An interpretation of communist decay: The role of evolutionary mechanisms

Poznański, Kazimierz Z.

doi:10.1016/0967-067x(93)90017-l

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…25 On the debate between Darwinian and Lamarckian evolutionism in the social sciences, see Sanderson, 1990;Dittrich, 2002;and Hodgson, 2001. 26 Examples of rationalist applications of evolutionary models are Spruyt 1994;Poznanski 1993;Modelski 1990;Farkas, 1998. For sociological applications see Adler 1991;Florini 1996;Bernstein 2001;Haas 1990.…”

Section: -Cultures Of Border Control and Their Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultures of Border Control

Zaiotti¹

2011

147

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The dissertation examines one of the most remarkable and controversial developments in the recent history of European integration, namely the institutionalization of a regional policy regime to manage the continent's frontiers. By adopting this regime (known in policy circles as ‗Schengen'), European governments have in fact relinquished part of their sovereign authority over the politically sensitive issue of border control, thereby challenging what for a long time was the dominant national approach to policy-making in this domain. In order to account for the regime's emergence and success, a constructivist analytical framework centred on the notion of ‗cultures of border control' is advanced. From this perspective, the adoption of a regional approach to govern Europe's frontiers is the result of the evolution of a nationalist (‗Westphalian') culture-or set of background assumptions and related practices about borders shared by a given policy community-into a post-nationalist one (‗Schengen'). The cultural Channel. This rhetorical move seemed well founded. Indeed, it was in continental Europe that the modern ‗national' conception of borders first emerged (Anderson 1996). According to this conception (which has its roots in the early phases of the modern state-system in 17 th century Europe), borders are continuous territorial lines marking the outer limits of a state's authority and a key foundation around which the principle of sovereignty in the international system is built. Borders represent the very essence of statehood (delimiting its authority in the international system) and one of its most visible embodiments (its ‗skin', according to an oft used biological metaphor). At the same time, borders are a powerful symbol of identity and historical continuity, both for the state as institution and for the peoples they contain. Their protection is therefore a matter of ‗national security', and the exclusive responsibility of central governments. This perspective has long imbued official arguments and practices in the border control domain in Europe (and elsewhere), and it has been widely accepted by both decision-makers and the population at large. Thatcher's take on border control should have resonated well with a European audience. But it didn't. On the contrary, while she was delivering her speech, something extraordinary was under way in the heart of Europe. Since the mid-1980s, a group of European countries (France, Germany, the Benelux) had been taking the first steps towards the abolition of controls over their shared frontiers. The goal of the emerging border control regime (which would be known as ‗Schengen', from the name of the Luxembourg town where the founding agreement was originally signed) was the creation of a common space where, not only goods and capital, but also individuals would be free to circulate. Schengen did not imply that borders were to completely disappear or lose importance. In order to compensate for the perceived security deficit stemming from the elimination of controls at comm...

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Section: -Cultures Of Border Control and Their Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultures of Border Control

Zaiotti¹

2011

147

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“…In a socialist economy that has had a long period of development with such a selection device conspicuously absent, genetic CHINA ECONOMIC REVIEW VOLUME 6(2) 1995 defects survive. Poznanski (1993) has applied a similar argument to the collapse of the socialist economies of Eastern Europe. As he explains,…”

Section: Creative Destruction and Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Schumpeterian creative destruction and the growth of Chinese enterprises

Parker¹

1995

China Economic Review

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This paper simulates Schumpeterian Creative Destruction to study the potential impact of bankruptcy on Chinese economic growth. When the least efficient firms in each period are shut down, technological progress occurs by selection, yet a portion of the economy's productive potential is destroyed. As a result, industries without shutdown, such as those found in China's socialist economy, attain faster initial growth rates. Upon reaching maturity, however, these industries are outperformed by those with shutdown. The relative performance of socialist versus market industries depends, of course, on many factors. These include the number of fiis closed, the dispersion of technology, depreciation and savings rates, the degree of diminishing returns, the method of allocating investment, and the scrap value of existing capital stock. The effect of these factors is estimated with a Monte Carlo response function. Creative Destruction can help explain the high growth of China's rural township and village enterprises, as compared to more mature state-owned enterprises. Immature industries grow faster because relatively inefficient firms remain small. In mature industries, however, inefficient firms may be quite large due to past performance, and diminishing returns to investment increase the relative importance of technological progress. If rural enterprises remain socialist enterprises protected from shutdown, growth will eventually slow as well. JEL Classification Numbers: C15, P27, P31.

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Transforming bank and enterprise balance sheets in Eastern Europe

Brabant

1994

MOCT-MOST

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An interpretation of communist decay: The role of evolutionary mechanisms

Cited by 9 publications

References 22 publications

Cultures of Border Control

Cultures of Border Control

Schumpeterian creative destruction and the growth of Chinese enterprises

Transforming bank and enterprise balance sheets in Eastern Europe

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