Tsenkova Housing Policy Reforms in Post-Socialist Europe

Lost in Transition
1. Auflage 2008
ISBN: 978-3-7908-2115-4
Verlag: Physica
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 262 Seiten, eBook

Reihe: Contributions to Economics

The book explores both theoretically and empirically the impacts of housing reforms on housing provision in the context of the transition from a centrally-planned to a market-based economy. Fifteen years after the overthrow of state socialism housing policy has lost its privileged status of a political priority as most politically emb- ded systems had favoured market-based solutions to housing problems. This dep- ture from state controlled housing policies with the aim of providing a dwelling for every family is significant, particularly in some post-socialist countries where no new housing policy has emerged. The transition process, embedded in the paradigm shift from central planning to markets, has triggered off turbulence and adjustments with tangible outcomes in post-socialist housing systems. What has changed and what new housing systems have emerged during this dramatic ‘transition to markets and democracy’? Are these systems more efficient and equitable? These questions are the main focus of the book with an emphasis on diversity and change in housing reforms. The book supports the hypothesis that notions of convergence are not really appropriate to the conceptualisation of post-socialist housing systems. It argues that different housing policy choices are going to map out increasingly divergent s- nario for future development.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Tsenkova, Sasha

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Conceptual Framework for Comparative Analysis.- The Legacy of Socialist Housing Systems.- Political, Social and Economic Transitions.- Housing Policy Reforms in South East Europe.- Government Support for Housing.- Housing Systems: Performance Challenges.- Housing Privatisation, Housing Management and Public Housing.- Housing Finance and New Housing Provision.- The Transition in Housing and Informal Settlements.- The Transition in Housing and Nations of Homeowners.

Leseproben

Chapter 3 Political, Social and Economic Transitions (S. 51-52)

3.1 External Factors Influencing the Performance of Housing Systems

3.1.1 The Political Transition

South East European countries have experienced some economic growth and major progress in advancing their structural reform agenda in the last decade. The growth trajectory across the region has been uneven, however countries have been able to maintain macroeconomic stability and sustain political reforms towards democratic governance. The political landscape today is diverse underpinned by widespread political rights to participate in multiparty elections and a range of civil liberties, which have taken root in the region. Within the past decade, the countries in South East Europe have been beleaguered with military, economic, and political crises including the pyramid schemes of Albania, the Kosovo/UNMIK conflict , and the serious debt burden of Serbia and Montenegro (European Commission, 2004).

These external and internal shocks have impacted neighbouring countries through influxes of refugees, disruptions in transport and trade, and loss of investor confidence. Reportedly today civil unrest has been overcome and the political balance has allowed economic growth and some regional cooperation. However, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia, over one million people are still without a permanent home after they were displaced internally or across countries during the years of conflict.

Each country had its own political pathway towards democracy charted by a series of events that marked historic transformations from state socialism. Albania’s first democratic elections in 1991 were the end of its economic and political isolation. Frequent elections that followed accompanied major economic and political crises leading to low levels of confidence in major institutions: political parties, the legislature, ministries, and the courts.

In Bulgaria the first democratic elections at the end of 1991 ushered a coalition reform government. A series of short-lived governments presided over challenging economic reforms resulting in the return of the former King Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to power as a Prime Minister in 2001.Romanian politics went through similarly turbulent times after the long-standing authoritarian regime of Ceausescu was brought down. The 1991 Constitution proclaimed Romania as a democratic and social republic with a pluralist multi-party system. Moldova’s transition to democracy was initiated in 1990 by a former Communist Party official. Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991.

The early years of democracy were impeded by an ineffective Parliament, the lack of a new constitution, and unrest in the Transnistria region. While these were essentially peaceful transitions, mapping a lengthy roadmap to democracy and markets, the break up of the Yugoslav Federation was remarkably different. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a federation of six republics existed till June 1991.

Following the fall of communism in the rest of Eastern Europe, each of the republics held multi-party elections in 1991 (Hayden, 2000). Slovenia and Croatia were the first to declare their interdependence. A Parliamentary Declaration of Sovereignty in September of 1991 established the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as an independent state. However, the Serbs in Croatia refused to accept a status of a national minority and established the Republic of Serb Krajina (Fischer, 2006). As conflicts escalated, war broke out in the fall of 1991.