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Using the analytical model & categories of the American radical political economy as the starting point, the author analyzes the dynamics of economic changes in Croatia in the 1990s. Particularly significant for understanding the dynamics is a dimension that the author, in line with classical political economy, calls the "moral economy of transition." The basic institutional & social structure of accumulation in the Croatian economy of the 1990s was marked by state populism, clientelism, & cronyism -- the result of the HDZ's model of "national capitalism," ie, a specific collusion of economic policy & privatization. That model failed to address the major problems of development or to secure a satisfactory rate of economic growth. That is why the political-economic balance of Croatia's first transitional decade is negative. The author concludes that the second decade will require a new political-economic model, one that will overcome the challenges facing the Croatian society: economic development, increased productivity, smaller government, reconciling the imperative of accumulation & democratic legitimacy, & restoration of moral economy & trust. 4 Tables, 83 References. Adapted from the source document.

A national interest, as an expression, fits poorly in the Norwegian language and the country's political culture. Norwegian politicians rarely mention it and internationally the country is isolationist due to its small size, distant location and historical circumstances. However, in the northern European context, Norway has strong resource and environmental political interests, as well as keeping a stable and peaceful relationship with its neighbor Russia. L. Pitkaniemi

The publication of a Croatian translation of Friedrich August von Hayek's "Individualism: Genuine and Fake" (1946) occasions this biographic note introducing the Austrian economist to Croatian readers. Hayek is characterized as a liberal politologist & political economist who opposed John Maynard Keynes's doctrine of state intervention in the national economy; Hayek's most representative publications & those in which he carried out his polemics with Keynesian ideas of the government influencing the market, although not eliminating it, are mentioned. Methodologically, Hayek is placed as a continuator of the empiricism & "methodological individualism" of Karl Menger's Austrian School of Economics & an elaborator of L. Mises's statistical-dynamic equilibrium approach. It is pointed out that Hayek opposed all forms of government intervention into the free market: the planned economy of the Soviet era, German national socialism, Italian & Spanish fascism, & the modern welfare state. A selected bibliography of Hayek's works is compiled. 52 References. Z. Dubiel

Online proračunska transparentnost lokalnih jedinica (OLBT) prepoznata je kao važna značajka dobrog upravljanja. U skladu s tim, OLBT se u ovom radu mjeri u svih 128 gradova i na uzorku od 100 općina u Hrvatskoj koristeći nekoliko ključnih lokalnih proračunskih dokumenata objavljenih na web stranicama lokalnih jedinica. Koristeći Poissonov panel model s fiksnim učinkom u razdoblju 2013. – 2017., pokazalo se da osim dohotka stanovnika i fiskalnog kapaciteta lokalnih jedinica, razinu OLBT-a određuju politička ideologija i politička konkurencija. Ovaj rad pridonosi rastućoj literaturi o proračunskoj transparentnosti utvrđivanjem važnosti političkih faktora kao odrednica OLBT-a u bivšoj socijalističkoj, fiskalno centraliziranoj, članici EU-a i otkriva zanimljivu tvrdoglavost građana koji dosljedno glasaju za netransparentne političare. Glavni nalaz je da su politički faktori (politička ideologija i politička konkurencija) važni kao odrednice OLBT-a, što u lokalnim jedinicama rezultira suboptimalnom ravnotežom s niskim razinama OLBT-a. Lokalni političar na vlasti zaključuje da OLBT nije od posebne važnost da bi mu izborna jedinica zamjerila netransparentnost. U takvom je okruženju navedeni zaključak valjan, jer ovaj rad dokazuje da birači, koji su tvrdoglavi u svojim glasačkim obrascima, odbijaju promijeniti lokalnog političara na vlasti iako je netransparentan. ; Online local budget transparency (OLBT) has been recognized as an important feature of good governance. Accordingly, in this paper, OLBT is measured in all 128 cities and a sample of 100 municipalities in Croatia using several key local budget documents published on local government websites. Using a fixed effect Poisson panel model covering the 2013-2017 period, it is shown that along with residents' income and fiscal capacity of local governments, political ideology and political competition determine the level of OLBT. This paper contributes to the growing body of budget transparency literature by establishing the importance of political factors as determinants of OLBT in this former socialist, fiscally centralized EU member state and reveals the curious stubbornness of the citizens who consistently vote for non-transparent politicians. The main finding is that political factors (political ideology and political competition) matters in determining OLBT, resulting in suboptimal equilibrium of local governments with low levels of OLBT. The local incumbent concludes that OLBT is not a high priority and that his/her constituency will not hold it against him/her. In this environment such a conclusion stands owing to the fact that voters who are stubborn in their voting patterns refuse to change the incumbent who created nontransparency.

