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Megacities of over 10 million inhabitants are unique entities in their own right, both challenging and supporting the policies, governance and cohesion of states. In developing and developed economies, the rise of megacities can be seen to have negative and positive effects; from exacerbating and deepening societal problems inherent in inequality and poverty, to increasing opportunities for innovation, education, interconnectivity and development.The Rise of Megacities takes a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to analysis of their growth. It examines both the major new challenges that the expansion of megacities brings for development at large, and the opportunities they might...
This book aims to reconstruct the activities of enterprises and individuals over two decades in one developing country (Hungary), within and across four politico-economic domains (agriculture, infrastructure/construction, commerce, and manufacturing), from the initial Stalinist obsession with heavy industry through later reforms paying greater attention to profitable farming and the provision of abundant consumer goods. It provides hundreds of grounded, granular stories for reflection, as reported by actors and direct observers, ranging from innovation and improvisation to obstruction, failure, and fraud. Further, it offers an otherwise-unobtainable close encounter with another world, famili...
From the John Holmes Library collection.
This volume focuses on the role of privatization strategies, contrasting the outcomes of the voucher plans with outright sale of state assets (including to foreign investors). The author considers the record of newly emerging banking and financial systems.
The book expresses the conviction that the art of creating tools – Greek techne – changes its character together with the change of civilization epochs and co-determines such changes. This does not mean that tools typical for a civilization epoch determine it completely, but they change our way of perceiving and interpreting the world. There might have been many such epochs in the history of human civilization (much more than the three waves of agricultural, industrial and information civilization). This is expressed by the title Technen of the book, where n denotes a subsequent civilization epoch. During last fifty years we observed a decomposition of the old episteme (understood as a w...
Does the abrupt collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe arise only from errors in implementing the policy of state socialism, leaving the concept itself still a potentially valid one? Bartlomiej Kaminski argues to the contrary: state socialism is a fundamentally defective idea that was well carried out, enabling it to exist until its accumulated shortcomings made its survival extremely difficult. How did the flawed state-socialist system endure for so long? Why is it failing now? In answering these questions, Kaminski, who is both an economist and a political analyst, proposes a general theory and then applies it to the case of Poland. Contending that the breakdown of state socialism...
The large and rapidly increasing Muslim population of the USSR put an immense strain on the Soviet political system, dominated as it is by Russians. The problems were not confined to internal tensions between ethnic groups but extend also to relations with neighbouring Muslim states, as the invasion of Afghanistan graphically illustrated. This volume, first published in 1984, addresses this field of unique importance. Topics covered encompass the living standards of the Soviet Muslim population, the religious revival, relations with the Arab world, the Soviet experience of guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan and many more. In short it provides coverage of the sociological, political, cultural, economic, ideological and international dimensions of Soviet-Muslim relations.
This anthology provides readers with a broad overview of the sources, substance, and significance of Soviet foreign policy in the contemporary period. It covers both the legacies of the tsarist and Stalinist eras and the motivations and priorities of present-day Soviet leaders. Included are sizable sections on the policy-making process and military power, as well as Soviet relations with the U.S., Western and Eastern Europe, the Far East, and the Third World. Divergent viewpoints are expressed throughout; future prospects and directions for Soviet foreign policy are also discussed. The emphasis of this collection is practical and policy-oriented. The contributors are distinguished present an...