Post-socialist Countries Research Articles

Regional aspects of the restructuring of tourist flows in Europe in the 21st century

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global tourism is not limited to the crisis in the tourism industry. The pandemic was accompanied by a spatial restructuring of tourist flows. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of this restructuring at the regional level of European countries under the influence of the pandemic and geopolitical factors. The information base for the study is statistics of tourist arrivals for 427 regions of European countries in the period from 2003 to 2022. The entire time interval of the study, in accordance with the peculiarities of the spatial restructuring of tourist flows, is divided into three periods (pre-pandemic, pandemic and the beginning of recovery from the pandemic). The analysis was carried out using a cartographic research method. The main trend of spatial restructuring of tourist flows from 2003 to 2019. was their partial redistribution in favor of the regions of the countries of the eastern part of Europe (post-socialist countries) and Turkey. During the pandemic (2020–2021), the greatest reduction in tourist flow characterized countries specializing in inbound tourism. Countries that managed to move towards increasing domestic tourist flows (including Russia) found themselves in a more advantageous position. In 2022, within foreign Europe, due to the persistence of sanitary restrictions in a number of countries at the beginning of the year, it was possible to observe a temporary redistribution of tourist flows from the central part of Europe to its periphery.

Unveiling homophobia: A study of attitudes in Serbian society

The main goal of this study is to analyse attitudes towards gays and lesbians in Serbia, as well as across the broader region and Europe. Conclusions regarding homophobia are drawn from data gathered through several empirical studies, namely: the ninth and tenth rounds of the European Social Survey (ESS), conducted in 2018 and 2021, and three surveys conducted by the Institute for Sociological Research in 2003, 2012, and 2018. Comprehensive research material allows for the tracking of changes in attitudes within Serbia over the past two decades (2003-2021). In the first part, we address contextual factors related to the legal and social position of the LGBTIQ population in Serbia. This part also includes various measurement instruments and definitions used in studies since the 1980s, concerning different types of negative attitudes (prejudices) towards lesbians and gay men. In the second part, we present data for Serbia as well as comparative data on homophobia across the region and Europe. As hypothesised, research results show that significant levels of homophobia persist over time, with no considerable changes in two decades. We believe that this paper will make a meaningful contribution to research on attitudes towards LGBTIQ in Serbia and the region by offering a comparative perspective, thus addressing a gap in the study of homophobia in post-socialist countries.

Post-socijalistička (urbana) finansijalizacija u Srbiji - empirijski uvid

The paper explores Serbia's post-socialist financialization based on the galloping urban real estate trends after the global crisis in 2008. Financialization as a global process had a significant role in the socio-economic development and urban changes in different contextual frameworks, including the post-socialist European countries. However, there are not enough studies on financialization in these countries, while in Serbia they are completely absent. Focusing on post-socialist Serbia in the post-crisis period, the paper situates the narrative of urban financialization into the broader context by: illuminating the financialization dimensions; identifying the indicators for selected financialization dimensions; analyzing concrete data for selected financialization dimensions by specific indicators, and comparing available indicators of financialization with those in some post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and South-Eastern Europe (SEE). The empirical analysis provides insight into the complex nature of urban financialization which is measured by specific indicators. The findings point to a connection between the intertwining of global financial and macroeconomic trends and the urban development processes. It is assumed that there is a certain correlation and interconnection between (urban) financialization and developmental, monetary and financial policies and foreign financial inflows in Serbia.

Hidden religious minorities in rural areas of post-socialist countries - the example of rural Adventist communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hidden religious minorities in rural areas of post-socialist countries - the example of rural Adventist communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Right-Wing Leftists, Left-Wing Rightists, and Traditionalist Liberals: Core Political Values and Ideological Inconsistency at the Party-Elite Level in Bulgaria

The growth of heterodox ideological configurations, or ideological inconsistencies, among the electorate of Western countries, has been offered as one explanation for recent momentous political events, such as Brexit or the election of Donald Trump as US President. Previous research, however, suggests that ideological inconsistency has been typical for Central and Eastern European (CEE) states for the past thirty years after the fall of the Socialist regimes there. Based on a survey of 102 active members of local and national party structures in Bulgaria, followed by in-depth interviews with the same respondents, I develop a conceptual and methodological approach aimed at objectively measuring Bulgarians’ political values and ideological orientations. Building on previous research on the statistical independence of the social and economic dimensions of ideology, this study identifies three main models of ideological inconsistency at the party-elite level in Bulgaria, offering evidence of the “homogeneity in ideological inconsistency” in this post-Socialist country, with party elites and electorate following the same patterns of inconsistency. The existence of a conservative value complex, integrating traditionalist, statist, and nationalist attitudes regarding the social sphere, is another major finding of the study. I discuss the specific historical and socio-cultural background contributing to ideological inconsistency in Bulgaria and potential implications for the wider CEE region.

