Varieties of capitalism and the Estonian economy: Institutions,growth and crisis in a liberal market economy

This article examines Estonia's economic institutions, performance and vulnerability to the global economic crisis in the context of the varieties of capitalism framework. It shows that Estonia shares many characteristics of a liberal market economy, but that there are also some features which do not fit the classical model, notably its corporate governance institutions. It also suggests that the varieties of capitalism framework can account for key features of Estonia's economic performance, including its growth trajectory and adjustment to the global financial crisis. The article also reflects on the broader significance of these findings for understanding post-communist capitalism.     

Financial market efficiency in an Agrarian economy: Microeconometric analysis of the Pakistani Punjab

The shadow price of capital in production is a useful indicator of the efficacy of the rural financial system. Using data on participants and non‐participants in a small farm credit programme from the Pakistani Punjab, this article estimates the shadow price of capital. Endogenous switching regressions techniques are employed to control for the likely heterogeneity of borrowers versus non‐borrowers. Results indicate that an individual selected at random from the population of small farmers would experience a 200 per cent rate of return on the first rupee borrowed from the small farm credit programme, indicating a high shadow price of capital and a prima facie case for small farm credit programmes.     

An Alternative Understanding of Political Participation: Challenging the Myth of Political Indifference in Hong Kong

Abstract

The characterization of Hong Kong's political culture as one of indifference deserves further examination as the inquiries conducted by proponents of the indifference framework have all used a narrow definition of political participation. This paper begins with a critique of the inherent narrowness of orthodox definitions of political participation: political participation as acts making demands on a government; as lawful activities; and as activities vis‐a‐vis one government. Contrast these assumptions, the author contends that political participation needs to be understood as activities that include both making demands on and showing support for a government, as well as both lawful and unlawful activities. Furthermore, the author refutes the one‐government‐locus theme of the orthodox concept and proposes a three‐government‐loci theme that is more relevant to the historical experience of the colonial Hong Kong. The political relevance of the social domain and its implications on broadening the definition of political participation are discussed. Finally, the author argues for the importance of considering discursive participation as a form of political participation in Hong Kong.     

The politics of recognition of Crimean Tatar collective rights in the post-Soviet period: With special attention to the Russian annexation of Crimea

This paper examines the process of how Crimean Tatars strived to attain group-differentiated rights since they have returned to their homeland in the early 1990s. Whereas the politics of minority rights were viewed through security lens in earlier literature, we emphasize the significance of cultural constructs in influencing the minority policies, based on qualitative content analysis of “speech acts” of elites, and movement and policy documents. Focusing on the interaction of the framing processes of Crimean Tatars with the Crimean regional government, Ukraine, and Russia, we argue that the “neo-Stalinist frame” has played a major role in denying the rights of Crimean Tatars for self-determination and preservation of their ethnic identity in both pre and post annexation Crimea. The Crimean Tatars counter-framed against neo-Stalinist frame both in the pre and post-annexation period by demanding their rights as “indigenous people”. Ukraine experienced a frame transformation after the Euromaidan protests, by shifting from a neo-Stalinist frame into a “multiculturalist frame”, which became evident in recognition of the Crimean Tatar status as indigenous people of Crimea.     

Civilisational values and political economy beyond the West: the significance of Korean debates at the time of its economic opening

This paper analyses the prominence of civilisational values in Korean political economy debates in the late 19th and early 20th centuries concerning their country's dramatic opening to the world economy at the time. Korean supporters of economic opening saw this policy change as part of a wider embrace of Western civilisational values, while opponents argued that their country's longstanding economic autarchy upheld traditional Neo-Confucian civilisational values that had been imported from China. For international political economy (IPE) scholars interested in the historical relationship between civilisational values and political economy, the analysis shows how these values shaped understandings of international economic relations outside the West in quite distinctive ways. For IPE scholars interested in the diffusion of ideas, the analysis highlights different dynamics involved in the ‘localisation’ of ideas emanating from dominant powers. More generally, the study of this Korean history also contributes to the building of a more ‘inter-civilisational’ approach to IPE today.     

The political economy of development: An empirical analysis of the effects of the institutional framework on economic development

Researchers suggest that societies characterized by high levels of political freedom are expected to exhibit significantly higher rates of economic growth than those in which civil liberties and political rights are abridged. In the present study, four sets of national-level data and panel regression analysis are used to examine the relationship between the institutional framework and various measures of economic development. While the results from the full sample support the hypothesis that political freedom enhances economic development, the results obtained from the disaggregated models cast doubts on this conclusion. An important lesson to be learned from the present study is that there is yet no single empirical model of economic development that can be applied to all societies. John Mukum Mbaku, PhD, is professor in the department of economics at Weber State University. He received the Ph.D. degree in economics from the University of Georgia in 1985. His research interests are in public choice, economic development, property rights, and Africa. He has published articles in such journals asPublic Choice, Cato Journal, Applied Economics (UK),Konjunkturpolitik (Germany),International Review of Economics and Business (Italy),Indian Journal of Social Science, Asian and African Studies, Journal of Economic Development, The Review of Black Political Economy. He is associate editor (Africa) ofJournal of Third World Studies. Recent publications include Markets and the economic origins of apartheid in South Africa,Indian Journal of Social Science, vol. 6, no. 2 (1993); Foreign aid and economic growth in Cameroon,Applied Economics (UK), vol. 25, no. 10 (1993); Rent seeking and institutional stability in developing countries, (with Mwangi S. Kimenyi),Public Choice, vol. 77, no. 2 (1993); and Institutional instability and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa,International Review of Economics and Business (Italy), vol. 40, no. 9 (1993). He is currently researching the determinants of institutional instability in Africa.     

