Transformations In Central Europe Between 1989 And 2012

This book is an in-depth study of the transformations in Central Europe in the years since the fall of Communism. In a comparative analysis of geopolitical, ethical, cultural, and socioeconomic shifts, this essential text investigates the post-communist countries.

Europe Thirty Years After 1989 explores what happened in the former socialist countries during the last thirty years and the reasons behind these events. The authors examine how values, memory, and identity have been transforming these countries since the year 1989.

Europe Since 1989 charts the development of Europe east and west since the 1989 revolutions. It analyses the emergent European society, the development of a European public sphere, and civil society. Most books on Europe are heavily biased to the West and Europe Since 1989 takes the opposite approach. It argues that the transformation of the postcommunist world has implications for the whole of Europe and explores the interplay between long-term fundamental tendencies and chance events and the possible futures which confront contemporary Europe. With close attention to political, economic and other social transformations, and an appendix which gives special attention to European macro regions (Nordic/Baltic Europe, Mediterranean Europe), it offers a sociology of Europe with a strong interdisciplinary emphasis.

Transformations in Central Europe between 1989 and 2012: Geopolitical, Cultural, and Socioeconomic Shifts by Tomas Kavaliauskas, is an in-depth study of the transformations in Central Europe in the years since the fall of Communism. Using a comparative analysis of geopolitical, ethical, cultural, and socioeconomic shifts, this essential text investigates postcommunist countries including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovenia. Next to transitological interpretations, this study ventures upon negative and positive freedom (Isaiah Berlin) in Central Europe after two decades of post-communist transition. Kavaliauskas questions the meaning of completeness of postcommunist transition, both geopolitical and socioeconomic, when there are many transformations that do not necessarily mean unequivocal progress. The author also analyses why Central Europe in 1989, armed with civil disobedience, could not maintain its moral politics. But the book touches sensitive issues of memory as well: an examination of May 9th is provided from the Russian and the Baltic perspectives, revealing two opposing world views regarding this date of liberation or occupation. Finally, Kavaliauskas analyzes the tragedy at Smolensk airport, which became an inseparable part of Central European identity. Transformations in Central Europe between 1989 and 2012 is an essential contribution to the literature on Central Europe and the lasting effects of Communism and its aftermath.

This book describes the transformation of the agricultural sector in East-Central European countries after the collapse of the socialist system at the beginning of the 20th century. Through considering their spatial diversity, it identifies diagnoses and evaluates the social and economic processes that have taken place in eleven countries which are currently the members of the European Community. The book analyses all important elements of spatial structure of agriculture such as land use, agrarian structure, agricultural population, technical facilities, structure and volume of production, yields, and types of farms. It also provides a wealth of maps and charts that facilitate the interpretation of the identified phenomena. As such the book is a great resource for academics, students, practitioners and policy-makers in geography and food economics.

For the last thirty years the year 1989 has symbolized a European 'annus mirabilis', standing for such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the impending collapse of the Soviet Union. Cultural and political transformations in Western Europe due to the rise of the migrant crisis are now echoed in East-Central Europe. In 'Europe Thirty Years After 1989', the authors jointly explore the recent history of former socialist countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech republic, the Baltic States, and Russia. Thirty years ago some of these countries stood as a paradigmatic example of peaceful and liberal patriotism, but during the past thirty years some countries have experienced transformations in their values, memory and identity. A shift towards illiberal democracy has occurred, although not without the overlapping trends in Western and Southern Europe. This book is for those who wish to join and learn from the search for an interpretation and answer(s) to the question: what happened to the legacy of 1989 over the past thirty years, and why did these changes and transformations occur?

This book presents multidimensional socio-economic transformations taking place in the post-socialist cities located in selected countries of the Central European region. The analysis includes case studies from the Eastern part of Germany (Chemnitz, Leipzig), Poland (Łódź, Kielce, Katowice conurbation, and peripheral urban centres from Eastern Poland), Slovakia (Bratislava, Nitra), the Czech Republic (Olomouc, Brno), and from Hungary (Pécs). The analysed urban areas have undergone far-reaching political and socio-economic changes in the last 30 years. These changes began with the collapse of communism and the centrally planned economy system in the region of Central Europe. The beginning of this period, often referred to as post-socialist transformation, dates back to 1989. The consequence of the aforementioned political processes was the multifaceted socio-economic and demographic changes that significantly affected urban areas in Central Europe. This book presents an attempt to summarize the main long-term processes of changes taking place in these urban areas and to identify contemporary and future trends in their socio-economic development. The book will be valuable to undergraduate and postgraduate students in human geography, urban studies, economy, and city marketing, especially with an interest in Central Europe.

This book examines the crisis of democracy that has arisen in Hungary since the election of the Fidesz government in 2010. After moving swiftly to transform the Hungarian constitution, Fidesz created a new political system which has led its critics to argue that the era of democracy in Hungary is over. US Senator John McCain has gone so far as to describe Hungary as an illiberal democracy on a path toward fascism. The author argues that Fidesz has sought to challenge the capitalist and democratic transformation that shaped Hungary for 20 years after the fall of communism by increasing the power of the state over crucial aspects of the economy, society, and the political system. In so doing Fidesz’ actions resemble those undertaken by many authoritarian states that have emerged since the end of the Second World War, all aiming to build up a national capitalism and protect their economies whilst undertaking nation-building. To make sense of this the author draws upon two traditions of thought, world systems-analysis, which situates Hungary in the context of its incorporation in the modern capitalist world-system after the fall of communism; and anarchist social thought which provides a unique way of seeing the actions of states and political elites. In so doing the book argues that the events unfolding in Hungary cannot be explained on the basis of Hungarian exceptionalism but must be situated in the broader political and economic context that has shaped the development of Hungary since 1990. The form of capitalism introduced in Hungary and across the region of East and Central Europe has systematically undermined the strong state and social security that had existed under communism, and when added to the failure of the left and liberals in the region it has paved the way for far-right and neo-fascist political movements to emerge claiming the mantle of defenders of society from the market. This represents a fundamental threat to the enlightenment traditions that have shaped dominant modern political ideologies and raises profound problems for both the EU and NATO.