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The development of a variety of methods by sequencing on economic planning and optimization can be realized by emphasizing collaborative, multi-purpose aspects, as well as increasing the variety of solutions that are environmentally friendly, make cost savings, and focus on using low carbon in this approach, use Generation Expansion Planning (GEP), which is the center for reducing the amount of carbon through the calculation process for the development of conventional power plants. In this study modeled the efficiency of Generation Expansion Planning (GEP). In this paper uses the planning method for socio cultural. This research focuses on making energy in a more flexible way. GEP can be a source of renewable energy solutions. In this literature focus on various methods for planning generation expansion through the GEP approach, in terms of finding the total investment and operating costs. This approach provides various guidelines for conducting new research projects. This model has various technicalities in increasing the efficiency of power plants for planning power generation expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The data on the apartment buildings technical condition are a huge digital array for making important management decisions both within the boundaries of individual territories of municipal formation, and for planning budget expenditures within the municipality, the subject of the federation and the country as a whole. In this paper the aspects of forming data on apartment buildings in various information systems are considered. Also, the basics of ensuring the reliability of the presented data are studied. The paper notes that for many years, during the transition from a planned economy to a market economy, the requirements of technical regulations and regulatory documents on the maintenance and operation of apartment buildings are not fully observed by operating organizations. The deadlines for replacing the systems and equipment that have worked out are not met. It is noted that the federal legislators and the Government of the Russian Federation have not defined a general procedure for monitoring the technical condition of apartment buildings and have not formed a common approach to assessing their technical condition, the owners' obligation to finance these works has not been defined, their frequency has not been determined. It is shown that the data obtained during the condition monitoring of apartment buildings combined in federal and regional information systems would be an objective marker in the formation of state and municipal programs in the field of reducing the unfit for living housing fund monitoring financing mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprises do not operate in a vacuum, but their functioning is influenced by numerous internal and external factors. In contrast to internal factors that are under their control, external factors are those that enterprises cannot control and they only can adjust their operations according to them, if they want to do business successfully. In this context, it can be concluded that there is necessity for analysis of the environment in which enterprises perform their activities, so the policy makers in any country can identify its impact on the performance of enterprises (micro level), but also, broadly, on the performance of the national economy as a whole (macro level). On the basis of such analysis, appropriate strategic reform program should be formulated and efficiently implemented in order to create the incentive environment that will support the growth of existing enterprises and encourage starting of new businesses. This is particularly important for CEE and SEE transition economies, having in mind that most of them are facing with numerous disruptions and imbalances inherited from the central planning period as well as the growing challenges posed by the global market. Recent global economic crisis caused the deepest recession they have experienced since the start of transition to market-oriented economies. The economies that accumulated relatively more substantial internal and external imbalances before the crisis suffered more severe contractions in output and most of them face a more sluggish economic recovery. Economic progress, transformation of their economic system and their greater involvement in global economy is unimaginable without the implementation of intensive and efficient business environment reforms. In that sense, the aim of this paper is to analyze the business environment characteristics in these countries and to perform the comparative analysis of their business environment using the PROMETHEE method in combination with entropy method. The results have shown that CEE economies have more incentive business environment and they were more resilient to the crisis than SEE non-EU countries. In front of these economies there is a long way of business environment reform, where first-ranked economies can be benchmark partners of good practice. According to that, some recommendations and guidelines for improvement of business environment in the future period has been defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question which role the Jewish minority played in the development of capitalism was a controversial issue already before the First World War. Werner Sombart emphasized the "great importance of Jews for modern economic life, one that far surpassed all other influences." Max Weber argued instead that it was not possible to attribute the characteristic form of capitalistic rationality to the Jewish religion or Jewish traditions (protestant ethic). In this paper I take the Sombart-Weber