In Georgia today and in Europe in the past, villages owned pastures where every shepherd and cattle-herder in the community could take his animals. Grazing on these pastures was free and unrestricted. This land, owned by all villagers jointly, is traditionally referred to as the “commons” (in the last years, the term has been extended to also refer to free-to-use internet content).
In his 1991 book “The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century”, the famous American political scientist Samuel Huntington (1927-2008) identifies three global democratization waves in the history of humankind. The first wave was the creation of the classical democracies in the United Kingdom and North America and the ongoing democratization process of the 19th century in France and other European countries.
While written in 1991, “The Development Frontier” by Peter Bauer has lost none of its relevance for Georgia and other predominantly agrarian economies of the 21st century. Economic development, suggests Bauer, “begins with the replacement of subsistence activities by production for sale.
On October 11, 2013, ISET was pleased to host Swiss Ambassador to Georgia H.E. Günther Bächler. In introducing his presentation the ambassador outlined his interesting career track, which started with a BA in Art and History of Art and then moved to conflict studies and diplomacy.
Professor Einar Hope from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) is a leading Nordic authority on energy market design and regulation. In 1995-1999, he took a break from academic activities and served as director of the Norwegian Competition Authority.