Review
"The book by Bruno Sergi and Qerim Qerimi is a very welcomed, timely and path-breaking survey of the main trends in the political economy of Southeastern Europe. The book will be a must for any specialist in the field. It covers many areas of research previously neglected by scholars of the region. It is a refreshing and incisive contribution that highlights important processes of economic, social and political change taking place in the volatile Balkan peninsula." - Shinasi A. Rama, Ph.D., Clinical Associate Professor of Politics, New York University, USA
"Bruno Sergi and Qerim Qerimi continue productive collaboration in this concise, information-packed evaluation of alternative paths for the Western Balkans to achieve full EU membership. Up-to-date statistics and well-documented analysis support their thesis that the global common interest is best served by the region's economic prosperity founded upon participatory democratic stability. Without losing sight of the nuts-and-bolts requirements for accession, they demonstrate a need for indigenous development of principled economic and political institutions that enhance state capacity. The book serves as a valuable balance to recent, outstanding scholarly literature on the region, such as Elizabeth Pond's Endgame in the Balkans." - Prof. James P. Bennett, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, USA
"...The book
The Political Economy of Southeast Europe from 1990 to the Present: Challenges and Opportunities by Bruno S. Sergi and Qerim R. Qerimi analyses the economic and political transformation of the Balkans and provides an extensive overview of the reasons, conditions and factors concerning the recent instability and the current situation...The book ultimately develops the background for possible answers to these questions. It shows the main challenges for this model in western Europe and illuminates the issue of reforming the welfare state in Eastern Europe. [The book] is addressed to students, professionals and the general public. The publication provides comprehensive descriptions and explanations, including profound data material concerning the economic and political transformation in south-east Europe from which readers will gain a better understanding of the entire region." - Jörg Jurkeit,
South-East Europe Review, April 2007 (Jörg Jurkeit )
"...The book
The Political Economy of Southeast Europe from 1990 to the Present: Challenges and Opportunities by Bruno S. Sergi and Qerim R. Qerimi analyses the economic and political transformation of the Balkans and provides an extensive overview of the reasons, conditions and factors concerning the recent instability and the current situation...The book ultimately develops the background for possible answers to these questions. It shows the main challenges for this model in western Europe and illuminates the issue of reforming the welfare state in Eastern Europe. [The book] is addressed to students, professionals and the general public. The publication provides comprehensive descriptions and explanations, including profound data material concerning the economic and political transformation in south-east Europe from which readers will gain a better understanding of the entire region." - Jörg Jurkeit,
South-East Europe Review, April 2007 (, )
From the Author
A message by Bruno S. Sergi and Qerim R. Qerimi to Amazon.com Readers:
Our book, The Political Economy of Southeast Europe from 1990 to the Present: Challenges and Opportunities (Continuum, New York) has come out at a time of fundamental changes and transformations in the Balkan Peninsula. As most recent events have shown, the region both represents an important and strategic international arena and demands further attention. We are at a pivotal moment in Balkan developments and quest for an integrated and prosperous future and the analysis of these important perspectives is the exact aim of this book. We are all responsible for the decisions the international community makes and we offer a unique blend of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary about the entire Peninsula. The former Prime Minister of Kosovo, Agim Ceku, wrote the foreword.
Kosovo's independence and the most recent admission of Albania and Croatia into the North-Atlantic military alliance (NATO) will be having profound effects in shaping the region in such strategic dimensions as stability, cooperation and integration into European and international structures. As we have written in our book, "with democratic governments across the Western Balkans and enhanced regional cooperation, we have before us the best prospects for a generation of lasting peace and prosperity across the whole of Southeast Europe," and solving such grand political questions as that of Kosovo, "would give a definitive impulse to this process," and to the process of genuine integration into European Union. It is this goal of arriving at more stable and prosperous future, and of bringing this most turbulent corner of the Old Continent to the European family by identifying and delimiting problems, outlining strategies, offering alternative solutions, and providing recommendations that has underlined the overall purpose of our research. To guarantee the interest of readers from beginning to end, we have identified, analyzed and appraised several strategic issues and placed them in the context for reform in the whole region. Yet most importantly perhaps, we feel this book has a uniquely positioned advantage concerning overall visibility in the intensiveness of the trade and academic book universe.
Our underlying philosophy has been to give our readers a single, coherent and comprehensive source concerning prospects of further socioeconomic betterment and sustainability, peace and prospective European Union membership, thus departing from often narrowly defined, traditional or sectoral modes of analysis.
We should note, at the end, that the book is the product of a process of continuous and fruitful collaboration between us, which resulted in many academic papers published in past years on various critical issues for the EU and the Balkans. The origins of this cooperation can be traced to an international symposium that took place in Knokke-Heist, Belgium on Southeastern Europe. Ever since we have remained faithful to our joint efforts and commitment to offer a better understanding of this important region and its relations with the rest of the parent continent, and our joint book would represent the culmination, but never the end, of such a cooperation that started years ago.
It was our principal aim and it remains our greatest hope that our book would best serve the interests and needs of our readers. We look forward to having them on board with us in broadening, deepening and enlightening our interest about this important region and its place--where in fact it belongs--in the larger European family.