controversy as a starting point. The hypothesis of a relatively high percentage of Jews among the corporate elite will be tested with more recent data. We have collected a database which contains the entire top executive personnel of the largest firms in Germany (and the US) for the period 1896 to 1938. In Germany about 16% of the Board members were of Jewish origin. At the center of the network (big linkers) about 25% were Jewish. The percentage of Jews in the general population was less than 1% in 1914. The paper focuses on the following question: How do we explain the fact that a minority subject to numerous forms of discrimination during the entire nineteenth century still generated a considerable percentage of the top management in German big business? What comparative advantages did the Jewish minority enjoy that enabled them to succeed in the competition for leading positions in corporate management? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barrington Moore (1966) once famously argued that the violent overthrow of the southern planter class was the key to inaugurating a liberal capitalist democracy in the United States. Moore's claim is dependent in turn on the notion that poor white farmers, who comprised the overwhelming majority of white southerners, deferred uncritically to the rule of the planter class. There are, however, three empirical problems with this claim, namely the democratic ethos of the planter class, the divergent political allegiances of farmers and planters, and the split within the planter class at the decisive moment of the 1860 presidential election. Using county- and precinct-level electoral returns from antebellum Alabama, this paper argues that the origins, character, and consequences of transitions to capitalism cannot be understood without an analysis of institutionalized party politics. That is, to the extent that transitions to liberal capitalism often involve a bourgeois revolutionary offensive against landed elites, the overall theoretical payoff of this paper will be to show that the illiberal class coalition that must defeated in such a revolution is sometimes forged in the crucible of party formation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proponents of the varieties of capitalism literature maintain that capitalist countries whose institutions best fit either the liberal market economy or coordinated market economy types will perform better than countries whose institutions are more mixed. This is because hybrids are less likely to yield functionally beneficial institutional complementarities. This paper challenges that assertion by focusing on Denmark-a country that has performed at least as well as many other advanced capitalist countries during the 1990s, including those that fit much more closely either the pure CME or LME types. Denmark has recently developed a more hybrid form than is generally recognized by (1) increasing the exposure of actors to market forces and (2) decentralizing collective learning and decision making institutions. The institutional complementarities associated with such hybridization have contributed to its success, but these complementarities are based on institutional heterogeneity rather than homogeneity. This is demonstrated by analyses of three cases: Danish labor markets, vocational training, and industrial policy. The implication of our argument is that the varieties of capitalism theory is logically flawed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between economic planning and modernization in the case of the U.S.-sponsored Marshall Plan in Turkey (1948-1952). I explore why the American modernizers insisted tenaciously on planning, whereas the Turkish governments aimed at obtaining as much funding as possible without committing to a macro-economic plan. I contend that the divergence of opinion rested on the disparate histories of economic planning in the two societies. Specifically, whereas the U.S. state during the 20th century acted as a facilitator in the conflicts among social classes, its Turkish counterpart assumed an active role in the economy. Hence, the Marshall Planners proposed to modernize the Turkish economy by transforming the state agencies into regulatory bodies that ensured harmony among social classes. Nevertheless, given the lack of autonomous interest groups, they first had to foster capital accumulation and labor unionization. Their endeavors were short-circuited by Turkey's transition to competitive politics. Anxious to raise electoral support, the governments forced Americans to assist only particular entrepreneurs and unions. Such limited access to social classes along with the anticipated challenges from the Soviet Russia prevented the U.S. to impress upon the Turkish governments an economic plan with restricted state action. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of cultural landscape is a continuous long lasting process combining both natural conditions and human society activities. Whilst formation of natural environment was a result of processes in remote geological eras, stabilisation of cultural, social and production relationships that has shaped the face of cultural landscape happened in last few centuries. The paper is focused on a long-term development of the selected Slovak cultural landscape types (plains, basins, uplands, highlands, and mountains) in approximately 250 years. This period shaped the main land use features as well as on the recent transformation trends by using historical maps and aerial photographs. The land use development analysis showed that several distinct periods can be distinguished. Each of these periods was characteristic for certain types of land use changes depending both