Routledge Studies of Societies in Transition - Böcker

This book analyzes the effects of the break-up of the Soviet Union into fifteen independent states. Topics discussed include:* past and present economic relations between the republics, and forecasts for the future* discussion of Customs Unions, Monetary Union or Payments Union as possible ways forward for these states* economic integration theory* how the states of the Soviet Union functioned before the dissolution.

This book focuses on survival strategies developed at local levels in response to changing cultural, political and economic structures in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted as the contributors engage with questions of gender, ethnicity, migration, nationalism, employment and labour patterns and changing family structures.

An examination of political, social and economic development in Poland since the summer of 1989, with the main focus on democratization.

Poland's transition from socialism to capitalism has largely been praised as a success story. In reality, however, according to this study, Poland's case is an 'incomplete' transition.Looking at the processes involved in economic transition, covering key issues including financial markets, labour markets, competition and intervention, social security, property rights and attitudes towards the changing political economy, this book provides a wide-ranging and invaluable study of economic development. It will be of great use to economists, those involved in Russian and East European studies, and political scientists.

This book provides a groundbreaking analysis of democratization in Poland by placing Solidarity in the context of the major democratic upheavals of modernity: the French and American Revolutions. This study undertakes the first full historical comparison of the Polish movement with the ideals and institutions of democracy achieved in the last three centuries.

This book addresses the policy questions surrounding the challenge of transforming eastern European economies from their planned, administrative past to vibrant market-based entities.Jozef van Brabant considers in turn, the wider set of challenges facing these economies - stabilization, privatization, liberalization, institution building, and developing and maintaining the sociopolitical consensus - before examining the evolving role of the state.Using concrete examples from the eastern European countries throughout, including the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, this work systematically examines, in a society-wide context, the initial conditions of transformation, the policy tasks ahead and the manner in which policies have been pursued.

Ukraine: State and Nation Building explores the transformation of Soviet Ukraine into an independent state and examines the new elites and their role in the state building process, as well as other attributes of the modern nation-state such as borders, symbols, myths and national histories. Extensive primary sources and interviews with leading members of Ukranian elites, show that state building is an integral part of the transition process and cannot be divorced from democratization and the establishment of a market economy.

In this new edition, the progress made in the last decade to solve the environmental problems described in the first edition is assessed. The attempts to bring environmental legislation into line with West European norms is also described. Environmental Problems of East-Central Europe looks at air and water pollution, modern farming, water supplies, waste management and landscape protection. These topics are placed within economic, social and political profiles, as spending on a clean environment must be reconciled with welfare spending and the safeguarding of jobs, European Union assistance, civil society and the work of environmental NGOs are also discussed. All of these matters are considered within the context of the wider geographical area and then by each individual country, including the previously communist states lying to the west of the Soviet Union (now with the former federal states of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia broken up into seven different entities) and a review of the former Soviet Union with particular reference to the Baltic States. Environmental Problems in East-Central Europe provides a wealth of up-to-date reference material, with a vast amount of supporting literature on environmental conditions and the functioning of civil society and a map of each country. The environment is being taken seriously by them all, such is the influence of the Rio sustainability agenda in general and the EU environmental 'acquis' in particular. The book reveals that Eastern Europe is not a blighted area, but in some respects has a higher biodiversity than Western Europe. Although there is enormous waste and inefficiency in energy use, people actually consume relatively little and the East therefore has some lessons for the West in terms of managing on the bases of 'fair share' of the earth's resources.

Privatizing the Land provides an overview of reforms in the state socialist agrarian systems, especially during the 1970s and 1980s in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Using empirical evidence, the contributors provide a balanced assessment of how agrarian economies performed in different communist countries.The Soviet and Eastern European experience is contrasted with reforms in China, Vietnam and Cuba to provide the first comprehensive account of agricultural restructuring after the collapse of communism in Europe and Asia.

The chronic instability in the Balkan States of South East Europe has prevented the end of the Cold War becoming an era of genuine peace in Europe. Against a background of competing nationalisms, economic decline, the resilience of authoritarianism, it is easy to forget that there have been experiments with democracy have taken place since 1990 with relative success. Now, for the first time, the region is genuinely engaging with open politics; its outcome will determine whether the Balkans can cease being a byword for instability, and an area whose shock-waves have disturbed the peace of Europe on many occasions.Democratisation in the Balkans explores the obstacles impeding the consolidation of democracy, and even preventing a state like Serbia from going very far down the democratic road. Social scientists with expert knowledge of each of the Balkan states, and their political and economic systems, examine why progress in building free institutions has been slow compared to that of Central Europe, the Iberian peninsula and Latin America.

This book provides a unique and detailed examination of the complex processes of transformation in former state-owned enterprises in the Czech Republic. Drawing on in-depth case studies of organizational transformation, the authors adopt a social-institutionalist approach to the study of organizational change, applying it in order to develop an explanation of organizational restructuring and management redefinition during the early transition period of 1990-1996. In particular, they highlight how these processes have been shaped by continuing historical state-socialist legacies and the powerful role played by senior managers in their efforts to fashion the new privatized organizations in their own interests.

This study addresses the experience of, and responses to poverty in a range of transition economies including Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovenia, Uzbekistan, Romania, Albania and Macedonia. It covers topics such as the definition of poverty lines and the measurement of poverty; the role of income-in-kind in supporting families; homelessness and destitution; housing; the design, targeting and administration of welfare; and personal responses to economic transition.

Following on from Jeffries' 2001 Economies in Transition: A Guide to China, Cuba, Mongolia, North Korea and Vietnam at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century, this comprehensive survey of economic and political change focuses on the countries of Eastern Europe. Jeffries also discusses the general issues involved in economic transition, including `big bang'/'shock therapy', gradualism, China as an economic model and various schemes of privatization. The book examines Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Analysing major political and economic events in these countries from the mid-1990s to the present.

