Post-communist Region Research Articles

Analysing the gap in non-institutionalized political engagement between Western Europe and the post-communist region

Analysing the gap in non-institutionalized political engagement between Western Europe and the post-communist region

Do communist gender regimes have a lasting effect on contemporary gender role attitudes in the post-communist region?

Although studies have found a lasting negative impact of the communist legacy on political attitudes in the post-communist region, the effect of this legacy on gender attitudes is less well researched. While post-communist countries share a history of women-friendly policies under communism, their socio-political paths diverged after the transition. We ask: do communist gender regimes have a lasting effect on gender role attitudes? We answer this question by comparing the attitudes of cohorts socialised under communism with the attitudes of the post-transition generation using Life in Transition III survey data. We find a distinct legacy effect on attitudes. Non-European Union communist cohorts have more progressive attitudes than the post-transition cohort. In the European Union, the attitudinal gender egalitarianism of the post-transition cohort is indistinguishable from the attitudes of communist cohorts, likely due to this cohort also experiencing gender equality promotion during socialisation. The findings support the need to continue gender equality promotion.

Is Post-Communism Over? What Is and Is Not Distinctive about Eastern Europe and Eurasia Three Decades after Communism

ABSTRACT The distinctiveness of the post-communist region has been hotly debated since the end of the Cold War. Using cluster analysis with a wide range of demographic, political, socioeconomic, and attitudinal variables, we find that 28 post-communist countries do not form a distinct region along most of these dimensions. This analysis suggests that the “transition” paradigm is outdated, and researchers should use the concept of “post-communism” with caution. Yet, we do not dismiss the concept of a communist legacy, which may exist on dimensions not captured by conventional indicators. We also emphasize that regional knowledge on post-communist countries remains vital.

Introduction: Material Religion in Central and Eastern Europe

This introduction to the special issue “Material Religion in Central and Eastern Europe” provides an overview of various aspects of material religion in Central and Eastern Europe. It focuses on three major issues and their interconnectivity, which have played an important role in the social, political, and religious history of this macro-region: the much-debated notion of Central and Eastern Europe as a cultural and political region of the continent, the “glocal” aspects of material religion, and the role of material religion in the field of religious studies in this region. The article discusses the major topics and methodological approaches of the contributors of this special issue, highlighting the variety of research perspectives in religious studies in the post-communist regions.

Are gender attitudes and gender division of housework and childcare related to fertility intentions in Kazakhstan?

Previous research has found evidence of positive associations between gender-egalitarian attitudes or more equal division of housework/childcare and short-term fertility intentions in developed countries of Europe and East Asia. This study extends the literature to the context of a developing country in the post-communist region—Kazakhstan, which has progressed well in public gender equality but may not have developed private gender equality to the same extent as more developed countries. The study explores how (1) gender attitudes, (2) gender behaviour (housework and childcare division), and (3) consistency between gender attitudes and gender behaviour are associated with fertility intentions in this country. Kazakhstan’s Generations and Gender Survey of 2020 was used for the analyses. The dependent variable was treated as an interval measure, where intentions move along a continuum of certainty. Linear regressions were employed to test the hypotheses. The results show that gender-egalitarian attitudes were negatively associated with short-term fertility intentions for women with two and more children. Likewise, a more equal division of housework was negatively associated with short-term fertility intentions for both women and men, whereas more equal sharing of childcare was negatively associated with men’s fertility intentions. Also, in contrast to studies in more developed contexts, an egalitarian match of gender attitudes and behaviour (either housework or childcare) was negatively associated with short-term childbearing intentions for both women and men. Overall, greater gender equality in the family has a negative relationship with short-term fertility intentions in Kazakhstan. The study provides new and compelling evidence about the relationship between gender equality and fertility in a context that has not previously been studied.

Peripheralization Processes as a Contextual Source of Populist Vote Choices: Evidence from the Czech Republic and Eastern Germany

The existing research on contextual sources of support for populist parties has revolved around two factors: the unemployment rate and the size of immigrant groups. Conceived as residential characteristics, observation of these factors has been seen to increase support for radical parties in Western European countries. We identify different contextual (non-individual) drivers of support for populist parties in the post-communist Czech Republic (Czechia). Based on a large sample of voters ( n = 23,734), we identify the (contextual) effect of economic hardship and demographic decline on support for populist parties. We interpret these results as supporting the theory of regional peripheralization. This peripheralization has been identified to be particularly strong in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and has widened regional socio-economic disparities in this region. We show how these processes have affected voting behaviour and support for political parties. In a second step, we use a sample from eastern Germany ( n = 524) to test whether peripheralization affects support for populist parties in other post-communist regions. The results confirm the hypothesis also in the case of east Germany. Our study contributes to the debate by pointing out a novel mechanism that leads to increased support for radical and moderate populist parties.

