Communist Heritage Research Articles

Problematic cultural heritage in the context of tourism and Bulgaria: Key concepts, main features, and contemporary research

Global trends of widening the scope of heritage for tourist consumption, as well as the growing interest among both producers and consumers in a more truthful and balanced representation of the past impose paying special attention to problematic cultural heritage in the context of tourism. Since the topic remains quite unpopular for tourism researchers in Bulgaria, this paper aims to present the key concepts explaining problematic heritage, outline the main features of such heritage as well as sketch contemporary research trends and gaps in this underestimated but promising academic field. Given the variety of terms used interchangeably in extant literature, the term “problematic” cultural heritage is proposed as appropriate for the Bulgarian context, emphasizing the notion of dissonant/contested heritage as a “problem to be solved”. Its relevance to Ottoman and communist heritage in the country is justified.

Consuming communist heritage in China: user-generated image of red tourism via photographs

Purpose As a distinctive form of communist heritage tourism, the ideology and government-led form of red tourism warrants an in-depth examination of how tourists consume and perceive it. This study aims to reveal tourists’ perception of red tourism through the lens of destination image. Design/methodology/approach This study collected 9,819 user-generated photographs within four types of red tourism destinations (RTDs) and used a computer visual and semiotic analysis approach to conduct photograph-based cognitive and affective attributes extraction. Network analysis further visualized the co-relations between cognitive images and affective images. ANOVA analysis compared the differences of the four types of destination images. Findings Ten dimensions of cognitive image and eight categories of affective image of red tourism were identified. It found that monuments, statues, memorial symbols were the distinctive cognitive features, and admiration was the most dominant emotion. Heterogeneity of destination images was identified among the four types of RTDs. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is one of the first to explore tourists’ consumption of red tourism through the lens of destination image, which reveals the inconsistencies between the officially projected images and tourists’ perceived images of red tourism. Using Plutchik’s model, it validates a series of positive and negative emotions contributing to the affective images of red tourism, which expands the findings of emotions within the extant red tourism research. Through combined applications of computer visual and semiotic analysis, ANOVA, network analysis and model visualization, the study provides an important methodological triangulation for photograph-based destination image studies.

Work Motivation under Communist Rule: Heritage from the Past in Modern Public Sector Organisations

Abstract Applying retrospective design methodology, the article adds to our knowledge about inherited organisational values and their impact on management policies and practices. Questioning the label of Central and Eastern European workforce as low-motivated, shirking and passive, this article outlines the historical context of work motivation in former communist countries, investigating to what extent the motivation in public service organisations today may be explained by the past. It employs a framework developed by Vandenabeele et al. (2013) that connects management intentions to organisational and employee outcomes to analyse the malfunctions of the former rewards system and to examine how those impairments continue to influence public sector motivation today. Confirming Inglehart’s ‘scarcity’ theory, this article demonstrates that the several decades that passed after the fall of communism were insufficient in completely overcoming communist heritage. Malfunctions of the centralised communist motivation system resulted from the discordance between the management intentions and actions. Dysfunctions of monetary-based incentive schemes caused overwhelming work lethargy of shirking employees, who were discouraged from being creative or displaying initiative. Such patterns have still been observable at some public organisations in former Soviet countries. Thus, the past centralisation of the state continues to determine individual work motivation in public sector domains even today.

A cross-national investigation into the effects of religion on national innovation

This study aims at analyzing the effects of religion on national innovation. Using data from 77 countries, we conduct a cross-national investigation into the effects of religiosity, religious affiliations, religious fractionalization (religious diversity), and communist heritage on the national innovation capability. The analyses show that religiosity has a significantly negative association with the national innovation capability even after controlling for the effects of socioeconomic development. Further analyses show that Protestant and Buddhist affiliations are positively while communist heritage is negatively associated with national innovation capability. The analyses do not show any significant relationships between religious fractionalization and national innovation capability. In the end, the findings are discussed, and avenues for future research are pointed out.

Exploring/Inventing East-European Noir. An Attempt to Modelling Historical Transformation

The essay proposes a common spectrum of noir detective fictions emerging in the countries of the former Soviet Bloc. Accordingly, it substantiates the assumption that similar political, social, cultural, economic threats and opportunities contributed to the preservation of a certain air de famille among the genre productions of the countries of the area even after the fall of Communism. The common Communist heritage of genre fiction, cinema, and television is synthesised in three main categories: Cold War “noir” and Socialist “grey”, alternative noir, and popular noir. The crime & detection dimensions of the EU phase of the evolution of East-European countries are equally organised in three clusters, called retrospective noir, introspective noir, and prospective noir.

