In 1983, following a military dictatorship that left thousands dead and disappeared and the economy in ruins, Raúl Alfonsín was elected president of Argentina on the strength of his pledge to prosecute the armed forces for their crimes and restore a measure of material well-being to Argentine lives. Food, housing, and full employment became the litmus tests of the new democracy. In Search of the Lost Decade reconsiders Argentina’s transition to democracy by examining the everyday meanings of rights and the lived experience of democratic return, far beyond the ballot box and corridors of power. Beginning with promises to eliminate hunger and ending with food shortages and burning supermarkets, Jennifer Adair provides an in-depth account of the Alfonsín government’s unfulfilled projects to ensure basic needs against the backdrop of a looming neoliberal world order. As it moves from the presidential palace to the streets, this original book offers a compelling reinterpretation of post-dictatorship Argentina and Latin America’s so-called lost decade.

In 1983, following a military dictatorship that left thousands dead and disappeared and the economy in ruins, Raúl Alfonsín was elected president of Argentina on the strength of his pledge to prosecute the armed forces for their crimes and restore a measure of material well-being to Argentine lives. Food, housing, and full employment became the litmus tests of the new democracy. In Search of the Lost Decade reconsiders Argentina’s transition to democracy by examining the everyday meanings of rights and the lived experience of democratic return, far beyond the ballot box and corridors of power. Beginning with promises to eliminate hunger and ending with food shortages and burning supermarkets, Jennifer Adair provides an in-depth account of the Alfonsín government’s unfulfilled projects to ensure basic needs against the backdrop of a looming neoliberal world order. As it moves from the presidential palace to the streets, this original book offers a compelling reinterpretation of post-dictatorship Argentina and Latin America’s so-called lost decade.

Zimbabwe occupies a special place in African politics and international relations, and has been the subject of intense debates over the years. At independence in 1980, the country was better endowed than most in Africa, and seemed poised for economic development and political pluralism. The population was relatively well educated, the industrial and agricultural bases were strong, and levels of infrastructure were impressive. However, in less than two decades, Zimbabwe was mired in a deep political and economic crisis. Towards the end of its third decade of independence, the economy had collapsed and the country had been transformed into a repressive state. How can we make sense of this decline? How can we explain the 'lost decade' that followed? Can the explanation be reduced to the authoritarian leadership of Robert Mugabe and role of ZANU-PF? Or was something defective about in the institutions through which the state has exercised its authority? Or was it the result of imperialism, the West and sanctions? Zimbabwe's Lost Decade draws on Lloyd Sachikonye's analyses of political developments over the past 25 years. It offers a critique of leadership, systems of governance, and economic strategies, and argues for democratic values and practices, and more broad-based participation in the development process.

Across the political spectrum, there is wide agreement that Asia should be at the center of US foreign policy. But this worldview, the "Pivot to Asia" announced by the Obama Administration in 2011, is a dramatic departure from the entire history of American grand strategy. Ten years on, we now have some perspective to evaluate it in depth. In The Lost Decade, Robert Blackwill and Richard Fontaine take this long view. They conclude that there are few successes to speak of, and that we lack a coherent approach to the Indo-Pacific region. They examine the Pivot through various lenses: situating it historically in the context of America's global foreign policy, revealing the inside story of how it came about, assessing the effort thus far, identifying the ramifications in other regions (namely Europe and the Middle East), and proposing a path forward.

This volume of essays explores the social, political and cultural legacies of a decade which has, until relatively recently, received scant scholarly attention. Sandwiched uncomfortably between the traumatic events of the Second World War and the dramatic changes of the 1960s, the 1950s appeared as seemingly transitional years, while they were in fact an astonishingly fecund period of reassessment and experimentation when traditional models were re-evaluated and new models were road-tested, to be either developed or rejected. An important intervention in the dynamic scholarly re-examination of the 1950s, this volume analyzes these years in relation to three broadly defined areas: historiography, politics and society, and culture. What emerges from all three parts of the volume is a vision of the 1950s as a decade which was to have a profound impact on post-war European identities in two key respects: as a time of accelerated European intellectual exchange and as a time of fertile receptivity to the ‘new’, variously formulated and contested across and within national borders. Written by experts in the field, the contributions to this volume represent some of the most exciting work on the 1950s currently being undertaken in Europe and the US. They combine high intellectual standards with accessibility and will appeal to academics, students and the general reader alike.