on the landscape character or the socioeconomic situation. Slovak cultural landscape changes underwent three stages of different social and economic development in its history. These were the transformation of a feudal society into a market society in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. After 1948, the capitalist system gave away to a central planning system that was replaced again by a market system after 1990. The recent trends as land use intensification (intense agriculture, sub-urbanisation, industrial construction) or extensification (agricultural land overgrowing) are considered to be common for the whole Slovak territory. Special transformation trends reflect more local conditions, human needs and preferences (construction of water reservoirs, wind calamities or tourism resorts) and though they are spatially isolated and small they influence the majority of Slovak inhabitants. A detailed analysis of several model areas of different locations and development of landscape is added to this general look at landscape changes in the whole Slovakia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper pursues pointing out the real system content of competitive - functional market economy, which exists in most of contemporary countries. This system presents itself in a great variety of forms, experiences and national practice, definite - historical. The reality of world economy today emphasizes more types or models of market economy, with multiple specificities, which can be bound to own types, depending on certain criteria, based on the pluralism of property types, having in the center of it prevalent private property. In such context, there exists and functions the state, which meets a certain part in the economical - financial life from each country, with significant particularities from a country to another, which is pursued in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of a study in 1995 showed that about 70 percent of economic sanctions that have lasted more than 3 years have failed in the achievement of predetermined objectives in changing the behavior or political system in the target country. Then in 1997, a study was conducted that evaluated the effectiveness of economic sanctions about 34%. On the other hand, in terms of the objectives of sanctions, the sanctions are usually imposed for two main purposes: Punitive sanctions to change the behavior of governments (tactical sanctions), and comprehensive sanctions to change the political system or ruling government in the target country (strategic sanctions). This paper tries to supplement the 1995study by Van Bergeijk and Van Marrewijk to analyze the correlation between "the sanctions success " and "the sanctions duration ", and examine the hypothesis that these two variables have always had a negative correlation over the history of economic sanctions since World War II to the present time, and only two of the 13 cases of strategic economic sanctions have been successful (about 15%). Finally, with combination of these two hypotheses, it is concluded that longterm strategic sanctions are very likely doomed to failure. This approach can be used for strategic economic planning of Russia that is target of western strategic sanctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the relationship between sport and society. Focusing first on the relationship between religion and capitalism, the paper then moves on to compare and contrast religion as an institution with sport as an institution. A key point of analysis is the extent to which each institution is independent of the economic system. An exploration of the issues of power and how it is exercised by religion, sport, and the economic system, including a discussion of contests and resistance, will be a central focus of the paper. The paper will conclude with an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of sport as a catalyst for change, especially change relateted to racism, sexism, and class inequalilty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Asian economies are in the process of fast deindustrialization and are facing some new labour market risks. However, these countries in a similar stage of deindustrialization or globalization are experiencing different risk shift leading us to further questions. This paper analyzes how the social institutions changed and in turn influenced the social change, creating a shift in the pattern of labour market risk. Two theories are found useful in understanding the link of institutions and labour market risks: New institutionalism and the varieties of capitalism (VOC) approach (Hall and Soskice 2001) and two methods are employed respectively. First, this paper examines the social institutions and their change. Based on the approach of institutionalism focusing on the development and change in institutions in the three countries, historical comparative analysis (HCA) is employed to discover the similarities and differences which accordingly contribute to the understanding of these institutional transitions. Secondly, with the knowledge from the first step, fuzzy set comparative analysis (fsQCA) is employed to investigate the necessary and/or sufficient conditions for the labour market risks in Asian post-industrial economies. This study highlights the importance of institution using innovative methods to enhance the understanding of East Asian welfare states and/or welfare production regime which contributes to the highly western biased welfare states and social policy discussions today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is the first chapter in a forthcoming book by John Padgett and Woody Powell entitled The Emergence of Organizations and Markets. The