The presentations draw on the ongoing political and academic discussions in the global economy, with emphasis on EU member states and candidate countries, as well as Austria’s reform process and experience. Attention is given to the applicability of these reforms to participants’ home countries. The course examines the regulatory role of the state, in which the quality of public governance and especially the establishment of the rule of law is important. Lecturers analyze reform goals and instruments in the context of the interrelationship between the public sector and markets, domestic and external.