In analyzing regional economic integration in Europe the authors pay special attention to the development in the European Union, for other forms of regional or subregional integration at the continent are in fact mostly transitional & provisional, & directly connected with ED. The authors argue that in spite of considerable success & high level of integration of the EU, several important open issues remain in that process. They are results of mixed character of European integration: political & economic. Too many kinds of interests are of opposed character, & it is very hard to harmonize them in real politics. The main problems in the EU have their cause in the nature of European integration: international competitiveness of European economy, social character of European states, national productivity, challenges of enlargement. References. Adapted from the source document.

The author demonstrates the non-existence of a consistent theory of market and of the modern capitalist system. Only a conceptual analysis is possible which is more revealing of the methodologies of various theoretical trajectories and a comparative analysis of different viewpoints and theoretical contradictions in relation to historical reality. The fundamental theoretical accomplishment of Strpic's analysis is that it offers a fertile core of clarification of market society and capitalism. The search for modern political economy opens up three aspects of the crisis of capitalism and of its economic theory. The political strategy of laissez faire in the beginning of the 20th century brought about the Great Depression (1929-1933), and the theoretical and political turn to Keynesianism (1936). In the 1970s the great stagflation (1971-1980) cleared the path for the neo-liberal theoretical counterrevolution (1972). In the period of the Great Recession (2007-2012) the necessity is imposed on us of a new theoretical turn in the direction of anti-neo-liberalism. Market economy and its invisible hand cannot be simply suppressed into closed out theoretical systems; the economists overlooked precisely this simplification and abstraction from real relations. Strpic's theoretical project of the Modern Normal and matrix-capitalism makes it possible to read in a new way the incommensurability of theoretical paradigms, not as a unified theory but as a developmental project which is prerequisite for explaining the character of the present crisis and the dynamic development of the modern transformation of capitalism. Adapted from the source document.

To what extent is Marx's thought conceptually and analytically relevant for a systematic understanding of modern society -- this was the subject of the theoretical dialogue which engaged many researchers, including some of the most prominent ones. This text focuses on the theoretical critical confrontation of Dag Strpic (in the article "Market or Commodity Formation/Production of Society?", which is the third, partly reworked chapter of his book Karl Marx and the Political Economy of Modernity) with the philosophical project of reconstruction of Marx's science of history in Jacques Bidet's work What is To Be Done with "Capital"?. The discussion focused on two basic issues: the logical starting point and the character of exposition of Marx's theory of capital. Bidet advocates the thesis that commodity as Marx's starting point (Section I of Book I) is inadequate, and he demonstrates the non-dialectical ("genetic") character of the categorial exposition of the capitalist-way-of-production theory as a whole. In contrast therewith, Strpic demonstrates that the logical starting point of Marx's system is adequately apprehended as "commodity in general", if one perceives it from the viewpoint of the logic of the entire system and of the subject of his analysis as "capital in general". Bidet seeks to show that Marx, in defining the capital system logic, gradually abandoned, albeit inconsistently and only in part, the dialectical figures as epistemological obstacles. Strpic, on the other hand, shows what makes the Marxian modality of materialistic dialectics constitutive not only with regard to Marx's "critique", but also to the very reality of capitalist society and the possibility of surpassing it. Notwithstanding his agreement with Bidet and Strpic that a (truly indispensable) general theory of modernity can be constituted only through creative and interpretative relying on the great works of political thought of modernity, and his sincere commendation to both for their outstanding reading of Marx's work in this context, the author concludes in his final remarks that both are open to the following objection: their projects of a contemporary general theory of modernity, regardless of all aspects in which they differ, rely too much on further development of Marx's intention, and thereby lose from sight the fundamental "theological-political" problem, which Marx dissolves in the immanentism of the process of production/reproduction of the modern civil community. Adapted from the source document.