Does communist nostalgia lead to COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs?

ABSTRACT Why are people in Central and Eastern Europe more hesitant towards COVID-19 vaccination and more prone to believe in COVID-19 related conspiracy theories than other Europeans? The article claims that the spread of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs in the post-communist region might be fostered by communist nostalgia. Drawing on the survey data from Lithuania, I show that communist nostalgia is one of the best predictors of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, controlling for other related factors such as populist attitudes, trust in political institutions, confidence in media and scientists and pro-Western attitudes. The paper claims that communist nostalgia in Central and Eastern Europe is conducive to conspiracy beliefs in a similar vein as nostalgic narratives employed by populist radical right in Western countries.

Children and female employment in Mongolia

Although a large body of literature has argued that motherhood has a profound and long-lasting negative effect on the employment and earnings of women, there is little evidence focusing on the post-communist region. This paper exploits the latest rounds of the EBRD-World Bank Life in Transition Survey (LiTS) and the Mongolian National Statistics Office Household Socio-Economic Survey (HSES) to examine the correlation between the presence of children of different age categories in a family and female employment in Mongolia in 2016. We examine the availability of childcare, social norms and attitudes towards women, as well as household decision-making as potential explanations. We find that small children decrease the probability of female employment relative to women with no small children. In particular, women with two children aged one to six years are 21.5 percentage points less likely to be employed. Our results also suggest that cultural biases against women may be at least partially responsible for the low female employment levels we uncovered. These results are unlikely to be driven by omitted variable bias.

Environmental Regionalism and International Organizations: Implications for Post-Communism

ABSTRACT Regional international organizations (IOs) are considered to be among the most efficient platforms in promoting an environmental agenda at global, regional, and national levels. Yet, the dialogue between studies of global environmental politics and comparative regionalism is quite recent. The emergence of non-democratic regional organizations (NDROs) is among the most recent discoveries in comparative regionalism and their implications for environmental politics are to be considered. How do NDROs matter in promoting an environmental agenda? How do IOs advance the environmental agenda across the post-Communist region? This Special Issue aspires us to answer these questions through establishing a deeper dialogue between studies of environmental regionalism and authoritarian regionalism. This introduction lays out the theoretical ground for the collection of articles in this Special Issue. It proposes a definition and typology of environmental regionalism (ER) that distinguishes between democratic and autocratic ER. It then analyzes the contributions to the Special Issue within this new theoretical framework.

Remittances and Inequality: The Post-Communist Region

This study aims to investigate the impact of international remittances on income inequality in the post-communist region. The association between the variables is examined via static and dynamic panel models. Using macroeconomic data from 27 countries over the period 1991-2014, we discover that income inequality progresses along a U-shaped course as a country becomes more dependent on remittances. For most of the countries, the relationship between remittances and inequality is inverse. When remittances account for more than 20% of GDP, they exacerbate economic inequality. This finding challenges the view that remittances should only be viewed as a pro-poor redistribution mechanism because in certain cases, additional migrant transfers may actually increase income inequality.

The Concepts and Ideas of ‘Spirituality’ Within Worldviews of Alternative Religiosities in the Post-Communist Region: Vissarionites and Anastasians

Abstract The article presents research on contemporary religiosities related to individuality and subcultural features, influenced by the processes of social change and religious diversification in the post-communist region. Its aim is to discuss individual and communal thinking (orientated to esotericism, magic, and ecology) typical for representatives of two nature-based spirituality movements—Vissarionites and Anastasians, which is expressed through concepts of New Age spirituality of Oriental origin. The concepts of energy, non-violence, vegetarianism, karma, and reincarnation are used in both movements and appear as an example of how such concepts arrived through Western cultural influences, transformed, and took root in the post-communist cultural context of New Age spirituality. The findings are based on data obtained from fieldwork in 2004–2015, including participant observation and interviews with respondents in the Baltic states and Russia.

