After the fall of state socialism about two decades ago, democracy and market economies were assumed to diffuse worldwide. However, the American financial crisis of 2008, leading to a worldwide economic crisis caused increasing criticism of capitalism. As laissez-faire capitalism, Keynesianism...

In contrast to Germany South Korea has for years been continuously preparing for national reunification. As a result, alongside the Ministry of Unification a number of think tanks, research institutes, and other organizations have also been established in South Korea. After years of the...

As China is dependent on oil and gas imports to maintain its high growth rates, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Central Asia have become increasingly important for the country's economic development. In May 2014, China and Russia signed a new gas deal, for example, and in recent...

The Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, are very successful in transformation. From 1991 to 2015 they regained independence and transformed their economies from socialist central planning into functioning mar-ket economies, joined the EU in 2004 and became member of the Euro zone....