Post-socialist Countries Research Articles

Does the Emerging Middle Class Support Democracy? A Comparative Analysis of China, Countries with Authoritarian Political Regimes, and Recent Post-Socialist Democracies

Does the emerging middle class support democracy? This study provides a comparative analysis of political attitudes, actions, and preferences of the middle class in China, other countries characterized by authoritarian political regimes/tendencies (Russia, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan), and post-socialist countries that have recently established democratic regimes (Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Estonia, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova). Conceptually, the study draws on the insights from the modernization and critical junctures theories of economic growth and political development, as well as the neo-Weberian approach to social-economic development. The empirical analysis, based on data from the World Values Survey, shows a positive association between the middle class status and preference for democratic governance in China; this link tends to be stronger than in other countries with authoritarian tendencies, but weaker than in the post-socialist democracies, especially those that are members of the EU. Compared to other country groups, the middle class in China are most likely to support strong leaders and least likely to take part in demonstrations and strikes. Consistently with the neo-Weberian approach, the preferences towards democracy in different countries can be explained by country-wide cultural attitudes.

Content and consequences of institutional reforms in post-socialist countries

Institutional reforms affect the efficiency of the economy through the mechanism of resource mobility, expectations, trust, the dynamics of the shadow range and corruption, the degree of economic freedom and the overall innovative capacity of the economy. The nature and content of these influences are controversial and sometimes uncertain. Therefore, when carrying out reforms, it is necessary to take into account the specific peculiarities of the connection between changes in the institutional environment and the processes of functioning and development of the economy. Most often, institutional reforms have a differentiated impact on economic entities: the change of rules will affect some positively in the short term, but negatively in the medium term, and will have the opposite effect on others. The effects of a short-term positive impact for individual subjects are mostly determined by redistributive processes, since it takes a certain amount of time for a significant and sustainable increase in public wealth under successful reforms. During institutional reform, a purposeful change of a certain set of institutions takes place, carried out by subjects who develop and implement a transformation plan. Through the system of various state bodies using various mechanisms, tools and measures the state, on one hand, introduces institutional reforms, on the other, institutional prerequisites have a determining role in the implementation of state policy in various areas, economic area in particular. The article focuses on the institutional reforms of post-socialist countries at the end of the 20th century, which were aimed at the transition of countries from a command-administrative economy to a market economy. The experience gained from studying the positive and negative features of these reforms will help prevent mistakes in the implementation of institutional reform of Ukraine to ensure its effective development taking into account the country's national characteristics.

Gabriele Crespi Reghizzi and his time: A comparative lawyer against the background of the epoch

The article is devoted to an Italian lawyer, a prominent specialist in comparative law Gabriele Crespi Reghizzi (1941–2022), who in the last period of his life worked at the Department of Law of St. Petersburg State University. It talks about main milestones of his academic career: emergence of interest in Soviet and Chinese law, acquaintance with leading scientists in these fields, creation of innovative works. In addition to the law of the USSR and China, he was interested in the law of states of Eastern Europe, India and Africa, focusing on not only genesis of legal systems, but also their development and interaction in the context of international relations. The knowledge and experience of G.Crespi Reghizzi, as it seemed, should have remained within the framework of a narrow academic interest, but economic reforms in China in the 1970s and 1980s and political changes in Europe in the 1980s and early 1990s gave them a fresh start. Professor G.Crespi Reghizzi was widely known by his professional activity as a business lawyer, international commercial judge, consultant on legal aid projects for post-Soviet states. His contribution to the codification of civil law in Russia is noted. Among G.Crespi Reghizzi’s distinctive features as a scientist, the author notes his extremely attentive attitude to legal terminology, and in the case of the Chinese language — to legal ideography, extensive use of primary sources and non-traditional sources, knowledge of several foreign languages. He attracted people, students and colleagues, by virtue of his personal qualities as attentiveness, spiritual generosity, originality of views, willingness to share his exotic experiences. To compile a complete bibliography of G.Crespi Reghizzi’s works seems to be quite difficult, since, besides professional legal publications and publishing houses, he willingly published in a variety of places and forms, wrote a lot of practical and popular scientific works, not to mention the linguistic diversity of his publications. Nevertheless, the article presents his main works, which made a great contribution to understanding the legal system of socialist and post-socialist countries and comparative law.