Corporatism packaged in pluralist ideology: the case of Slovenia

Corporatism has been an influential doctrine in the Slovenian polity since its beginning. After the onset of democratization in the early 1990s, its influence remains strong. Forms of corporatism are embodied in the National Council as the second chamber of parliament, in the chamber system, the system of social partnership and the RTVS (Public Television of Slovenia) Council. It is also present in certain socio-political priorities such as a higher value being placed on partnership over competition, on fairness over human rights, on community over individualism. Social pluralism has always been a part of Slovenian public life. Political pluralism emerged at the end of the 19th century and was never fully developed. There has always been a strong inclination in the political life of Slovenia to organize around interest groups and editorial boards of various publications, a tendency that reveals a plurality of voices but a general unwillingness to fight for political power. It could also be concluded that the development of pluralism in Slovenia relies heavily on corporatism because of the general lack of liberal foundations.     

The 1996 Split of the Islamic Movement in Israel: Between the Holy Text and Israeli-Palestinian Context

This article aims to explain the causes and meaning of the formal split of the Islamic Movement in Israel into two factions—following the decision to participate in the elections to the fourteenth Knesset (Israeli parliament) on May 29, 1996—while locating these in a larger theoretical framework. This split resulted from a delicate combination of doctrinal-ideological controversies relating to secular electoral competition and historical-political-tactical controversies that are rooted in the Israeli-Palestinian context. Specifically, the split of the Islamic Movement in Israel derived from two interpretations of the Islamic belief: a more literal or concrete interpretation and a more abstract one.     

Performance Evaluation of Regional Governors: The Case of the Russian Federation

ABSTRACT

This study examines recent changes in performance-based appraisals of Russian regional governors, key criteria used in the decision-making process regarding the reappointment or dismissal of top regional executives, the role of non-governmental organizations in their performance evaluations, and existing problems in this area. Moreover, the study explores the extent to which values such as equity, social justice, and quality of life are embodied in the performance evaluations of these officials.     

In search of a theoretical approach to the analysis of the ‘Colour revolutions’: Transition studies and discourse theory

The article aims to identify a theoretical framework which would be able to provide explanation for the cases of political mobilization during the ‘Colour revolutions’ in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. It reviews the existing literature on the topic, which is predominantly oriented by the ‘transition paradigm’. The major shortcomings of this literature are identified: the privileging of either structure or agency when accounting for social change, a strong emphasis on the role of elites and insufficient attention to collective agency. Accordingly, I argue that the methodology of poststructuralist discourse theory may importantly supplement the ‘transitological’ framework owing to its ability to conceptualize the dynamic interdependence between structure and agency, as well as the formation of collective political identities.     

The unbearable lightness of membership: Bulgaria and Romania after the 2007 EU accession

This paper focuses on the current political and socio-economic situation in the two most recent EU member states, Bulgaria and Romania. Overall, the post-accession period in both countries has been comparable to that in the East-Central European members that had joined the Union on 1 May 2004. However, there have been some significant differences in the post-accession path of Bulgaria and Romania, which set them apart from the rest of the EU-10, as well as among themselves. For instance, the problem of corruption has been a particularly salient theme for the political elites of both countries and it led to the paralysis of the cabinet in Romania during the first year of its membership and to the rise of powerful populist alternatives in Bulgaria. What has probably been even more distinguishing in the cases of Bulgaria and Romania is their apparent inability to swiftly deal with the political and social challenges emerging after accession, as well as to adequately respond to the process of Europeanization. The main reason for this has been the unfinished political and socio-economic transformation of both countries, accompanied by the consolidation of certain ‘reserve domains’, occupied by the former secret services and semi-mafia structures.     

Parties, rules and government legislative control in Central Europe: The case of Poland

A distinguishing feature of Central European polities is a strong policy-shaping role of parliaments. This article demonstrates how party political and procedural factors set the scene for the executive's loss of legislative control in Poland. Parties undermine the governmental grip because of their limited internal cohesion and competitive coalitional strategies. Parliamentary rules reinforce such party effects. The executive can shield its bills from amendments by relying mainly on partisan controls, not formal privileges. But, as an analysis of over 300 bills shows, when party discipline and coalition cooperation are in short supply, partisan controls are ineffective as instruments of legislative control.     

