tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24528000.post115346524767887902..comments2023-10-28T12:01:47.929+00:00Comments on Edward Lucas: The shoelace handicapEdward Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11369936559712607693noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24528000.post-1154633016880327602006-08-03T19:23:00.000+00:002006-08-03T19:23:00.000+00:00Czechs are certainly more liberal on social issues...Czechs are certainly more liberal on social issues than other societies in the region, where these questions are more politicised, although he "rise" of the Greens is essentially just a shifting about of a liberal centrist vote rather than a real harbinger of social change. However -as recent Dutch experience shows - one can be liberal on say same sex relationships but illiberal on the status of ethnic minorities (as many Czechs are about Roma - a long established minority). Klaus's views are not significant because of his current influence but as marker of debates to follow in years to come and as an indication of how liberal nationalism can quickly become national liberalism. After all wasn't Viktor Orban once a liberal?Sean Hanleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06041344502316316837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24528000.post-1154516437099947382006-08-02T11:00:00.000+00:002006-08-02T11:00:00.000+00:00Personally, I would endorse your liberal values as...Personally, I would endorse your liberal values as regards both economics and culture, but the question would seem to be "Where's the politics"? Or rather what is the politics of this? As all good liberals should appreciate the benefits (utility) of any particualr "public good" (such a more culturally diverse society) may not only be unevenly distibuted but are defined by individual voters, who many not share your view of what is beneficial to them... West European electorates have been "confronted with other cultures" through since at the least 1960s and it has always generated issues that need negotiating politically. What discussion I am aware - outside political extremes - has often been negative. Witness Czech President Klaus's claims that the West European experience of multi-culturalism is a warning CEE should avoid without a word about economic imperatives that as neo-liberal he should be well attuned to.Sean Hanleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06041344502316316837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24528000.post-1154286207536973522006-07-30T19:03:00.000+00:002006-07-30T19:03:00.000+00:00Your don't really respond very clearly to the poin...Your don't really respond very clearly to the point made by Mihkel - perhaps beause the article's point of departure is economic and doesn't really consider the politics of economic reform very coherently (You essentially present CEE political systems as based on politicians' self-interest, baffling or pathologically populist, rather than responsive to voters). If Western Europe's experience shows that in issues such as open labour markets and migration there can be a powerful trade-off between economics and politics, long-term and short-term interests. I guess the implicit question of your post is how - now EU leverage is gone - democratic processes in CEE can be bypassed or contained so further liberal reforms can be implemented. (I presume you have written off the prospect of any domestic impetus for reform in the region). It is a good question, but there seems to be an odd disconnect between economics and politics in the way your write...Sean Hanleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06041344502316316837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24528000.post-1154001116158369982006-07-27T11:51:00.000+00:002006-07-27T11:51:00.000+00:00In response to Mikhel's very fair point, I would s...In response to Mikhel's very fair point, I would say that I don't think mass migration is necessarily good in itself and Estonia has every reason to be cautious about this because of its history. However it does seem to me that there are clear signs of labour market over-heating now, at least in Tallinn, and bringing in some building workers or waitresses from eg Ukraine would be no bad thing. <BR/><BR/>On a separate but related issue, Estonia urgently needs to liberalise its rules for skilled migrants from India and China. This threatens the competitiveness of the IT industry.<BR/><BR/>With regard to Oulematu, I would point out that I do criticise the old EU in the article, and the Economist does so with great regularity elsewhere. Yes the CEE countries are doing well at the moment, but I worry that there is a danger of complacency.Edward Lucashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11369936559712607693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24528000.post-1153724002610466812006-07-24T06:53:00.000+00:002006-07-24T06:53:00.000+00:00In this and other articles you have suggested immi...In this and other articles you have suggested immigration as a possible solution to Estonia's problems. As a local in Estonia and informed about events and developments in other countries, especially in Western Europe, I'm curious as to how we could succeed where others have (seemingly) failed? I think this is an important question that deserves some debate.<BR/><BR/>I personally can't help thinking that the lack of workforce is some time a good thing since many people get more paid than they otherwise would. And since when is a low pay and accompanying bad working conditions "a good competitive advantage", as quoted in some Estonian newspapers. Central Europe's main attraction should definitely not be cheap workforce. It's a pity and although an unhappy past has made us walk this path so far, things could have been managed better, as always.<BR/><BR/>Although one might be rushing too much ahead of time with this, but in the long term even the poorest countries lose the advantage of a low cost labour, just like Central/Eastern Europe is slowly losing it now. What further complicates the matter regarding immigration is that under the terms workforce and economics lie people and cultures - it would definitely be difficult and perhaps inhumane or occurate in some cases to ask aliens, immigrants to leave after they have established homes in their new countries the Baltic states under some Gastarbeiter program. <BR/><BR/>Maybe this would be drawing just an interesting, nevertheless untruthful parallel with Germany, as I hope some, if not the more important mistakes (namely immigration) are surely to be avoided by the possible decisionmakers on this area?! <BR/><BR/>As might have expected, Estonia has to a large extent failed in integrating her 30% minority or Russians, who came here looking for better lives after the end of 2nd World War and during forceful industrialization of this country to play a part in an inherently terribly managed economic system we call communism.<BR/><BR/>One has to calculate the risks and gains of immigration further, since this is no easy matter, when economics is tied to such things as different cultures and their understanding of each other. <BR/><BR/>It might be of interest, as this perhaps concerns the overall economic conditions here, that I worked as a student temporarily this summer for a mere 236 euros a month, and with this sum I had yet to see the benefits of the economic boom they talk about in Estonia. <BR/><BR/>Tartu is generally considered a town which boasts itself for the so called spirit of Tartu, which should somehow demonstrate its mental superiority over Tallinn, tha capital. <BR/><BR/>The university guard can be seen at the information desk from 16:00PM every workday. <BR/><BR/>Regards,<BR/>Mihkelmihkelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13913752687245938595noreply@blogger.com