Report on the ISA Annual Convention and EUSA Biennial Conference – from a Central European Perspective

The annual Convention of International Studies Association on Global IR and Regional Worlds: A New Agenda for International Studies (18-21 February – New Orleans) and the European Union Studies Association Fourteenth Biennial Conference (5-7 March, Boston) were held in the past few weeks. The ISA annual conventions are among the most important events of scholarly research on global IR (at least in the Western hemisphere) dealing with the most important theoretical and practical issues of contemporary international relations and sharing recent research results. The EUSA concentrates on a specific region, i.e. the European Union. The EU’s internal dynamics and challenges, its role in international power relations including its ability to influence developments in its neighborhood and to cope with the challenges of a changing global economic and political framework are discussed in detail at EUSA events. CentralEuropeNow attended both conferences and was very much interested in finding out how the current issues of the Central and Eastern European region would be discussed at such major events. (Click on the picture.) 



The Madman Theory

Three weeks after the Budapest visit of the Russian president Vladimir Putin, there is a whole range of political opinions circulating in Hungarian media on the actual purpose and meaning of the meeting. The majority of such considerations focus on the question of why the talks were so important for the Hungarian Prime Minister and the Russian leader. The Madman Theory offers a credible explanation for those who are not familiar with the Eastern European realities. (Click on the cover.)

Scholars, Politicians and Oligarchs

The 2015/2 issue of CentralEuropeNow Commentary has just been released. This short paper collects opinions about Viktor Orban’s regime, 2011-2015 (Click on the picture)

The real threat to Europe

CentralEuropeNow has published the first issue of its new series "Commentary".

The central and east European region is in flux, with some countries having weathered some turbulent economic storms and others having to face considerable challenges. New security uncertainties have also arisen, prompting many observers and policy makers to wonder about the region's future.

With this in mind we launch this series to analyse current challenges and developments. (Click on the picture)





 

Sustainable Unsustainability – The Economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina

From among the Western Balkan countries Bosnia and Herzegovina has been experiencing the most unfavourable economic and political developments. Analyses of the economic developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be prepared from two profoundly different perspectives. The first variant of economic research concentrates on the macroeconomic trends, external and internal balances (GDP growth, fiscal deficit, public debt etc.) and attempts to identify the underlying long-term processes and the most likely directions they may take in the future based on economic calculations and models. Economic policy recommendations and proposals are formulated in the context of economic growth and stability against this background. The other type of analysis however would rather concentrate on the political economic framework and place emphasis on the particular political, constitutional and economic circumstances under which the country operates and which render normal economic decision making difficult or even impossible. A political economic analysis like the latter one must examine the international political and security policy interests and the domestic political relations in a multidisciplinary and complex way. The country cannot be properly described using the terms of a standard economic and political framework. (Click on the picture!)





Cikkeink a hazai sajtóban / Our articles published in the Hungarian press

Az alábbi linkeken találhatóak a magyar gazdasági sajtóban az utóbbi időben megjelent rövid elemzéseink. (Short analyses published in the Hungarian press recently - in Hungarian).

Novák Tamás: Az Orbán-modell természetrajza (Tamas Novak: The economic philosophy of the Orban regime) Figyelő, 2014. június 5. /June 5, 2014 http://figyelo.hu/cikkek/404810-az-orban-modell-termeszetrajza

Milyen jövő vár Közép-Európára? (What future awaits the Central European region?) HVG, 2014. július 22. / July 22, 2014 http://hvg.hu/velemeny/20140722_Milyen_jovo_var_KozepEuropara

Novák Tamás: Stabil növekedési kilátások vagy összeomlás előtti állapot? Törökország gazdaságáról. (Tamas Novak: Turkey’s economic perspectives.) Világgazdaság, 2014. szeptember 2. / September 2, 2014 http://www.vg.hu/velemeny/publicisztika/stabil-novekedesi-kilatasok-vagy-osszeomlas-elotti-allapot-434402

Novák Tamás: Uniós és orosz szankciók – Ki veszít a végén? (Tamas Novak: Russian sanctions – Implication for the CEE member states.) Napi Gazdaság, 2014. szeptember 22. / 22 September, 2014 (A detailed analyses will be published on this website in early October) http://www.napigazdasag.hu/cikk/23483/

A New Political Economy of Central Europe

In recent years the global power shift has often hit the headlines and Europe has regularly been featured as a declining region that is expected to lose economic and political importance in the decades to come. But despite negative public opinion, the EU has remained one of the most important economic and political powers in the world. The EU has successfully undergone several phases of transformation in its history. One of the greatest of such transformations was the “big bang” enlargement in 2004. After 1990 Central European countries embarked on a road of economic and political transition, which took place at different speeds. The states concerned began integrating into the EU and joined NATO, but after twenty five years of economic and political integration most of these countries are still heavily marked by distinctively Central European characteristics in comparison with Western Europe and North America. This paper hypothesizes that one of the most important reasons behind the prevalence of these distinctive Central European characteristics lies in the fact that economic and political institutions are interconnected differently in this region. (Click on the picture!)