paper/chapter develops a theory about the emergence of new organizational forms, which emphasizes autocatalysis and multiple networks. Six mechanisms of organizational genesis and seven mechanisms of organizational catalysis are described. The paper/chapter also briefly summarizes the other sixteen chapters in the volume, most of which are empirical case studies, but some of which are formal agent-based models. The empirical cases include examples of economic inventions in early capitalism, post-Communist transitions, and the biotechnology and computer industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issues and complexities of the study of post soviet europe is an unfortunate effect of assumptions of the dominance of contemporary capitalism. This paper examines the critical issues for post soviet studies into the millennium and beyond. Attention is focused on the need for empirical studies of post soviet countries and regions. This paper provides a classification system of post soviet studies based on the need for empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper it is demonstrated that due to mineral resources specificity many mining industries do not strictly comply with classical liberal economic model and are faced with the necessity to combine mechanisms of both market and planned economic models. Besides, it is shown that various combinations of two leading economic models are present in countries throughout the World. With the help of a generalized structural model, both similarities and diversities are specified, which exist between mineral resources management systems in plan-oriented and market-oriented economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My study focuses on the sociological and economic reasons for night work in the United States and its subsequent effects. Night work is commonly defined as an occupation in which more than half the hours worked are performed between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. I use a two-tiered methodology for my project. The first is to look at the dynamics of capitalism as they relate to people's perceptions of time and explain why economic activity is engaged at all hours of the day. I point to the growth of the service industry and consumer culture as two socioeconomic explanations for night work. I also propose that the United States, in many respects, practices what I call temporally incessant capitalism, an idea that profit can be generated at all hours, irrespective of time. The second method I use is an interview format, in which I speak with people who perform service-oriented jobs during the night, in order to learn how workers themselves perceive the value of their own work as performed after hours. Through these two methods, I argue that night work today exists not because of technological innovation, but due to capitalism and consumer culture. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neoliberals argue that rapid liberalization and privatization can transform postcommunist economies into Western-style capitalist systems. Sociologists counter that neoliberals neglect the institutional order, and therefore neoliberal policies will not generate their intended results. Organizational sociologists argue that these policies produce a unique variety of capitalism while World Systems theorists argue that they lead to underdevelopment. We argue that in a crucial case, Poland, none of these arguments hold. We offer a statist and social structural alternative. The strength of the technocracy and intelligentsia, in alliance with the working class, blocked Mass Privatization schemes and nomenklatura-led privatization. State ownership was prolonged, and an interventionist state facilitated efficiency-enhancing market-oriented restructuring before ushering in foreign investment. The end result was the construction of a version of Liberal Capitalism dependent on foreign investment and exports to the EU. We use comparative-historical, case study, and quantitative analyses to test these theories against each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars recognize that census categories embody politically and ideologically motivated choices about what to count. Much of the literature on censuses however takes a strongly state-centered or 'top-down' view of census formation. This piece challenges that view, emphasizing that both broad changes in society, and schemes of lay classification have decisively shaped census formation. The piece traces a historical transition from censuses as registers, to censuses as social scientific instruments for assessing enduring characteristics of the population in three national contexts (the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy). We show that neither the general transition, nor the specific way in which that transition occurred in the three cases, can be explained in terms of a state-centered model. First the general transition to 'objectivist' censuses occurred in each case as part of a broader shift toward industrial capitalism. Capitalist classes and others pushed to have a better knowledge of the work force. Second the specific categories that were adopted in each case were drawn from lay schemes of categorization. We thus suggest that social processes need to be brought into work on censuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the interaction between governmental institutions and firm-level strategies in shaping the process of economic development. On the basis of conceptual models of technological catch-up and innovation, we show that the relationship between institutions and development varies over the development process. When a country is far from the technological frontier, governments