Reinventing Poland

Reinventing Poland PDF Author: Martin Myant
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113405694X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
The end of communism and accession to the European Union have had a huge impact on Poland. This book provides an overall assessment of the post-1989 transformation in Poland. It focuses in particular on four key themes: economic transformation and its outcomes; the heritage of the past and national identity; regional development in Poland including the implications of EU accession for regional development; and political developments both before and after EU accession. In addition the book shows how changes in all these areas are related, and emphasises the overall common themes. The book is in memory of George Blazyca, of the University of Paisley, whose work on the political economy of transition in Poland is highly regarded, and who did a great deal to support the work of Polish academic colleagues and to promote the work of young scholars.

Reinventing Poland

Reinventing Poland PDF Author: Martin Myant
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113405694X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book Here

Book Description
The end of communism and accession to the European Union have had a huge impact on Poland. This book provides an overall assessment of the post-1989 transformation in Poland. It focuses in particular on four key themes: economic transformation and its outcomes; the heritage of the past and national identity; regional development in Poland including the implications of EU accession for regional development; and political developments both before and after EU accession. In addition the book shows how changes in all these areas are related, and emphasises the overall common themes. The book is in memory of George Blazyca, of the University of Paisley, whose work on the political economy of transition in Poland is highly regarded, and who did a great deal to support the work of Polish academic colleagues and to promote the work of young scholars.

Reinventing Political Culture

Reinventing Political Culture PDF Author: Jeffrey C. Goldfarb
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745637485
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
The way people think and act politically is not set in stone. People can and do change the fundamental cultural contours of their political situation. Their political culture does not only restrict imagination and action - it is also a resource for political creativity and invention. In Reinventing Political Culture, this resource is uncovered and explored. Analyzed as a tension between the power of culture and the culture of power, the concept of political culture is reinvented and applied to understanding the practice of people transforming their own political culture in very different circumstances. Three instances of such reinvention are closely examined: one historic, during the twilight of the Soviet empire; one actively in process and actively opposed, ‘the Obama revolution'; and one an apparent distant dream, the power of culture and the culture of power that would avoid ‘the clash of civilizations' in the Middle East. In accessible and engaging prose, Goldfarb clearly and forcefully presents students and scholars of sociology, comparative politics, and cultural studies with an original position on political culture, showing how the political cultures of our times pose not only grave dangers, but also opportunities for creative alternatives.

Post-Communist Poland - Contested Pasts and Future Identities

Post-Communist Poland - Contested Pasts and Future Identities PDF Author: Ewa Ochman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135916004
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
This book explores the reinterpretations of Poland’s past which have been undertaken by Polish national and local elites since the fall of communism. It focuses on remembrance practices and traces the de-commemorating of communism to examine the ways in which collective remembering and forgetting shapes present power constellations in Poland and impacts on foreign and domestic policy. The book outlines the detail of the new hegemonic national myths which are being established but also investigates fragmentation and diversification of commemorative practices at the local level that has the most potential to challenge the dominant vision of national Polish identity, historically centred on martyrdom, heroism and independence, as less relevant to Poland’s new aspirations for the future.

Nowa Huta

Nowa Huta PDF Author: Kinga Pozniak
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
ISBN: 082298024X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
In 1949 construction of the planned town of Nowa Huta began on the outskirts of Krakow, Poland. Its centerpiece, the Lenin Steelworks, promised a secure future for workers and their families. By the 1980s, however, the rise of the Solidarity movement and the ensuing shock therapy program of the early 1990s rapidly transitioned the country from socialism to a market-based economy, and like many industrial cities around the world Nowa Huta fell on hard times. Kinga Pozniak shows how the remarkable political, economic, and social upheavals since the end of the Second World War have profoundly shaped the historical memory of these events in the minds of the people who lived through them. Through extensive interviews, she finds three distinct, generationally based framings of the past. Those who built the town recall the might of local industry and plentiful jobs. The following generation experienced the uprisings of the 1980s and remembers the repression and dysfunction of the socialist system and their resistance to it. Today's generation has no direct experience with either socialism or Solidarity, yet as residents of Nowa Huta they suffer the stigma of lower-class stereotyping and marginalization from other Poles. Pozniak examines the factors that lead to the rewriting of history and the formation of memory, and the use of history to sustain current political and economic agendas. She finds that despite attempts to create a single, hegemonic vision of the past and a path for the future, these discourses are always contested—a dynamic that, for the residents of Nowa Huta, allows them to adapt as their personal experience tells them.