The institutional origins of state–society relations

The institutional origins of state–society relations

Perception of Communism in Сontemporary Indonesian Politics of Memory: Between “The Return” and “The Oblivion”

The author analyzes historical politics as a form of imagination of communism in the collective memory of Indonesia. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of the perception of the communism by modern Indonesian participants in the policy of memory of the history of the Communist Party of Indonesia and its marginalization after the events of 1965. The paper analyzes the main forms of imagination and the invention of images of the history of communism in the modern Indonesian memorial culture of memory. The article shows that the memorial practices of Indonesian intellectuals do not provide for an independent perception of communist images in the history of Indonesia. It is assumed that the problems of the history of the Communist Party are assimilated into the contexts of the history of Indonesian nationalism and political Islam. The results of the study suggest that the modern culture of memory has not been able to form new narratives describing the history of communism because this issue has become a victim of politically motivated amnesia, and the ruling elites are not interested in returning to the communist heritage of national historical experience to the mnemonic spaces of collective memory.

Panopticon of the Slovak Judiciary – Continuity of Power Centers and Mental Dependence

AbstractThis Article explores the similarities between the principles which guide the judiciary nowadays and those typical for the functioning of the Communist justice system, particularly the susceptibility to obedience to the requests, orders, or meeting anticipations. The habitus of the judges typical for the authoritarian regime has persisted until these days and was the main reason for the judicial corruption revealed in the “Threema scandal.” This Article’s argument does not connect the judiciary’s dependency to the Communist legacy embodied in members of the judiciary who served before 1989 and are active today. Still, the argument presumes that the Communist heritage is a key to understanding the current situation. The past heritage is hidden in the habitus of the agents or members of the judiciary. This habitus may be unconscious yet defining for the behavior of the agents. The Article aims to identify which continuities of the judicial habitus are apparent in the current judiciary. To demonstrate changes in the position of the judiciary, it presents a thesis of the development of the judiciary from an instrument of the governing party in maintaining a homogenous and subordinated society to the current situation of the Slovak judiciary, defined as a crisis of mental independence resulting in inappropriate behavior and corruption.

Arheologii ale prezentului în Istoria literaturii române contemporane: 1990-2020

The paper disscusses the literary-historiographical enterprise of Mihai Iovănel’s History of the Contemporary Romanian Literature: 1990-2000 as a turning point in respect with the twofold aesthetic and ethnocentric dominant of this genre in Romania, whose tradition that is traceable back to the pos-Thaw period prolongs into postcommunism. Iovănel’s self-claimed ”postmarxist” approach puts under a deconstructive lens the ideological embededness of the Romanian literary space, whose postcommunist avatar still owes largely to its communist heritage by its indebtment to dominantly conservative and right ideologies. It also switches the analytical focus of the literary history towards the material (i.e. social, institutional, and so forth) conditions of the literary production per se. My essays develops two basic critical points derived from the above-mentioned premises. One concerns the topicality of the literary historian’s leftist vantage point in the view of deciphering long-engrained myths of the national literature and of its criticism, thus providing a clearer, more realist picture of its concrete phenomena. The other debates the utility and eventual drawbacks of the retrospective analysis the historian is forced to assume in order to achieve his deconstructive task, a retrospection that pushes his investigation way behind the confines of ”contemporaneity”.

From a Communist Heritage to an Unwanted Past: The Case of Romania

Communist ideologies and political regimes have had their specific models of tourism. These models reflect on the way former communist countries view tourism today. Despite the long communist period, Romania refuses to accept Communism as an integral part of its historical culture and society, being perceived as a dark period of its history. Several campaigns which were broadcasted as a way to show the cultural and natural beauty of the country, promote rural tourism and the ancient Romanian History, eluding themes and subjects related with that recent past. Even though there has been a growing touristic interest in Romania’s communist heritage, the country’s strategies express the difficulty in accepting Communism as part of the Romanian cultural identity and history. Thus, what communication strategies does Romania use to promote its culture, in order to avoid its communist heritage? What are the reasons behind the country’s vehement silence about its past? This article aims to discuss how and why the country and its population promote specific tourist products as a way to avoid their communist legacy.

Memories from the future: constative and performed identities in ideologized spaces

Although communism was a Western creation its last consequences were implemented in southeastern Europe. In addition to the imposed aspects, there were local enthusiasms and excesses of zeal (euphemistically speaking), which attest to the existence of an identity matrix and a common mentality. Countries with an authoritarian tradition have absorbed this ideology of simultaneous denationalization and supra-nationalization to the deepest. And after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the Southeast European space preserved mass nostalgia: Stalin, Tito and Ceausescu are still guardianship figures for many of various social categories. Imperialist stability and/or glory are two of the most important reasons for forgetting communist terror. The research tries to identify and analyze the sources of historical instability that has an impact on the post-communist present - the communist heritage still looming large-, as well as to demystify certain stigmas unconditionally applied to Southeast European civilizations: corruption, laziness, negative Balkanization, frivolity and lack of consistency. This is a selective overview which aims to decant common mentalities of synchrony in relation to diachrony.

