Fall Of Communism In Europe Research Articles

The Historiography and Research on State-Socialist Housing: Prague’s Paneláky

Communist-era apartment buildings (paneláky) in Prague are home to 40 percent of the city’s population. Since the 1990s, following the end of state socialism, they have almost completely fallen into private ownership in the all-encompassing process of post-socialist privatization. They served as a stage and conduit for socio-cultural and economic change and as such, they reflect the transformed and transformative relationship between architecture, capitalism, heritage, and state. By examining the scholarly discourse on state-socialist housing produced since the fall of communism in Europe in 1989 — which has grown steadily in the past decade — this position paper aims to outline the main trends, themes, and gaps in historiography and research into the paneláky in Prague and to suggest new avenues for inquiry into the urban and architectural heritage of state-socialist housing estates in the Czech capital.

La riflessione sul «socialismo reale»

The role played by Rosario Villari as a public intellectual was closely connected to his political and historical reflections on Soviet Socialism. This paper analyses his interventions in two distinct moments. Firstly, Villari’s contribution to debates on dissent in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the late 1970s, when he was a member of Parliament for the Italian Communist Party and an advocate of Eurocommunism. Secondly, his views on the decline and fall of Communism in Europe and Russia between 1989 and 1992. The evolution of Villari’s interpretation, which ended up in a very critical assessment of the entire experience of Communism since 1917, had serious implications, in terms of historical thinking, on the legacy of the twentieth century.

Systemstöd och demokratiattityder i Baltikum

Public Support for Democracy in the Baltic States Drawing on cross-national public opinion surveys from the spring of 2014, this article analyses popular support for democracy in the three Baltic states - more specifically the attitudinal differences between the ethnic majorities and the Russian-speaking minorities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It assesses the democratic political culture of the three countries 25 years after the fall of communism in Europe, 10 years after EU membership, a few years after the global financial crisis, and in the midst of the recent Russian-Ukrainian crisis. The data demonstrate widespread public dissatisfac- tion with democracy throughout the region, especially in Latvia, the country hardest hit by the crisis in 2008-2009. As a rule, the Russian-speaking minorities in the three Baltic states tend to be more critical of democracy than ethnic Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians.

Systemstöd och demokratiattityder i Baltikum

Drawing on cross-national public opinion surveys from the spring of 2014, this article analyses popular support for democracy in the three Baltic states – more specifically the attitudinal differences between the ethnic majorities and the Russian-speaking minorities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It assesses the democratic political culture of the three countries 25 years after the fall of communism in Europe, 10 years after EU membership, a few years after the global financial crisis, and in the midst of the recent Russian–Ukrainian crisis. The data demonstrate widespread public dissatisfaction with democracy throughout the region, especially in Latvia, the country hardest hit by the crisis in 2008–2009. As a rule, the Russian-speaking minorities in the three Baltic states tend to be more critical of democracy than ethnic Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians.

Response to “Causal reasoning: the ‘magical number’ three”

In a recent issue of EMBO reports , Ladislav Kovac proffered a single theory to explain why the individuals whom he questioned typically gave exactly three alternative, causative explanations for the phenomena described to them; three examples of which are the increase in the number of divorces in Western societies, the fall of communism in Europe and human altruism (Kovac, 2009). His explanation was that this might be a result of evolution: the ability of our ancestors to identify quickly only one or a few possibilities was “a precondition for successful action in the hunt for food, for seeking shelter from predators, and for social interactions within and among small bands of hunter–gatherers in our natural niche in …

The ghosts of the past: 20 years after the fall of communism in Europe

Twenty years after the fall of communism in Europe, the post-Soviet countries have not achieved a similar stage of democratic development. They have shown to be too diverse and historically too independent to follow one path of consolidation. This volume questions the premises of transitology, homogeneity, and path dependency theories and suggests an insight into the continuities and discontinuities within particular contexts of the given countries (Russia, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Ukraine, Poland and others). The latter quite often collide with each other and with the Western democratic values, thus putting a concept of a harmonious dialogue or a definite democratic solution for Europe into doubt. This volume challenges one-directional analyses of both communism and capitalism and offers an examination of their inner contrasts and contradictions that are a part of transitions to democracy. The irreconcilable differences between the two systems of ideologies determined by universalisms, such as utilitarianism, liberalism, harmony, and productivity, were derived from the post-Enlightenment heritage of the humanist ideals which today cannot be acknowledged without criticism. To grasp the dynamics of the post-Soviet countries that are developing their own democratic models requires looking into their political struggles, social fissures and complexities within their past and present, rather than observing them from the epistemological standpoint. Such a standpoint is criticised in this volume for seeing those countries as locked in one homogenous totalitarian paradigm. The abstractness of the universalist and utopian concept of transition imposed on concrete social relations is criticised, while the theoriticisation of democratic ideals is related to the political legitimisation.

