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Through ethnographic essays and short stories based on her experiences in Eastern Europe between 1989 and 2009, Kristen Ghodsee explains why many Eastern Europeans are nostalgic for the communist past.
Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe examines how gender identities were reconfigured in a Bulgarian Muslim community following the demise of Communism and an influx of international aid from the Islamic world. Kristen Ghodsee conducted extensive ethnographic research among a small population of Pomaks, Slavic Muslims living in the remote mountains of southern Bulgaria. After Communism fell in 1989, Muslim minorities in Bulgaria sought to rediscover their faith after decades of state-imposed atheism. But instead of returning to their traditionally heterodox roots, isolated groups of Pomaks embraced a distinctly foreign type of Islam, which swept into their communities on the back of Saudi-financed...
This compelling ethnography of women working in Bulgaria’s popular sea and ski resorts challenges the idea that women have consistently fared worse than men in Eastern Europe’s transition from socialism to a market economy. For decades western European tourists have flocked to Bulgaria’s beautiful beaches and mountains; tourism is today one of the few successful—and expanding—sectors of the country’s economy. Even at the highest levels of management, employment in the tourism industry has long been dominated by women. Kristen Ghodsee explains why this is and how women working in the industry have successfully negotiated their way through Bulgaria’s capitalist transformation whi...
Agriculture provides the livelihood to 60% of the Albanian population. Even though it is still fairly primitive and it will never probably ensure self-sufficiency in major agricultural commodities, it represents a useful shock absorber in the current situation of economic and social unrest. Since it started its transition to a market economy in 1991, Albania has carried out major reforms in the agricultural sector at large, achieving remarkable increases both in output and total factor productivity. However, more needs to be done to reduce rural poverty, stop environmental degradation and increase integration with regional and international economies. The paper provides an overview of the different policy and institutional aspects that will need to be considered for a balanced outcome.
Printed on Demand. Limited stock is held for this title. If you would like to order 30 copies or more please contact books@worldbank.org Contact books@worldbank.org, if currently unavailable. QUOTEAs we move into the 21st century, Africa faces tremendous opportunities for growth in which agriculture will continue to play a prominent role. Implementing the unfinished policy agenda is critical to realizing these opportunities.QUOTE-Hans P. Binswanger, Sector Director The main focus of this study is on improving the policy regime in Africa to stimulate agricultural growth. It examines the state of agricultural incentives in Sub-Saharan Africa, taking stock of the current policy environment and its recent evolution, to update knowledge and to help develop a stronger consensus on the appropriate policies and incentives that will stimulate agricultural growth. The global environment is examined together with the macroeconomic, export crop, food crop, and fertilizer policies in 16 African countries.
If sustainable management of tropical forests is to be accomplished and deforestation brought under control, the on-the-ground performance of existing forest concessions, along with the allocation of new concessions, will have to be strengthened. This study examines the failures of forest concessions and the loss of tropical forests due to mismanagement during the last two decades. It also emphasizes the potential gains resulting from strengthening the allocation, management, and supervision of concessions by concentrating on improving procedures, introducing performance incentives, and monitoring key performance elements
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Because evidence that shows that diesel fumes are more toxic than was previously thought, there has been increased interest in the use of natural gas for vehicles operating in cities. Transit buses, traditionally fueled by diesel, are one of the cheapest forms of mass transit. They are also significant polluters and typically operate in heavily congested urban areas, where significant air pollution problems exist. The report provides an overview of the issues that must be considered when evaluating natural gas an alternative to diesel for use in transit buses.
"Whether or not labor market rigidities are an important contributor to persistently high levels of unemployment remains at the center of an important debate in Europe. European labor markets are often viewed as rigid and inflexible in opposition to those in North America where legislation is less protective and fosters more mobility. This paper shows that the labor market policies adopted by Central and Eastern European countries, aspiring to join the European Union, do not appear excessively rigid. However, significant and wide- ranging economic reform programs make it difficult to assess the impact of labor market institutions."