The article examines the influence of Protestant churches on the process of democratic transformation of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic & Slovakia after the fall of the communist regime. The ...author analyzes the specifics of the Protestant understanding of economic, social & political political spheres of life in the context of building a free market, civil society & democracy in post-Soviet countries. The reasons for their victories & failures in Eastern Europe, their potential, evolution and place in society are revealed. Conclusions are drawn about the problem of the development of Protestantism due to the influence of traditional record churches, xenophobia, secularization and violation of principles of religious freedom. Also their role in instilling society with Western models of behavior and the correlation between religious consciousness and crisis are conditioned.
Transformation toward a sustainable future requires an earth stewardship approach to shift society from its current goal of increasing material wealth to a vision of sustaining built, natural, human, ...and social capital—equitably distributed across society, within and among nations. Widespread concern about earth’s current trajectory and support for actions that would foster more sustainable pathways suggests potential social tipping points in public demand for an earth stewardship vision. Here, we draw on empirical studies and theory to show that movement toward a stewardship vision can be facilitated by changes in either policy incentives or social norms. Our novel contribution is to point out that both norms and incentives must change and can do so interactively. This can be facilitated through leverage points and complementarities across policy areas, based on values, system design, and agency. Potential catalysts include novel democratic institutions and engagement of non-governmental actors, such as businesses, civic leaders, and social movements as agents for redistribution of power. Because no single intervention will transform the world, a key challenge is to align actions to be synergistic, persistent, and scalable.
This research investigates how entrepreneurs in an early-stage market economy decide their level of compliance with formal rules and finds the manner in which they interact with government officials ...to operate on a continuum of formality. Focusing on the nonmarket strategy approaches entrepreneurs employ to establish relationships with government officials, we build a model that shows how entrepreneurs adopt strategies aligned with their firm’s level of formality, spanning low to high formality practices. We draw on qualitative interview data from entrepreneurs who exhibit varying levels of compliance with state-provided rules and guidelines. We inductively theorize that deciding the firms’ level of formality involves strategic interaction approaches with government officials responsible for rule enforcement. Our findings highlight that the interaction strategies entrepreneurs use hinge on the political capital they possess, eliciting the desired response from government officials, and dissuading the officials from enforcing formal rules or imposing sanctions for informality. We offer theoretical and policy implications for future work on the nuances of firm formality and the interaction between entrepreneurs and government officials.
Migration is one of the oldest socio-economic phenomena, which have inevitably influenced and continues to influence today’s society because millions of citizens of different states decide to migrate ...to another country for various reasons. The migration process never stopped, even more it gradually expanded taking on new forms. Consistent with the studies and economic research that has been carried out over the years, it has come to the idea that migration must be seen as a normal phenomenon of today’s society, which has undergone various changes throughout history. One of the most important and significant characteristics of the population is the movement from one geographical area to another geographical area. This paper entitled "Study on the evolution of migration phenomenon in Romania" highlights the migratory flows that took place in Romania after the fall of the communist regime and so far, putting there is a special emphasis on the economic and social impact on the migration that brought with it. During the period considered in the analysis, Romania knew various forms of this phenomenon through the fact that it made the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy and later joined the European Union in 2007. In this situation, the circulation of Romanians became complete. The problems resulting from this phenomenon are major: on the one hand the financial consequences and on the other hand the social impact that could be observed on the families of migrants. The novelty element of this paper is the forecast on the migration phenomenon in the coming years, more precisely during the years 2021-2026, in Romania. Through this research we want to identify and analyze the future trend taking into account the fact that migration can be considered one of the sources of problems in the labor market or can even be its solution. An important aspect to mention is the idea that the temporary nature of travel, as well as the transnational nature of flows offers the possibility to reorient migrants to the state of origin. In order to achieve an ideal reality in terms of balance in the labor market, it is necessary to adopt and implement effective measures that offer benefits to each employee.
This article offers a synthesis of and conclusion to the contributions included in the Special Issue ‘Rethinking the European Social Market Economy’. Based on different understandings of citizenship ...in the European Union and the roles of the EU and its member states in providing social protection arrangements, it develops a typology of four models of the EU's role in social protection. It then discusses the contributions to this Special Issue in light of this typology and draws a number of overarching conclusions.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a pervasive topic in the business literature, but has largely neglected the role of institutions. This introductory article to the Special Issue of ...Socio-Economic Review examines the potential contributions of institutional theory to understanding CSR as a mode of governance. This perspective suggests going beyond grounding CSR in the voluntary behaviour of companies, and understanding the larger historical and political determinants of whether and in what forms corporations take on social responsibilities. Historically, the prevailing notion of CSR emerged through the defeat of more institutionalized forms of social solidarity in liberal market economies. Meanwhile, CSR is more tightly linked to formal institutions of stakeholder participation or state intervention in other advanced economies. The tensions between business-driven and multi-stakeholder forms of CSR extend to the transnational level, where the form and meaning of CSR remain highly contested. CSR research and practice thus rest on a basic paradox between a liberal notion of voluntary engagement and a contrary implication of socially binding responsibilities. Institutional theory seems to be a promising avenue to explore how the boundaries between business and society are constructed in different ways, and improve our understanding of the effectiveness of CSR within the wider institutional field of economic governance.
