Marilyn Rueschemeyer - Böcker

Women in Power in Post-Communist Parliaments examines the life and work of women who have reached positions of political power after the end of communism in Europe. It explores the roles they have adopted, the relationships they have cultivated, and the agendas they have pursued. Much of the literature on women in post-Communist states has focused on one or two countries. This volume treats the issues comparatively, in six countries—the Czech Republic, Germany (with a focus on the former GDR), Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland, and Russia. It also includes interviews with and written statements by the very "women in power" discussed in the first half of the book, giving voice to their common and divergent experiences as political actors within an environment of stormy economies and new foreign engagements, particularly with the European Union.

As a new decade begins the popular demand for change has meant that the social and political fabric of the the Eastern Bloc countries has been irrevocably altered. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the key political, economic and social areas of East German society, such as the military and the church, areas which will intrinsically involved with the movement for change.

During the Communist period, in most of these contries, even women with small children typically worked outside the home, and their participation in formal institutions was virtually mandatory. Today, as they are being disproportionately affected by marketization, downsizing, the dramatic erosion of social services, and as their sons are being drafted to participate in an unending series of border wars, have women found a new political voice?

During the Communist period, in most of these contries, even women with small children typically worked outside the home, and their participation in formal institutions was virtually mandatory. Today, as they are being disproportionately affected by marketization, downsizing, the dramatic erosion of social services, and as their sons are being drafted to participate in an unending series of border wars, have women found a new political voice?

The blind mendicant in Ukrainian folk tradition is a little-known social order, but an important one. The singers of Ukrainian epics, these minstrels were organized into professional guilds that set standards for training and performance. Repressed during the Stalin era, this is their story.