Suchergebnisse

Die Auseinandersetzung Walesas mit dem Parlament im Februar 1995 ist als Machtprobe im Vorfeld der für den Herbst terminierten Präsidentschaftswahlen zu sehen. Antagonisten in dieser Auseinandersetzung sind die Mitte-Links-Kräfte im Parlament auf der einen, Walesa als Repräsentant präsidentialdemokratischer Vorstellungen auf der anderen Seite. Als Gegenkandidat zu Walesa bei den Präsidentschaftswahlen kommt entweder ein gemeinsamer Regierungskandidat der Koalition aus Union der Demokratischen Linken und Bauernpartei wie Kwasniewski oder ein populärer Kandidat aus dem Post-Solidarnosz-Lager in Frage. Hier werden die Mitglieder der Freiheitsunion Kuron, Zielinski und Onyszkiewicz genannt. Ausschlaggebend für die Zukunft der Demokratie in Polen wird die Herausbildung eines starken Parteiensystems sein, das für stabile parlamentarische Mehrheiten sorgen kann. (BIOst-Wpt)

Die Gewerkschaft "Solidarnosc" beabsichtigt, die politischen Differenzen zwischen der politischen "Rechten" in Polen, die sie mit dem Post-Solidaritäts-Lager identifizierrt, und der "Linken", die für sie aus den Postkommunisten und ihren Verbündeten besteht, stärker zu akzentuieren und damit eine klarere Unterscheidung innerhalb der polnischen Parteienlandschaft zu ermöglichen. Die von der Gewerkschaft geleitete Aktion der Warschauer Ursus- Arbeiter vom Sommer 1995 hat jedoch den ohnehin gefährdeten Zusammenhalt innerhalb des Post-Solidaritäts-Lagers weiter geschwächt. Die Position der Gewerkschaft zeichnet sich gleichzeitig sowohl durch eher "linke" (in Wirtschaftsfragen) als auch durch eher "rechte" Haltungen (in Kirchenfragen) aus, was mit zur Entfremdung von einem Teil der Intelligenz der Post- Solidaritäts-Bewegung geführt hat. (BIOst-Mrk)

It is argued that the Czech Republic's attention to the social effects of its economic reforms has significantly reduced the negative impact of these reforms, while Poland's ignorance of social aspects of its economic policies has severely hampered the reform process. The social net erected by the Czech Republic in the postcommunist period is credited with reducing social insecurity, while the lack of such a safety net in Poland has led to widespread social displeasure & significant social problems. It is suggested that because of its attention to such issues, the Czech Republic is on its way toward the rebirth of a welfare state, while in Poland, progress has not gone beyond reactive measures.

The postcommunist countries were amongst the most fervent and committed adopters of neoliberal economic reforms. Not only did they manage to overcome the anticipated domestic opposition to 'shock therapy' and Washington Consensus reforms, but many fulfilled the membership requirements of the European Union and even adopted avant-garde neoliberal reforms like the flat tax and pension privatization. Neoliberalism in the postcommunist countries went farther and lasted longer than expected, but why? Unlike pre-existing theories based on domestic political-economic struggles, this book focuses on the imperatives of re-insertion into the international economy. Appel and Orenstein show how countries engaged in 'competitive signaling', enacting reforms in order to attract foreign investment. This signaling process explains the endurance and intensification of neoliberal reform in these countries for almost two decades, from 1989-2008, and its decline thereafter, when inflows of capital into the region suddenly dried up. This book will interest students of political economy and Eastern European and Eurasian politics.

Since 2008, Hungary and Poland have developed a distinctive populist economic program, which has begun to spread to other Central and East European Countries (CEECs). This article develops a theory of the political economy of populism in CEECs, arguing that these countries' dependence on foreign capital constrained them to follow (neo)liberal economic policies. After the global financial crisis, populist parties began to break from the (neo)liberal consensus, 'thickening' their populist agenda to include an economic program based on a conservative developmental statism. Case studies of Hungary, Poland, and Serbia describe these policies and show that they exhibit a particular form of economic nationalism that emphasizes workforce activation, natalism, and sovereignty. This shift has gone hand-in-hand with attempts to attract investments from Eastern authoritarian states, illustrating the connection between CEEC development strategies and sources of foreign capital.

The study of how ideas and discourse evolve within international organizations is one of the most important frontiers of global social policy theory. Setting forth an ideational approach to understanding their behavior, the article argues that international organizations are more open systems than most realists and structuralists believe. Their constantly evolving discourse and ideas can directly impact domestic policy. In order to stress this reality, drawing on the case of pension privatization, the article compares these organizations with ideologically driven domestic think tanks which, as far as pension privatization is concerned, have proved much more rigid in their policy prescriptions than the World Bank and other international organizations traditionally associated with the global pension privatization campaign.

This article examines the rapid spread of pension privatization and the flat tax in former communist countries to understand why new policy ideas take hold and to elucidate the role played by material resources in the diffusion of new policy ideas. Unlike previous liberalizing reforms, these second-generation reforms spread without direct or indirect EU pressure. Rather, policy entrepreneurs in both instances succeeded in arguing that these reforms would serve to make former communist economies more competitive in a highly integrated global economy. Yet the policy network advocating pension privatization, centered around the World Bank, commanded far greater resources than the network of right-wing think tanks supporting the flat tax. To what extent did these superior resources matter? This article concludes that resources may accelerate the diffusion of policy ideas and encourage their adoption in larger states, but policy networks armed with ideas can nonetheless spread reforms quickly in competitive environments even in the absence of significant financial resources or membership conditionalities. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright holder.]

This article examines the rapid spread of pension privatization and the flat tax in former communist countries to understand why new policy ideas take hold and to elucidate the role played by material resources in the diffusion of new policy ideas. Unlike previous liberalizing reforms, these second-generation reforms spread without direct or indirect EU pressure. Rather, policy entrepreneurs in both instances succeeded in arguing that these reforms would serve to make former communist economies more competitive in a highly integrated global economy. Yet the policy network advocating pension privatization, centered around the World Bank, commanded far greater resources than the network of right-wing think tanks supporting the flat tax. To what extent did these superior resources matter? This article concludes that resources may accelerate the diffusion of policy ideas and encourage their adoption in larger states, but policy networks armed with ideas can nonetheless spread reforms quickly in competitive environments even in the absence of significant financial resources or membership conditionalities.