Independent Living in Post-Socialist Countries

This article considers how, as a result of the persistence of familialism and paternalism, the legislative changes made in some Central and Eastern European countries (CEE), all of which have ratified the UN CRPD, mainly aim to: (a) incorporate the work of relatives in the home care of people with long-term disabilities and (b) place people who previously lived in large welfare institutions into smaller facilities (either in residential units for at least 25 persons or in group homes). None of these changes enables a radical shift toward independent living, and conversely, independent living as a philosophy and way of life is not yet a real alternative to family-based and paternalistic welfare provision in CEE. By extension, the social model of disability, which promotes dignity, respect, and self-determination to improve the lives of people with disabilities, remains an ‘alternative’ and a ‘radical way of thinking’ rather than being mainstream.

A typology of the Baltic region states according to excellence in science and technology

Global manufacturing systems function in such a way that countries develop industrial spe­cialisation, which leads to territorial disparities. The countries of the Baltic region are no exception despite their strong economic ties and developed industries. A signifi­cant element of any manufacturing system is its scientific and technological subsystem, which is described in this article for ten countries (Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Nor­way, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia), based on an analysis of a clustered set of national character­istics: R&D financing and staffing in the scientific and technological subsystem. A total of ten indicators, absolute and relative, are investigated. The study relies on combined grouping, graphical and cluster analysis to build a typology of countries and distinguish their types ac­cording to their scientific and technological excellence As a result, a typology of the countries of the Baltic Sea region has been pro­posed and types of countries with similar characteristics have been identified: the two main types are traditional market economies and post-socialist countries, whose common features are observed in all sets of main characteristics. Several subtypes are described as well. The research draws on 2010—2019 (2020) statistical data from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat).

ОЦЕНКА НЕРАВНОМЕРНОСТИ СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО РАЗВИТИЯ ЛИТВЫ В 2004–2019 ГГ.5

The unevenness of socio-economic development is an objective property of space. For the post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, this issue is of particular relevance, including in the context of the imposition of EU institutions on spatial structures formed during the period of central planning. The paper analyzes a number of socio-economic indicators for 60 Lithuanian municipalities from 2004 to 2019. In order to identify key trends in the unevenness of spatial development, the standard deviation of the selected indicators from the national average was calculated, with the results further categorized into five groups: exceeding by more than 60% and by 20-60%, lower by more than 60% and by 20-60%, and the closest to the average from -20 to 20%. The periphery was considered to include those territories where the indicator values were below the national average by more than 60%, by 20-60%, and also those closest to the average from -20 to 20%. The semi-periphery comprised municipalities with indicators above the national average by 20-60%, while the core – by more than 60%. The dynamics of the studied processes are volatile in nature, which is associated with the new institutional design of the functioning of the state after joining the EU and with the external environment. The territorial structure of socio-economic processes in Lithuania is extremely polarized. The country's largest agglomerations (Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda) and the seaside resort area (Palanga, Neringa) stand out as centers of population and investment attraction. Almost all the rest of the country is a periphery, but rather motley. The degree of peripherization of municipalities depends on the geographical location relative to the main centers, the degree of preservation of and market demand for the Soviet industrial heritage, and the natural and recreational potential. Only 18% of Lithuanian municipalities are characterized by a certain stability or improvement in performance, while 80% of them are subject to varying degrees of peripheralization, especially municipalities along the entire border perimeter.