Socio-Spatial Aspects of Shrinking Municipalities: A Case Study of the Post-Communist Region of North-East Poland

Urban shrinkage has become a common feature for a growing number of European cities and urban regions. Cities in Europe have lost populations during the previous few decades, many of them in the post-communist countries. A similar phenomenon has been observed in smaller units: municipalities and villages. Shrinking towns/municipalities/villages grapple with insufficiently used housing infrastructure, a decrease in labor force, investment and in the number of jobs. This analysis examines the socio-spatial factors present in municipalities in the north-east of Poland, which are expected to experience the greatest population decrease by 2030. The study focused mainly on determinants with the greatest impact on the good life standards. It also sought to answer why the population growth forecasts for these units are so unpromising. The findings have shown that the majority of determinants adopted in the conceptual model describing the good life standards are below the reference values. The applied taxonomic measure of good life standards (TMGL) method allowed for identifying five municipality clusters representing “different speeds” at which these forecasts are fulfilled. Two clusters have dominant determinants in five criteria and three clusters, in two criteria adopted in the conceptual model. The findings indicate that approx. 35% of the municipalities under analysis have a chance for stabilization of the population size, provided local stakeholders take some targeted actions.

Eurasian Regionalism as a Research Agenda. Interview with Dr. Mikhail A. Molchanov, University of Salamanca, Spain

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Molchanov is a prominent Canadian political scholar, professor and publicist. He has worked as a senior policy analyst for the Government of Canada and a professor of political science at several Canadian universities. He held a visiting professor appointment at the American University of Sharjah, UAE, and several visiting research appointments at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, Waseda University and Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, Japan, and at the United Nations University Institute of Comparative Regional Studies (UNU-CRIS) in Brugge, Belgium. Dr. Molchanovs research focuses on international relations in Eurasia and international political economy of regional integration. His research projects have been supported by the United States Institute of Peace, The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS), the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), Japan Foundation, Soros Foundations, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation. In 2011, he was awarded the Japan Foundations prestigious Japanese Studies Fellowship, and in 2012, elected Foreign Member of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine. He is the winner of the inaugural Robert H. Donaldson prize of the International Studies Association for the best paper study of the post-communist region. He sits on the Board of the Global and International Studies Program, University of Salamanca, Spain. Dr. Molchanov has published extensively on comparative politics and international relations of the post-communist states. He has authored and co-authored 7 books and nearly 120 articles and book chapters, including, most recently, Eurasian Regionalisms and Russian Foreign Policy [Molchanov 2016a], and Management Theory for Economic Systems [Molchanov, Molchanova 2018], as well as Eurasian Regionalism: Ideas and Practices [Molchanov 2015], Russias Leadership of Regional Integration in Eurasia [Molchanov 2016b], The Eurasian Economic Union [Molchanov 2018a], New Regionalism and Eurasia [Molchanov 2018b], Russian Security Strategy and the Geopolitics of Energy in Eurasia [Molchanov 2019], and Eurasian Regionalisms and Russias Pivot to the East: The Role of ASEAN [Molchanov 2014]. In his interview Dr. Molchanov talks about the formation of Eurasian studies in the U.S., Europe and the post-Soviet states, leading scientists in this area and periodicals. Special attention is paid to the perception of the Eurasian space in Western countries, to the prospects for further institutionalization of the Eurasian Economic Union, to the partnership between Russia and China and to Russia - EU relations.

Action sports lovers locked down due to COVID – 19

What is it like for a family of skiers, mountain bikers, climbers, and outdoor lovers to experience a quarantine? Not being able to move in nature gradually led us to think about freedom, the possibility of decision-making, civil society, solidarity, and at the end to the democracy in the Czech Republic. Our experience of Covid-19 quarantine turned from a small social experiment into a dragging confrontation with the wobbliness of the fundamental pillars of democracy in our country. The isolation itself couldn’t go separately from reflecting on the social and political context. With some 7000 cases we may have won the battle against the spreading of the virus. We may count significant losses in the war against the strengthening anti democratic trends in the post communist region. Therefore this text is personally reflective as well as it becomes political in places where the two aspects meet.

The EU’sEnfants Terribles: Democratic Backsliding in Central Europe since 2010

In the academic literature, Hungary and Poland are often cited as paradigmatic cases of democratic backsliding. However, as the backsliding narrative gained traction, the term has been applied to the rest of the post-communist region, including the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We suggest that this diagnosis is in part based on conceptual stretching, and set out to rescue the concept as an analytical tool. We then assess the extent of backsliding in the four Visegrád countries, explaining backsliding (and the relative lack of it) in terms of motive, opportunity, and the strength or weakness of opposing or constraining forces. We conclude that the situation is not as desperate as some commentators would have it: democratic backsliding in Hungary and Poland was contingent on a few exceptional factors, and EU leaders therefore need not be paralysed by the fear of contagion when they contemplate forceful action against backsliding member states.

How to Fight Puppy Mills: Toughening the Sentences for Animal Abuse in the Post-Communist Region.

