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PurposeSince the turn of the millennium, a small corpus of post‐structuralist thought has emerged that challenges the dominant belief that capitalism is now hegemonic and that all economic formations are contrasting varieties of capitalism. This paper seeks to contribute to the development of this emergent perspective. The aim is to challenge the notion that the Ukrainian economy can be represented as some variety of capitalism by highlighting the shallow permeation of capitalist practices into daily life and the continuing prevalence of multifarious non‐capitalist economic practices.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve this, evidence is here reported from a 2005‐6 survey that analysed the extent to which 600 households in Ukraine used capitalist and non‐capitalist economic practices in their coping tactics.FindingsThis reveals not only the limited use of capitalist practices in the everyday coping tactics of households in Ukraine but also how an array of non‐capitalist economic practices remain heavily relied on by a majority of households to secure their livelihood. The outcome is a call to tentatively reject the "varieties of capitalism" system of meaning because of what it excludes, prohibits and denies, and to open up the future of post‐Soviet Ukraine to other possible trajectories than simply some variety of capitalism.Research limitations/implicationsThis snapshot survey of the everyday coping practices of households displays only that capitalist practices are not hegemonic and that multifarious economic relations persist and are widespread. It does not show whether or not there is movement towards greater reliance on capitalist practices.Originality/valueIt begins through the presentation of evidence on Ukraine to tentatively challenge the application of a "varieties of capitalism" perspective towards Central and Eastern European economies.

The outstanding world market success of East and Southeast Asian countries (ESAEs) provides lessons for Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) striving to penetrate Western markets, even though starting conditions were strikingly different between these country groups. While ESAEs enjoyed the reputation of stable domestic policies, CEECs had to deal with institution building, macroeconomic stabilization and privatization at the same time. First of all, sound macroeconomic policies and an unrestricted access to domestic and imported inputs are absolutely vital for exporters. These factors cannot be substituted for by specific export incentives. Furthermore, Asian experience suggests that such incentives should be granted on a temporary basis in order to discourage rent-seeking and minimize the budgetary burden. Export processing zones are ineffective if they do not exert competitive pressure on the rest of the economy via input and output linkages. Stimulating exports through direct export subsidies has become less important in ESAEs over time because of inconsistency with the GATT and the retaliatory actions of trading partners. Using such subsidies is further constrained in the case of CEECs: Subsidies would conflict with the Europe Agreements, which require that state aid and competition rules harmonize with EU regulations. Foreign direct investment can play an important role in enhancing export growth and diversification, especially if such investment is attracted by favourable market prospects rather than tax holidays. Export promotion by governments should preferably concentrate on institutional support aimed at reducing the information costs faced by local suppliers and foreign importers. Asia's world market success was accompanied by increasing diversification and technological sophistication of exports. Intra-regional networking in terms of trade and investment helped this process considerably. For CEECs, it is thus essential to enhance local technological capabilities in order to enable exporters to apply new technologies. Furthermore, the prospects for a market-driven integration between CEECs can be improved to the extent that mobility of goods and factors of production is allowed for. Economic transformation in CEECs involves policy challenges which clearly go beyond export promotion as in Asia. Moreover, CEECs are facing an uphill struggle against established suppliers on Western markets. Under such conditions, CEECs are well advised not to follow the Asian way of maintaining national sovereignty in trade-related policies. Rather, they had to commit themselves to internationally binding trade liberalization in order to enhance the credibility of their transformation policies. Such commitments were made on a regional basis within the EU framework of Eastern enlargement as well as on a multilateral basis within the GATT/WTO. The contribution of this approach of tying one's own hands to stabilizing expectations should be enhanced by the EU by offering CEECs stable conditions for market access.

Lustration is alternately theorized and anecdotally alleged to either undermine or contribute to the democratic transitions in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) by supporting or undermining trust in public institutions, and by extension trust in national government. Using quantitative data on nine countries in CEE, this study examines the impact of lustration and transitional justice measures on citizen perceptions of the trustworthiness of public institutions and national government. It tests whether and how the timing of lustration, the severity of lustration, or the packaging of lustration with other forms of transitional justice affect trust in public institutions and national government. This article finds that even when controlling for economic growth, democratization, and corruption levels, lustration consistently and positively contributes to citizen trust in public institutions. However, lustration and transitional justice measures have an indirect and diluted impact on trust in national government, when they have any impact at all. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright holder.]

Management of capital inflows has unexpectedly become a major challenge in transition economies. These countries were expected to have an insatiable demand for foreign capital, and an excess demand for capital inflows was, therefore, predicted by most observers. Foreign investors are also known to be very selective in their choice of markets, and these countries were a big unknown. Moreover, macroeconomic policy in these countries has been dominated by the objective of disinflation. We explain in this paper the reasons why some transition countries have been an attractive market for foreign investors and how important has foreign capital been for these countries. But the bulk of the paper provides an assessment of government policies to manage foreign capital inflows. We evaluate the policies against the background of different government objectives and in terms of the actual policy instruments used by the monetary authorities, the timing and sequencing and the costs of these interventions. We argue that the initial responses to capital surges were poor; the authorities were reluctant to adjust their original policies and learn from the experiences elsewhere. Eventually, their policy responses were changed but until the costs of inertia became too high. The authorities have effectively used sterilization policies, more flexible exchange rate policies combined with tight monetary and fiscal policies. They also understood that an effective management of capital flows must start from well functioning markets, and have been prepared to adopt structural policies whenever market imperfections could be identified.

