The continuing relevance of Germany's engine for CEE andthe EU

The article looks first into the nature of the relations between Germany and the CEE countries a decade since the accession of the CEE countries to the EU. The relations are characterized as normalised and intensive with diverse levels of closeness and co-operation reflecting of the conceptual and ideological compatibility/differences. Next, the article focuses on the German attitude to the euro zone crisis. Germany has become a hegemon in the rescue effort aimed at stabilisation and economic invigoration of the euro zone. However, German hegemony has developed by default, not by design: her leading position is linked with considerable political and financial costs. Germany moved central stage and took the position of a reluctant hegemon. However, German role is contested internationally (it has not the support of the French government in key areas) as well as internally (particularly by the Federal Constitutional Court and the Bundesbank).The article argues that the new situation makes the German-CEE relations increasingly relevant for both sides. The German leadership of the EU increasing split along the north-south divide requires backing by the Northern group countries to which the CEE in general belongs. Given a number of reasons the CEE countries implement three distinctive strategies of co-operation with Germany in European politics. Also military co-operation, which remained rather limited so far, may receive new impulses, given the financial austerity. © 2013 The Regents of the University of California.

Transition and foreign aid policies in the Visegrád countries:a path dependant approach

The paper argues that the current emerging international development policies of the Visegrád (V4) countries are heavily influenced by the certain aspects of the Communist past and the transition process. Due to these influences, the V4 countries have difficulties in adapting the foreign aid practices of Western donors and this leads to the emergence of a unique Central and Eastern European development cooperation model. As an analytical background, the paper builds on the path dependency theory of transition. A certain degree of path dependence is clearly visible in V4 foreign aid policies, and the paper analyses some aspects of this phenomenon: how these new emerging foreign aid donors select their partner countries, how much they spend on aid, how they formulate their aid delivery policies and institutions and what role the non-state actors play. The main conclusions of the paper are that the legacies of the Communist past have a clear influence and the V4 countries still have a long way to go in adapting their aid policies to international requirements.

New approaches to North Korean politics after reunification:the search for a common Korean identity

Whilst most of the literature focusing on the Korean peninsula has concentrated on how to achieve unification through confidence-building measures, dialogues, negotiation and diplomacy, little attention has been paid to how a unified Korean identity, a core component of any potential reunification scheme could develop and be sustained. The paper addresses this gap by: (1) defining what national identity is, and how Korean identities have been formed, (2) outlining how both South and North Korea have understood and used the concept of national identity, (3) suggesting possible grounds on which the two Koreas could build a new, common national identity. © 2014 The Regents of the University of California.

An investigation of Albanian EFL teachers' decision-making in their use of CLT-oriented textbooks

Against a backdrop of ongoing educational reforms that seek to introduce Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in Albanian primary and secondary state schools, Albanian teachers, among others, are officially required to use communication-based textbooks in their classes. Authorities in a growing number of countries that are seeking to improve and westernise their educational systems are also using communication-based textbooks as agents of change. Behind these actions, there is the commonly held belief that textbooks can be used to support teacher learning as they provide a visible framework teachers can follow. Communication-based textbooks are used in thousands of EFL classrooms around the world to help teachers to “fully understand and routinize change” (Hutchinson and Torres, 1994:323). However, empirical research on the role materials play in the classroom, and in particular the role of textbook as an agent of change, is still very little, and what does exist is rather inconclusive. This study aims to fulfill this gap. It is predominately a qualitative investigation into how and why four Albanian EFL teachers use Western teaching resources in their classes. Aiming at investigating the decision-making processes that teachers go through in their teaching, and specifically at investigating the relationship between Western-published textbooks, teachers’ decision making, and teachers’ classroom delivery, the current study contributes to an extensive discussion on the development of communicative L2 teaching concepts and methods, teacher decision making, as well as a growing discussion on how best to make institutional reforms effective, particularly in East-European ex-communist countries and in other developing countries. Findings from this research indicate that, prompted by the content of Western-published textbooks, the four research participants, who had received little formal training in CLT teaching, accommodated some communicative teaching behaviours into their teaching. The use of communicative textbooks, however, does not seem to account for radical, methodological changes in teachers’ practices. Teacher cognitions based on teachers’ previous learning experience are likely to act as a lens through which teachers judge classroom realities. As such, they shape, to a great degree, the decisions teachers make regarding the use of Western-published textbooks in their classes.

