scholarly journals The 1988–1989 transformation in Poland. The authorities, the opposition, the Church

2020 ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
Paweł Stachowiak
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Transformation Model ◽  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
The Political ◽  
Unique Element ◽  
The Church

The events that took place in Poland in 1988–1989 established a transformation model of which various elements tended to be replicated in other countries of the Soviet Bloc. Nevertheless, certain elements of the Polish transformation model were specific and unique, having sprouted from a specific historical context. The author of the paper proposes that the triad formed by “the authorities, the opposition and the Church” be considered a uniquely Polish aspect of the political and social transformation that took place after August 1980. The goal of this paper is to present this transformation with respect to each of the above three actors. An analysis of their concepts and actions leads to the conclusion that Poland should be considered an exceptional model of transformation in Central and Eastern Europe. The Polish transformation model featured a key and unique element, the Catholic Church – an institution that played a considerable role in making the 1988–1989 transformation non-confrontational.

scholarly journals Critical Legal Theory in Central and Eastern Europe: In Search of Method

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Rafał Mańko
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
The Political ◽  
Postmodern Theory ◽  
Critical Legal Theory

Critical legal theory emerged in the United States in the 1970s, at a time when Central and Eastern Europe belonged to the Soviet bloc and was subject to the system of actually existing socialism. Therefore, the arrival of critical jurisprudence into the region was delayed. In Poland, the first texts on critical and postmodern legal theory began to appear at the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s. Lech Morawski’s monograph, characteristically entitled What Legal Scholarship Has to Gain from Postmodernism?, published in 2001, officially inaugurated a broader interest in postmodern legal theory. Adam Sulikowski has been the main representative of critical legal theory in Poland, developing a postmodern theory of constitutionalism. Other sub-fields of postmodern and critical legal theory, gradually developing in Central European jurisprudence, include such areas as law and literature, law and ideology, law and neocolonial theory, as well as feminist jurisprudence. There is a noticeably growing influence of critical sociology and critical discourse analysis which seem to be a promising paradigm for invigorating critical legal theory from an empirical perspective. The concept of “the political”, in the sense used by Chantal Mouffe, has been evoked to propose a “political theory of law” conceived as an analysis of the juridical phenomenon through the lens of the political. Recently, it has found its concrete applications in the political theory of judicial decision-making.

scholarly journals The struggle of Fortinbras and Horatio in Romania: removal and re-collection of the communist past in Romanian museums

2015 ◽  
pp. 37-50
Author(s):  
Iemima D. Ploscariu
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Motivation ◽  
Museum Exhibitions ◽  
Communist Past

The struggle of Fortinbras and Horatio in Romania: removal and re-collection of the communist past in Romanian museumsOver twenty years after the dismantling of communist regimes began in Central and Eastern Europe, the governments and people in these former Soviet bloc countries are faced with varying and often opposing ways to approach and present the communist past. Focusing on post-1989 museums in Romania, especially the Sighet Museum in Sighetul Marmaţiei and the Romanian Peasant Museum in Bucharest, the article will examine three themes that appear in museum exhibitions of Romanian communist history: the marginalization of the communist past, the victimization of a nation, and the need by curators to “rescue memory.” these approaches to the communist past leave a great deal out. Limited and biased portraits hinder a healthy coming to terms with the past initially intended by these institutions in Romania and similar institutions across Central and Eastern Europe. However, some attempts have been made to bring in more voices and face the past on its own terms apart from the political motivation or desires for retribution, which often motivate the current interpretation of the past. Walka Fortynbrasa z Horacym w Rumunii: likwidacja i ponowne przypomnienie komunistycznej przeszłości w rumuńskich muzeachPo ponad 20 latach od chwili, gdy zaczęły się rozpadać komunistyczne reżimy w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej, rządy i społeczeństwa byłych krajów bloku sowieckiego doświadczają odmiennych, często przeciwstawnych podejść do komunistycznej przeszłości i sposobów jej przedstawiania. Skupiając swą uwagę na muzeach w Rumunii po roku 1989, zwłaszcza Miejscu Pamięci Ofiar Komunizmu i Ruchu Oporu w Sighetu Marmaţiei (Syhot Marmaroski) oraz Muzeum Chłopstwa Rumuńskiego w Bukareszcie, autorka niniejszego artykułu analizuje trzy zagadnienia, które przewijają się w muzealnych ekspozycjach poświęconych dziejom Rumunii w czasach komunistycznych; są to: marginalizacja komunistycznej przeszłości, wiktymizacja narodu i potrzeba „ocalenia pamięci” przez kustoszy. Powyższe podejścia do komunistycznej przeszłości ignorują wiele kwestii. Niepełny i tendencyjny obraz opóźnia zatem dojście do ładu z przeszłością na zdroworozsądkowych zasadach, co w myśl początkowych założeń miało w Rumunii nastąpić dzięki muzeom, jak też dzięki podobnym placówkom w całej Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej. Jednakże podejmowane są wciąż nowe próby, aby dopuścić do głosu więcej różnych opinii i stawić czoło przeszłości niezależnie od motywacji politycznych bądź dążenia do zemsty, które często stoją za bieżącymi interpretacjami przeszłości.

