As the nations in Southeastern Europe confront the changes that are sweeping across the continent, there is much talk of a new beginning for the countries. But just as surely as they face the enormous task of restructuring, their future development will certainly be influenced to a large extent by their particular experiences in the past. This collection of essays considers the problems and prospects of development from a historical perspective by examining the major Balkan states: Yugoslavia, Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria. These strategic countries are an excellent example of societies with the potential for significant economic growth, but which have developed unevenly because of external and domestic factors. This work provides an integrated overview, geographically and temporally, of each nation's development, reaching back to its emergence.
In his introduction, editor Gerasimos Augustinos characterizes development as the process by which economic and technological change leads to the transformation of the institutions and values of a society. Each contributor then examines each country and its specific historical determinants, identifying the developmental strategies that have been attempted in each state and allowing for the comparison of variations. Essay one focuses on Bulgarian modernization, discussing the possibilities and limits of political and economic development through secularization. The problems of differentiated modernization form the basis of the second essay, which compares the seemingly dissimilar states of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia in the first half of the twentieth century. Essay three addresses the socialist self-management strategy that Yugoslavia adopted in an attempt to promote progress and regime legitimacy. The development of Greece through the market and entrepreneurship is the subject of the fourth essay, while Romania's rapid shift from agriculture to industrialization serves as the focus of the final essay. This comparative study will be an important reference work for courses in contemporary political systems, economic development, and European history, as well as a significant addition to public, college, and university libraries.