The Aftermath of ‘Real Existing Socialism’ in Eastern Europe

The Aftermath of ‘Real Existing Socialism’ in Eastern Europe PDF Author: Jacques Hersh
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349141550
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
The themes in this book concern former Soviet-type societies: 1) Is the capitalist world system willing and able to absorb these newcomers or are they condemned to 'Third-worldization'? 2) Is the neoliberal advice of simultaneous political democratization and economic liberalization a viable path? 3) Is the East Asian model of authoritarianism and governed markets a better option? 4) Can the revolution of rising expectations be harnessed into a new structure of accumulation based on class polarisations? 5) Are there lessons in Chinese market-socialism? In this topical and timely collection, these questions are answered by an interdisciplinary and international team of specialists

The Aftermath of ‘Real Existing Socialism’ in Eastern Europe

The Aftermath of ‘Real Existing Socialism’ in Eastern Europe PDF Author: Jacques Hersh
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349141550
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 355

Get Book Here

Book Description
The themes in this book concern former Soviet-type societies: 1) Is the capitalist world system willing and able to absorb these newcomers or are they condemned to 'Third-worldization'? 2) Is the neoliberal advice of simultaneous political democratization and economic liberalization a viable path? 3) Is the East Asian model of authoritarianism and governed markets a better option? 4) Can the revolution of rising expectations be harnessed into a new structure of accumulation based on class polarisations? 5) Are there lessons in Chinese market-socialism? In this topical and timely collection, these questions are answered by an interdisciplinary and international team of specialists

The Alternative in Eastern Europe

The Alternative in Eastern Europe PDF Author: Rudolf Bahro
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1789606810
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 566

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Book Description
The contemporary Marxist writer provides analyses of socialist theory, modern political struggle, and socialist societies in Eastern Europe.

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism PDF Author: S. A. Smith
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191667528
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 834

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Book Description
The impact of Communism on the twentieth century was massive, equal to that of the two world wars. Until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, historians knew relatively little about the secretive world of communist states and parties. Since then, the opening of state, party, and diplomatic archives of the former Eastern Bloc has released a flood of new documentation. The thirty-five essays in this Handbook, written by an international team of scholars, draw on this new material to offer a global history of communism in the twentieth century. In contrast to many histories that concentrate on the Soviet Union, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism is genuinely global in its coverage, paying particular attention to the Chinese Revolution. It is 'global', too, in the sense that the essays seek to integrate history 'from above' and 'from below', to trace the complex mediations between state and society, and to explore the social and cultural as well as the political and economic realities that shaped the lives of citizens fated to live under communist rule. The essays reflect on the similarities and differences between communist states in order to situate them in their socio-political and cultural contexts and to capture their changing nature over time. Where appropriate, they also reflect on how the fortunes of international communism were shaped by the wider economic, political, and cultural forces of the capitalist world. The Handbook provides an informative introduction for those new to the field and a comprehensive overview of the current state of scholarship for those seeking to deepen their understanding.

Pleasures in Socialism

Pleasures in Socialism PDF Author: David Crowley
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810126907
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
This volume shows how the rise of consumer culture took a unique form in Eastern Europe. It investigates the ways in which pleasurable activities were both a space in which these communist governments tried to insinuate themselves and thereby further expand the reach of their authority.

Eastern Europe Since 1970

Eastern Europe Since 1970 PDF Author: Bulent Gokay
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317881338
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
From the hardening grip of Soviet domination under Brezhnev to the collapse of communism and its aftermath, Bulent Gokay provides the essential introduction to Eastern Europe in the last quarter of the twentieth century. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 spelt the end of reformist communism and the tightening of Soviet control throughout Eastern Europe. In spite of this, several countries within the Soviet Bloc managed to retain varying degrees of independence over the next two decades. Focusing on the struggle towards economic and social modernisation in the region and the competing influences of East and West in a dangerous Cold War. Bulent Gokay shows how individual circumstances and diverse national characteristics made a uniform application of the Soviet model impossible, and charts the growing resistance to domination and the momentous events which finally toppled Soviet power in the region.