can unleash a "Big Push" of industrialization by overcoming the collective action dilemma faced by individual firms that have to make investment decisions. But as the economy approaches the technological frontier, the government should follow rather than lead the market because the "Big Pull" of technological innovation depends on multiple innovation efforts by many firms rather than on centralized planning. Countries can therefore suffer from a "technology gap" when their political development is advanced relative to their economic development, or an "institutional gap" in the reverse case. We provide empirical evidence of these effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the negative impact of the consequences of the free labor market in a free market. Destructive consequences directly for the majority of the population form an economic situation in which a person cannot be confident not only in his stability, but also in the stability of the state. Ideological resistance of the minority to planned indicators and information on "no" individuality of the individual in the scale of the state economy have led the economy to a state of permanent stagnation. The choice of each person forms the labor market and the economy as a whole. Targets in this concept are becoming more preferable for the majority of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions, Max Weber argues that rationalization of the modern capitalist economy is at odds with an ongoing role in it for religions of salvation (Weber 1958: 331). Indeed, Weber offers the disappearance of the Catholic usury prohibition as an example of how "the needs of economic life make themselves manifest" (Weber 1978: 577‒578). How, then, do we explain the birth of modern commercial Islamic finance in the 1970s and its efflorescence in the past decade into a $1 trillion global industry, precisely at a moment when international finance was undergoing dramatic technicization? How has an explicitly religious project blossomed from the soil of hyper-rationalized contemporary financial capitalism by embracing the usury ban and a role for Islam in the economy, instead of rejecting them? After an Introduction that outlines what modern Islamic finance is, this paper sets out to answer that question. I assess the impact on Islamic finance's development of four global-level events of the last half-century: the Cold War, the growth of Islamism, the oil shocks of the 1970s, and the expansion of international finance. The Conclusion looks toward the future of Islamic finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent policy debates over corporate governance have taken a growing interest on the implications of legal vs. voluntary approaches to regulation rooted in law and codes respectively. The UK case on codes is argued to offer the advantage of not imposing a 'one size fits all' approach to corporate governance and thereby promotes considerable flexibility. Meanwhile, the more legalistic US approach may offer certain advantages in terms of coverage, greater powers of enforcement, and ultimately high levels of compliance. Given the growing diffusion of both new legislation and corporate governance codes throughout the world (Aguilera and Cuervo-Cazurra 2004), this paper examines the trade-offs between these different types of regulatory arrangements. We propose a theoretical model outlining two inter-related sets of trade-offs exist around the coverage and content of regulation. But using the case of the UK as an exploratory starting point, we seek to show that such trade-offs are mediated by the wider character of social institutions such as the "gentlemanly capitalism" of the City of London. Finally, we seek to extend our analysis of 'gentlemanly capitalism' as three 'dimensions' for cross-case comparison: a historical set of ideas about the boundaries of state vs. private action, formal business associations, and informal social networks. We argue that one possible outcome is strong/weak codes and strong/weak law, and a resulting regulatory trade-off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Confucian Capitalism "was coined by neo-Weberian approach to relate the stunning economic development of East Asia to key elements in the area's long Confucianist tradition. Though it was once discarded by the economic crisis of 1996, the recent emergence of China as possible next leader of world economy, and East Asia's unusually strong recovery from the IMF crisis, have only increased interest in this concept of "Confucian Capitalism." However, the application of "Confucian Capitalism" in economic success of Korea, one of success case of "Confucian Capitalism", has two caveats. First of all, Christianity, during the economic success period of 1960s and 1970s in Korea, grew in such an unprecedented pace that Christianity is one of the most dominant religion in Korea now. Second, Korean government, unlike Japanese one where the term of "Confucian Capitalism" was first used, was dictatorial in nature and quasi-developmental at best. Given this background, this paper will examine the unique nature of Korean Confucianism, as fertile soil for Korea's surge of Christianity, the nexus created between Confucianism and Christianity and the role of Confucianism and Christianity as a key part of Korea's state structural development. It will bring a fresh focus on the importance of culture to economic development, especially of non-Western countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serious concerns about racist economic and planning policies, unregulated industrial growth, and Disneyesque tourism attractions face the community of New Orleans in rebuilding the city after Katrina. Using political economy and Jhally's (1993 and 2000) theories on the way the marketplace structures our relationship to society, this paper examines the impact of capitalist market structure on public dialogues about rebuilding the city. The case study analyzes an event held at Xavier University of Louisiana that involved community organizations, activist, journalist, and the Xavier community in a dialogue about community development. The dialogue was analyzed to assess the strength of a free-market approach that frames rebuilding as economic progress to the detriment of particular communities in the city - those without economic power. While the free-market structures public engagement, participants also criticize unregulated economic and social policies that favor private corporate interests over the public good. