European perspectives of the Western Balkans countries 10 pages, pdf  Download Back

European perspectives of the Western Balkans countries

Publisher: Afrim Hoti,   Igor Kosir

Volume: 10 pages, pdf

Description:

All parts of European continent were impacted by the process that was not known as dominant in international economic relations among the nations at the beginning of the second half of the 20th century. It is a process of approaching, adaptation and sustainable linking deliberately of two or more national economies, firstly neighbouring, later the other ones in order to form more efficient economic system, motivating and interesting for entrepreneurs, businessmen, bankers, traders, producers and finally for all parts of population – consumers: the process of international economic integration.

There were several examples of this type of intensively cooperating neighbourhood: Prussia and later German Customs Union (Zollverein), successful during the 19th century and efficiently contributing to a realization of ambitions of Prussia to unify German speaking small, medium and bigger states into the unified German state in 1871 (Deutsches Reich). Southern African Customs Union, organized and set up by London based British Empire in 1910, was an interesting model of this process in the practice, too, but was organized among not independent countries but four British colonies. But the customs union, created and functioning between small European countries from the beginning of the 1920s as between Belgium and Luxembourg (BELUX) in 1921 and between Switzerland and Liechtenstein in 1923, were the perfect pioniers of building the closer and efficient economic relations between the nations. By adding an example of BENELUX (customs union of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, being realized four years after signing the London convention in 1944) we are approaching the era of the great personalities of the economic theory which used the practical experience of existing functioning small customs unions as well as the theoretical conclusions of Jacob VINER´s theory. There were namely Jan TINBERGEN, Duch economist, the first European Nobel prize winner in economic sciences, and Béla BALASSA, U.S. economist of Hungarian origine. They created a theoretical basis for using a new economic cathegory – international economic integration. And this process had been developed dynamically until now. It represents a very important subsystem of todays globalization and impacted all continents.