Introduction : segregation, zoning, and assimilation in medieval towns / Derek Keene -- Various ethnic and religious groups in medieval German towns : some evidence and reflections / Felicitas Schmieder -- Russians in Livonian towns in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries / Anti Selart -- "Propter disparitatem linguae et religionis pares non esse" : "minority" communities in medieval and early modern Lviv / Olha Kozubska-Andrusiv -- Foreign ethnic groups in the towns of southern Hungary in the Middle Ages / István Petrovics -- Buda : the multi-ethnic capital of medieval Hungary / András Végh -- Late medieval ethnic structures in the inland towns of present-day Slovenia / Boris Golec -- Gradation of differences : ethnic and religious minorities in medieval Dubrovnik / Zdenka Janeković-Römer -- Minorities and foreigners in Bulgarian medieval towns in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries : literary and archaeological fragments / Kazimir Popkonstantinov and Rossina Kostova -- Nobiles, cives, et popolari : four towns under the rule of Carlo I Tocco (c. 1375-1429) / Nada Zečević -- The towns of medieval Hungary in the reports of contemporary travellers / Balázs Nagy -- Crown, gown, and town : zones of royal, ecclesiastical, and civic interaction in medieval Buda and Visegrád / József Laszlovszky -- Integration through language : the multilingual character of late medieval Hungarian towns / Katalin Szende -- The visual image of the "other" in medieval urban space : patterns and construction / Gerhard Jaritz

This paper analyses the role of welfare systems in shaping migration patterns in Central and Eastern Europe over the transition process and after EU accession. It argues that states have played a crucial role in affecting migration by creating and widening opportunities for potential and actual migrants through welfare system policies. This explains why CEE countries where social spending figures have been lower, unemployment benefit schemes less extensive, and where labour market mismatches remained unaddressed, experienced greater out-migration. Investigating the role of sending states' institutions in a comparative framework and over time, this paper analyses migration as part of broader social and economic processes and contributes to our understanding of how sending countries' institutional factors affect out-migration.

This paper analyses the role of welfare systems in shaping migration patterns in Central and Eastern Europe over the transition process and after EU accession. It argues that states have played a crucial role in affecting migration by creating and widening opportunities for potential and actual migrants through welfare system policies. This explains why CEE countries where social spending figures have been lower, unemployment benefit schemes less extensive, and where labour market mismatches remained unaddressed, experienced greater out-migration. Investigating the role of sending states' institutions in a comparative framework and over time, this paper analyses migration as part of broader social and economic processes and contributes to our understanding of how sending countries' institutional factors affect out-migration.

In this article, we study the shift from manual to cognitive work in 10 Central and Eastern European economies. While highlighting the growth in the non-routine cognitive component of jobs, we pay particular attention to the increase in routine cognitive tasks, a trend distinguishing Central and Eastern European economies from the most advanced economies. We find that in all countries routine cognitive tasks were most common in the middle of wage distribution, but increasingly rare among the top earners. We identify two groups of workers whose jobs depend most on performing routine cognitive tasks: medium-skilled men in the manufacturing sectors and medium-skilled women in the service sectors, who jointly represent 33 per cent of Central and Eastern European workers. Should technological progress reduce demand for routine work in Central and Eastern Europe, a large proportion of workers would be affected and wage inequality would rise. We conclude with the policy implications of our findings.

'Der vorliegende Bericht befaßt sich mit der Entwicklung der Wirtschaftsbeziehungen zwischen Rußland und den Ländern Mittel- und Osteuropas (MOE) im Zeitraum 1992-1995, der durch den Fortgang der marktwirtschaftlichen Umgestaltung der Volkswirtschaften dieser Staaten geprägt war. In diesem Kontext werden Dynamik, Struktur und organisatorische Aspekte des Außenhandels der Russischen Föderation (RF) mit den MOE-Staaten sowie die Zusammenarbeit in den Zweigen der materiellen Produktion eingehend analysiert, die wichtigsten der dabei erkennbar gewordenen Probleme aufgezeigt und die Perspektiven der bilateralen Wirtschafts- und Handelsbeziehungen der RF mit diesen Ländern skizziert. Darüber hinaus erörtert der Verfasser die eventuellen Folgen der stufenweisen Integration der MOE-Länder in die Europäische Union (EU) für Rußland und die bilaterale Wirtschaftskooperation. Quellenbasis der Untersuchung sind Angaben des Goskomstat der RF, Informationen von mit Wirtschaftsfragen befaßten Behörden (Ministerium für Außenwirtschaftsbeziehungen, Wirtschaftsministerium u.a.), russische Periodika sowie statistische Materialien, wissenschaftliche Ausarbeitungen und Pressematerial aus den MOE-Ländern.' (Autorenreferat)

Das vorliegende Arbeitspapier untersucht, in wie weit der Zustand der Wirtschaft in den Ländern Mittel- und Osteuropas den Anforderungen der EU entspricht. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei Polen, Ungarn, Slovenien und die tschechische Republik.