Communist heritage and Russian firms’ location decisions

ABSTRACT This paper contributes to research on enterprise formation by studying location decisions of Russian enterprises in various industries, taking into consideration the role of historical heritage, comparing firms created during the communist period to younger ones. We apply a negative binomial model and use the Ruslana database provided by the Bureau van Dijk. Our results show that firms created during the communist period have a specific structure, and that, once this specificity is taken into account, they do not differ from other firms with respect to their sensitivity to the main location factors (market potential, business risk, local human capital, and knowledge base). There are some differences across industries, including that firms in the high-tech and integrators industries are particularly sensitive to the knowledge base.

Thinking rhizomatically about communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage tourism in central-eastern Europe is part of a stale process of decades-long transition from centrally-planned to market-oriented societies. We deploy Deleuze and Guattari's concept of the ‘rhizome’ to disrupt understandings of static hierarchies between post/communist histories, places and peoples. Experiences and memories of communism between 1944 and 1991 together with current touring performances of communist remnants are heterogeneously connected in a multidirectional network. Via the rhizome we explore this network as shifting connectivity rather than a confined and permanent construct. Thus, locals' post/communist experiences are roots and shoots which associate with other elements of the past, and with tourists' heterogeneous performances of communist places. We, therefore, explain ambivalences towards communist heritage and simultaneous dis/inheritance through tourism in these places.

The unwanted past and urban regeneration of Communist heritage cities. Case study: European Capitals of Culture (ECoC) Riga 2014, Pilsen 2015 and Wroclaw 2016

Within the ECoC programme, it has been argued that the European dimension is most visible when the candidates reflect their own history as a part of European history, particularly when hinting at their involvement with the major ideologies of twentieth century, such as National Socialism or Communism. ECoC is about cities re-inventing their identities, re-narrating their history in a European context. But how should ex-communist cities deal with their unwanted past and narrate it in order to fit into the European dimension of the project? The focus of this investigation is on three ex-ECOCs from ex-Communist Europe, chosen for several reasons: geographical position (Central, Eastern/Northern European countries, ex-communist past, new membership of the European Union (since 2004), the year of holding the title (the two ECoC selection criteria exist since 2010). Using qualitative content analysis on a set of documents (application books, official web pages and ex-post evaluations) the study will offer an analysis of cities’ politics of memory and urban regeneration strategies.

Політичні практики декомунізації у країнах східної Європи.

The article examines the peculiarities of the denouncement of Communist heritage in Eastern Europe. The practical cases of the Anti-Communist legislation of the Czech Republic and Poland were chosen as the basis for research, their value of their experience for Ukraine was analyzed. The political practices of Romania, Hungary, and the Baltic States were studied as well; their legislation and the reasons for De-Communization are considered.According to the critique of Ukrainian De-Communization legislation in the United States and Europe, the study considered foreign “analogues” to Ukrainian laws, determining whether they differ and in which ways. In the scope of the study, differences in the starting conditions for De-Communization and lustration in the countries were identified. A peaceful, negotiated form of transit of power dominated, leaving the perpetrators of criminal actions of the old regimes largely still a part of the society which was experiencing a transition to democracy, and in many cases they even retained the status of political elite, now responsible for abandoning the old political system, in which the former communists were active participants. Both radical (Czech) and moderate (Poland) approaches to lustration were imperfect, due to the lack of documents of the old regime, or incorrect data in these documents. Subsequently, lustrations became an instrument of the political struggle of the right-wing parties against the new left, the former communists who were able to remain in politics (similar to the political situation in Ukraine).The research has shown that the process of De-Communization and lustration began with the democratization of public life. Among the factors that affect the success of these processes are: the presence of representatives of the old elite in power, the level of legitimacy of the old regime in the eyes of the population, the level of control over society by the secret police. Most of the studied governments were set up to quickly eliminate the remnants of the “legacy” of Communist dictatorships, while acquitting the members of the resistance to the regime.Depending on the success and scope of Anti-Communist policies, three groups of countries were identified: full, partial and formal De-Communization. It has been proved that with the delegitimization of the communist past, the first group will expand.

A Methodology of Discovering Comparable Models. The Case of Investing in Retirement Accounts when Considering Age, Main Residence and Education before 1989 vs. Globalization

This paper provides a way to discover strong individual influences on investments in retirement accounts. Data are from SHARE-ERIC (Wave7). Principal residences in ex-communist countries or not and full-time education before 1989 served as filters. Two particular models with good classification accuracy resulted based on data mining, variable selection methods, and logistic regressions. A statistical script generated tables with comparable coefficients (average marginal effects). Common influences from the same financial category as the outcome emerged (having life insurance or ever investing in mutual funds or stocks). The younger respondents, those with computer skills or exposed to high stress, are more likely to invest in retirement accounts regardless of the presence of the communist heritage. Specific influences (personality traits and life experiences) also resulted despite the increasing globalization, which, in the case of people over a certain age, was not able to erase some behavioral differences reflected until today.