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What knowledge travels along, and is injected into, the global commodity chain of coffee, on its path from tree to cup? In this paper I examine the discourse and imagery employed by the socially responsible niche of the global coffee market to determine what the final product itself tells us about its roots, its travels, and the web of capitalist relations of production and consumption that surrounds it. I analyze the packaging, promotional and informational materials, and web text of coffee websites and find that the patterns of the discourse of socially responsible coffee suggest knowledge of coffee farmers, global capitalism, and the consumer self that pivot around axes and intersections of race, gender, and class, and I argue that the contours of this discourse serve to rearticulate the dominant relations of global capitalist production and consumption in our everyday lives. Using racialized and culturally essentialized depictions of coffee farmers and their locales, I argue the discourse and its imagery rearticulates the established global division of labor that exists between the global south and north. The discourse and imagery functions as an extension of colonial ideology that rests on the presumed need of coffee farmers, juxtaposed against the benevolent consumer self, described by the discourse as socially responsible, ethical beings who do good by participating in the global system of capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to do political economy analysis, one should not only consider purely economic and political factors. Certain other relevant non-economic institutional factors such as history, religion, culture, national ideology, political identity and even climate are of at least equal importance. They contribute to a society's definition of its interests, influence its behavior, and in turn, shape the unique economic pattern of the individual county with the help of those purely economic factors within the country. Those economic factors, such as labor force, natural resources, monetary capital, technological knowledge, etc., alone cannot decide what kind of goal they would pursue in developing their national economy, nor which economic path the country would take. Due to different experiences each country had in its past, they tend to have their own ideals, values, beliefs which would influence the political path they chose for themselves. Chinese economy is a socialist economy in essence, at least according to the Chinese Government and the Communist Party of China. Chinese economy is also, at least partially, a market economy which transformed from planned economy. The feature and characteristics of Chinese economy, i.e., socialist market economy, are deeply influenced by the political factors such as national political science (philosophy ideology), official religion (or the lack of) and historical experience. In order to understand the Chinese economy and its future paths, it is important to study those factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidently, over the past three decades, China's economy has been growing at a phenomenal pace fueled primarily by foreign investment. Based on an economics perspective, it refers to liberalizing the economy, introducing markets to replace the Soviet-style central planning system, importing foreign capital and technology, and relying heavily on exports. However, people-based global ties provide a primary angle as a sociological approach to analyze local transformation implicitly and explicitly in the background of Chinese globalizing. From a relational perspective, the new China Model refers to its extended global ties and vast transnational practice in its huge size of population, featured returned overseas Chinese students made a contribution to his country, absorbed talents from abroad, and ethnic Chinese and oversea Chinese descent played significant roles, etc. it is important to study micro globalization as it is embedded in massive people-based global ties. Understanding intensifying ties among people cross-border and its impact on local society goes a long way toward defining up some important dimensions of globalization. The author uses his recently published book "Chinese Globalization" to analyze how different types of people-based global ties, such as: "have been working in foreign firm", "have been abroad", "have relatives oversea", and "often surf foreign web sites" may make a difference and constitute certain outcomes at local in specific and impact worldwide in general. The outcome seems concluding that global ties are capable of facilitating local transformation across different spatial, economic, and cultural settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 40 years of communism, housing construction in the former Czechoslovakia was influenced by very precise planning. Into details developed system