Transition to Democracy in Eastern Europe and Russia: Impact on Politics, Economy, and Culture

by Wejnert, Barbara

• ISBN13: 9780275972349
• ISBN10: 0275972348
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-30
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

Using examples of democratic changes in former Communist states, Wejnert provides a dual-level conceptual framework that concentrates on objectification of the fundamental and unique roles of various mechanisms and components of transition. The first of these two levels is an integrative framework of the diverse social processes of transition. Here, the essays included examine the effects of global and domestic factors, and diffusion on the articulation of transition from communism. The second level is a similarly integrative framework of the interrelation of three distinct social entities of economy, polity, and culture as recorded at a time-point when the polity-economy-culture components of the transition are inserted into the processes of social change. This collection brings together Eastern European, Russian, and American scholars as well as prominent political figures from democratically elected East European governments. Included are Jan Kavan, Vice-Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Grzegorz Kolodko of Poland, the designer of the post-communist "therapy" economic plan. The theoretical and pratically oriented papers are enriched by the broad perspective of the book, making it particularly useful to scholars, students, and researchers of Eastern Europe and Russia.

Author Biography

BARBARA WEJNERT teaches Political Sociology at Cornell University, where she is involved in research on world-wide spread of democracy.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
I. Introduction	1	(26)
Integration of the Processes and Components of Transition to Democracy	3	(24)
Barbara Wejnert
II. Impact on Politics	27	(82)
McCarthyism Has a New Name---Lustration: A Personal Recount of Political Events	29	(36)
Jan Kavan
The Contribution of Collective Protests to the Softening of Communist Regimes in East Central Europe	65	(26)
Barbara Wejnert
A Line of Blood: How December 1970 Prepared Polish Workers for Political Transition in 1989	91	(18)
Jack M. Bloom
III. Impact on Economy	109	(74)
Transitional Economies and Income Inequality: The Case of Estonia	111	(30)
Nancy Brandon Tuma
Mikk Titma
Rein Murakas
Fiscal Policy and Capital Formation in Transition Economies	141	(32)
Grzegorz W. Kolodko
Privatization Politics in Russia: Success or Failure? Privatization and the Development of Corporate Governance Structure	173	(10)
Alexei Makeshin
IV. Social Problems and Policy Issues	183	(96)
Nouveaux Riches Versus Nouveaux Pauvres: Policymaking in Transition Economies	185	(36)
Grzegorz W. Kolodko
Vision of the Polish Working Class: A Well-Ordered Economy	221	(20)
Juliusz Gardawski
A Country in Transition: Health Crisis in Ukraine, with a Focus on Tobacco and Alcohol	241	(18)
Lara A. Romaniuk
Polish Women During Transition to Democracy: A Preliminary Research Report	259	(20)
J. Mayone Stycos
Barbara Wejnert
Zbigniew Tyszka
V. Impact on Culture	279	(60)
Cultural and Civic Movements Prefiguring the Breakdown of the Socialist Regime in Yugoslavia	281	(28)
Stjepan Gredelj
The Artist's Freedom and Democracy	309	(16)
Maria Nowakowska Stycos
Grazyna Borkowska
The Politics of Architecture and the Architecture of Politics	325	(14)
Sergei Zherebkin
Barbara Wejnert
VI. Concluding Remarks	339	(10)
The Impact of Democratic Transitions on Politics, Economy and Culture: Lessons from Eastern Europe and Russia	341	(8)
Barbara Wejnert
Selected Bibliography	349	(6)
Index	355	(10)
About the Editor and Contributors	365