Poland in the Modern World

Poland in the Modern World PDF Author: Brian Porter-Szücs
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118598083
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Poland in the Modern World presents a history of the country from the late nineteenth century to the present, incorporating new perspectives from social and cultural history and positioning it in a broad global context Challenges traditional accounts Poland that tend to focus on national, political history, emphasizing the country's 'exceptionalism'. Presents a lively, multi-dimensional story, balancing coverage of high politics with discussion of social, cultural and economic changes, and their effects on individuals’ daily lives. Explores both the regional diversity within Poland and the country’s place within Europe and the wider world. Provides a new interpretive framework for understanding key historical events in Poland’s modern history, including the experiences of World War II and the postwar communist era.

The Communist Youth League and the Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1917-1932

The Communist Youth League and the Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1917-1932 PDF Author: Matthias Neumann
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136717927
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
The study of Soviet youth has long lagged behind the comprehensive research conducted on Western European youth culture. In an era that saw the emergence of youth movements of all sorts across Europe, the Soviet Komsomol was the first state-sponsored youth organization, in the first communist country. Born out of an autonomous youth movement that emerged in 1917, the Komsomol eventually became the last link in a chain of Soviet socializing agencies which organized the young. Based on extensive archival research and building upon recent research on Soviet youth, this book broadens our understanding of the social and political dimension of Komsomol membership during the momentous period 1917–1932. It sheds light on the complicated interchange between ideology, policy and reality in the league's evolution, highlighting the important role ordinary members played. The transformation of the country shaped Komsomol members and their league's social identity, institutional structure and social psychology, and vice versa, the organization itself became a crucial force in the dramatic changes of that time. The book investigates the complex dialogue between the Communist Youth League and the regime, unravelling the intricate process that transformed the Komsomol into a mere institution for political socialization serving the regime's quest for social engineering and control.

Ethnic Relations in Post-Soviet Russia

Ethnic Relations in Post-Soviet Russia PDF Author: Andrew Foxall
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317623533
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
While the collapse of communism in Russia was relatively peaceful, ethnic relations have been deteriorating since then. This deterioration poses a threat to the functioning of the Russian state and is a major obstacle to its future development. Analysing ethnic relations in the North Caucasus, this book demonstrates how a myriad of processes that characterised post-Soviet transition, including demographic change, economic upheaval, geopolitical instability, and political re-structuring, have affected daily life for citizens. It raises important questions about ethnicity, identity, nationalism, sovereignty, and territoriality in the post-Soviet space.

Russia’s Federal Relations

Russia’s Federal Relations PDF Author: Elena Chebankova
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113518139X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This book examines the origins, underlying foundations, and dynamics of the federal reforms conducted by President Putin throughout the eight years of his presidency, discussing the intentions of the federal centre and the very different results that have turned out.

Democracy versus Modernization

Democracy versus Modernization PDF Author: Vladislav Inozemtsev
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136267808
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
This book seeks to "re-think democracy." Over the past years, there has been a tendency in the global policy community and, even more widely, in the world’s media, to focus on democracy as the "gold standard" by which all things political are measured. This book re-examines democracy in Russia and in the world more generally, as idea, desired ideal, and practice. A major issue for Russia is whether the modernization of Russia might not prosper better by Russia focusing directly on modernization and not worrying too much about democracy. This book explores a wide range of aspects of this important question. It discusses how the debate is conducted in Russia; outlines how Russians contrast their own experiences, unfavourably, with the experience of China, where reform and modernization have been pursued with great success, with no concern for democracy; and concludes by assessing how the debate in Russia is likely to be resolved.

Civil Society in Putin's Russia

Civil Society in Putin's Russia PDF Author: Elena A. Chebankova
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415656877
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
1. Methodology, Theoretical Considerations and the Structure of the Study . - 2. Public and Private Cycles of Socio-Political Life in Russia . - 3. The Pulic Sphere and the State in Russia . - 4. A Kind of Society: The Nature of Political Radicalism in Modern Russia . - 5. State-Sponsored Civic Associations in Russia: Systemic Integration or a 'War of Position'? . - 6. Foreign-Sponsored Associations in Russia: Themes and Problems . - 7. Grassroots Movements in Modern Russia: A Cause for Optimism? . - Conclusion