The purpose of this study is to formulate the main elements of the legal model for reforming the Russian insolvency legislation based on the analysis of regulatory decisions of foreign legal orders, ...where the idea of the sanation of the debtor and its enterprise is successfully implemented. Comparative-legal and sociological methods of scientific cognition were used as a methodological basis. The results of the work were the analysis of the experience of the United States and Germany, the legislation of which contains effective models for resolving the conflict between the debtor and its creditors within the framework of sanation. In addition, the authors formulated and substantiated the conclusion regarding the urgent need to change the Russian concept of insolvency legislation through the transition from the liquidation of insolvent entities, mainly to the sanation of debtors or its enterprises. The authors also proposed key elements of a possible legal model for such reform, including establishing a unified restructuring competitive procedure for debtors – legal entities; preserving the powers of the debtor in the course of this procedure to handle its corporate management; solving the most significant issues of the restructuring procedure mainly by reaching an agreement between the main participants in the procedure – the debtor, the beneficiaries of the debtor and various classes of creditors. The novelty of the work lies in formulating the problem and substantiating the requirement to transform the Russian legal mechanisms for the rehabilitation of the insolvent debtor, taking into account the legal solutions presented, first of all, in American and German insolvency legislation.
This paper investigates the origin of political trust in post-communist Central European and Soviet Union countries. By comparing two competing theories that explain political trust, ...institutionalism, and socialization theory, the paper tried to explore which theory shows a higher explanatory power in the transitional context. The research employs ordinary least squares (OLS) methodology, using country and time as dummies to control for unobserved heterogeneity. The main independent variable is constructed based on the ‘cohort effect,’ representing years of experience of communist rule. The study explores the role of socialization, institutionalism, and labor market experiences as determinants of political trust. Findings indicate that socialization under communism resisted democracy and market economy adoption, but economic and political situations played a more significant role in shaping political trust. Additionally, being employed in the state sector or self-employed during the transition period positively influenced political trust levels. This research sheds light on the intricate factors influencing political trust in the aftermath of significant institutional transformations in post-communist countries.
: China's urbanization is undergoing profound neoliberal shifts, within which urban redevelopment has emerged in the forefront of neoliberalization. This study aims to understand China's emerging ...neoliberal urbanism by examining the association between urban redevelopment and neoliberalism. Rather than a deliberate design, neoliberalization in China is a response to multiple difficulties/crises and the desire for rapid development. The neoliberalization process is full of controversies and inconsistencies, which involve conflicts between neoliberal practices and social resistance, and tensions between central and local states. Nevertheless, China's neoliberal urbanism has a responsive and resilient system to cope with the contradictions and imbalances inherent in neoliberalism. Meanwhile, neoliberal urbanism is more tangible at the sub‐national scale, since the local state can most effectively assist neoliberal experiments and manage crises. This study not only contributes to the understanding of China's neoliberal urbanism, but also has multiple implications for neoliberalism studies in general. First, in examining the interrelationship between the state and market, it is the actual effect of legitimizing and facilitating market operation rather than the presence (or absence) of the state that matters. Second, a new nexus of governance has formed in the neoliberalization process. Not only the nation state but also the local state is of great significance in assisting and managing neoliberal projects. Third, this study further validates the importance and necessity of scrutinizing neoliberal practices, in particular the controversies and inconsistencies within the neoliberalization process.
In this important book, William J. Baumol, Robert E. Litan, and Carl J. Schramm contend that the answers to these questions lie within capitalist economies, though many observers make the mistake of ...believing that "capitalism" is of a single kind. Writing in an accessible style, the authors dispel that myth, documenting four different varieties of capitalism, some "Good" and some "Bad" for growth. The authors identify the conditions that characterize Good Capitalism--the right blend of entrepreneurial and established firms, which can vary among countries--as well as the features of Bad Capitalism. They examine how countries catching up to the United States can move faster toward the economic frontier, while laying out the need for the United States itself to stick to and reinforce the recipe for growth that has enabled it to be the leading economic force in the world. This pathbreaking book is a must read for anyone who cares about global growth and how to ensure America's economic future.
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