Dancing heirs of nomadic culture. The bii biyelgèè dance and heritagisation processes in Mongolia

This article questions cultural and heritage-making policies in contemporary Mongolia, using the example of the Oirat’s bii biyelgèè dance, inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of urgent safeguarding in 2009. As it is both the dance of minority groups and a paragon of national nomadic culture, this study proposes to rethink the transmission of the bii biyelgèè within the framework of heritagisation processes. It aims at considering its historical roots (both political and epistemological), as well as the relational positioning of a variety of local actors including recognised “heirs” as well as “users” of heritage. Heritage is viewed as a heuristic lens through which identity-making processes and cultural negotiation in the socialist and post-socialist countries of Eurasia as well as on the global stage can be understood.

Developing a Rural Healthcare System

Background: Healthcare related welfare is a matter of resource allocation. In modern market economies, redistribution in Western societies is accomplished through state welfare systems to balance the inequality of market resource allocation. However, resource allocation in socialist countries has its own peculiarities. And the relationship between market transformation (social transformation) and resource allocation methods in post-socialist countries is an important academic topic. This paper examines the changes in the rural cooperative medical system（RCMS）in China in order to explore the changes in rural cooperative healthcare governance mechanisms during recent social transformation. Objectives: The main purpose of this paper is to place the rural cooperative health care system（RCMS）in a macroeconomic-political context and to compare the changes in cooperative health care resource allocation mechanisms across time. Methods: The article undertakes a narrative literature review approach and method. The review used the following sources: Web of Science and PubMed. The search used the keywords" rural cooperative medical care system", "community benefits", " public service-based welfare" and "governance",and limited to articles published between January 2019 and June 2022. The selection of articles was based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria (keywords defined and time span of publication). Results: From collectivized cooperative medical care System（RCMS） to today's New Rural Cooperative Medical System（NRCMS), its governance mechanism has changed and the nature of welfare has changed with it. It has also changed from community welfare, where organized grassroots communities supply medical services, to government-led public service-based welfare. Main Contribution to Evidence-Based Practice: The paper shows the process of change in China's rural cooperative healthcarel system（RCMS), mainly analyzing the change of healthcare welfare governance mechanism. Thus ,it provides a reference for governmental health policies development and for international researchers.

Poking Fun at the Transformation: Postsocialist TV Satire in the 1990s

This article examines postsocialist TV satire of the 1990s in the Czech Republic and Poland using the examples of the programmes <em>Česká soda</em> (Czech Soda Water, ČT, 1993-1997) and <em>Za chwilę dalszy ciąg programu</em> (Next Episode in a Moment, TVP, 1988-1994). These pioneering shows were among the first to introduce the format of television satire and news parody to postsocialist screens. The article explores how the programmes’ creators forged a highly particular format stemming from local variety show traditions. It analyses the ways in which these shows articulated criticism of the transformations of postsocialist countries from planned to market economies and reflects on their enduring popularity and function as sites of memory of the 1990s.

CEO Age and Cash Holdings around the World: The Moderating Role of Legal Origin

The worldwide growth in the level of corporate cash holding has prompted scholarly interest. Grounded on the precautionary motive of cash, we aim to provide a behavioural explanation to this phenomenon by exploring the relation between CEO age and corporate cash holdings. We further examine the institutional factor that may exert an influence on this relationship through a country’s legal systems, based on the notion that business corporations are part and parcel of the nexus of the institutions. Using an international sample of 24,989 firms from 90 countries, we find that CEO age is positively associated with the level of cash holdings. The positive impact is weakened when firms operate in countries with greater investor protection and better financial development. We demonstrate that older CEOs from common law, German law and post-socialist countries have a propensity to hold less cash. Additional robustness test supports our empirical findings.

Civil Society and Peripheral Activism in a Donbas Monotown

The condition of civil society and grass-roots activism in post-socialist countries is often perceived as a distorted mirroring of its Western equivalent, with the implication that it is impaired or even flawed. Particularly in places such as the monotowns of the Donbas region of Ukraine, the symptoms of grass-roots activism and signs of thriving civil society rooted in local modes of understandings are often overlooked when only scrutinized through the lens of Western-based concepts and ideas. This article is based on ethnographical research that was conducted in the Donbas monotown of Kramatorsk and its surroundings over a period of several months. It argues that local notions of activism are fueled by hope and a sense of peripherality that shapes the local dynamics of activism and engagement.