Simple SummaryThe study examines the main legislative issues of providing a legal solution to the problem of illegal puppy mills in the post-communist context. These issues are demonstrated using the Czech Republic, a country that has become infamous for its illegal breeding establishments and subsequent export of puppies and kittens to other European countries, as an example. The country recently adopted tougher sentencing guidelines for animal abuse. The analysis identified three main obstacles to adopting tougher legislation: unwillingness to admit the gravity of the problem of animal abuse and deficient puppy mills; a conservative approach to legislation; inconsistencies caused by the Criminal Code amendment, especially violation of the ultima ratio principle. This was emphasised by a number of criminal law experts, who even warned that the Criminal Code amendment passed would not function in practice. The study demonstrates this on an analysis of criminal law experts’ positions and on the debates that took place in both chambers of the Czech parliament.This study seeks answers to questions regarding the kind of main legislative issues and obstacles there are in providing a legal solution to the problem of illegal puppy mills in the post-communist context, how criminal law experts opine about toughening the sentencing guidelines for animal abuse and deficient puppy mills, what kind of arguments have been formulated and how they have shaped the decision making by lawmakers, and how Czech politicians have argued in favour of or against toughening the sentencing guidelines for animal abuse. The Czech Republic was selected as a country of “flourishing” illegal breeding establishments and puppy exports to other European countries—a problem that has long required a solution. The introduction defines the concepts of animal abuse and puppy mills employed in the paper. Subsequently, the paper outlines existing laws as well as the amendments to toughen the sentencing guidelines. I use the example of debates among parliamentarians and legal experts on toughening the Czech Criminal Code and introducing longer prison terms to demonstrate some typical issues of the debates on tougher sentences for animal abuse in the post-communist region.

Domestic and Global Dimensions of Post-Communist Institution-Building

This article reviews four recent books that inquire into the nature and challenges of institution-building in the post-communist region. The main lessons learned from this scholarship relate to the complexity of establishing effective domestic institutions securing property rights and the role of various domestic and global factors that shape these processes. Domestic variables include political connections, bargaining power, and the nature of a social equilibrium that shapes norms, expectations, and behavior of economic actors. Global factors include structural constraints and opportunities associated with the global financial system and institutions.

Discursive exploitation or actual impact: Mental health anti-stigma campaigns in the post-communist area

Aim of the studyTo analyze mental health anti-stigma campaigns in the post-Communist region and identify their main patterns and characteristics.Subject or material and methodsQualitative interviews with nine experts from the national mental health care service user organizations from the post-Communist countries.ResultsThe paper presents the situation of mental health care in the region, identifies and discusses peculiarities of local mental health anti-stigma campaigns and presents findings of the qualitative experts’ research. It reveals a twofold positive effect of mental health service users’ activism, which has an individual therapeutic effect as well as helps fight stigma.DiscussionMental health service users' activism echoed the trends in Western countries. Yet in the post-Communist region, these initiatives emerged, developed and evolved over a concentrated period of time. Given such circumstances, certain mental health activists have preserved the institutional and evolutionary memory of the paradigm change from its very beginning in the early 90s. Mental health service users’ activism has a twofold positive effect because it is both useful for their own personal healing, growth, and self-realization as well as for fighting stigma at societal level.ConclusionsIn some countries such activism has failed to reveal its full potential due to lack of financial resources, widespread stigma and lack of leadership abilities. This gap is partially filled in by the human rights and mental health advocacy organizations. Nevertheless, their initiatives and advocacy campaigns insufficiently reveal mental health care service users' perspectives. This leads to certain tensions between both types of organizations, while service users feel being manipulated, publicly stripped and exploited.

Old Wine in New Bottles? New Parties and Policy Responses to the Great Financial Crisis in the Balkans

Across the post-communist region, new parties are gaining support from voters by promising to reject the status quo and orthodox policy. Some have come to govern on the basis of such promises and their “outsider” identity. But do these new parties actually make different post-crisis policy once they are in government? This paper compares policies adopted to address economic crisis in Bulgaria and Romania. Both governments pursue a standard set of austerity measures, but the Bulgarian government was able to take a more aggressive stance for a much longer time before losing support due to its outsider image.

From Petty Corruption to Criminal State

Offering a decent database easily applicable to cross-country comparison, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has been widely used as a variable for showing the level of corruption. However, surveys of its sources are based on presumptions which mainly apply to bottom-up forms of corruption, namely free market corruption and bottom-up state capture, and therefore it is insufficient for assessing the state of a country plagued by top-down types of the former. We provide an analytical framework that distinguishes four levels of corruption and draws on the experience of the post-communist region. Using this framework to analyze the CPI’s survey questions, we explain why the index provides a blurred picture of the region. ‘Big data’ evidence for top-down corruption in Hungary is also presented, signifying the need for a more refined index.