Civilization and international society: the case of European Union expansion

Joining a society of some kind requires the fulfillment of certain standards. In international society, states acknowledge the need for certain collective standards of international conduct if international order is to be maintained. The first truly global application of international norms took place during the nineteenth century through the process of the expansion of the European society of states and its gradual transformation to the contemporary global international society. In this process, the standard of ‘civilization’ played an essential role in determining which states would join the expanding European society and which ones would not. Despite the major changes that have occurred, the standard of ‘civilization’ has remained an international practice as well as a benchmark against which the attitudes and policies of states are assessed. Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in the EU policy of ‘membership conditionality’. Although many explanations for EU expansion have been put forward rather absent from debate has been the civilization dimension which is embedded in membership conditionality and which should be given more emphasis.     

When the center can hold: The primacy of politics in shaping Russian democracy

Violations of rights, a weak Duma, political parties dominated by bureaucrats, and corrupt privatization are ordinarily taken as signs or even causes of the failure of democracy in Russia or at best as normal traits of electoral politics in a middle-income state. Yet all of these are natural consequences of introducing democracy in a country with the Russian electorate’s distinctive recent experience of a loss of a third of the state’s territory and half its population. In such a democracy only a centrist, not a liberal, strategy can block a return to authoritarianism, and such a strategy in Russia will subordinate rights to the task of privatization that a Duma weakened by ideological, demographic and geographic impediments to party development cannot conduct. Consequently what are taken as signs or causes of democratic failure in Russia are instead necessary effects of introducing democracy in Russia’s special circumstances.     

Russian hegemonies: historical snapshots, regional security and changing forms of Russia's role in the post-Soviet region

The broad purpose of this study is to exemplify changing forms of hierarchical rule manifested in post-Soviet Russia's varying provision of regional security related to military conflicts. Russia's regional role varies in form and in thickness. Although the endurance of Soviet legacy can be observed in four major areas (stabilising borders, economic interest, unification of fellow Slavs and fluctuating alliances), there is enough variance to suggest that over-deterministic theories about Russian regional foreign policy do not account for conjunctural factors that can contribute to change. Instead, we can view the Soviet and post-Soviet regional dynamic as one that is on a fluid anarchy–hierarchy spectrum.     

The Freedom Front Plus: an analysis of Afrikaner politics and ethnic identity in the new South Africa

From the perspective of conflict analysis the main feature of contemporary South Africa is the absence of political violence. Yet it would be naive to think that the new political context is blissful to the point that ethnic tensions or anxieties do not exist. Certainly, for some groups, South Africa is not a place where ethnicity is no longer significant or politically relevant. This article explores contemporary issues relevant to Afrikaner politics and ethnicity in terms of concerns which have been voiced by its political organ – the Freedom Front Plus. The research findings point to the incompleteness of the process of conflict transformation in the country and identify certain factors that have given rise to a mood of alienation among some Afrikaners. Political and cultural disenchantment is manifested in a desire for territorial separatism. By exploring the Afrikaner perspective as it is articulated by the party, this article provides insight into the problems that surround inter-group reconciliation and nation-building in the country.     

Sectoral linkages at the beginning of the 21st century: The role of Polish economy in global production structures

This paper provides a first attempt in analyzing the role of Polish economy in the production structure of the global economy in the early years of the 21st century. For the purpose of this analysis, we propose a new approach in which two most important aspects of interindustry linkages in a global input-output model are examined. Contrary to previous studies focused on output-oriented key sector analyses in post-communist CEE economies, we focus on a fundamental policy target variable – income per gross output. In order to analyze the issues in question in a dynamic framework, the empirical results are based on the 2000 and 2014 global intercountry input-output tables for the 28 EU countries as well as 15 other major countries in the world.     

Crimes of Color: Risk, Profiling, and the Contemporary Racialization of Social Control

In the United States the phenomenon of racial profiling has emerged as an important and controversial issue within political and criminal justice policy debates. For the most part, these debates have assumed a sort of racism at work in order to explain law enforcement's use of criminal profiles largely determined by racial classifications. Accordingly, many have worked to expose this allegedly racist behavior in the hopes that such exposure will bring an end to the practice. This essay argues that racial profiling is embedded in much larger social developments that must be explored in order to understand the role race now plays in the maintenance of social order in contemporary American society.     

Public Employment in the Economic Downturn: The Case of an Australian State

Employment has been severely affected by the global financial crisis (GFC). This research considers the effects of the GFC on an Australian state public service workforce, reviewing trends before, during, and in the aftermath of the GFC. The workforce continued to grow, but at a slower pace, and with changes in inflows and outflows of employees. The workforce profile changed, with some decrease in the proportion of more vulnerable groups and some retention of stronger groups perhaps seeking a refuge during the GFC. Significant decentralization of workforce responsibility has meant comparatively little central effort to effect change during the GFC.