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Author Archives: Jakob Modéer
It’s the Values, Stupid!
The World Values Survey, in its own words, “demonstrate that people’s beliefs play a key role in economic development, the emergence and flourishing of democratic institutions, the rise of gender quality, and the extent to which societies have effective government.” … Continue reading
Fear and Loathing in our Western World – The Inevitable Rise of Populism
2016 was a good year for populism in our Western World. The UK referendum on EU membership became Brexit and Trump’s election to the highest office in America left us reaching for the dictionary – populism, what? We all … Continue reading
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Tagged austerity, Bernie Sanders, economy, elitism, EU, euro, fear, Germany, Greece, loathing, mass immigration, populism, populist, poverty, Sweden, unemployment, US
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“Social and cultural constraints to private sector development in Kosovo and how to include the constraints in development management”
Social and cultural constraints in private sector development in Kosovo
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Our Western World – on the fast track from democracy to Banana Republic
When discussing the global economy we rather do it from a political perspective. Forget economic theory. The decisions that were made in 2008 to save the world from economic destruction were politically motivated. It was a very small, global power … Continue reading
The art of making and managing weak states
One of communism’s major fault lines can be summarized in one sentence: “The state cheats us that they pay us, and we cheat the state that we work”. Communism, as applied in old Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, produced very high … Continue reading
Now showing in Romania, next year in a Courthouse near you…hopefully!
Since 1989 and the fall of communism, corruption has been a significant hurdle to overcome for South East European states in their drive to establish well functioning societies. With time, the fight against organized crime and corruption became part of … Continue reading
Greece, economism and systemic theory
Not a day goes by without Greece making the headlines in the world media. A country that was previously best known for giving the world democracy, zorba and island vacations, is now synonymous with credit bubbles, financial collapse, debt mountains, … Continue reading
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Tagged bail-outs, economism, Greece, supply-side economics, systemic theory, trickle-down economics
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Com’on Europe – is this the best we can do?
On March 18, the European Central Bank inaugurated its new office building in Frankfurt, Germany. The total construction cost of this skyscraper of glass and steel was a whooping €1.1 billion. In comparison, the new Chancellery building in Berlin, completed … Continue reading
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Tagged construction, democracy, ECB, ECB headquarters, investments, jobs, public money, unemployment
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Where is our sense of solidarity, equality and justice now?
The dream of a federal Europe is crumbling. Most contemporary politicians in Europe, EU technocrats and main street media link the crumbling European dream entirely to the poorly performing economy. Undeniably, when an economy shrinks it affects people’s lives through … Continue reading
“Leaving Kosovo – When all the ‘good people’ have left, then what?”
The last week was full of media reports on the massive exodus of people from Kosovo. The Telegraph, a British newspaper, reported that up to 20.000 are leaving the Balkan country of 1.8 million every month. The Associated Press reported … Continue reading
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Jakob Modéer's Balkan & Europe Blog 