Draws on the New Regionalism Approach (NRA) to analyze the political economy of the new regionalism in southern Africa in the post-Cold War & postapartheid era. The NRA challenges much of conventional wisdom in the field, which is seen as narrowly focused on intergovernmental regional organizations & intraregional trade. The analysis identifies four main types of regionalism in southern Africa, which to a large extent occur within the larger context of economic globalization, neoliberalism, & the retreat of the state: (1) open regionalism, (2) microregionalism, (3) private firms led regionalism, & (4) informal regionalism from below. Both open regionalism & microregionalism (as built around the concept of spatial development initiatives) seek to reinforce economic globalization & market integration, & attract foreign direct investment to bankable private investment projects. Together with the firms driven regionalism, which is constructed by & around large South African business enterprises, these three types of regionalism sustain a particular pattern of elite driven regionalism centered on economic growth, trade, & capital intensive projects in the formal economy, with little focus on development & poverty reduction. To a large extent, the myriad of activities included in informal regionalism from below emerges as a consequence of the negative & exclusionary effects of neoliberalism & the three types of elite driven regionalism. 47 References. Adapted from the source document.

The central preoccupation of Dag Strpic is the theoretical paradigm of understanding modernity -- specifically, in the sense of Marx's project of political economy critique. The focal point of his line of argument is the theory of labour value: a complex perception thereof should acquire core status within the "general theory" of modern society. Marxist political economy insisted on an immediate market application of Marx's value theory, and it showed indirectly that the theory was operatively inapplicable. At the same time, however, in doctrinaire versions of "economics" both the value theory and the entire corps of Marx's critique were dropped out. In opposition to the profuse ideologized practical-normative elaboration of the doctrine of self-administrative association of labour, at the time of its uncontested domination, Strpic clearly discerned that we are dealing with the principal orientation of the epochal social, economic and, above all, technological and communicational transformation which can be observed in global relations. But for him the essential theoretical question had to do with the underlying principles of the actual unfolding of the processes of socialization and association. In this respect, it is fitting at present to point to the paradigmatic change which Negri perceives in the tendential hegemony of non-material labour, resulting in the necessity to circumscribe the political language of transfer from modernity to postmodernity in the analyses of political science and philosophy. Adapted from the source document.

The theory of public choice is a major link between political science & economic science. It includes economic research into the issue of non-market decision making, ie, the application of economic analysis to political decision making. The champions of the theory of public choice have the most confidence in the market & market institutions. They try to explain political decision making by means of the standards operating in the market. The public choice theory approach is based on the concept of methodological individualism & homo oeconomicus, since individuals try to promote their own interests both in the market & in politics. Theoreticians of public choice investigate voters' behavior, the roles of politicians, political parties, & interest groups in complex democratic societies. Central for their research is the political process in which voters behave as buyers, & politicians as entrepreneurs, while bureaucrats are prone to self-aggrandizement; their ambition is to boost the significance of their office. The theory of public choice emphasizes the category of exchange (political exchange) & the catalectic approach to economy. 12 References. Adapted from the source document.

The author discusses the basic structure of Mancur Olson's political economy. He highlights three concepts on which it is based: public goods, interest groups, & selective incentives. The last concept represents Olson's innovation in contemporary political science. The author's central methodical assumption is based on the insight that Olson's key theory is linked with the so-called public goods paradox. Unlike private goods, public goods are noncompetitive & nonexclusive, which means that it is not possible to bar those who do not share the costs of their production from using them. On the basis of this, Olson has developed the original theory of interest groups. By looking into the costs of organizing along interest lines as a collective activity whose result is a public good, he distinguishes between large, heterogeneous, & small, homogeneous groups. Besides, he has shown that, regarding public goods, individuals tend to behave as free riders, defaulters who try to avoid the costs of securing these goods. The author shows that Olson has, notwithstanding certain flimsiness of his reductionist methodology, significantly revamped political science. Adapted from the source document.

The paper is reviewing basic features of contemporary economic crisis, from the standpoint of political economy and public policy. The argument developed in the paper is, on the one hand, based on the political economy of the public sector and its crucial empirical findings. Secondly, the contributions of public policy theory related to basic problems of public governance systems are systematically reviewed, by emphasising the potential of these systems for formulating development policy. The paper is also discussing the importance of the non-economic sources of economic crises. Adapted from the source document.