Nations in transit, 2001: civil society, democracy, and markets in East Central Europe and the newly independent states

2002 ◽  
Vol 40 (02) ◽  
pp. 40-0675-40-0675
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Independent States ◽  
In Transit ◽  
Newly Independent States

Anti-Political or Just Anti-Communist? Varieties of Dissidence in East-Central Europe and Their Implications for the Development of Political Society

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 286-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Renwick
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Third

Several authors argue that the heritage of dissident ideas and activity in East-Central Europe has hindered the development of post-communist political society. But this proposition has not been subject to systematic analysis. This article focuses on one part of that proposition: whether dissident ideas corresponded to the features of “ethical civil society” that some argue harm political society. Concentrating on Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, it differentiates eight varieties of dissident thought. It then assesses the relation of the three most important varieties to ethical civil society, finding that one variety resembled ethical civil society very closely, another only marginally, and the third not at all. It finally draws out implications for the study of political society in the region.

The Rhetoric of War and the Reshaping of Civil Society in North Macedonia

Slavic Review ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-364
Author(s):  
Vasiliki Neofotistos
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Direct Connection ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Republic Of Macedonia ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Europe Today

In this article, I explore recent efforts to “de-Sorosize” the Republic of Macedonia, arguing that they reveal an obsession in Macedonia—and more broadly in east central Europe—with defending ethnonational interests against assumed interlopers. New, self-proclaimed patriotic associations have mobilized ideas of combined external and internal threats to national existence as though there were a war frontier. This imagined war frontier marks the dividing line between belligerent nationalists, who claim that Macedonian sovereignty and national identity are under threat of extinction, and the Macedonian center-left and liberal (moderate and left-leaning) NGOs, which tend to promote greater inclusiveness in society, are assumed to side with “the Albanians,” and to have a direct connection to George Soros. The case study of Macedonia highlights the outright public rejection of liberal ideals and the key role that populist, militant sensibilities play in the formation of civil society groups in Europe today.

The Earthquake, Civil Society, and Political Change in Turkey: Assessment and Comparison with Eastern Europe

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Kubicek
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
The State ◽  
Positive Experience ◽  
Political Liberalization ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central

Civil society has been widely celebrated as instrumental in democratization, but in some countries it remains poorly developed. Such was the case in Turkey, but many hoped that the 1999 earthquakes would lead to an invigoration of civil society and subsequent political liberalization. Examining this claim shows that Turkish civil society has not been able to sustain the energy it enjoyed immediately after the earthquake because of factors within civil society itself and the attitude of the state. This relative failure is then contrasted with the more positive experience of civil society in East-Central Europe. The comparisons reveal some limits to the utility of a civil society approach to democratization. I conclude by assessing the ability of other actors and factors to fashion political reform in Turkey today.

The reinvention of ‘civil society’: transnational conceptions of development in East-Central Europe

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Agnes Gagyi ◽  
Mariya Ivancheva
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Local Development ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Status ◽  
State And Market ◽  
Transnational Solidarity ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores how the notion of ‘civil society’ in East-Central Europe, and the discursive and organisational practices attached to the term, have been deployed in politics, and how this has affected how local development and empowerment are conceived and funded. In this respect, struggles over the meaning and practice of ‘civil society’ activism in the region speak to longstanding debates within the community development field relating to the role of state and market; the status, function, and relevance of professionalised organisations within communities; the relationship between political and economic freedoms; and the possibilities for meaningful transnational solidarity.

Political Competition and the Politicization of the State in East Central Europe

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (10) ◽  
pp. 1123-1147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna GrzymañA-Busse
Keyword(s):  
Political Competition ◽  
The State ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Informal Practices ◽  
State Growth ◽  
Electoral Uncertainty ◽  
Newly Independent States

The expansion and politicization of the postcommunist state, even among the reform leaders of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, has confounded early expectations that the state would shrink and grow autonomous once the communist regime collapsed. The variation in these patterns is a function of the distribution of party power in parliament, both over time (turnover) and among parties (fragmentation and effective opposition). Where several strong opposing parties competed for governance, the resulting electoral uncertainty led them to constrain each other through formal regulations and informal practices. In contrast, where one party dominated political competition, lax (or nonexistent) regulations allowed the informal extraction of resources from state firms, the procurement of favorable privatization deals, and the accumulation of positions in public administration. This explanation contrasts with existing accounts, which emphasize either broad communist regime legacies or the functional need for state growth in newly independent states.

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