This title evaluates reforms in the structure of intergovernmental relations in Eastern Europe since the breakup of the Soviet Union, focusing on eight recent EU accession countries: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. It reviews each country's response to the economic and political upheavals of the immediate post-Soviet era and their gradual convergence on a commmon "eastern European model" of intergovernmental relations.

This study outlines the difficulties poor communities face in accessing peri-urban land in South Africa that could have implications and lessons for similar communities in other countries facing spatial segregation issues. 'In Search of Land and Housing in the New South Africa' focused on one community, composed largely of laid-off farm workers that wanted to buy their own farm in a peri-urban area west of Johannesburg. Their dream was to establish a mixed-use settlement. They wanted to call the village Ethambalethu--'Our Hope.' About 250 families started their own association and savings...

Achieving Better Service Delivery Through Decentralization in Ethiopia examines the role decentralization has played in the improvement of human development indicators in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has made major strides in improving its human development indicators in the past 15 years, achieving significant increases in the coverage of basic education and health services in a short period of time. Improvements took place during a period of massive decentralization of fiscal resources, to the regions in 1994 and to woredas in 2002-03. The devolution of power and resources from the federal and...

This paper explores an area of tertiary education that is currently understudied--the extent and nature of differentiation and articulation in African tertiary education systems. The overall finding of the study is that a binary system is dominant, characterized by universities and polytechnics as distinct types of institutions. Differentiation is clearly evident in Africa, though mostly horizontal as opposed to vertical. Articulation, on the other hand, seems to be in its infancy, as some universities, in their admission requirements, do not recognize polytechnic qualifications, and mobility...

Innovation and cross-border absorption of knowledge are central forces behind economic convergence and sustained growth. Absorption of technology is considered a necessary step to promote the development of human capital and the productive base, paving the way for innovations at the global knowledge frontier. Research and development, patents, trade, and foreign direct investment are major channels of technological absorption, allowing diffusion of new ideas and manufacturing best practices among countries and firms. These channels constitute the central focus of this study. This study uses...

Reforms are imperative for the huge and complex technical education system in India. A recent Learning Forum brought together senior policy makers and institutional leaders that elaborated a nine-point agenda to achieve good governance, a key to successful reforms in this area. The forum agenda and this paper build upon studies summarizing generic trade-offs, challenges, and experiences, from five Indian state governments, and global failures and successes, to balance demands for greater institutional autonomy with the government's need to direct strategic economic development and enhance...

This report reviews loan classification and provisioning practices in a broad sample of countries that vary in size, location, and level of financial development. The survey conducted for this book compares the regulatory approaches adopted by industrial and emerging economies, and is intended to complement other sources of information that focus exclusively on either industrial or developing countries. This report details loan classifications and provisioning practices prevailing in the 23 jurisdictions represented in the Basel Core Principles Liaison Group at the end of 2001. It includes...