Author: William A. Welsh
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 1483189732
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 591

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Book Description
Survey Research and Public Attitudes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union is a collection of research studies the survey's the opinions of demographics from Eastern Europe on socialists systems. The title analyzes the development of survey research in the socialist systems of Eastern Europe to provide an overview of the nature of socialist countries. The territories covered in the selection are Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. The book will be of great interest to sociologists, political scientists, economists, and behavioral scientists.

Author: Gyorgy Peteri
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre
ISBN: 082297391X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
This volume presents work from an international group of writers who explore conceptualizations of what defined "East" and "West" in Eastern Europe, imperial Russia, and the Soviet Union. The contributors analyze the effects of transnational interactions on ideology, politics, and cultural production. They reveal that the roots of an East/West cultural divide were present many years prior to the rise of socialism and the Cold War. The chapters offer insights into the complex stages of adoption and rejection of Western ideals in areas such as architecture, travel writings, film, music, health care, consumer products, political propaganda, and human rights. They describe a process of mental mapping whereby individuals "captured and possessed" Western identity through cultural encounters and developed their own interpretations from these experiences. Despite these imaginaries, political and intellectual elites devised responses of resistance, defiance, and counterattack to defy Western impositions. Socialists believed that their cultural forms and collectivist strategies offered morally and materially better lives for the masses and the true path to a modern society. Their sentiments toward the West, however, fluctuated between superiority and inferiority. But in material terms, Western products, industry, and technology, became the ever-present yardstick by which progress was measured. The contributors conclude that the commodification of the necessities of modern life and the rise of consumerism in the twentieth century made it impossible for communist states to meet the demands of their citizens. The West eventually won the battle of supply and demand, and thus the battle for cultural influence.

Author: Bryn Rosenfeld
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691192197
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
"The conventional wisdom is that a growing middle class will give rise to democracy. Yet the middle classes of the developing world have grown at a remarkable pace over the past two decades, and much of this growth has taken place in countries that remain nondemocratic. Rosenfeld explains this phenomenon by showing how modern autocracies secure support from key middle-class constituencies. Drawing on original surveys, interviews, archival documents, and secondary sources collected from nine months in the field, she compares the experiences of recent post-communist countries, including Russia, the Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, to show that under autocracy, state efforts weaken support for democracy, especially among the middle class. When autocratic states engage extensively in their economies - by offering state employment, offering perks to those to those who are loyal, and threatening dismissal to those who are disloyal - the middle classes become dependent on the state for economic opportunities and career advancement, and, ultimately, do not support a shift toward democratization. Her argument explains why popular support for Ukraine's Orange Revolution unraveled or why Russians did not protest evidence of massive electoral fraud. The author's research questions the assumption that a rising share of educated, white-collar workers always makes the conditions for democracy more favorable, and why dependence on the state has such pernicious consequences for democratization"--

Author: John G. Geer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1576079120
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 908

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Book Description
Covering the intricate facets of America's most important democratic tradition, this book serves as an important resource to understand how citizens' views are translated into governmental action. Public Opinion and Polling around the World presents a thorough review of public opinion from its roots in colonial America to its role in today's emerging democracies. More than 100 entries prepared by top scholars examine the 200-year history of public opinion, measurement methodologies with an emphasis on telephone interviews and Internet polls, and key figures like George Gallup and Elmo Roper, who created their own polling systems. An analysis of theories compares schools of thought from the fields of psychology, sociology, and economics and explores how people form opinions. A fascinating snapshot of the public's current views on economic issues, foreign policy, gender, gay rights, and other hot-button topics observes patterns across genders, race, ethnic origins, class, and religion in regions all over the world. Students, academicians, and political observers will discover answers to such questions as, "does public opinion shape the behavior of government?"

Author: Matt Henn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429834829
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Published in 1998, Opinion Polls and Volatile Electorates presents a comparative overview of the development of opinion polling in late-capitalist and post-communist societies. The author considers two related issues to help readers understand the role of polls in political affairs and the prospects for polling in the the future. Firstly, it is argued that there are certain tendencies unfolding in both late-capitalist and post-communist societies (which the author terms Complex Politics) which make polling an increasingly difficult activity. The processes affect the ability of polls to measure public opinion effectively, and to contribute to political democratisation. Secondly, the book examines whether polls extend or inhibit democratic processes. The long-standing debate between advocates and critics of polls is considered and applied to both large-capitalist and post-communist societies. It is concluded that while opinion polls may in certain ways improve democratic practices, they can also be used by powerful special interest groups to frustrate these aims.

Author: Vladimir Tismaneanu
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 6155053677
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 604

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Book Description
A fresh interpretation of the contexts, meanings, and consequences of the revolutions of 1989, coupled with state of the art reassessment of the significance and consequences of the events associated with the demise of communist regimes. The book provides an analysis that takes into account the complexities of the Soviet bloc, the events' impact upon Europe, and their re-interpretation within a larger global context. Departs from static ways of analysis (events and their significance) bringing forth approaches that deal with both pre-1989 developments and the 1989 context itself, while extensively discussing the ways of resituating 1989 in the larger context of the 20th century and of its lessons for the 21st.Emphasizes the possibility for re-thinking and re-visiting the filters and means that scholars use to interpret such turning point. The editors perceive the present project as a challenge to existing readings on the complex set of issues and topics presupposed by a re-evaluation of 1989 as a symbol of the change and transition from authoritarianism to democracy.

Author: Various
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100039798X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 3510

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Book Description
This 13-volume collection of previously out-of-print titles reissues some key works in the study of Mao Zedong’s huge influence on China – its politics, economics and development into the power that it is today. Foreign policy, the Cultural Revolution, the fate of opponents, Chinese Marxist thought – all are covered here, and more, in this essential reference resource.

Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1838

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Book Description

Author: David Turnock
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134884273
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
Since 1989 the former communist countries of Eastern Europe have witnessed a profound and dramatic upheaval. The economic coherence of this region, formerly maintained through the adoption of the Soviet system of government, has fractured. In The East European Economy in Context: Communism and Transition, David Turnock examines the transition from communist to free-market economies, both within and between the states of Eastern Europe. As well as containing an informative survey of the impact of communism, The East European Economy in Context provides * Political profiles of individual countries * A clear study of the contrasts between northern and balkan groups * Summaries of regional variations in the transition process * An exploration of the new state structures and resources * Discussion of political stability, inter-ethnic tensions and progress in economic change

Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Foreign Relations
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description