Robert Bideleux – författare

Europe has changed radically since 1989 and continues to change at great speed. This book deals with the principle problems and challenges confronting Europe in the aftermath of the Cold War and the collapse of European communism.Whilst endeavouring to strike a balance between East, West, North and South, the volume is more concerned with the changing political, economic and cultural morphology of Europe, and of the relations within it, than with the formal institutional arrangements of the European Community and its successor, the European Union. There are already numerous books on the institutional development of the EU, but relatively few with a wider compass and institutional interpretations of European integration.The book shows that the study of European integration should be taken in the round, avoiding a narrow and self-centered concern with the development of the 'lesser Europe' of the EU. It demonstrates that integration should be seen as neither an inexorable predetermined process, nor as an automatic consequence of high levels of economic interdependence, but rather as something that proceeds in fits and starts and sometimes suffers reverses.

Europe has changed radically since 1989 and continues to change at great speed. This book deals with the principle problems and challenges confronting Europe in the aftermath of the Cold War and the collapse of European communism.Whilst endeavouring to strike a balance between East, West, North and South, the volume is more concerned with the changing political, economic and cultural morphology of Europe, and of the relations within it, than with the formal institutional arrangements of the European Community and its successor, the European Union. There are already numerous books on the institutional development of the EU, but relatively few with a wider compass and institutional interpretations of European integration.The book shows that the study of European integration should be taken in the round, avoiding a narrow and self-centered concern with the development of the 'lesser Europe' of the EU. It demonstrates that integration should be seen as neither an inexorable predetermined process, nor as an automatic consequence of high levels of economic interdependence, but rather as something that proceeds in fits and starts and sometimes suffers reverses.

An excellent companion volume to the successful A History of Eastern Europe, this is a country-by-country treatment of the contemporary history of each of the Balkan states: Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosova.With a distinctive conceptual framework for explaining divergent patterns of historical change, the book shifts the emphasis away from traditional cultural explanations and concentrates on the pervasive influence of strongly entrenched vertical power-structures and power-relations.Focusing on political and economic continuities and changes since the 1980s, The Balkans includes brief overviews of the history of each state prior to the 1980s to provide the background to enable all students of Eastern European history to make sense of the more recent developments.

An excellent companion volume to the successful A History of Eastern Europe, this is a country-by-country treatment of the contemporary history of each of the Balkan states: Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosova.With a distinctive conceptual framework for explaining divergent patterns of historical change, the book shifts the emphasis away from traditional cultural explanations and concentrates on the pervasive influence of strongly entrenched vertical power-structures and power-relations.Focusing on political and economic continuities and changes since the 1980s, The Balkans includes brief overviews of the history of each state prior to the 1980s to provide the background to enable all students of Eastern European history to make sense of the more recent developments.

This welcome second edition of A History of Eastern Europe provides a thematic historical survey of the formative processes of political, social and economic change which have played paramount roles in shaping the evolution and development of the region. Subjects covered include:Eastern Europe in ancient, medieval and early modern timesthe legacies of Byzantium, the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empirethe impact of the region's powerful Russian and Germanic neighboursrival concepts of 'Central' and 'Eastern' Europethe experience and consequences of the two World Warsvarieties of fascism in Eastern Europethe impact of Communism from the 1940s to the 1980spost-Communist democratization and marketizationthe eastward enlargement of the EU.A History of Eastern Europe now includes two new chronologies – one for the Balkans and one for East-Central Europe – and a glossary of key terms and concepts, providing comprehensive coverage of a complex past, from antiquity to the present day.

This welcome second edition of A History of Eastern Europe provides a thematic historical survey of the formative processes of political, social and economic change which have played paramount roles in shaping the evolution and development of the region. Subjects covered include:Eastern Europe in ancient, medieval and early modern timesthe legacies of Byzantium, the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empirethe impact of the region's powerful Russian and Germanic neighboursrival concepts of 'Central' and 'Eastern' Europethe experience and consequences of the two World Warsvarieties of fascism in Eastern Europethe impact of Communism from the 1940s to the 1980spost-Communist democratization and marketizationthe eastward enlargement of the EU.A History of Eastern Europe now includes two new chronologies – one for the Balkans and one for East-Central Europe – and a glossary of key terms and concepts, providing comprehensive coverage of a complex past, from antiquity to the present day.

First published in 1985, this book provides a comprehensive reappraisal of the diverse Communist development strategies that shaped the twentieth century. Robert Bideleux emphasises the appalling human and economic costs of the most widely adopted ‘Stalinist’ strategies of forced industrialisation and rural collectivisation. He also reconsiders the powerful arguments in favour of the most feasible and cost-effective alternatives to Stalinism, including ‘village communisms’ and ‘market socialisms’. A highly readable and challenging study, this reissue will be of particular value to students with research interests in Development Studies, East European History and Politics.