Introduction 2 Western Developmental Approaches
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Notes Introduction 1 Newsweek, 14 September 1998. 2 Russia has now been largely accepted as a member of this organization which is often referred to as the G8. However, it remains financially fragile and politically weak and for our argument here we wish to concentrate specifically on the original G7 members whose power and influence dominates the Western world. 3 The term ‘liberalism’ can cause confusion, particularly in the United States where it has entered the language as a popular term meaning the enhancing of not just individual rights but rights of social groups as well, usually through the medium of government programmes. 4 Wood suggests that the Enlightenment is often seen, wrongly in her view, as being characterized by a ‘totalizing’ view of the world, with a proclivity for the standardization of knowledge, a belief in universal truths and values, and a belief in linear progress. 5 Named after the then US Secretary of State, George C. Marshall, the Marshall Plan was a European recovery programme conceived in 1947. The Plan was based on the US providing raw materials, goods and capital, in the form of credits or even subsidies in the hopes of stimulating Europe’s economy. 6 The formal name of the WB is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 7 The IMF formally ratified a second amendment to its charter in 1978. This formally ratified the change to floating exchange rates, making the IMF’s past role defunct. Although OECD countries rarely use the IMF, Britain did suffer a liquidity crisis caused by a balance of payments problem in 1976. The crisis was short term but the UK did rely on IMF funds. 8 On 23 September 1998 the American Long-Term Capital Management hedge fund almost collapsed due to systemic instability caused by over-extension into Russia’s financial sector. It was exposed to US$900 billion of liabilities and had only US$4 billion in capital stock. The Clinton Administration worked with the US Treasury and heads of several American banks to furnish a US$3.5 billion rescue package (Watson, 1998: 3). 9 Wade and Veneroso claim that since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Jan- panese and American companies have gone from being minority to majority owners of Southeast Asian firms in exchange for writing down debt. Added to this trend is the devaluation of Asian companies making them a bargain for foreign companies (Wade and Veneroso, 1998: 14). 2 Western Developmental Approaches 1 Fox took Bull’s quote from ‘Force in Contemporary International Relations’, Survival, X (Sept. 1968), 300–2, at 302. The book was David Vital’s (1967), The Inequality of States (Oxford, Clarendon Press). 187 188 Notes 2 Sachs’ transition model (Sachs, 1990; 1994) was based upon a rapid transition from communism to capitalism in which the type of capitalism that would be encouraged would be starkly liberal. This policy quickly became dubbed by others as ‘shock therapy’ a term that Sachs is reputed to dislike. 3 Alice Amsden is a Professor of Political Economy at the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology. 4 Dr Ghia Nodia is the Chairman of the Board of the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development. He is also the head of the Political Philosophy Department at the Institute of Philosophy at the Academy of Sci- ences in Georgia, and a professor in the Department of Sociology at Tbilisi State University. He conducted the research cited above when a visiting fel- low at the International Forum for Democratic Studies which is part of the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, DC. Dr Nodia’s research focuses on democracy and nationalism, and the post-communist transitions in the former Soviet Union. 5 Poland as a new republic was in crises during 1919 to 1922 when the ‘legion- aires’ who supported the Chairman, Pilsudski, were in conflict with the National Democrats. With military backing Pilsudski was set up as head of state. However, in 1921 there was a ratification of the parliamentary constitu- tion and a 1922 election saw the victory of the National Democrats and the resignation of Pilsudski. 3 Central Europe: Introduction to the Case-Studies 1 Neo-classical economics, as discussed in Chapter 1, is built on the theoretical foundations of classical liberal economics. The mainstay of this school of thought is that governments should not intervene in markets because free- markets are assumed to be self-regulating. Countries involved in free trade need not benefit equally in order for a liberal market system to be a success. All that is required is that individual states accrue some benefit. The goal of this form of economics is that political impediments to the free movement of capital, goods and labour are eliminated. 