Balkans Security

Authors: Harold J. Johnson, Jr., Judith A. McCloskey

Edition: illustrated

Publisher: DIANE Publishing, 2000

ISBN 0756703220, 9780756703226

90 pages

Since 1992, the international community has responded to a series of armed conflicts in the Balkans region by establishing numerous, complex military and civilian peace operations there. The United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) significantly increased the active participation of the military forces in resolving the region's conflicts in late 1995, when they deployed the first NATO-led peace enforcement operation to Bosnia. Their involvement deepened again in 1999 with the start of NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia and after Yugoslavia decided in June 1999 to withdraw its security forces from Serbia's province of Kosovo, with the deployment of another NATO-led peace enforcement operation to the province.

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Making Markets

Authors: Shafiqul Islam, Michael Mandelbaum

Contributors: Shafiqul Islam, Michael Mandelbaum

Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations, 1993

ISBN 087609129X, 9780876091296

238 pages

The collapse of communism in Europe and the former Soviet Union has produced one of the most daunting tasks of the twentieth century: the construction of market economies out of the wreckage of central planning. While there is a lively debate among economists on this transformation, little has reached a non-specialist audience. In Making Markets, Shafiqul Islam and Michael Mandelbaum call on four eminent economists to summarize the state of current thinking. Richard Portes, Centre for Economic Policy Research in London, surveys the process of transition, examining its primary features and the problems that will be faced in light of Western economic theory and international economic practice. Paul Marer, Indiana University, gives a detailed account of the transition already underway in Central Europe. Robert Campbell, Indiana University, discusses the special problems confronting the Soviet Unions successor states, particularly Russia. Jeffrey Sachs, Harvard University and adviser to the Russian and Polish governments, considers the role of the West, citing episodes in economic history in which external support made success possible. Nor would a Central European or Russian authoritarian ruler necessarily carry out liberal economic policies. The alternative is not a return to full-fledged communist planning, but the retention of some communist practices als ofpund in many contries in the Third World.

The long-term prospects for these countries depend on their estabilishing, and keeping, the opposite combination: democratic politics and liberal economics. Success will be slow in coming and modest at first. Thus, tangible Western support also has a political role to play by contributing to public confidence in the prospects for a successful transition. And without confidence, the policies of political authoritarianism and economic populism will have their day.

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Services trade in the Balkans

Author: Constantine Michalopoulos, Vasileios Panousopoulos

Publisher: World Bank Publications, 2002

ISBN 0821353365, 9780821353363

34 pages

Building Competitive Firms: Incentives and Capabilities explains how firms become competitive in language suitable for both technical and non-technical readers. A simple analytical framework integrates elements such as competition policy, corporate governance, foreign direct investment, innovation readiness, intellectual property rights, e-commerce and supply chain management. These 'behind-the-border' elements are pivotal to shaping the investment climate in any country and enhancing the benefits of trade liberalization. Each of these themes is discussed in detail with a focus on policy design and international best practice in implementation.

This study was prepared in support of the Working Group on Trade Liberalization and Facilitation of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, with the objective to provide an overview of policies affecting srvices trade in seven countries of the Balkan region that signed in June 2001 the Memorandum of Understanding on Trade Liberalization and Facilitation. These countries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - have embarkeed in a process of broad liberalization of their merchandise trade.

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The Drama in Former Yugoslavia

Author Anton Zabkar

Edition: reprint

Publisher: DIANE Publishing, 1995

ISBN 0788139444, 9780788139444

119 pages

The collapse of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the role of its army ,the YNA, in this process, and the progress of the war in Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, have been the subjects of may symposiums and roundtables. Political scientists, lawyers, sociologists, psychologist, criminologist, economists, and military and other specialists, have described in great deal and analysed from their own points of view the event which accompanied this process of collapse.

This paper attempts to fill in these blank spots, and is composed of three sections: the first describes aspects of the normative standardisation of civil-military relations in the newly formed federation; the second describes the disharmony beween these standards and reality, and the third gives some concluding thoughts on the possible development of these relations in the coming short-term period.

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HIV/Aids in the western Balkans

Authors: Joana Godinho, World Bank, Dorothee Eckertz, Nedim Jaganjac

Edition: illustrated

Publisher: World Bank Publications, 2005

ISBN 0821363948, 9780821363942

195 pages

This study was undertaken to enable regional decisionmakers and Bank management to agree on the priorities for early action in the Western Balkans to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS - and its potential human and economic costs - in the framework of the UN "Three Ones": one national AIDS Strategy that drives alignment of all partners; one national AIDS authority to coordinate it; and one nationally-owned monitoring and evaluation system.

The study also aimed at informing the Bank's policy dialogue and operational work to control HIV/AIDS in the Balkans; and contributing to building up the regional partnership between governments, civil society, UN agencies, and multilateral and bilateral agencies to prevent HIV/AIDS, sexually-transmitted infections and TB; and to improve public health in this region.

The most striking feature in the Balkans is the high-risk environment. All major factors that could serve as contributing factors for the breakout an HIV/AIDS epidemic are present in the Balkans. Severe political instability, wars and consequent economc crisis and migration in this region over the last 10 years have generated poverty and presented overwhelming challenges which have affected all countries in varying degrees

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Promoting Sustainable Economies in the Balkans

Authors: Steven Rattner, Michael B. Froman, Council on Foreign Relations

Contributor: Steven Rattner

Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations, 2000

ISBN 0876092679, 9780876092675

73 pages

After two wars, thousands of deaths,hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, and billions of dollars in destruction, the importance of stability in the Balkans cannot be ignored. Historical grievances, ethnic rivalries, and the political ambition of misguided leaders have all played important roles in triggering these conflicts. But the region's many economic problems - poverty, unemployment, stagnating economies, and pervasive lack of hope for a better future - have contributed to an environment that made such conflicts possible, Creating sustainable economic growth and increasing standards of living cannot solve the region's political and ethnic problems. But they can contribute to stability in the region and create incentives to avoid conflict. At issue is whether the ecoomies of this region will be sustainable over time or whether they will become or remain largely dependent on foreign assistance. Drawing in a broad range of expertise in international business and investment, the Task Force has sought to provide practical recommendations that will keep help policy makers in and outside the region meet this challenge.

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