Full Description
This book offers a new governance framework for understanding how countries with limited institutional capacity can pursue economic catch-up in the digital age. This book introduces the concept of the Developmental Network State (DNS) to explain how learning, coordination, and embeddedness enable capability development under conditions of constraint. Focusing on transitional economies in Southeast Europe, it examines how fragmented institutions, donor dependence, and political volatility shape technological upgrading and industrial transformation.
Drawing on extensive fieldwork, stakeholder interviews, and comparative analysis, the book explores digital entrepreneurship, agri-food upgrading, and integration into automotive supply chains in low-capacity environments. It highlights themes such as governance as a meta-capability, industrial policy under digital disruption, and the role of diasporas and donors in shaping development trajectories. This interdisciplinary study will appeal to researchers, graduate students, policy advisors, and development practitioners interested in industrial policy, innovation systems, and governance reform in latecomer economies.
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Part I - Theoretical Foundations: Capabilities, Governance, and Structural Transformation: Chapter 2: Technological Capabilities and the Architecture of Catch-Up.- Chapter 3: Governance in Latecomer Contexts.- Chapter 4: Governing Capability Accumulation.- Part II - Sectoral Case Studies in Transitional Europe: Chapter 5: Digital Services and ICT in Kosovo.- Chapter 6: Agri-Food Processing in Albania.- Chapter 7: Automotive Supply Chains in North Macedonia.- Part III - Conclusion Comparative Lessons and Future Pathways for Structural Transformation: Chapter 8: Cross-Cutting Patterns of Capability Constraints and Adaptive Governance.- Chapter 9: Digital Technologies, AI, and New Frontiers in Technological Upgrading.- Chapter 10: Rethinking Industrial Policy for the Digital, Green, and Geopolitical Transitions.- Part IV - Conclusion and Policy Directions: Chapter 11: Synthesis and Theoretical Contributions.- Chapter 12: Strategic Policy Directions.
