Search

Begin New Search

58941. Stabilization & State Enterprise Adjustment: The Political Economy of State Firms After Five Months of Fiscal Discipline, Poland 1990

Author:
Janusz M. Dabrowski
Publication Date:
01-1990
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
This report describes the behavior of Polish state firms after six months of fiscal stabilization. On the one hand, it is shown that state firms are attempting to adapt to fiscal constraints and the fall in domestic demand caused by the Mazowiecki government's stabilization plan. On the other hand, it tries to demonstrate that the continued confusion of both property rights and managerial authority impede the formulation and implementation of strategic adjustment plans at the firm level. The report also challenges a number of the governing stereotypes concerning managerial, union, and Employee Council behavior during the process of firm adjustment. In the final section, a proposal for the partial, indirect give-away of state assets is sketched. It is argued that the commercialization of state enterprises, and their partial assignment to publicly held investment associations presents the possibility of both clarifying managerial authority and more clearly introducing external market pressures into the strategic calculation of firms.
Topic:
Political Economy, Investment, Fiscal Policy, and Stabilization
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, and Poland

58942. Realism and Regionalism: American Power and German and Japanese Institutional Strategies During and After the Cold War

Author:
Joseph M. Grieco
Publication Date:
04-1990
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
Abstract:
Germany's foreign economic policy places enormous weight on formal European institutions. In contrast, Japan has not had an institutionalist orientation in regard to its East Asian neighbors. This paper addresses the question of why Germany and Japan differ so greatly on this issue of regional economi. institutions. It suggests that the differences observed in German and Japanese interests in regard to such arrangements constitute a puzzle if they are examined from the perspective of liberal ideas about the functional bases of international collaboration, or from the viewpoint of realist propositions about hegemony and cooperation and about the impact of polarity on state preferences. The paper also puts forward a realist-inspired analysis (focusing on American power in the post-Cold War era as well as American national strategy in the early years of that conflict) that might help account for the strong German bias in favor of regional economic institutions and the equally pronounced Japanese aversion to date for such arrangements.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Cold War, and International Organization
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, America, Europe, Israel, East Asia, Asia, and Germany

58943. Observing Nicaragua's Elections, 1989-1990

Publication Date:
05-1990
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
During the entire electoral process, the political system in Nicaragua gradually opened so that by election day, the major political parties acknowledged that they had an adequate opportunity to explain their positions to the Nicaraguan people. The Council of Freely-Elected Heads of Government shared the conclusion of the parties: the Nicaraguan people were free to vote their preferences in a fair election, and the official results reflected the collective will of the nation.
Topic:
Security, Democratization, Government, Peace Studies, and Politics
Political Geography:
Latin America and Central America

58944. The Constitution of Critical Intellectuals: Polish Physicians, Peace Activists, & Democratic Civil Society

Author:
Michael D Kennedy
Publication Date:
01-1989
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
The post-communist system in Eastern Europe will be distinguished by the quality of its civil society. The market will cast civil society's construction in one mold, but a democratic civil society will depend on the constitution of critical intellectuals, or the making of individuals with the inclination and capacity to understand their personal situation to reflect a public condition, and to understand the public condition as constituted through potentially transformed power relations. In order to illuminate this general process, this paper rethinks the distinction of intellectuals and considers two important cases of the making of critical intellectuals in pre-transition Poland. Physicians in 1980-81 and peace activists in 1985-88 illustrate how instabilities create opportunities for new groups of people to become critical intellectuals and how critical intellectual work can create new possibilities for social transformation. By illuminating these processes, this paper hopes to contribute to the expansion of critical intellectuality in and about Eastern Europe.
Topic:
Civil Society, Activism, Post-Communism, Democratic Transitions, and Intellectuals
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe

58945. Perestroika without Glasnost in Africa

Publication Date:
02-1989
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
The aim of the inaugural seminar of the Governance in Africa Program (G.A.P.) was to bring together a diverse group of scholars to reflect on some of the central issues which confront the continent. The program takes its acronym from the increasing gap between the democratic and developmental aspirations expressed during the anti-colonial struggle and the monopolization of power and the deepening economic predicament today.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Africa

58946. Common Sense on Competitiveness

Author:
Jimmy Carter
Publication Date:
04-1988
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
The United States faces a competitiveness crisis. The indicators are abundant. An alarming number of American students and workers do not seem to have the skills needed to succeed in the more demanding jobs of the modern economy. Many American inventions never make it from drawing board to marketplace, or arrive too late - long after aggressive foreign firms have captured customer loyalty. Some American products have been improperly designed or priced too high to compete with top-quality foreign imports. Partly as a result, not enough American companies have penetrated foreign markets with U.S. goods and services.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
United States

58947. Myth, Reality, and the Future in Southern Africa: Challenges for a New Administration

Author:
The Carter Center
Publication Date:
03-1988
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
When one examines all the foreign policy issues likely to face the next U.S. administration, southern Africa, while inherently difficult, may be the most promising of all in terms of actually influencing positive developments and obtaining measurable results in a short time span. Current policies have begun to capitalize on a tentative movement among nations in the region to address certain situations which are prohibiting stabilization. However, with the existence of an international consensus concerning the illegality of the occupation of Namibia and the dehumanization of the policy of apartheid more could be done to advance a multilateral approach toward southern Africa. In short, a real opportunity to bring peace to a troubled region is being missed. Part of the problem is lack of accurate information and understanding of what is happening in the region. Advocacy and passion have often clouded or distorted reality.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Africa and United States

58948. The Sometimes You Win and Sometimes You Lose Hypothesis: Some Comments on the Use of Models in Force Comparisons

Author:
Charles Knight
Publication Date:
03-1988
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
In this previously unpublished paper from 1988, the author reviews various models for simulating war along the Central Front in Germany and their relevance for finding a stable conventional force balance in Europe (and elsewhere.) Force structures that tend to produce stable outcomes in battlefield simulations are likely to have more deterrent value in the real world.
Topic:
Defense Policy, War, and Military Affairs
Political Geography:
Europe and Germany