2006-07-14

Understatement of the day from EU pillar in Kosovo ('Invest in Kosovo'). I am glad that in the section they did not dwell too much on the stabile political system part.
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5 comments:

DarkoV said...

Eric,
No too long ago, weren't investors suggesting it was safe, once again, to be pouring investment dollars into Lebanon?

14/7/06 20:39
Eric Gordy said...

Indeed they were, but the above is the second post by our newest and most charming editor, Florian Bieber!

14/7/06 22:01
Florian Bieber said...

For Lebanon, it depends on the industry you invest in. I just have the suspicion that investor might do their own research in Kosovo and have some doubts about the stabile political system...

15/7/06 08:51
WARchild said...

I agree with EU that it is a stable one though stability in no way equals a developed political system that will lead to good government. The US political system is a very stable one yet far from perfect. To investors stability is all that matters.

UNMIK has stunted the political development of Kosovo in exchange for stability and because of the guidelines which it was handed under 1244.

16/7/06 01:15
Anonymous said...

I don't know about that, Florian.

There's a lot to dislike about Kosovo's system of government. It's corrupt, it's hyper-nationalistic, it's run by an unsavory combination of former KLA, mini-oligarchs, and Yugo-nomenklatura turned rent-seeker capitalist.

But is it stable? Probably yes, actually.

Putting aside the possibility of inter-group violence -- almost certainly directed against the Serbs -- there's no reason it shouldn't be stable. Representative democracy is raw and rambunctious, but it's real; power comes from ballots, not bullets. The perceived legitimacy of the government is very high. Even Albanians who dislike it don't consider it a colonial regime imposed by the UN, or some such.

If I were investing in Kosovo, I'd be worried about a lot of things: corruption, human resources, infrastructure, markets. But political stability? No, not really.


Doug M.

16/7/06 19:58

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