The Traditions of Invention: Romanian Ethnic and Social Stereotypes in Historical Context, by Alex Drace-FrancisHeritage, Ideology and Identity in Central and Eastern Europe: Contested Pasts, Contested Presents, ed. Matthew RampleyImages of Imperial Legacy: Modern Discourses on the Social and Cultural Impact of Ottoman and Habsburg Rule in Southeast Europe, ed. Tea Sindbaek and Maximilian Hartmuth

2016 ◽  
Vol 131 (553) ◽  
pp. 1559-1562
Author(s):  
Monika Baár
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Cultural Impact ◽  
Social Stereotypes ◽  
The Social

Political corruption in Central and Eastern Europe

2018 ◽  
pp. 169-193
Author(s):  
James L. Newell
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Third World ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
The World ◽  
Communist Countries

Political scientists have conventionally distinguished between advanced liberal democracies; communist and post-communist states, and so-called third-world countries. Though used less frequently than was once the case, the groups or ones like them are distinguished because drawing general conclusions about the nature of political life requires being able to categorise in order to compare countries; and because, broadly speaking, the groups mark broad distinctions tending to correlate with a range of variables including political corruption. Placing, then, the liberal democracies of Western Europe in one category and the former communist countries of Europe, plus Russia, in another reveals that corruption is a larger problem in the latter part of the world than it is in the former. Against this background, the chapter looks at the historical context of corruption during the communist era. It then provides an overview of the extent of corruption in the post-communist era and of the variations in its extent between the states concerned –before explaining the distinctive reasons for the development of these levels of corruption, assessing their impact and looking at what is being done and needs to be done to reduce levels of corruption.

scholarly journals Introduction: Travelling from West to East: Think Tank Model Adaptation to Central and Eastern Europe

2020 ◽  
pp. 088832542094683
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Jezierska ◽  
Serena Giusti
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
The Social ◽  
Short Period ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World

This article is part of the special section “Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe” guest-edited by Katarzyna Jezierska and Serena Giusti. This is an introduction to the Special Section on Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe. Apart from this introduction, the Section includes four articles, which explore the nature and conditions of think tanks operating in Belarus, Ukraine, Czech Republic, and Poland. Think tanks are usually understood as institutions claiming autonomy whose main aim is to influence policy making based on the social analysis they produce. The most apparent blind spot in extant think tank research is its predominant focus on the English-speaking world. We argue that by focusing on think tanks in non-Western contexts, we can better understand think tanks. When studying the diffusion of the organizational form of think tanks to new contexts, it is not enough to maintain the “sender” perspective (the formulation of the institutional characteristics of think tanks in the contexts in which they first emerged). We need to complement or even modify that perspective by also taking into account the “receiver” perspective. In other words, internationally circulated ideas and institutional patterns are always interpreted and translated in local “receiving” contexts, which coproduce, reformulate, and readjust the blueprint. Our focus in this Section is therefore on the translation and local adaptation of the think tank institution in the context of Central and Eastern Europe, a region that has undergone deep changes in a relatively short period.

Social Quality in a Transitive Society

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeriy Heyets
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Quality ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One ◽  
Quality Approach ◽  
The Welfare State

Nearly 30 years of transformation of the sociopolitical and legal, socioeconomical and financial, sociocultural and welfare, and socioenvironmental dimensions in both Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, has led to a change of the social quality of daily circumstances. On the one hand, the interconnection and reciprocity of these four relevant dimensions of societal life is the underlying cause of such changes, and on the other, the state as main actor of the sociopolitical and legal dimension is the initiator of those changes. Applying the social quality approach, I will reflect in this article on the consequences of these changes, especially in Ukraine. In comparison, the dominant Western interpretation of the “welfare state” will also be discussed.

Introduction: Politics and Current Challenges of Demography in Central and Eastern Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 879-892
Author(s):  
Tsveta Petrova ◽  
Tomasz Inglot
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Demographic Challenges ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Europe Today

This article belongs to the special cluster, “Politics and Current Demographic Challenges in Central and Eastern Europe,” guest-edited by Tsveta Petrova and Tomasz Inglot. In this article, we introduce a multidisciplinary and multimethod, special section on the intersection of politics, policy, and the current challenges of demography in Hungary and Poland. We argue that aging, declining fertility, and migration as well as their politicization all deserve urgent attention as some of the most pressing concerns for most of Central and Eastern Europe today. Accordingly, we first use European Commission data to paint a comparative picture of the demographic challenges that the region faces. We then introduce the article contributions in the special section that examine aging, declining fertility, and migration. Next we turn to the question of the politicization of these demographic challenges. We discuss how the proposed special section speaks to two important but previously rarely linked debates taking place within the social sciences today: (1) the voluminous literature on the demographic changes and policies in Central and Eastern Europe, including their ethnic and cultural dimensions, and (2) the expanding scholarship on the rise of nationalist populism and decline in the quality of liberal democracy in the region. Lastly, we summarize the arguments of the contributing authors, who pay closer attention to policy responses to and the politicization of the demographic challenges faced by Central and Eastern Europe.

scholarly journals The Impact of Social Policies on Self-Reliance Incentives for Roma in Central and Eastern Europe

Ekonomika ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Milcher ◽  
Katarína Zigová
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Self Reliance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Transfers ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

In this paper, we review the social systems in five European countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. We focus here on regulations towards households with insufficient income. Based on this, we analyse the impact of social transfers on self-reliance incentives of the Roma minority in particular, using data from the UNDP/ILO survey conducted in 2001 in the five countries.

Neither Hegemony nor Dominance: Reconsidering German Power in Post Cold-War Europe

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES SPERLING
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Structural Power ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Absolute Power ◽  
The Past ◽  
Processes And Incentives

German unification in 1989 raised the spectre of German hegemony in post-cold war Europe. In this article, I demonstrate that Germany lacks the structural power consistent with European hegemony or dominance; that there is little evidence supporting an appreciable gap between Germany's structural power and foreign policy ambitions; and that apparent symptoms of German hegemony, particularly the process of institutional emulation in Central and Eastern Europe, reflect other international processes and incentives emanating from the state system itself. This reassessment and downgrading of Germany's relative and absolute power resolve the paradox of German structural power and German reluctance identified by others. But this alternative narrative raises another more important question: why is Germany treated as a potential or even aspiring hegemon in Europe? The answer to that question is located in the interconnected legacies of Auschwitz and the occupation regime. This joint legacy constitutes an important part of the historical context within which we frame our assessments and judgements of German power; explains the frequently unwarranted exaggeration and suspicion of German power; and demonstrates how the past can function as a powerful prism though which we interpret the intentions, ambitions and capabilities of a state.

Roma of the Former Yugoslavia*

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Latham
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Ethnic Cleansing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Collapse Of Communism

Throughout Central and Eastern Europe, the collapse of communism has led to an unleashing of ethnic strife and a worsening of the economic conditions of the Roma, who by any measurement occupy the lowest rung of the social ladder. In the former Yugoslavia, the situation has been aggravated enormously by war, rampant nationalism, forced emigration, ethnic cleansing, and economic sanctions. The nearly four-year war in the region took a heavy toll on all the successor states except Slovenia.

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