There have been many noticeable incidents of 'lost decades' in economic growth, occurring in countries across the world. It has been found that in many economies, the lost decade phenomenon persists, even after the conventional set of contributing factors such as per capita income, fertility rate, life expectancy, rule of law, educational attainment, ratio of investment to national income, and openness have been taken into account. This book explains where and how these lost decades in economic growth occur in the world. The authors identify that dominant macroeconomic factors contributing to their occurrence are an abnormal supply of credits relative to national income, and poor demand management. The study pays special attention to the cases of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, exploring their specific cases and analyzing contributing factors. While Japan suffered from excessive credit prior to the bubble bursting, and from insufficient domestic demand subsequently, Korea's growth has been stunted through structural imbalances between and within industries, as well as through changes in the orientation of public policies from growth to equality. Adversely, reduced economic growth in Taiwan has led from its populism-ridden democracy and mass media, as well as from internal disputes over national identity. Lost Decades in Growth Performance provides a revealing insight into the factors affecting economic growth across the world, and will be an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in global and Asian economics. It also offers a fundamental source of reference for students and academics in general equilibrium models, economic development and East Asian economies.

Understanding the 'lost decade' of the 1990s is central to explaining Japan today. Following a period of record high growth, the chronic downturn after 1990 raised fundamental questions about the course of the world's third largest economy. This crisis also presented Japan with the opportunity for transformative change. Changes have followed, some of them less than might be expected, and some of them far more sweeping than is generally realized. This volume presents a wide range of international perspectives on post-bubble Japan, exploring the effects of the long downturn on the views of the Japanese business community, management practices, and national policies. To what degree has Japan's traumatic experience prompted basic reforms in terms of legal changes, corporate governance, business strategy, and the longterm national vision for the economy? This book was originally published as a special issue of Asia Pacific Business Review.

This book examines five features of Japan’s ‘Lost Decades’: the speed of the economic decline in Japan compared to Japan’s earlier global prowess; a rapidly declining population; considerable political instability and failed reform attempts; shifting balances of power in the region and changing relations with Asian neighbouring nations; and the lingering legacy of World War Two. Addressing the question of why the decades were lost, this book offers 15 new perspectives ranging from economics to ideology and beyond. Investigating problems such as the risk-averse behaviour of Japan’s bureaucracy and the absence of strong political leadership, the authors analyse how the delay of ‘loss-cutting policies’ led to the 1997 financial crisis and a state of political gridlock where policymakers could not decide on firm strategies that would benefit national interests. To discuss the rebuilding of Japan, the authors argue that it is first essential to critically examine Japan’s ‘Lost Decades’ and this book offers a comprehensive overview of Japan’s recent 20 years of crisis. The book reveals that the ‘Lost Decades’ is not an issue unique to the Japanese context but has global relevance, and its study can provide important insights into challenges being faced in other mature economies. With chapters written by some of the world’s leading Japan specialists and chapters focusing on a variety of disciplines, this book will be of interest to students and scholars in the areas of Japan studies, Politics, International Relations, Security Studies, Government Policy and History.

A clear, authoritative guide to the crisis of 2008, its continuing repercussions, and the needed reforms ahead. The U.S. economy lost the first decade of the twenty-first century to an ill-conceived boom and subsequent bust. It is in danger of losing another decade to the stagnation of an incomplete recovery. How did this happen? Read this lucid explanation of the origins and long-term effects of the recent financial crisis, drawn in historical and comparative perspective by two leading political economists. By 2008 the United States had become the biggest international borrower in world history, with more than two-thirds of its $6 trillion federal debt in foreign hands. The proportion of foreign loans to the size of the economy put the United States in league with Mexico, Indonesia, and other third-world debtor nations. The massive inflow of foreign funds financed the booms in housing prices and consumer spending that fueled the economy until the collapse of late 2008. This was the most serious international economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Menzie Chinn and Jeffry Frieden explain the political and economic roots of this crisis as well as its long-term effects. They explore the political strategies behind the Bush administration’s policy of funding massive deficits with foreign borrowing. They show that the crisis was foreseen by many and was avoidable through appropriate policy measures. They examine the continuing impact of our huge debt on the continuing slow recovery from the recession. Lost Decades will long be regarded as the standard account of the crisis and its aftermath.