Between Western Europe and East Asia

Between Western Europe and East Asia PDF Author: Jacques Hersh
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780333666043
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description


What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next?

What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next? PDF Author: Katherine Verdery
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400821991
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Among the first anthropologists to work in Eastern Europe, Katherine Verdery had built up a significant base of ethnographic and historical expertise when the major political transformations in the region began to take place. In this collection of essays dealing with the aftermath of Soviet-style socialism and the different forms that may replace it, she explores the nature of socialism in order to understand more fully its consequences. By analyzing her primary data from Romania and Transylvania and synthesizing information from other sources, Verdery lends a distinctive anthropological perspective to a variety of themes common to political and economic studies on the end of socialism: themes such as "civil society," the creation of market economies, privatization, national and ethnic conflict, and changing gender relations. Under Verdery's examination, privatization and civil society appear not only as social processes, for example, but as symbols in political rhetoric. The classic pyramid scheme is not just a means of enrichment but a site for reconceptualizing the meaning of money and an unusual form of post-Marxist millenarianism. Land being redistributed as private property stretches and shrinks, as in the imaginings of the farmers struggling to tame it. Infused by this kind of ethnographic sensibility, the essays reject the assumption of a transition to capitalism in favor of investigating local processes in their own terms.

The Socialist Good Life

The Socialist Good Life PDF Author: Cristofer Scarboro
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253047803
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
“First-class, rigorously researched, richly documented, and thought-provoking” essays on the consumer experience in socialist Eastern Europe (Graham H. Roberts, author of Material Culture in Russia and the USSR). As communist regimes denigrated Western countries for widespread unemployment and consumer excess, socialist Eastern European states simultaneously legitimized their power through their apparent ability to satisfy consumers’ needs. Moving beyond binaries of production and consumption, the essays collected here examine the lessons consumption studies can offer about ethnic and national identity and the role of economic expertise in shaping consumer behavior. From Polish VCRs to Ukrainian fashion boutiques, tropical fruits in the GDR to cinemas in Belgrade, The Socialist Good Life explores what consumption means in a worker state where communist ideology emphasizes collective needs over individual pleasures.

Industrial Transformation in Eastern Europe in the Light of the East Asian Experience

Industrial Transformation in Eastern Europe in the Light of the East Asian Experience PDF Author: Jeffrey Henderson
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349265209
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Since 1989, the postcommunist societies of Eastern Europe have been subject to policy advice and political and economic pressure which assumes that the development of 'free market' economies is the best route to economic growth and prosperity. The contributors to this volume take issue with this proposition. Though working from different theoretical perspectives, with different interests, they collectively argue that there are better ways to build dynamic and prosperous industrial economies in Eastern Europe than encouraging the respective societies of the region to ape the contents and swallow the myths of the Anglo-American form of capitalism. The contributors to this volume are among the leading authorities on economic transformation in Eastern Europe.

The Dynamics of the Breakthrough in Eastern Europe

The Dynamics of the Breakthrough in Eastern Europe PDF Author: Jadwiga Staniszkis
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520351886
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
Understanding the dramatic political, social, and economic changes that have taken place in Poland in the mid-1980s is one key to predicting the future of the communist bloc. Jadwiga Staniszkis, an influential, internationally known expert on contemporary trends in Eastern Europe, provides an insider's analysis that deserves the attention of all scholars interested in the region. Staniszkis presents the breakthrough of 1989 as a consequence not only of systemic contradictions within socialism but also of a series of chance events. These events include unique historical circumstances such as the emergence of the "globalist" faction in Mosow, with its new, world-system perception of crisis, and the discovery of the round-table technique as a productive ritual of communication, imitated all over Eastern Europe. After describing the development, collapse, and reorganization of a "new center" in Poland in 1989-1990, she discusses the first attempt at privatizing the economy. Her analysis of the dilemmas accompanying breakthrough and transition is an invaluable guide to the challenges that face both capitalism and democracy in Eastern Europe.