Since the late 1980s the experiences of work and employment in the former communist world have been profoundly transformed. Work, Employment and Transition brings together a series of essays by leading international scholars which highlights the varied and complex forms that work and employment restructuring are taking in the post-soviet world, and makes important theoretical contributions to our understanding of these transformations.

Offering a unique level of coverage, this book provides a comprehensive survey of the political and economic development of the countries of the former Soviet Union from the mid-1990s onwards.

Transition Economies and Foreign Trade makes the bold claim to have solved puzzles that have hindered the subject for years. By taking the distortions of the Communist era into consideration, Winiecki has explained the phenomenon of the decline in output and trade, as well as explaining the dual commodity nature of exports in the early transition phase.The book's intriguing analyses include:*the legacy of the Communist past upon foreign trade transition*the reorientation of exports from the East to the West *trade and exchange rate regimes and their impact upon foreign trade performance*post-transition problems, associated with potential membership of the European Union.This topical and timely book should become essential reading for students and academics with an interest in international economics as well as being of great use to business analysts and policy makers.

The concept of social capital has been used by political scientists to explain both the transition to democracy in Eastern Europe and the decline of social cohesion in Western societies. This edited collection presents the latest quantitative research on how post-communist countries are adapting to Western models of society. The book combines theoretical and institutional analysis with detailed case-studies looking at Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania and the former East Germany.

Identity and Freedom provides a discursive map of Lithuanian liberal nationalism by focusing on the work of three eminent Lithuanian émigré scholars - Vytautas Kavolis, Aleksandras Shtromas and Tomas Venclova. Presenting these critics of society - and also analysing the significant impact of such writers as George Orwell and Czeslaw Milosz on Lithuanian political and cultural dissent - the book elaborates their three models of liberal nationalism as social criticism. Incorporating material which has so far only been available in Lithuanian, Polish and Russian sources, this book will be invaluable for anyone interested in Central and East European politics, culture and society.

This book focuses on the recent political and economic events in the former Yugoslavia.The author presents a clear, detailed and accessible breakdown of the developments in: Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Slovenia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).The role of the West in the more unstable countries of the Former Yugoslavia has been reassessed in the light of the terrorist attacks on the United States and the fall of Afghanistan. The involvement of the US, in particular, in countries affected by ethnic strife has been brought under scrutiny, as has the role of international military and civilian involvement in maintaining peace and rebuilding economies and political structures. This book contributes to these debates by providing a unique level of coverage of economic and political developments in former Yugoslav countries. It will provide an invaluable source of reference for all those interested in transitional and developing countries.

Stoliarov presents an analysis of the historical traditions and distinctive features of modern Russian federalism. He reviews the state of affairs in today's Russia as it strives to become a federal democracy securing the rights and liberties of its citizens. By tracing two contrasting ideas - federalism and derzhavnost (dictatorship of power) - in the legacy of the Russian state, and in relations between the modern federal government and the regions, he demonstrates the need for balance in the delimitation of power. The election in 2000 if Vladimir Putin as President raised doubts about the future of federalism among politicians and citizens, but Stoliarov believes that the development of federalism is the only way forward for this multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. He shows that the strengthening of 'vertical power' and 'dictatorship of the law', despite their patriotic appeal, are likely to have a negative effect on the building of democracy and federalism in Russia.

The transformation from Communist rule towards democratic development in Russia cannot be fully understood without taking the elites into full consideration. Elites and Democratic Development in Russia examines how elites support and challenge democracy and why they are crucial to Russian democracy in particular.In this innovative volume, twelve respected scholars investigate how elites have affected the transition from Communist rule towards democratic development in Russia. They discuss how the elites' degree of integration on national and regional levels may constitute the main condition for the consolidation of the emerging political regime and interpret the complex post-communist elite patterns of behaviour and attitudes into a theoretical framework of elitist democracy.This book will appeal to those interested in democratization, elites, post-Soviet Russia and post-communist studies.

This book provides a unique level of coverage of economic and political events of global significance, including foreign trade, foreign direct investment, the impact of oil and natural gas finds, Islamic extremism, the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and the reaction of the CIS countries and the war on international terrorism. It will provide an invaluable source of reference for all those interested in transitional and developing countries. The author presents a clear, detailed and accessible breakdown of the developments in the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) and the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Offering a unique level of coverage, this book provides a comprehensive survey of the political and economic development of the countries of the former Soviet Union from the mid-1990s onwards.

Identity and Freedom provides a discursive map of Lithuanian liberal nationalism by focusing on the work of three eminent Lithuanian émigré scholars - Vytautas Kavolis, Aleksandras Shtromas and Tomas Venclova. Presenting these critics of society - and also analysing the significant impact of such writers as George Orwell and Czeslaw Milosz on Lithuanian political and cultural dissent - the book elaborates their three models of liberal nationalism as social criticism. Incorporating material which has so far only been available in Lithuanian, Polish and Russian sources, this book will be invaluable for anyone interested in Central and East European politics, culture and society.

This book analyzes the effects of the break-up of the Soviet Union into fifteen independent states. Topics discussed include:* past and present economic relations between the republics, and forecasts for the future* discussion of Customs Unions, Monetary Union or Payments Union as possible ways forward for these states* economic integration theory* how the states of the Soviet Union functioned before the dissolution.

This book focuses on survival strategies developed at local levels in response to changing cultural, political and economic structures in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted as the contributors engage with questions of gender, ethnicity, migration, nationalism, employment and labour patterns and changing family structures.