The role of real estate development activity in the re-urbanization of cities – a case study of Łódź, Poland

Abstract The suburbanization of cities began in many countries after World War II and was caused, among other things, by the growing popularity of the motor car, the development of transport networks, and the growth in human populations. In post-socialist countries, this process started later (mainly after the collapse of socialism). Suburbanization was often an uncontrolled phenomenon (due for instance to an ineffective urban spatial policy), which contributed to urban sprawl, and in which developers played a significant role. The growing costs of city maintenance have prompted local authorities to undertake planned activities for re-urbanization. The increase in development activities in recent years encourages reflection on their importance in these processes. This article aims to outline the role of developers, responsible for the new construction and the reconstruction of existing facilities, in the process of city re-urbanization, using the city of Łódź, Poland, as a case study. It is an example of a post-industrial city in which, the process of suburbanization, combined with the phenomenon of urban sprawl, proceeded rapidly after 1989. The phenomenon of depopulation has also been observed in Łódź for several years. Therefore, re-urbanization may be an antidote to some of Łódź’s population and spatial problems. The methods of desk research and a case study were used to achieve the aim.

Social Enterprises in the Fight Against Poverty

Abstract The study examines the evolution of poverty and social exclusion in post-socialist countries, in particular in Hungary. When examing the fight against poverty, the authors examine the role of social enterprises in poverty alleviation. A certain part of social enterprises is created to find solutions to social needs and critical social situations like increased and deep poverty or long-term unemployment. Their existence is justified by the fact that for many social problems, effective and long-term solutions cannot be provided by the governments, the market or public aid. We test whether there is any relationship between the extent of poverty and social exclusion and the spatial pattern of social enterprises established to alleviate poverty in Hungary, one of the post-socialist countries.

Social Capital, Rules and Their Influence on Agreement Implementation

The article presents the observation of the attitude to accepted rules in Ukrainian cities. The case of Ukraine was studied in the context of the development of other post-socialist countries in Europe. The impact of social capital on ignoration of state laws and safety rules is analyzed. In order to verify the degree of compliance by the public with the rules observations in different parts of Ukraine were done. The sample size determination in all cases was based on the entire statistical population and the level of reliability of results. It was found, that people do not care too much about obeying state law or rules in organizations. The main direction of the defined problems solving should be in creating new informal institutions that can change people’s attitude to agreement and rules obligatoriness.

Urban Shrinkage as a Catalyst of a Transition, Revolving around Definitions

For decades, urban shrinkage has remained a serious challenge, especially in post-socialist countries. Substantially, it is recognizable as a temporary population loss; this encourages the undertaking of a systematic review of the phenomenon—has there been any change in the urban shrinkage connotation in the past years? Empirical research examines the mechanisms that were disclosed in the literature during the first two decades of the 21st century. This paper outlines the core aspects of shrinkage in the economic, social, and spatial dimensions. The paper questions whether the phenomenon is a catalyst to a new development trajectory of cities, collecting a review of the terms attached to shrinkage itself. The analysis is based on a meta-analysis of the literature; it covers the papers and outputs of research projects that were focused on shrinkage from 2000 to 2020. The review leads to conceptual models based on the perpetual mechanism of the phenomenon.

Nuclear energetics of postsocialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe: it’s influence on forming of EU climate and energy policy

Аt least in the last decade and a half the EU has put strict priorities on decarbonisation and developmennt of carbonfree technologies (mostly based on renewable energy resources) in its energy policy. Achieving this goal consists a challenge for many member-states from Central and Eastern Europe (CEU). That formed a tendency for this countries to defend nuclear power as a tool of decarbonisation. So this countries becomes a "nuclear fl ank" of the EU and has itd infl uences on forming outlines of energy and climate policy of the Union. The article describes the origin of nuclear power sector in the countries of the region and basic challenges for the sector during postsocialist transit and EU accesion. This challenges were overcome in building partnership with the players of world nuclear industry. In the same time lasting dependency from russian (soviet) nuclear technologies and general distrust of the EU toward the nuclear projects fi nanced by Russia formed an obstacle for several ambitious projects. Countries of the CEU also coordinated their positions on the role of nuclear sector in the decarbonisation and tried to fi nd poweful allies within the EU (France) to defend their stance.

