Publisher's Synopsis
Within the context of serious ethnic strife, the economic structure of Yugoslavia is, at the time of writing, being tenuously held together. Having the legacy of neither a free market nor strictly socialist economy, the experience of Yugoslavia is unique amongst East European countries. Although overshadowed by the violence of late 1991, this book draws out the important experience of a self-managed market-socialist type economy and asks the question of whether or not this point of departure will secure an advantageous position for the country.;The contributors to this volume analyze how self-management operated in practice and the reasons for its ultimate failure. A decisive factor was that the new-style socialism did not bring the anticipated benefits in terms of workers' rights and social provision. In fact, this volume argues that inequality not only persisted but actually increased under self-management.;The economic situation has therefore been a driving force for political reform. However, role played by the rise of new social movements and ethnic unrest in the republics is also taken into account. In the concluding section, the editors draw out the lessons that emerge from the Yugoslavian experience for other East European political economies now in the complex process of transformation to market-style economies.