Causal reasoning: the ‘magical number’ three

Before you continue reading this column, I would like you to ponder for a while about the possible causes of any of the following phenomena: human altruism, the growth of scientific knowledge, the increase in the number of divorces in Western societies and the fall of communism in Europe. In case you are from my region of the world, you might also include the causes of two other events: the disintegration of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic in 1992, and the rise of Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar to autocratic power in Slovakia from 1991 to 1998. Feel free to list as many causes as you consider to be relevant. Not long ago, I addressed the same request to 26 individuals, who were all academics and included scientists, university teachers and students, with an average age of 47.1 from an age range of 18–70 years. My hypothesis was that the number of causes for any event or phenomenon given by a respondent would be about seven. Cognitive psychologist George …

Caritas across the Iron Curtain?

This article takes the November 1965 letter of Poland's Roman Catholic bishops to their German counterparts as a starting point for historical inquiry into the nature and consequences of Catholic engagement in Polish-German reconciliation. The article begins with a close reading of the letter's text and its philosophical-theological underpinnings; then, it discusses the letter's reception history and its political consequences. The letter and its reception have a double significance: first, as an event in post-World War II European political, intellectual, and ecclesiastical history; second, as an ethical commentary on the spirit of dialogue promulgated in the constitutions of the Second Vatican Council. Although the letter helped to facilitate a process of Polish-German reconciliation that remains ongoing, this process has failed to assimilate the letter's ethics of forgiveness. That failure has reinforced the roadblocks that hamper Polish-German reconciliation almost two decades after the fall of communism in Europe.

L’urbanisme et l’architecture des villes d’Europe centrale pendant la première moitié du xxe siècle

L’Europe centrale du début du xxe siècle était un espace que ne définissaient pas tant ses frontières nationales qu’un réseau complexe de métropoles transnationales. Ces sociétés urbaines ont développé des approches et des techniques innovantes pour la construction des villes. Cependant, le réseau polycentrique que favorisait l’Empire a disparu avec sa culture dynamique dans le sillage de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, puis de la domination soviétique sur l’Europe de l’Est.Victime de la division binaire de l’Europe résultant de la guerre froide, la ville d’Europe centrale a cessé d’être considérée comme un objet d’étude et a été éclipsée de l’histoire de l’architecture moderne. De 1945 à 1990, les recherches sur le modernisme en Europe centrale ont suivi deux lignes géopolitiques et idéologiques différentes clairement définies : les travaux poursuivis à l’Ouest se sont concentrés principalement sur Vienne et la culture architecturale cosmopolite de la capitale impériale ; à l’Est, les recherches se sont axées sur les territoires compris dans le bloc soviétique et sur la « lutte pour l’autonomie nationale » telle qu’elle s’exprimait dans les discours architecturaux et les projets des groupes nationaux de l’ancien Empire.Avec la chute du communisme en Europe, les informations et les idées ont recommencé à circuler librement. De nouvelles perspectives ont transformé non seulement l’histoire de l’architecture de l’Europe centrale, mais aussi les discours dominants sur le modernisme international. Depuis une dizaine d’années, de nouveaux sujets de recherche portant sur les régimes territoriaux, les conditions frontalières, les continuités temporelles et spatiales, les structures institutionnelles et les circonstances de cette transition elle-même ont permis l’apparition de méthodologies historiographiques et de critiques novatrices pour comprendre la ville et l’architecture moderne dans l’Europe conçue comme un tout.

Imagining Membership: The Conception of Europe in the Political Thought of T. G. Masaryk and Václav Havel

A decade after the fall of Communism in Europe, the Czech Republic'smembership in the European Union is still a matter of a relatively shortwaiting period of 4 years. Not so the imagination of this membership andthe creation of a political concept created to promote this goal: thespecific Central European policy initiated by Thomas G. Masaryk andrevitalized by Vaclav Havel. Despite the deep differences in thepolitical thought and philosophical orientations of both Presidents, notto mention the historic rupture of 41 years of Totalitarianism, theirperceptions of Europe as an Imagined Community are identical.

Social Work Services in Army Medical Treatment Facilities: Are They Reorganizing?

The end of the Cold War and the fall of Communism in Europe resulted in profound changes in U.S. defense policy. Those changes led to dramatic reductions in personnel and programs within the Army. The Army Medical Department (AMEDD) is also being reduced in size and reorganized. At the same time, the AMEDD is facing escalating health care costs associated with demand and access to medical care. Social work services in Army medical treatment facilities are being directly affected by these system changes. Therefore, the question is raised whether changes in the organization and delivery of social work services are being initiated or anticipated. To what extent are social work chiefs of service involved in these decisions at the medical treatment facility level, and what are the positive and negative effects of reorganization on social work staff and the clients they serve?

Cuba after the Cold War

Ten original essays by an international team of scholars specializing in Cuba, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Latin America focus on the fall of communism in Europe and the transition to a market economy. Major themes of this study are the impact of the USSR's collapse on Cuba, how the historic events in Europe have affected the Central and South American Left, their implications to Cuba, Cuba's policies for confronting the crisis, and potential scenarios for the political and economic transformation of Cuba.