ABSTRACT
The most salient political, institutional and socio-cultural features are weak or uneven/unstable institutions, primarily laws and regulations, the shadow of authoritarianism, discrepancies and conflicts between public values and norms accompanied by intra- and inter-community strain (including ethnic tensions) and changing mass media cultures. The most crucial economic characteristics involve infrastructural decay and resource constraints, with one important reservation. In contrast to what was emphasized in our earlier investigations that considered the absolute resource (stock) shortage as paramount in the 1990s, the issue of resource constraints in the 2000s should rather be interpreted in relative (allocation pattern) terms. This chapter will discuss this and other matters.
