In the long aftermath of the acute global financial crisis of 2008/09, the need to get economies back on track and to handle high levels of public and private debt has created conflicting objectives. Challenges yet to be mastered are the need to avoid counterproductive measures of adjustment and...

Contents: Preface -- PART I A historic transformation: heterogeneity in CESEE in a changing global context -- 1 Looking back on 30 years of transition - and looking 30 years ahead / Robert Holzmann -- 2 1989: the year of the great ambivalence / Anton Pelinka -- 3 The price of unity: the...

Against the backdrop of the financial crisis that unfolded in 2008, this book deals with policy challenges going forward, focusing in particular on the ongoing catching-up process in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries