Eastem Europe Research Articles

Dos modalidades de transmisión de la Identidad Judía: la Shoa y Jabad

The analysis of two actual strategies in the reformulation of the J ewish identity in Israel and the diaspora, are the central themes of this article. The historie memory ofthe Hebrew people in cognitive and emotional terms affirms the collective commitment with Judaism. One ofthe strategies is secular and the other religious. The first is based on ¡he transmission of¡he Shoa (Holocaust) to the new generations as an exemplary event experienced by the Jews Ihat pretends not to be forgotten lo avoid its recurren ce in other groups. The message has a universal dimension that incrusts in the Jcwish hislory wilhin the westem culture and reinforee secular values sueh as democracy, tolerance, respecI lo olhers, pluriculturalism and social justice. In the Jabad case, by the theological way, Ihe objective is the relígious re-enchanlment of Ihe world in all Ihe aspects of life lo create a social milieu that emJlates what they consider the authentie Judaism inspired in the shtetI, the premodem commu¿ities of the ashkenazi Jews in Eastem Europe. In both cases, the historical and cultural legacy acquire new meanings that summon Jews, giving conlinuity lo Judaísm.

Constitutional courts versus supreme courts

Constitutional courts exist in most of the civil law countries of Westem Europe, and in almost all the new democracies in Eastem Europe; even France has developed its Conseil Constitutionnel into a genuine constitutional jurisdiction. While their emergence may be regarded as one of the most successful improvements on traditional European concepts of democracy and the rule of law, it has inevitably given rise to questions about the distribution of power at the supreme judicial level. As constitutional law has come to permeate the entire structure of the legal system, it has become impossible to maintain a fi rm delimitation between the functions of the constitutional court and those of ordinary courts. This article looks at various confl icts arising between the higher courts of Germany, Italy, Poland, and France, and concludes that, in both positive and negative lawmaking, certain tensions are bound to exist as a necessary component of centralized judicial review. 1 . The Kelsenian model: Parallel supreme jurisdictions 1.1 The model The centralized Kelsenian system of judicial review is built on two basic assumptions. It concentrates the power of constitutional review within a single judicial body, typically called a constitutional court, and it situates that court outside the traditional structure of the judicial branch. While this system emerged more than a century after the United States’ system of diffused review, it has developed — particularly in Europe — into a widely accepted version of constitutional protection and control. 1 Today, constitutional courts exist in most of the countries of Western Europe that have civil law legal systems, with the Netherlands and the Nordic countries the major exceptions. Constitutional *Judge of the European Court of Human Rights; former judge of the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland.

Lithuania in the Centrai and Eastem Europe of the 16th-18th Centuries: "Feudal Reaction" or Peripheral Capitalism?

The subject of the article is the historiography analyzing the development of the socio-economic order of Central and Eastern Europe in the 16th-18th centuries and specifically two competing theoretical approaches: the Marxist concept emphasizing the role of inner causes and of the capitalist world system (CWS) stressing external causes. The problem that the article is concerned with is the nature of the second serfdom in Central and Eastern Europe in the 16th-18th centuries: was this refeudalization in the Marxist sense, or peripheral capitalism in the CWS context? In Marxist historiography (beginning with Friedrich Engels), the concept of the second serfdom means the process of refeudalization. The neo-Marxist CWS theory of I. Wallerstein, applying an approach, suggests looking at the phenomenon of the second serfdom from the global perspective, describing it as an expression of peripheral capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe. The article compares the explanation I. Wallerstein provides of the second serfdom in Central and Eastern Europe (especially in the Polish-Lithuanian state) with earlier interpretations of it (especially in Marxist historiography) and attempts to provide an answer that will bring greater focus to later investigations by establishing greater explanatory power of the comparative conceptions.

Port Competition in the Northern Range from Le Havre to Hamburg

The main European ports of the Northern Range facingstrong competition develop various strategies. Rotterdam andLe Havre, fast transit, Antwe1p, logistic activities with storage,Hamburg, hub for central and eastem Europe. These strategieswill be described in the paper.All of them are building new container terminals and usenew tools in technology of communications to increase trafficand to enable shipping lines to achieve their own strategies. Thenew equipments will also b.: analysed.In the last years, the competition is mainly on the links withthe hinterland. Major ports t1y to enlarge their hinterlands bytransshipment, railway con'idors, waterway connections andhighways. The importance of ports and inland intermodalnodes is growing.Nowadays, port competition in the Northern Range is locatednot only in the ports.

Toward an Open Society

From the Adriatic to the Baltic, from the Elbe to the Urals and beyond, totalitarianism has collapsed. Yet the 1989 bloodless revolution in Eastem Europe caught most observers by surprise. This essay explores the signal socio-cultural forces which contributed to the sea-change. Throughout Eastem Europe, grassroots movements emerged in the 1970s and 1980s demanding greater participation in social, economic, cultural, and political life. Thus, the rise of a new civic culture and civil society preceded and fostered the momentous changes in Eastem Europe, This essay offers a model of transition from authoritarian systems to political democracy, highlighted by "The Menshevik Divide," and places East European nations and the USSR on a cognitive map which indicates the relative strength of civic values and autonomous action just before the revolution (1988), Curiously, this model also shows why the transition remains incomplete, since authoritarian values and political processes keep many post-communist systems in a twilight zone between democracy and dictatorship. Hence, the quest for universal human rights, democracy, pluralism, tolerance, and an open society is still a futuristic project in much of Eastem Europe and the Soviet successor states, suspended between democracy and "virtual communism."

Dissent and Civil Society in Poland

This essay explores social forces which contributed to regaining independence by the Polish people and sovereignty by the Polish state after 45 years of Soviet domination There were four major factors or forces of historical change: workers' resistance (big-industry working class); intellectual opposition (dissidents); grass-roots movement (families, households and their microeconmuc activity); and the Catholic Church (in the late phase of the Polish People's Republic). The preliminary thesis is that Poland succeeded in transcending communism and Soviet domination as quickly as it did thanks to its civil society traditions. In particular, universities and their intellectual influence on the young generations of Poles helped nurture the political opposition Equally, the grass-roots movement of Polish family households undermined the unrealistic, strange system of national (planned) economy, which otherwise could have lasted much longer in Poland, as it did in all of Eastem Europe. The conclusion follows that the historically formed cultural capital of the Polish people was the decisive factor in the nation's liberation from totalitarian rule.

A COMMENT ON TEODORA SHEK BRNARDIĆ'S ARTICLE

This comment expresses sympathy with the concern underlying Dr Shek Brnardić's paper, namely that East Central European history is in danger of homogenizing distortion in academic discourse emanating from the currently hegemonie West. It argues, however, that the remedy to this is not to be found in some ofthe postmodernist critiques deployed by Brnardić, which are themselves the product of that hegemony and help promote a homogenizing view of what Western scholars have actually said. The view that Western models played a part in the shaping of Enlightenment in Central and Eastem Europe is perfectly compatible with, indeed invites, the study of the wide variety of ways in which those influences were received and mediated, interacting with social, religious and historico- political legacies to produce the distinctive formations that Brnardić rightly stresses.

SPACING EUROPE: WHAT IS A HISTORICAL REGION?

The focus of this article is the introduction of the category of historical legacy as the most adequate heuristic device in approaching and describing historical regions. Its central argument is that the notion of historical legacy, insofar as it allows more c1early to articulate the dynamism and fluidity of historical change, has numerous advantages over other more structural categories of analysis utilized thus far in the literature, such as borders, space, territoriality, etc. It therefore appears to be the most appropriate category for analyzing long-term regional developments by avoiding the reification of latter-day regions. The case is made for historical legacy as an analytical tool both theoretically and concretely, by applying the category to Europe in general, and in particular to Eastem Europe and the Balkans. Finally, some practical issues of spacing are addressed, both analytically and politically.

Wine, Spirits and Beer: World Patterns of Consumption

ABSTRACT World patterns of the consumption of wine, spirits and beer can be obtained using data collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization [sic]. About half the world's consumption of absolute alcohol comes from spirits, one third from beer, the rest from wine. Spirits are the leading drink In Eastem Europe, the former Soviet Union, Central and Northern America and most of Asia; wine in soutbern Europe, parts of Soutb America and Central Asia; beer in northern Europe, North America and Australasia. The production of grapes from which wine is made is climatically limited and consumption is high only in the regions of production, i.e. mainry areas of Mediterranean-type climate. Beer production is much more widely distributed, and only a very small amount is exported. Spirits, unlike beer and wine, can be made from a wide variety of plants, and so their consumption is not limited to areas of production. Income per capita, religion, migration and several other factors influence the relative importance of the beverages in different parts of the world.

Иностранные банки в Восточной Европе

Иностранные банки в Восточной Европе

L’Institut international d’administration publique (2 décembre 1966 -10 janvier 2002)

The International Institute for Public Administration (IIAP) (December 2 1966 -January 10 2002) The article traces the history of the International Institute for Public Administration (Institut international d’administration publique) from its colonial roots to its recent merger with the ENA. The creation of the Institute in 1966 reflected the Gaullist determination to build a world that would be govemed democratically by States with equal voting rights, exercising their freedom as sovereign nations. An instrument of French diplomacy, the IIAP combined a vision of the future with an all-important tradition of training professionals for service in French-speaking countries abroad. As a centre for advanced study answering to a very real need, it left its mark on thousands of civil servants. In 1981 at the request of local partners, the IIAP took a step in another direction with the setting up of a more diversified curriculum with a strong emphasis on economies. During this same period it entered a competitive market, and thanks to the events of 1989, was able to establish cooperative ties with Central and Eastem Europe. The competition which then existed between the IIPA’s activities and those of ENA gave rise to the idea of a merger, which became a reality only some years later.

ANESTHESIA AND THE DRUG-ABUSING PARTURIENT

DRUGABUSEANDTHEPARTURIENT The drug-abusing parturient presents many challenges to the anesthesiologist. The unusual and clinically challenging situations that may arise in this patient population may be due to many factors including failure on the part of many of these patients to receive medical treatment during pregnancy, the effects of illicit drug use, unstable home environment, poor diet, and the presence of untreated co-existing disease. The absence of prenatal care has been shown to be a major factor in the outcome of these patients.I5 Substance abuse in pregnancy has emerged as a major public health problem of the 1990~~ Because of this, obstetricians, pediatricians, and anesthesiologists are now encountering an increasing number of pregnant patients who use illicit substances. In particular, cocaine use during pregnancy in the United States has increased dramatically during the past decade.76 Although it has been suggested that substance abuse may be on the decline in the United States, illicit substance abuse among women of childbearing age continues to be a major problem. Reports on the growing numbers of pregnant patients who are using illicit drugs has increased throughout the world. Chasnoff et a1 reported that almost 15% of pregnant women in one patient population in the United States had a positive urine toxicology screen for cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, or heroin.I4 Multiple drug use is not un~ommon.~ A recent study which examined the drug use patterns of pregnant women in two inner city sites found that women who used cocaine were much more likely to have used a combination of drugs? Recent data suggest that consumption of illicit drug use is also a problem in Europe, with reports from Italy’6, %; Spain56; Amsterdam-; and Eastem Europe.” The use of illicit drugs in pregnant patients can present very difficult challenges to the anesthesiologist. For example, the management of a

Asylum, Immigration and Central–Eastem Europe: Challenges to EU Enlargement

Asylum, Immigration and Central–Eastem Europe: Challenges to EU Enlargement

Czech Privatization

? 1997 M.E. Sharpe, Inc., adapted from the original English text ? 1995 by University of Economics, Prague. Original text published in Prague Economic Papers, 1995, no. 4, pp. 321-336. The author is affiliated with the Institute of Economics of the Czech National Bank, Prague. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the seminar Transformation in the Process (a follow-up seminar of the intemational research project East-Central 2000) organized by the Institute for World Economy of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, Hungary, February 1995, and at the Conference on Central and Eastern Europe: Five Years On, organized by the Centre for Research into East European Business (CREEB) of Buckinghamshire College of Brunel University in Chalfont St. Giles, England, June 1995. This final version of the paper was presented to the Seventh Annual Conference of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE), Transfonning Economies and Societies: Towards an Institutional Theory of Economic Change, in Krakow, Poland, October 1995. The author is obliged to the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, Austria, to the British Council, and to Nadsni Josefa, Marie a Zdeilky Hlavkovych (the Hlavka Foundation), Prague, for their support, which enabled the author to make these presentations. The expertise contained in the paper was gained during the author's participation in the research projects Enterprise Restructuring at Different Stages of Ownership Transformation: The Czech Republic and Poland (PHARE/ACE Programme, Project No. 92-0223-R) and Future of Industry in Central and Eastem Europe (STD-2 EC Programme, Reference No. CIPACT 930085). The views expressed in the paper are the author's own and do not necessarily coincide with the views of the Czech National Bank.