Uncovering North Korea's energy security dilemma:past policies, present choices, future opportunities

Over the past two decades, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has allegedly developed nuclear energy while suffering near collapse caused by catastrophic economic policies. This article presents an evaluation of North Korea's contemporary energy policies and suggests that despite retaining communist ideals and "Chu'che" policies, North Korea has slowly started to modernise its energy sector and recognises the necessity to start engaging with the international community. While it is argued that Pyongyang's newfound concerns for sustainable development, equity and the environment are a welcomed departure from its usual belligerent rhetoric and present a number of exciting engagement opportunities, the regime has not abandoned its nuclear energy programme.

Caste, class and Trade Unionism in India

The caste system in India and its exploitative nature has been well researched (Siddique 2011 Gupta 2000). However, the role of caste in Indian employment relations and in particular its role in the labor movement in India is yet to be fully explored. The primary aim of this paper is to examine the rise of caste- based trade unions in India over the past decade. Specifically, we aim to examine why the lower-caste workers (historically treated as untouchables, referred to as ‘Dalits’and officially designated as Scheduled Caste and Tribes) are leaving established trade unions to organize their own unions along caste lines? While fragmentation of trade unions is a well-known phenomenon both in India and in the Western World (Shyam Sundar 2015; Connolly et al. 2014), the rise of caste based trade unions is a relatively new phenomenon which is yet to be fully explored. Caste based trade unionism appears to be counter-intuitive when the conventional logic suggests that unions are class based collective institutions which represent the interest of the working classes (Ramaswamy 1976). The Indian trade union movement has historically been fragmented along political ideological lines ranging from moderate unions affiliated to the Congress Party to the militant unions affiliated to the Communist and Socialist parties. However, the rise of caste-based trade unions of the lower caste workers is a relatively new phenomenon. Our findings from surveys and interviews with mainstream unions and caste-based trade unions suggest that the caste-based trade unions are unique in at least three ways. First, these unions are breaking away from well-established radical and militant union federations such as those affiliated to the Communist and Socialist parties. Second, these unions are predominantly organized on caste identities and not occupational identities or political ideologies. Third in unionized workplaces, lower caste workers are forming their own separate unions along caste lines with membership restricted only to workers of their own caste instead of joining the mainstream unions where present. We examine these issues using the analytical framework of Paulo Freire (1970) – dialogics, praxis and cultural oppression and relate it with the insights from comparative politics which examine the role of actors & their interests within institutions (Peters 2011).

Market reform and state paternalism in Hungary: a path-dependent approach

Hungary is one of the worst-hit countries of the current financial crisis in Central and Eastern Europe. The deteriorating economic performance of the country is, however, not a recent phenomenon. A relatively high ratio of redistribution, a high and persistent public deficit and accelerated indebtedness characterised the country not just in the last couple of years but also well before the transformation, which also continued in the postsocialist years. The gradualist success of the country – which dates back to at least 1968 – in the field of liberalisation, marketisation and privatisation was accompanied by a constant overspending in the general government. The paper attempts to explore the reasons behind policymakers’ impotence to reform public finances. By providing a path-dependent explanation, it argues that both communist and postcommunist governments used the general budget as a buffer to compensate losers of economic reforms, especially microeconomic restructuring. The ever-widening circle of net benefiters of welfare provisions paid from the general budget, however, has made it simply unrealistic to implement sizeable fiscal adjustment, putting the country onto a deteriorating path of economic development.

