The New Europe: Political, Social and Economic Changes in Eastern European Countries and Their Impacts on the Spatial Division of Labour

Abstract

The first two years of transformation in Central and Eastern Europe have shown that the process of change is much more complicated and painful than was originally expected. The initial euphoria following the non-violent take-over of power from the communist governments by the opposition democratic movements has been replaced by the sober awareness that political, mental and economic obstacles to the transformation from centrally planned to market oriented economies are indeed formidable. The political consensus that cemented these opposition movements in the time of their resistance against totalitarian governments, gave way to a splintering up of them, and to bitter quarrels between the various groups of former dissidents. Political stability in all reforming countries, and even in some cases their territorial integrity, are endangered. The impetus of economic transformation has slowed down, due to the unavoidable social costs connected with this process which have come to the fore, and which pose not only huge problems with regard to the interregional and interpersonal assessment of these costs, but in some cases have virtually brought to a halt the implementation of the transformation projects themselves.