Jacqueline Hayden - Böcker

Based on extensive original research, including interviews with key participants, this book investigates the sudden and unforeseen collapse of communist power in Poland in 1989. It sets out the sequence of events, and examines the strategies of the various political groupings prior to the partially free election of June 1989. This volume argues that the specific negotiating strategies adopted by the communist party representatives in the Round Table discussions before the elections was a key factor in communism’s collapse. The book shows that on many occasions, PZPR decision-makers ignored expert advice, and many Round Table bargains went against the party’s best interests. Using in-depth interviews with major party players, including General Jaruzelski, General Kiszczak and Mieczyslaw Rakowski, as well as Solidarity advisors such as Adam Michnik, the text provides a unique source of first-hand accounts of Poland’s revolutionary drama.

Based on extensive original research, including interviews with key participants, this book investigates the sudden and unforeseen collapse of communist power in Poland in 1989. It sets out the sequence of events, and examines the strategies of the various political groupings prior to the partially free election of June 1989. This volume argues that the specific negotiating strategies adopted by the communist party representatives in the Round Table discussions before the elections was a key factor in communism’s collapse. The book shows that on many occasions, PZPR decision-makers ignored expert advice, and many Round Table bargains went against the party’s best interests. Using in-depth interviews with major party players, including General Jaruzelski, General Kiszczak and Mieczyslaw Rakowski, as well as Solidarity advisors such as Adam Michnik, the text provides a unique source of first-hand accounts of Poland’s revolutionary drama.

First published in 1994. This book offers the reader a first-hand account of the people who have been central to Poland’s transformation since the early 1980s. With interviews of main actors: Lech Walesa, Wojciech Jaruzelski and leaders of Solidarity. Also observed and covered are the Gdansk shipyard strikes, martial law, a move towards democracy from Communism and the Round Table talks of 1989.

First published in 1994. In Poles Apart the author is trying to tell the story of Poland's democratic transition through the personal stories of the men and women that she first met in 1980. She hopes that by focusing on the experience of some of the key players she can expose aspects of the complex arguments surrounding controversial issues such as the imposition of martial law in 1981, the Round Table agreement between Solidarity and the Communist Party (which resulted in the first semi-free election in 1989) as well as examine the factors which precipitated the defeat of the post-Solidarity parties in the September 1993 election.

First published in 1994. In Poles Apart the author is trying to tell the story of Poland's democratic transition through the personal stories of the men and women that she first met in 1980. She hopes that by focusing on the experience of some of the key players she can expose aspects of the complex arguments surrounding controversial issues such as the imposition of martial law in 1981, the Round Table agreement between Solidarity and the Communist Party (which resulted in the first semi-free election in 1989) as well as examine the factors which precipitated the defeat of the post-Solidarity parties in the September 1993 election.

Over the past decade, early childhood education and care has moved onto the policy agenda in many countries. There is growing recognition that early access to quality education and appropriate care provides young children with a good and fair start in life. While scientific research constantly brings new insights into brain development and the enormous importance of the first years of a child's life, the early 20th century theories of one Russian psychologist, Lev S. Vygotsky (1896–1934), have had profound and diverse impacts upon the early childhood education traditions in both the East and the West and remain highly relevant today.Recently, more than 750 early childhood education researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and NGO activists from around the world met in Prague at "Exploring Vygotsky's Ideas: Crossing Borders," the 17th Annual Conference of the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA), hosted by the International Step by Step Association (ISSA). In an effort to share many of the intriguing ideas and practices discussed during the conference with a broader audience, ISSA invited leading presenters to explore their experiences in early childhood through the prism of Vygotsky's theories and ideas. The result of ISSA's initiative is this volume of papers which examine Vygotsky's legacy on early childhood education systems in both the East and the West, offering ideas which can be used to work for the benefit of children and societies across the globe.