Transition and Foreign Aid Policies in the Visegrád Countries: A Path Dependant Approach

The paper argues that the current emerging international development policies of the Visegrád (V4) countries are heavily influenced by the certain aspects of the communist past and the transition process. Due to these influences, the V4 countries have difficulties in adapting the foreign aid practices of Western donors and this leads to the emergence of a unique Central and Eastern European development cooperation model. As an analytical background, the paper builds on the path dependency theory of transition. A certain degree of path dependence is clearly visible in V4 foreign aid policies, and the paper analyzes some aspects of this phenomenon: how these new emerging foreign aid donors select their partner countries, how much they spend on aid, how they formulate their aid delivery policies and institutions and what role the non state actors play. The main conclusions of the paper are that the legacies of the communist past have a clear influence and the V4 countries still have a long way to go in adapting their aid policies to international requirements.

The Mismanagement of Environmental Conflicts

During the Communist regime, companies' conflicts with the public were hidden. The public did not have the right to express their objection. Recent Hungarian law, however, supports people's right to influence decisions that have an impact on their lives, but attitudes change slowly. In this article, I show the typical methods of companies' mismanagement of environmental conflicts. The first part of the article concentrates on strategic issues, and the second one emphasizes mistakes in communication with local communities. There are signs that Hungarian companies have already started to learn their lesson, but they also need help to face the new situation of the post-Communist era. Conflict theory and conflict resolution techniques may help them to deal with communication problems and to reach win-win solutions. Although not unknown, facilitation is not a common technique in Hungary yet. This means that there is potential for its development.

Átmenettan és közgazdaságtan. Módszertani tanulságok egy részterület műveléséből (Transitology and economics. Methodological lessons to be drawn from work in a partial territory)

Az akadémiai székfoglaló előadás a teljesség igénye nélkül arra a kérdésre keresi a választ, hogy a posztkommunista átalakulás tanulmányozása milyen hasznosítható tanulságokkal szolgált a közgazdasági elmélet művelőinek szélesebb köre számára. Megállapítja, hogy - a világ közgazdaságtanában folyó megújulással párhuzamosan - a módszertani pluralizmus, ezen belül a történeti, az intézményi és az összehasonlító gazdaságtani közelítés visszahelyezése jogaiba, valamint az egyoldalúan csak a matematikai formalizálást előtérbe állító megoldások visszaszorulása figyelhető meg. _____ This inaugural lecture delivered on receiving membership of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences seeks, without attempting completeness, to examine what useful lessons could be drawn from study of the post-communist transformation for practitioners in wider fields of economics. It establishes that methodological pluralism, including the rights of historical, institutional and comparative economic approaches, is being relegated by the renewal taking place in world economics. This can be seen to be constricting the approaches that place mathematical formalism to the fore.

A kínai reformfolyamat politikai gazdaságtani logikája (The politico-economic logic of the Chinese reform process)

Kína az elmúlt több mint három évtizedben szegény, elmaradott országból a világgazdaság egyik legfontosabb szereplője lett. Szocialista rendszerét egy sajátos kapitalista rendszer váltotta fel, miközben politikai struktúrája lényegében változatlan maradt. A folyamatok során a vezetés mindvégig ügyelt arra, hogy a kommunista párt egyeduralmát semmi se veszélyeztethesse, ugyanakkor megfelelő források álljanak rendelkezésre hatalma megtartásához. A tanulmány a kínai reformfolyamatot politikai gazdaságtani szempontból vizsgálja, különös figyelmet szentelve az intézményi változásoknak. Bemutatja, milyen okok és tényezők álltak a reformok elindításának hátterében, milyen változások következtek be a szereplők érdekviszonyaiban a reformok előrehaladtával, és mire lehet számítani a reformok jövőjét illetően. Úgy tűnik, hogy a jelenlegi rendszer érdekviszonyai a reformok folytatása ellen hatnak, ellehetetlenítve a piacgazdaság intézményrendszerének további kiépítését. A járadékok és privilégiumok az elitet abban sem teszik érdekeltté, hogy komolyabb politikai reformokat hajtson végre, így a kialakuló csapdahelyzet megakadályozza az átmenet kiteljesedését. ____ In the last three decades China has risen from being a poor and underdeveloped country to being one of the most important players in the world economy. Its planned economy has been replaced by a capitalist system, but its political structure has remained essentially unchanged. The leaders during the reform process have sought constantly to avert dangers to the rule of the Communist Party and gain access to valuable resources that allow power to be retained. The study approaches the Chinese reform process from a politico-economic point of view, focusing primarily on institutional changes. It reveals the main factors behind the various phases of reform, the constantly changing interests of the players, and the possible future of the process. It seems that under the current authoritarian regime, there are vested interests working against a continuation of the reforms and precluding full establishment of the institutional framework of a market economy. The elite is also deterred from implementing serious political reforms by the current rents and privileges. This leads to a trap that prevents completion of the transition process.