Demokratischer Übergang und Sozialdemokratie in Spanien

The author argues that the Spanish transition from authoritarianism to liberal democracy as well as the so called social democratic approach to modemization have been stylized into ideal types in the Weberian sense of the term. The Spanish model has gamered widespread attention. lts influence transcends the academic sphere, as Spain has provided political elites across the world with a model of regime change, especially in Latin America and Eastem Europe, where observers are intrigued both by the facility with which transition took place and by Spain's reencounter with the prosperous zones of Western Europe. These idealizations are confronted with the real costs of Spains transition and the democratic deficits of the Spanish Socialists management of crisis.

Financial institutions development - the case of the Russia Small Business Fund

The European Bank (EBRD) has, over the last three years, established programmes with various financial intermediaries in Central and Eastem Europe and the former Soviet Union to provide financing for small SME projects. The Bank participates in venture capital funds, takes equity in local banks to increase their capital base and strengthen corporate governance, provides bank to bank loans, co-finances local projects with foreign and local banks, and provides Apex credit lines under sovereign guarantee. Some of these activities are aimed primarily at finding investments and providing support to SMEs, but the majority of the programmes take a broader approach and have interrelated goals: funding SMEs, and creating the long-term capability of the local banking system to provide small firms with access to bank services.

Justice after Transition: On the Choices Successor Elites Make in Dealing with the Past

The author looks at one component of transitions to democracy: the strategies successor elites develop to deal with injustices committed by the previous, authoritarian regime. He compares post-transition justice in Belgium, France, and The Netherlands after World War II and in Eastem Europe after the fall of communism. He discusses several factors that influence policy choices. Among the most influenrial are the legacy of the past regime, the internutwnal legal context at the time of the passage to democracy, and the mode of transition and its ensuing impact on the balance of power between the old and the new order.

Justice after Transition: On the Choices Successor Elites Make in Dealing with the Past

The author looks at one component of transitions to democracy: the strategies successor elites develop to deal with injustices committed by the previous, authoritarian regime. He compares post-transition justice in Belgium, France, and The Netherlands after World War II and in Eastem Europe after the fall of communism. He discusses several factors that influence policy choices. Among the most influenrial are the legacy of the past regime, the internutwnal legal context at the time of the passage to democracy, and the mode of transition and its ensuing impact on the balance of power between the old and the new order.

Revisiting Rokkan: On the Determinants of the Rise of Democracy in Europe

Abstract: This article is an attempt to extend Rokkan's analysis of the rise of democracy in western Europe also to include eastem Europe. Which relevance do Rokkan's fac-tors - economy, territory, culture - have when applied to both western and eastern Europe? Through the mapping of the development of democracy following the four thres-holds suggested by Rokkan - legitimacy, incorporation, rep-resentation, executive power - a crossnational analysis, based upon at most 28 cases, is made in order to test various explanatory factors. Territory and culture has an impact an the rise of democracy in Europe in general, but in particular an the passing of the First threshold of democracy, i.e. the legitimacy threshold. Other factors, not suggested by Rok-kan, that are conducive to the rise of democracy are what kind of family systems that exists and the occurrencies of elite settlements. Thus, Rokkan's main ideas about the rise of democracy in Western Europe also holds true when ex-tended to cover the whole of Europe.

Les relations économiques entre l’Amérique latine et la communauté européenne : internationalisation, régionalisation et coopération

The author presents an analysis of the main tendencies that characterise the recent development of the world economy : productive internationalisation, market globalisation, regionalisation, in order to situate in this context the evolution of economic relations between Latin America and the European Community for the past ten years. On the basis of this interpretation, the author analyses questions that, according to him, should compose the economic agenda of relations between the two regions for the coming years : the conditions of access of Latino-American exported goods to the Community market, the foreign debt, the flow of investments, the impact of privileged relations with the countries of Eastem Europe and environmental matters. For all these questions, there appears to be convergence of interests that can be materialized as groups of cooperation, but also differences liable of declining into more or less declared conflicts. Finally, an essential question refers to the role that Europe will or will not want to play in the process of Latin America’s reinsertion in the world economy, either by accepting the consequences of the struggle for power expressed through the « market rules », or by recognizing Latin America as having the status of a responsible and active partner that it claims on the international scene.