Heritage - public and expert discourse in the process of heritigization

The debate about “Who owns the past?” has been and still is the subject heated discussion in heritage studies. Deciding what should be protected and what needs special social and governmental attention triggers many questions which are often met with equivocal answers. This article concentrates on a phenomenon framed as heritagization in relevant scholarship. The first section is devoted to the situations in which experts notify the public about the importance of places and historical events. Four case-studies will be discussed. The first two will touch upon cultural and natural heritage sites (Jewish and German heritage in Poland and Rospuda Valley) and show how a group of experts can influence Polish society to build a positive atmosphere around neglected heritage in Poland. The next two case-studies (communist heritage in Poland and Białowieża Forest) present how the situation of conflict between experts and the public may influence the way in which heritage is understood by the society. The case studies will also show how the public renegotiates the meaning of heritage and designates what should be preserved.

The Citizenship Policies of the Baltic States within the EU Framework on Minority Rights

The ethnic landscape in the Baltic States is dominated by one large ethnic minority: Russians. Lithuania is an exception as here the first biggest ethnic minority are Poles, followed by Russians. The Baltic States have also significant Slavic minorities, such as Belarusians and Ukrainians. There are many barriers for people from different ethnic groups to overcome because the Baltic societies are segregated according to ethnicity across a number of dimensions: language, work and geography. During the Soviet period there were separate language schools, a system that reinforced ethnic separation. Labor market was also split along ethnic lines and a large proportion of ethnic minorities lived spatially segregated from the majority group and was concentrated mostly in urban centers. The impact of communist heritage and the construction of the post-communist state order had a negative impact on the integration process of the Russian minorities in those countries. The ethnic Russians had been heavily marginalized as many of them had no citizenship at all. As a result, they had limited access to labor-market and less social protection. However, the accession of the Baltic States to the European Union (EU) has succeeded in significantly changing policies with respect for and protection of minorities in the three Baltic countries. In the last years the ethnic Russians have in fact been partially accommodated through the consistency of the citizenship laws with the European Union norms, which precisely require the protection of minorities and respect for them. The aim of the study described herein is to investigate the historic roots of ethnic segregation between the native Baltic population and the Russian minority and show how the entry of the Baltic States into the EU has facilitated the process of promoting minority rights, especially from the perspective of granting citizenship right to Russian (and Polish) ethnic persons living in those countries.

The city of one hundred souvenir shops: authenticity of souvenirs in Prague

ABSTRACTSouvenirs are one of the symbols of destination. The method of sale and the range available to tourist are also of significant interest. Tourists take souvenirs home as memories of their trip. The question is whether souvenirs use the local potential of a destination. This article investigates the relationship between souvenirs and local culture and heritage, in a case study of Prague’s historic centre, and thus reveals the causes for introducing ‘falsely authentic’ and ‘geographically displaced’ souvenirs into a particular tourist destination. Prague as a post-socialist urban destination represents a unique case in tourism studies. The survey comprises an analysis of shops and the products offered on the ‘Royal Way’, the most visited part of Prague. This is supplemented by a structured interview with sellers in selected establishments and a questionnaire survey of tourists in this area. The results show that, although there are a number of locally specific souvenirs, the wide range of ‘banal’, ‘globalized’, ‘geographically displaced’ or ‘falsely authentic’ souvenirs reduces the quality of Prague’s souvenirs in general. The reasons for this can be found in the combination of communist heritage and the transformation processes of 1990s.

A New Perspective on Earnings Management in Emerging European Countries: Investigation on Environmental Factors that Explain Differences in Earnings Management

This paper presents a new perspective on earnings management analyzing and comparing emerging European countries in the presence of environmental factors of developing countries. We provide empirical evidence on differences in the extent of earnings management across countries. Developing Eastern European countries experienced important changes. They have been in transition over the past decade, and remain making great strides to overcome the drag exerted by their communist heritage. Nevertheless, the studies on earnings management based on emerging economies are rare and hardly pursued due to the presence of institutional and regulatory differences between developed and emerging economies. Therefore, the present study fulfils the important gap in earnings management literature related to developing countries. Our results confirm that managers from different emerging European countries manage earnings differently. Additionally, we identify that there is not a sole reason affecting the managers’ decisions, but a significant number of circumstances and characteristics. Whether a firm’s environment offers more protection or is characterized by a higher level of development, higher foreign investments, it helps to limit the earnings management. In addition, when accounting and tax are not as strongly aligned with market approach as expected, it also limits the earnings management behaviour of managers.