From the Soviet Bloc to the European Union: The Economic and Social Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe since 1973

by Ivan T. Berend

• ISBN13: 9780521729505
• ISBN10: 0521729505
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-23
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Soviet Union's dramatic collapse in 1989 was a pivotal moment in the complex history of Central and Eastern Europe, and Ivan Berend here offers a magisterial new account of the dramatic transformation that culminated in ten former Soviet Bloc countries joining the European Union. Taking the OPEC oil crisis of 1973 as his starting point, he charts the gradual unravelling of state socialism in Central and Eastern Europe, its ultimate collapse in the revolutions of 1989, and the economic restructuring and lasting changes in income, employment, welfare, education and social structure which followed. He pays particular attention to the crucial role of the European Union as well as the social and economic hurdles that continue to face former Eastern-bloc nations as they try to catch up with their Western neighbours. This will be essential reading for scholars and students of European and economic history, European politics and economics.

Author Biography

Ivan T. Berend not only studied the collapse and transformation of Central and Eastern Europe, but also participated in it. He chaired the committee that prepared the first marketization and privatization plan for Hungary, and has been a member of governmental advisory bodies since the early 1990s. He is currently Distinguished Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. vii
List of tables	p. ix
List of boxes	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
The economic factors in the collapse of state socialism and the new international environment, 1973-1989	p. 6
Economic crisis, slowdown, and technological transformation in the West and lack of adjustment and decline in the East after 1973	p. 7
The absence of opportunities for technology transfer	p. 27
The new international environment: end of the Cold War and the "new world order"	p. 38
The "Washington consensus"	p. 42
Radical transformation and policy mistakes: dramatic economic decline in the early 1990s	p. 50
Deregulation and macroeconomic stabilization	p. 50
Marketization	p. 53
Privatization	p. 57
Policy mistakes and decline	p. 65
Toward better times: the European Union and its policy of eastward enlargement	p. 79
The European Union's interest in enlargement and integration	p. 81
The acquis communautaire and membership in the Union	p. 88
The European Union's impact on the transformation of future candidate countries	p. 102
The European Union of twenty-seven countries	p. 105
Recuperation and growth: the role of foreign direct investment	p. 107
Capital inflow and foreign direct investment	p. 108
Complementary specialization within the international production network	p. 124
Economic restructuring: transforming main sectors, economic recovery, growth, and weaknesses	p. 134
Restructuring the economy: infrastructure and services, the most dynamic sectors	p. 134
Agriculture	p. 144
Industrial restructuring	p. 153
Restructured foreign trade	p. 164
Economic recovery and growth	p. 168
Economic weaknesses	p. 173
Transformation and social shock	p. 177
Longing for Western life and starting to adopt it	p. 177
The social pain of transformation	p. 182
Societies in shock	p. 195
Lasting changes in the structure of income, employment, welfare institutions, education, and settlement	p. 205
Living standards, unemployment, and poverty	p. 205
A withering welfare state	p. 213
Changing demographic trends	p. 221
Educational changes	p. 226
Structural changes in society	p. 231
Settlement structure: unchanged urbanization level, but changing cities	p. 246
Epilogue: the future of catching up in the European "melting pot"	p. 255
Bibliography	p. 267
Index	p. 288
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.