Economic History of a Divided Europe: Four Diverse Regions in an Integrating Continent

ISBN-13: 9781032173665 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 284 str.

Ivan T. Berend

Opis

Readers will gain a deeper understanding of the sharp divergence in economic standing between the four different regions of Europe, as well as knowledge about how institutional corruption and other cultural features exacerbated these variations.

Spis treści

Table of ContentsIntroduction: Europe, its civilization and historical regionsEurope and its civilizationThe idea and reality of European integration In spite of homogenized continent, major macro-regional differencesIs the Central and Eastern European backwardness a legacy of communism?The ‘longue durèe’ approachEvaluating and measuring peripheral backwardnessThe terms of backwardness, its measurement and generalizationRegional differences and the future of EuropeChapter 1. Long historical roads towards regional differences within Europe: Four regions in 1913Explanatory theories and the realityRoad towards high level of advancement: Northwestern EuropeThe revolutionary transformation of the western mind; from the renaissance via reformation to scientific revolution and enlightenment Northwest Europe at the topDead-end roads and relative backwardness in the peripheriesThree distinct peripheral macro-regions before World War I Chapter 2. A radically changed world, yet unchanged regional division: Four regions in Early-21st-century EuropeThe 21st century: a dramatically changed world and EuropeRegionalization of the enlarged European UnionThe other side of core-periphery relations: roads to catch-upFour regions in early 21st centuryThe changing positions of some countries in an unchanged regional divideEurope’s divided regions’ position in the worldChapter 3. What preserves regional differences? The social, economic and cultural factorsThe dialectic of change and continuitySurvival of micro-regional peripheral backwardness in advanced countriesSocial-economic structural weaknesses of peripheral countriesPreserved peripheral social-cultural characteristicsAnti-capitalist mentalities, sharply divided societies, and lower levels of educationWeaknesses in entrepreneurshipPeripheral attitude towards the state and institutionsThe black (or shadow) economyLabor market and work ethic weaknessesEpidemic corruption and tax evasionTendencies towards authoritarian-dictatorial powerChapter 4. The most developed core of Europe: the NorthwestEurope’s superpower status and the North-West regionReunified Germany in the driver’s seatWhat factors have helped the reproduction of North-West preeminence in the 21st century?The economic strength of North-West EuropeTechnological revolution, the renewed energy system and de-industrializationThe service revolution and the financial sectorThe strength of modern industriesThe North-West: the biggest service providerThe 2008 financial crisis in North-West EuropeModerate neo-liberal turn: weakening the welfare state and workers’ rightsQuestionable stability of the North-WestChapter 5. The Mediterranean-Irish region: catching-up with the West but burdened with remnants of a peripheral pastMiddle-income peripheral level until the mid-twentieth centuryThe rise of Ireland and the MediterraneanThe Irish miracleCatching up on the MediterraneanThe Mediterranean-Irish twenty-first-century credit-fueled consumption bubbleFinancial-economic crisis hits the region hard Chapter 6. Central Europe and the Baltics: trapped in middle-income periphery?Belated and partial modernization: the historical backgroundThe interwar fiasco"Detour from the periphery to the periphery"Crisis and collapseTransformation to democratic market capitalism in new state formations Recovery and development based on capital inflow: under the tutelage of the European UnionCrisis: major weaknesses surface after 2008Chapter 7. The Russia-Turkey-Balkans low-income region: outside Europe?The early twentieth century: the most backward periphery of EuropeA new opening to the European world, new states and regimes after World War ISuccesses and failures in the interwar decadesEconomic performance of the region during the interwar decadesNew political environment and troubled history after World War II Rapid growth and industrializationAmbivalent modernization in TurkeyReproduced backwardness in Russia and the BalkansThe Russia-Turkey-Balkan region and the European UnionTransformation: rising or declining relative income level? The twenty-first centuryConclusionIndex

O autorze

Ivan T. Berend is a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the British Academy; the Academy of Europe; and the Austrian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, and Czech Academies of Sciences. He was president of the International Historical Association between 1995 and 2000 and is author of 35 books.