developing Countries
2003
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a central role in economic growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries and transition economies. Yet small and medium-scale enterprise may suffer from a number of disadvantages compared with larger firms. Market imperfections, notably those caused by underdeveloped financial and legal systems, typically constrain small firms and severely limit their ability to grow. Economies of scale and entry cost favor large firms, and large entrepreneurs usually wield more political influence. Thus government rules and regulations may also be biased in favor of large firms. To the extent that market and government failures are more prevalent in develop…
Adam Przeworski/Michael Alvarez/José Antonio Cheibub/Fernando Limongi, Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Weil-Being in the World,…
2008
Die Frage nach Zusammenhangen zwischen politischer und okonomischer Entwicklung ist eine Kernfrage der Entwicklungsforschung. Klassische Ansatze wie Modernisierungs- und Dependenztheorien und neuere Ansatze der Institutionenokonomik und Good Governance (dt. gute Regierungsfuhrung) untersuchten diese Zusammenhange. Als Begrunder dieses Forschungsprogramms gilt Seymour Martin Lipset. Sein Essay „Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy“, 1959 in der „American Political Science Review“ erschienen und 1960 als zweites Kapitel in seinem Buch „Political Man — The Social Bases of Politics“ (→ Lipset 1960) abgedruckt, gilt als Anfangspunkt der modernisierun…
07. Social freedom in contemporary capitalism: A reconstruction of Axel Honneth’s normative approach to the economy
2015
This paper discusses two related issues, namely how to adequately describe the economy within the framework of a critical social theory, and how to understand the interrelation between the socio-economic and political dimensions of democracy. Concerning the first issue Honneth stresses the moral quality of social integration, and concerning the second issue he develops a conception of ‘democratic Sittlichkeit.’ In reconstructing these issues, both the promises and problems of Honneth’s work for analyzing and criticizing contemporary developments in the economy are explored. The paper concludes that the unresolved challenge for Honneth is not to succumb to a nostalgic return to 19th century …
‘Dead men walking?’ Party identification in Germany, 1977–2002
2006
Abstract Scholars engaged in the discourse on ‘Parteienverdrossenheit’ claim that a breakdown of party attachments in West Germany occurred during the early 1990s. Employing data from a series of monthly polls that were conducted from 1977 to 2002, this paper demonstrates that the notion of such a rapid decline is wrong. Rather than being swept away by political crises, party identification declines slowly and fairly constantly over time, which is in line with theories of a secular dealignment. Furthermore, it can be shown that this dealignment is driven by a weakening of traditional social ties, while cognitive mobilization and change in the composition of the society have no effect on par…
Constructing an American fear culture from red scares to terrorism
2013
Building on the work of social analysts who have identified the emerging culture of fear in the USA, this article argues that the current fears about terrorism derive from deliberate campaigns by the world capitalism’s elites. It traces the history of political scares since the late 19th century to show an evolution from red scares to terrorism. While acknowledging the complexities of cultural constructions, the obsession with terrorism is shown as an outgrowth and offspring of earlier, anti-communist hysterias in the USA.