of standards and indicators was aimed to create independent and operationally self-sufficient housing estates, expressed by the phrase "complete housing construction". Together with city development plans, defining the most suitable development areas (without a need to take the private property into account), the former regime possessed (and efficiently used) sufficient tools for planning residential construction in order to predict as well as regulate the growth of towns and villages. After regime has changed in 1989, central planning, including use of standards and indicators, has been rejected as totalitarian limitation of free market. Return of private properties together with increasing social differences between inhabitants has caused massive residential suburbanization, especially around larger towns. During the last 20 years Slovakia repeated the very same mistakes that the western countries did and were fully aware of at the time when the process has started here. New suburban housing is typical by monofunctionality, increased transport demands and agricultural land take which is neither ecological nor economical and far away from worldwide trends promoting sustainability. Current situation points out ineffective planning system that primarily fails to protect public interest. Absence of binding standards and indicators together with missing detailed development plans and appropriate regulations causes that new construction is based on individual interpretation of the land use plan by individual authorities. The result is disproportional growth and random placement of functions in the territory. It is the high time to start serious professional discussion how to change the system in order to ensure design of sustainable communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional economic planning of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) requires a thorough understanding of the industry structure and the size of business. The main body of the literature regarding SMEs is focused on formation and growth, as well as success and failure (Dejardin & Fritsch, 2010). Some studies have considered clustering regional areas based on functional specialisation but only a few studies have considered industry structure and the size of business (Okamuro, 2006). Using the Australian data and a large data set for regional (non-metropolitan) areas, this current study attempts to investigate the relationship between the economic growth of geographical areas with the industry structure and size of the businesses within those areas. For this the study uses Ward's, the k-means, global k-means, and the modified global k-means clustering algorithms and compares the function of these algorithms. Resulting analysis of this comparative study demonstrates that the modified global kmeans algorithm outperforms the other algorithms examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three problems of capitalism are briefly outlined, and then potentials for the solution are explored under capitalist and socialist societies ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: Like all movements, contemporary global movements draw on and share characteristics of earlier movements. However, there are some significant features of the contemporary global movements that reflect the changing context in which they operate and which distinguish them from earlier NSMs. Drawing on a variety of academic and activist sources, including findings drawn from an in-depth ethnography of an anti-capitalist autonomous network in Madrid from July 2002-January 2005, the author highlights in particular the centrality of the notion of autonomy and the creation of autonomous spaces; the centrality of issues of participatory democracy; the emergence of a new "global" actor who identifies with a "global" movement; the consolidation of the network as organizational framework and of the sovereign assembly as legitimate arena for decision making; the strong resurgence of anarchist and libertarian influence; a repertory of action that moves beyond the purely symbolic to a re-engagement with capitalism as the focus of direct action and critique; a shift away from identitarian and ideological politics to an embracing of diversity as a core value; the re-definition of the public sphere as a commons, but also as an arena in which to negotiate conflict and difference; and in Western Europe at least, the emerging consciousness of a precarious subject. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Andre Gunder Frank (Frank, 1989; Chew and Lauderdale, 2010) maintained that the contemporary world system is part of a continuous five-thousand year-old history. Frank focused upon coercion and imperialism, rather than ambiguous notions of capitalism, on the rise of the west over the past five hundred years. Frank recently examined how imperialism and coercion in the world system continue to dominate political agendas around the world. His relatively recent extension to the global economy and its roots in Asia over five thousand years ago extends our world system vision. His extensive research is recognized as a leading force in showing why capital accumulation by rich nations and the "profit-motive" are detrimental, especially to economically developing, poor countries. Frank has helped lead the struggle for justice, not the neoliberal just-us, and explains the significant difference between being economically poor and culturally rich. His seminal evidence on the ostensible periphery, that is, economically poor countries or technologically developing ones, and the relevance of their 'richness' in many other ways stands above and beyond most analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]