Author: Gil Eyal
Publisher: Verso
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 292
ISBN-13: 9781859843123
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Explores class formation and elite struggles in post-communist Central Europe.
Author: Eric Hanley
Publisher:
Published: 1998
Total Pages: 49
ISBN-13: 9788085950540
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: Heinrich Best
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Published: 2013-11-11
Total Pages: 245
ISBN-13: 3663099229
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →"Who rules in Eastern Europe?" became a fundamental question for western researchers and other observers after communist regimes were established in the region, and it gained further importance as state socialism expanded into Central Europe after the Second World War. A political order which, according to Leninist theory of the state and to subsequent Stalinist political practice, was primarily a highly centralised and repressive power organisation, directed, as if it were natural, researchers attention towards the highest echelon of office holders in party and state. Extreme centralisation of power in these regimes was consequently linked to an elitist approach to analysing them from a distant viewpoint. It is one of the many paradoxes of state socialism, that a social and political order which presumptuously claimed to be the final destination of historical development and to be based on deterministic laws of social evolution, which claimed an egalitarian nature and denied the significance of the individual, was per ceived through the idiosyncrasies, rivalries and personal traits of its rulers. The largest part of these societies remained in grey obscurity, onlyoccasion ally revealing bits of valid information about a social life distant from the centres of power. It is debatable whether this top-headedness of western re search into communist societies created a completely distorted picture of re ality, however, it certainly contributed to an overestimation of the stability of these regimes, an underestimation of their factual diversity and a misjudge ment of the extent of conflicts and cleavages dividing them.
Author: Vladimir Shlapentokh
Publisher: TAMU Press
Published: 1999
Total Pages: 432
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →With the collapse of the Soviet Union, a radical metamorphosis took place in Eastern Europe as major power structures were replaced by new systems of power and authority. With new power systems came new types of dominant elites. The New Elite in Post-Communist Eastern Europe identifies those elites who have gained control of the political, economic, cultural, and scientific institutions of the new state systems and examines the nature of power in the post-Communist world and the relationships between the old and new elite. This study of the new elite in Eastern Europe developed from a 1994 conference on the subject, attended by scholars, sociologists, representatives from major national and international government organizations, European state leaders, and those considered members of the new elite. Twenty-six of those participants have now contributed their experiences and their definitions of the new elite to this book, edited by Vladimir Shlapentokh, Christopher Vanderpool, and Boris Doktorov, resulting in a global intellectual effort to define the political and social processes of post-Communist society. The New Elite in Post-Communist Eastern Europe contains analysis from members of nearly every post-Soviet republic. Many contributors conducted direct sociological research on their respective issues, which along with polls and other data sources, developed a strong empirical base for the work. In addition to an introduction by Shlapentokh and Vanderpool, chapters appear under four main sections: "Post-Communist Elites: An Overview"; "Elites in Post-Soviet Republics"; "The Regional Elite in Russia"; and "Types of the Elite." Eastern Europe is a hotbed of unrest, revolution, and change. Understanding those who are in power is vital to understanding the countries in that region and their potential impact on global politics, economy, and society. The New Elite in Post-Communist Eastern Europe offers that understanding.
Author: Bálint Magyar
Publisher: Central European University Press
Published: 2021-02-20
Total Pages: 834
ISBN-13: 9633863708
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Offering a single, coherent framework of the political, economic, and social phenomena that characterize post-communist regimes, this is the most comprehensive work on the subject to date. Focusing on Central Europe, the post-Soviet countries and China, the study provides a systematic mapping of possible post-communist trajectories. At exploring the structural foundations of post-communist regime development, the work discusses the types of state, with an emphasis on informality and patronalism; the variety of actors in the political, economic, and communal spheres; the ways autocrats neutralize media, elections, etc. The analysis embraces the color revolutions of civil resistance (as in Georgia and in Ukraine) and the defensive mechanisms of democracy and autocracy; the evolution of corruption and the workings of “relational economy”; an analysis of China as “market-exploiting dictatorship”; the sociology of “clientage society”; and the instrumental use of ideology, with an emphasis on populism. Beyond a cataloguing of phenomena—actors, institutions, and dynamics of post-communist democracies, autocracies, and dictatorships—Magyar and Madlovics also conceptualize everything as building blocks to a larger, coherent structure: a new language for post-communist regimes. While being the most definitive book on the topic, the book is nevertheless written in an accessible style suitable for both beginners who wish to understand the logic of post-communism and scholars who are interested in original contributions to comparative regime theory. The book is equipped with QR codes that link to www.postcommunistregimes.com, which contains interactive, 3D supplementary material for teaching.
Author: Bruno Grancelli
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Published: 2011-06-24
Total Pages: 329
ISBN-13: 311088447X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: Dražen Cepić
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-10-26
Total Pages: 170
ISBN-13: 0429840101
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book investigates the extent to which social class has changed in Eastern Europe since the fall of communism. Based on extensive original research, the book discusses how ideas about class are viewed by both working class and middle class people. The book examines how such people’s social identities are shaped by various factors including economic success, culture and friendship networks. The present class situation in Eastern Europe is contrasted to what prevailed in Communist times, when societies were officially classless, but nevertheless had Communist party elites.
Author: John Higley
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 1998
Total Pages: 301
ISBN-13: 9780312211790
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This provocative and stimulating book argues that the structures and processes of elite politics in postcommunist Eastern Europe are critical determinants of democracy and political stability in the region. The East European regime transition were initiated and carried through principally by eli res, especially Gorbachevite reformers in the communist establishments. Changing configurations of national elites are shaping the prospects for democracy in the countries of post-communist Eastern Europe. In several countries there are unchecked power struggles between elites, with regimes oscillating between democratic and authoritarian tendencies. In other countries, restrained elite competitions are being institutionalized and are leading to stable democratic regimes. These and other outcomes are analyzed for the region as a whole.