The electoral geography of the Slovak Republic: A comparison of the 1994, 1998, and 2002 parliamentary elections

In what can rightly be said to be one of the most dramatic geopolitical shifts in modern times, the collapse of communist regimes in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union brought about dramatic changes in the entire region. As a consequence, wide ranging political, economic, and social transformations have occurred in almost all of these countries since 1989. The Slovak Republic, as a newly democratic country, went through the establishment of the electoral and party systems that are the central mechanisms to the formation of almost all modern democratic governments. The primary research purpose of this dissertation was to describe and explain regional variations in party support during Slovakia’s ten years of democratic transformation. A secondary purpose was to relate these spatial variations to the evolution of political parties in the post-independence period in light of the literature on transitional electoral systems. Research questions were analyzed using both aggregate and survey data. Specifically, the study utilized electoral data from 1994, 1998, and 2002 Slovak parliamentary elections and socio-economic data of the population within Slovak regions which were eventually correlated with the voting results by party in the 79 Slovak districts. The results of this study demonstrate that there is a tendency among voters in certain regions to provide continuous support to the same political parties/movements over time. In addition, the socio-economic characteristics of the Slovak population (gender, age, education, religion, nationality, unemployment, work force distribution, wages, urban-rural variable, and population density) in different regions tend to influence voting preferences in the parliamentary elections. Finally, there is an evident correlation between party preference and the party’s position on integration into European Union, as measured by perceived attitudes regarding the benefits of EU membership.

The Butter was Better: A Preliminary Study of Nostalgia and Cuban American Identity

Nostalgia for pre-Communist Cuba was found to have an important influence on the identity of three American born Cuban Americans.

Different Wars Require Different Strategies: Separating the “War on Drugs” from the “War on Drug [Traffickers]”

Using the securitization framework to highlight the arguments that facilitated the “War on Drugs”, this paper highlights a separate war against drug traffickers. Facilitated by ideology through the rhetoric promoted by the “War on Drugs,” the fear of communist expansion and democratic contraction, the “War on Drug Traffickers” was implemented, requiring its own strategy separate from the “War on Drugs.” This is an important distinction because the play on words changes the perception of the issue from one of drug addiction to one of weak institutions and insurgent/terrorist threat to those institutions. Furthermore, one cannot propose strategy to win, lose, or retreat in a war that one has been unable to identify properly. And while the all-encompassing “War on Drugs” has motivated tremendous discourse on its failure and possible solutions to remedy its failure, the generalizations made as a result of the inability to distinguish between the policies behind drug addiction and the militarized policies behind drug trafficking have discounted the effect of violence perpetrated by the state, the rationale for the state perpetrating that violence, and the dependence that the state has on foreign actors to perpetrate such violence. This makes it impossible to not only propose effective strategy but also to persuade states that participate in the “War on Drug Traffickers” to adopt the proposed strategy.

Czechs Look Back on 1989, a Revolution Betrayed: A Reflection on the Mythology of the Velvet Revolution

Twenty-five years ago today the Velvet Revolution kicked off in what was then Czechoslovakia to bring an end to the one-party government of the Communist Party. This exclusive translation of a feature from the Czech journal A2 Cultural Bi-Weekly explains that the events of 1989 were about more than just Václav Havel, a playwright and leader in the revolution who was elected president in 1990. A generation of unfulfilled promises later, Czechs are struggling to revive the spirit of not only democracy and humanism, but also socialism. This article originally appeared in Ricochet, November 17, 2014.