The Economist Book of the Week on 29th May 2010 was A Tale of Two Villages by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi. "A dramatic, thought-provoking and sometimes savagely funny account of one of the toughest problems in Europe: the ingrained poverty of the Romanian countryside."

CEU Press launched Masterpieces of History - The Peaceful End of the Cold War in Europe, 1989, the sixth book in the Cold War Reader Series, on May 31 at the Open Society Archives. The volume, based on the ground-breaking research and documentation of the National Security Archive in Washington DC, contains crucial historical documents and is absolutely indispensable for understanding the end of the Cold War.

Prague Tales leads top ten of CEU Press sales after 2000. 2. Memoir of Hungary, 3. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, 4. A Cardboard Castle, 5. Jewish Budapest, 6. A Biographical Dictionary, 7. Stalin – an Unknown Portrait , 8. Uprising in East Germany, 9. A Life under Russian Serfdom, 10. Russian Foreign Policy in Transition





Search the full text of our books:


 

Not only the Market
The Role of the Market, Government and Civic Sector in the Development of Post-Communist Societies

Martin Potucek, Charles University, Prague

Successful transition for any post-communist country is reliant upon market, government and the civil sector. Potuc ek's pioneering study of the Czech Republic highlights the early transitional mistakes made during the Klaus era with respect to the role of these sectors.

Not Only the Market examines the balance between where the sectors are or should be and makes useful comparisons with other post-communist countries. Focusing on developmental issues, the book looks at a number of public concerns including social and health care reform, privatization and the emerging patterns of corporatism and examines problems such as insufficient legislation, excessive lenience and the incompetence of public administration which has created an unreasonably large space for socio-pathological forces - corruption, Mafia activity and the siphoning of public funds into private hands.

The causes and consequences of these forces are considered and Potuc ek provides a blueprint of reform which emphasizes the necessity of a conscious public policy to optimize both freedom and inequality.

Contents

Part 1: Theoretical Framework: Definition of terms, The market, The government, The civic sector, Citizens, values and ideologies, Seeking a balance Part 2: Problem Areas: Privatization, Corporatism, Corruption and the Mafia, Role of policy-making Conclusion

1999
250 pages
ISBN 978-963-9116-52-8 cloth $49.95 / €42.95 / £33.00
ISBN 978-963-9116-51-1 paperback $24.95 / €19.95 / £16.99

top