Die Gauwirtschaftsberater der NSDAP

At least 129 Gau economic advisers of the NSDAP worked at the intersection of politics and economics, wielding a considerable amount of power. At the regional level, they were able to have a say in the success and existence of corporations. The article examines this group’s organization and remit, as well as resources in power and capital. Along the lines of collective biographies, it covers the aspects of generation, origin, socioeconomic status, fluctuation, and entry into the Nazi party. While no homogenous type of Gau economic adviser or a pattern of action could be identified, the final part of the article outlines common aspects and presents five ideal types of Gau economic advisers.

Interview with Prime Minister Jüri Ratas of Estonia

Jüri Ratas has been Estonia's Prime Minister since 2016 and is currently serving his second term in office. From 2007 to 2016, Ratas was Vice-President of the 11th, 12th and 13th Estonian Parliament. He was elected to the Tallinn City Council in 2005, 2009 and 2013, and served as the city's Mayor from 2005 to 2007, and as its Deputy Mayor from 2003 to 2004 and during 2005. His service in the Tallinn administration started when he was elected Economic Adviser to the Tallinn City Office, a position he served in from 2002 to 2003. Prior to holding this post, he served on the board of OÜ Värvilised from 1999 to 2002. During his time in office, Prime Minister Ratas has supported Estonia's various State-led digital transformation processes. In this interview, he reflects on how the “digital State” of Estonia has relied on digitally rooted solutions to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. He also provides insights for the humanitarian sector on digital transformation processes, private–public sector collaborations and preventive digital approaches, such as investing in digital literacy and education, that can help mitigate the potentially adverse effects of digital advancements.

Ghana: Part 2

This chapter looks at how W. Arthur Lewis left Ghana as a member of the Ghanaian delegation to the all-African conference meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He did not return. In Addis, he announced his intention to take up a new post at the United Nations. He did not, however, sever his ties with Ghana, and he was to return briefly in 1963 to offer advice on the Seven-Year Development Plan. Because he had not had time to train a replacement, his departure left the Ghanaians without a fulltime economic adviser. The responsibility for drafting the budget and overseeing the five-year plan devolved on a variety of outside consultants and Ghanaian ministers themselves. At first Ghana drifted in the direction of more state controls over the economy and greater suspicion of the free market; but by 1960 and 1961 the drift had become a full-scale push as the state began to replace the Lewis programs that had featured a mixed economy with ones that looked exclusively to the state. The early pressures to scrap the Lewis economic policies and move to the left came as much in response to problems that had haunted the Ghanaian economy throughout the late 1950s as to ideology, notably trade and budgetary deficits.

Ghana’s Chief Economic Adviser, 1957–58

This chapter focuses on W. Arthur Lewis's appointment as Ghana's chief economic adviser. The excitement surrounding Ghana's independence in 1957 as tropical Africa's first decolonized territory captivated Lewis as thoroughly as it did African nationalists and Afrophiles around the world. Ghana was to become the testing ground for Lewis's ideas on economic development. However, although Lewis was remarkably well informed on Ghana and knew many Ghanaian officials personally, he was not fully prepared for the complexities of his new position or the fragility of Ghanaian economics and politics. If Lewis saw Ghana as a proving ground for his ideas on economic development, later scholars have viewed the Nkrumah years as a case study of striking failure, of economic policies gone awry, and political stability destroyed.

The economic development of Bulgaria in the 1960s according to the Soviet diplomats (based on the documents from the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation)

The paper examines the formation and implementation of Bulgaria's economic policy in the 1960s, which are believed to be the time of the formation of the regime of personal power of Todor Zhivkov. The materials of the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation analysed by the author testify to the intensive work of the office of the economic adviser of the Embassy of the USSR as well as its complexity. It is stated that in fact Moscow received objective and diverse data on the economic policy of the Bulgarian state, reflecting its unique position – the intention of the national leadership to bring the country on the path of scientific and technological progress through economic acceleration and comprehensive rapprochement with the Soviet Union, that is consistent with the views of the Bulgarian government on national and state interests of the country.

Russian leader's inner team plays central policy role

Subject How Putin's inner team shape and direct policy. Significance An economic adviser in the Presidential Administration, Andrey Belousov, has caused shock waves with a controversial proposal to tax metals and mining firms more heavily. The idea is likely to be resisted by government ministers as well as industry, but shows the influence President Vladimir Putin's team of advisers and officials can exert on policy formulation. Putin reshuffled his Presidential Administration in June but made surprisingly few changes. Impacts Putin's focus seems to be on implementing his development strategy while leaving the old guard in charge of foreign policy. Control of policy on the development strategy will be a source of tensions between the Presidential Administration and government. Appointments of regional governors will reflect the greatest experimentation; above that level, Putin will opt for caution.