This contribution explores the importance of independent organizations in authoritarian regimes. While some authoritarian governments delegate policy tasks to (relatively) autonomous agencies simply in order to improve their domestic or international image as modern political leaders or to build...

European development strategies with Africa have been challenged by a pragmatic, self-interested Sino-African trade and development cooperation with a focus on infrastructure projects, which gained momentum in the last twenty years. African-European development cooperation and European norms and...

The paper focuses on institutional change and institution building as integral parts of economic transition in China. China's success, particularly compared with other advanced transition economies, implies a puzzling observation: China did not apply theoretically-derived policy recommendations....

Central Asia is increasingly the focus of intense international attention because of its geopolitical and economic importance as well as its unsettled transition processes. Central Asian countries, i.e., Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, faced enormous challenges...

The quest for an appropriate development and transition strategy in less developed countries (LDCs) and post-socialist countries (PSCs) has been studied for a long time, and it has been subject to numerous controversies among academics and development practitioners alike. Disputes have existed...