Towards a concept of sustainable housing provision in Ukraine

This paper is aimed to carry out the historical analysis of various state strategies concerning their role in housing provision to the citizens and to define the relevant results. The author strives to demonstrate also the severity of the actual problem and to propose a conceptual basis that could help to outline new strategic tasks. The study used historical and logical analysis of recent trends caused by long-lasting legal limitations which were not taken into account in most studies as to housing policy. About 80% of all houses in the cities, which have been built up to 1980, stay not yet been repaired and, to prevent collapse, require urgent major repair and modernization. The rising tariff for housing services, unlike all post-socialist countries, does not include a renovation component which could double the actual household housing expenses. In recent years half of all families in the country have applied for subsidies to pay for raised-in-times utility services. The challenge arises of how to transform their housing property. The similar international practice and Ukrainian management experience are not sufficient. The main housing policy problem is the mismatch between the housing provision and the lack of legal and financial opportunities for sustainable satisfaction.

Macroeconomic determinants of stock market volatility: Evidence from post socialist countries

This paper aims to estimate macroeconomic determinants of stock market volatility (SMV) for post-socialist countries using unbalanced panel data from 1995 to 2020. We evaluated the impacts of the stock market and macroeconomic determinants on SMV using the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) model based on the data of selected eleven post-socialist countries in terms of two consecutive years. The findings reveal that economic freedom has a strong and good impact at any time; however, although the previous year's turnover ratio (TOR) had a positive impact, it has an unfavorable impact on SMV in the current year. Furthermore, the year's inflation rate, level of corruption, economic growth rate, and stock market value have all shown a negative impact. The study's findings serve as a useful reference for stock market practitioners and policymakers in these nations in making decisions.

Processing discrimination cases in post-socialist countries: Multiple and intersectional discrimination through the eyes of legal practitioners in Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia

This article focuses on how discrimination cases in general, and multiple and intersectional discrimination cases in specific, are approached by legal practitioners in civil law countries, focusing on three post-socialist countries––Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia. The article presents empirical findings from semi-structured interviews showing how legal practitioners approach three equality law institutions: shifting of the burden of proof, comparator and contextualisation. The research findings suggest that challenges for multiple and intersectional discrimination claims persist despite the generally well developed legal framework. There is a general reluctance to accept the shifting of the burden of proof, and there is no established understanding or practice of when the burden is shifted, which hints to a nonunified practice. There is an insistence on a comparator, which burdens intersectional discrimination claims. There is a general disregard of the synergistic effects arising in intersectional discrimination cases and a tendency for disjointing intersectional claims. Thus, while the letter of the law may not be an obstacle for multiple and intersectional claims to be fully heard and properly addressed, the legal practice is.

Political connections and the super-rich in Poland

• There is little evidence that the Polish economy suffers from crony capitalism. • We use newly collected original panel data from 2002 to 2018. • Political connections do not increase chances of upward mobility on the rich list. • Political connections are not consistently related to the size of the largest fortunes. • They help not to move down on the list, but they increase the risk of dropping out. We study the impact of political connections of the richest Poles on their wealth level, mobility among the rich, and the risk of dropping off the rich list. We use newly collected original panel data (2002–2018) and we find that none of the variables capturing political connections of Polish multimillionaires is consistently related neither to the size of the largest fortunes in Poland nor to the chances of upward mobility on the rich list. While we find that political connections are related to a lower probability of moving down on the rich list, we also obtain that they increase the risk of falling off the list. Our results show that, contrary to some other post-socialist countries such as Russia or Ukraine, there is little evidence that the Polish economy suffers from crony capitalism.