scholarly journals RELIGION IN THE IDEOLOGY OF EUROPEAN NATIONALIST MOVEMENTS AND UKRAINIAN INTEGRAL NATIONALISM DURING THE INTERWAR PERIOD: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 58-74
Author(s):  
Vasyl STEFANIV
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Nationalist Movements ◽  
Political Religion ◽  
Iron Guard ◽  
The Church

The article highlights the international historical context in which the relationships between nationalists and conservatives were formed during the interwar period in Europe. There was made a comparative analysis of similar and distinct attitudes towards religion in the ideology of nationalist movements in interwar Europe and Ukrainian nationalism. For the broader historical context, the example of nationalist movements in Central and Eastern Europe is crucial for understanding Ukrainian nationalism's ideology, including its attitude towards religion. It describes the complex relationships of modern nationalist movements with traditional Christianity, which was a distinct feature of the intellectual and political life of that time in Europe. The study analyzed the ideological foundations of nationalist movements in Central and Eastern Europe, where church and religion occupied a prominent place. Similar and distinctive features of the religion in the nationalist movement in Galicia were analyzed compared to the similar processes in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The author states that the representatives of the Polish integrated nationalism and the fascist parties that came to power, namely the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) led by A. Hitler, the Croatian Ustasha, the Iron Guard in Romania, had a fairly large proportion of mythical foundations in their political programs and resembled political religion in their ideology. The ultimate instrument by which the nation could believe in their ideas was the Church. However, the modern political religion that was created could not completely deny the previous one. Therefore, most of the nationalist movements analyzed here had built their relationship with the Church, mainly for two purposes: first, to receive its support, hence the commitment of the believers; second, they used the authority of the Church and religion in their political activities. Keywords: nationalism, fascism, Nazism, Poland, Croatia, Romania, Codreanu, Pavelic, OUN, Onatsky.

The Vatican'sOstpolitik

1980 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Kramer
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mutual Respect ◽  
Pope John Paul Ii ◽  
Temporal Dimension ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
The Church

Although the founder of the Catholic church said that “My Kingdom is not of this world,” one commentator correctly has observed of the church that “few contemporary institutions have been more intimately — and none more continuously — involved in the political order.” Never was the church's temporal dimension more graphically illustrated than in the June 1979 visit to his homeland of Pope John Paul II, the former Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, Archbishop of Cracow, Poland. Millions of people, many of them from other Communist countries, heard the first pontiff ever elected from a Soviet bloc nation repeatedly call for respect for human rights, for provision of religious liberties, and for the primacy of the individual over the state — demands that many regimes, including Communist ones, have been notably reluctant to grant. The pontiff also publicly raised the delicate issue of Polish-Soviet relations, asserting that alliances must be based on mutual respect and equality and that “there can be no just Europe without the independence of Poland marked on its map.”

Migration and democracy in central and eastern Europe

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon James Tonelli
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Population Control ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
Labour Migration ◽  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Impact

Amidst the political changes that swept through central and eastern Europe following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the right to migrate was synonymous in the minds of many with the establishment of democracy. Although the political transition of the 1990s was preceded in some countries by a relaxation of their strict exit regimes, these were only minor measures in comparison with the profound changes to the system of population control ushered in by the political transition to democracy. A mosaic of migration patterns (ethnically based migrations, return migration, labour migration, transit migration) gathered pace during the 1990s throughout the vast region of the former Soviet bloc. As conflict and war broke out in different areas, notably in the Caucasus and south-east Europe, these migratory movements were inflated by huge numbers of refugees, asylum-seekers and displaced persons. The newly independent states underpinned their political transition towards democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights through membership of the Council of Europe and ratification of international conventions which included important guarantees for the rights and protection of migrants and their families. In May 2004, eight of these countries will join the European Union and after a transitional period become integral parts of the internal labour market with their populations enjoying the full freedom of movement rights of EC law. This article outlines the major migration trends in central and eastern Europe since the extension of democracy across the continent, highlights different aspects of labour migration in the region, including the impact of EU enlargement, and refers to some integration issues. This description is preceded by a series of brief historical, political and legal perspectives.

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