2 China’s transition has been taking place for over 15 years. Unlike the CEECs, China concentrated on privatizing its agriculture sector first. Liberalization of prices was delayed. Exchange rates were maintained on a multi-tier basis and imports remain restricted. Also privatization of industry has been slow (Adams, 1993). 4Poland 1 Kosciuszko, Tadeusz (1746–1817). Know predominantly as a Polish national hero, he also went to America and served with colonial forces in the Amer- ican Revolution (1775–83), contributing to the decisive American victory at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. In 1784 he returned to Poland to become a major general in the Polish Army. 2 The Curzon Line, name after the British politician, Lord Curzon (1859–1925), was established as the Eastern boundary to Poland by the First World War allies in 1919. The Curzon Line was an attempt to demarcate the Polish Notes 189 boundary according to the geographical location of existing populations of ethnic minorities. 3 Balcerowicz was brought into the government because of his foreign experience and economic expertise. He graduated (1970) from the Central School of Plan- ning and Statistics (now Warsaw School of Economics) where he specialized in foreign trade. He received an MBA from St John’s University in New York in 1974. In 1975 he was awarded his doctorate from the Warsaw School of Eco- nomics. During 1981–82 he was deputy Chairman of the Polish Economic Association. Before the transition Balcerowicz had been awarded two foreign research fellowships, at the Universities of Sussex (1985) and Marburg (1988). 4 Nomenklatura is a term used to refer to people in the post-1989 period who held positions within government but who had also held bureaucratic or party positions during the communist regime. 5 Zbigniew Bujak is the legendary Leader of Solidarity’s Warsaw section and was proposed at one stage as leader of the legalized Solidarity party. During 1990 a serious split in the party occurred. Bujak worked to create the new party (ROAD) which was the political foundation for Mazowiecki’s government (Kowalik, 1995). 6 In actual fact there are very few Jews in Poland. Of the total population 75 per cent are practising Roman Catholics, but a full 95 per cent describe themselves as being Catholic. The remaining 5 per cent are made up of East- ern Orthodox, Protestants and Jews. 7 Throughout the post-war recovery Britain’s economy was heavily dependent on the US. Its trade deficit with the US was extensive and caused currency problems. The British chancellor of the exchequer, Sir Stafford Cripps, con- fided to his cabinet during June 1949 that a complete collapse of sterling within the year was a possibility. This crisis made the US State Department realize reluctantly that additional long-term aid would be needed after 1952 when the US had originally hoped it would no longer have to contribute funds to the post-war recovery. 8 Many figures on the Polish economy are derived from either the Polish Central Statistical Office or the Gdansk Institute who often have close, but not identical figures. 9 A hub-and-spoke trade regime is a term used by trade analysts when refer- ring to an asymmetrical trading relationship. An example could be made using the United States as the hub with Canada and Mexico acting as satel- lite economies. The hub economy has diverse trading relationships, but the satellite economies find their economies strongly dependent on the export trade to the larger hub economy. For transition countries such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic trade dependence remains a concernz vis-à-vis their relationship with the EU. 10 A voivodship is a government administrative area similar to a county but can also contain rural towns. 11 Information received from the Polish Statistical Office, 1995. 5 Czech Republic 1 Unlike many other currencies in Central Europe the exchange rate of the Czech koruna has been quite stable. In 1990, 29 koruna = US$1, by 1994, 30 koruna = US$1, and its exchange in 1998 was 35 koruna = US$1. 190 Notes 2 Literature on privatization tends not to give a fixed number of employees for ‘small’ versus ‘big’ firms. In practice, privatized ‘small’ firms tend to be below 50 employees. ‘Big’ firms, however, is a much wider category and may refer to state-owned firms with a few hundred employees or as many as a few thou- sand full-time workers. 6Hungary 1 Janos Kadar was premier of Hungary from 1956 to 1958, and from 1961 to 1965 and First Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party from 1956 to 1988. 7 The EU Effect and the Question of Eastern Enlargement 1 Mr Stavinoha’s interview was one of a series conducted in Prague as part of a research award given by the Seed Foundation, University of Limerick, to the present author. Bibliography Unpublished sources Adams, F.