Latvia and Estonia: the soviet period of economic development

The article analyses the Soviet period of Latvia and Estonia, which turned out to be very productive for their socio-economic development. In the Baltic republics, there were nо resources necessary for the development of the national economy. Latvia and Estonia were almost completely dependent on supplies from outside the region. At the same time, they had the advantage over other republics in terms of geographic position, in particular a network of seaports. The transit potential of the Baltic States was one of the main factors of preferential investment. New industrial enterprises were created, power plants, seaports, airfields were built, transport highways were laid. The processes of modernization were supported by labour migration from other republics of the USSR and subsidised by the central government. At the same time a highly qualified and skilled personnel was formed, trained both in educational institutions of Latvia and Estonia, and in leading universities in Moscow, Leningrad and other cities of the Soviet Union. Today Latvia and Estonia, along with the Czech Republic and Slovenia, occupy leading positions among the post-socialist countries of Europe in terms of socio-economic development. Based on a broad factual material, it is demonstrated that a significant contribution to their development belongs to the Soviet heritage.

Intra-household Time Allocation: Evidence from the Post-socialist Countries

Intra-household Time Allocation: Evidence from the Post-socialist Countries

Folklore: Memories, Politics, Heritagisation

Despite many similarities, the understanding and treatment of the folklore movement differs between the various post-socialist countries, both in the conceptualisation of the phenomenon and in the vocabulary used. This paper presents different examples of the practices of the folklore (revival) movement in post-socialist countries. Both memory and auto-ethnographic studies are included.

Hidden in Folklore: The Past and Present of the Revival Movement in Post-Socialist Countries

The study points to the ambivalence and ambiguity of the folklore movement, which in the environment of the former socialist Czechoslovakia was sometimes associated with the expression “hiding in folklore”, describing in particular the act of creating an alternative space to the everyday reality that did not allow a person to fully self-realize or express their own identity. We ask to what extent this metaphor represents the nature of todayʼs folkloric activities in the post-socialist society.

The Role of Neighbourly Relations and Cooperation in Residents’ Willingness to Renovate Multi-Family Buildings in Croatia

The inadequate legislation on multi-family housing management in Central and Eastern European post-socialist countries calls for the exploration of additional determinants of building renovation on the level of the community of residents in a building. To this end, we present here an analytical framework called the mediated-Renovation Decision (m-RD) model for simultaneously testing the direct and indirect effects that neighbourly relations, cooperation of the co-owners’ representative with the co-owners, and acceptance of the building co-ownership concept have on co-owners’ willingness to invest in building renovation. The model is based on assessments made by 325 co-owners’ representatives from multi-family buildings in Croatia. The results show that the quality of neighbourly relations affects the co-owner’s willingness to renovate not directly, but indirectly through the level of their acceptance of the building co-ownership concept. The other indirect effect of neighbourly relations – through the level of the representative’s cooperation with co-owners – was not significant. The demonstrated analytical value of the m-RD model advocates for more complex studies of the role of neighbourly relations in collective decision-making and actions in the housing domain.

Who Cares for Families? Narrative(s) of Return in Postsocialist Europe

This introduction to the thematic cluster “Who Cares for Families? Narrative(s) of Return in Postsocialist Europe” identifies and analyzes its core concept—the narrative of return. Families of today are talked about differently, and how they are narrativized matters. The narrative that stresses that family is under threat and in need of defense or a special form of care, figuring care as restitution of the natural, traditional, or proper family, is termed the narrative of return. The trope of return is strongly normative and non-descriptive, as it relies on mythical temporalities that ought to be restored in our present. The article first defines the choice of concepts—narrative, return, care, and threat. Second, it applies this conceptual frame in the transnational context, particularly within the transnational anti-gender campaigns in the populist moment. Third, it focuses on the postsocialist part of Europe, where, as the entire thematic cluster aims to demonstrate, the narrative of return has gained particular currency. In eastern Europe, these narratives are integral to larger projects of restoration of national agendas and serve as a tool of double emancipation: from the Soviet past and from the present European Union. Political actors using narratives of return advocate and successfully push through fundamental changes in the political frameworks and value systems of the postsocialist countries. In sum, the introduction aims to demonstrate the conceptual background of a political tool.

Civic participation in Paweł Starosta’s research

Research on the condition of democracy in post-socialist countries focuses primarily on issues of civic participation. This article, which provides an analytical overview, presents civic participation in light of the achievements of Professor Paweł Starosta. The text has the character of an analytical overview study. Particular attention is focused on the social context, the aims and directions of the research, the definition and determinants of public participation, and the main results of the observations made by Starosta. Starosta’s contribution, visible in the analysed works, extends the perception of public participation beyond the behavioural dimension and constructs theoretical concepts to explain political involvement based on the criterion of subjectivity. It also distinguishes ideal types of political involvement at the local level. In conclusion, Starosta’s research has considerable application potential in the context of the methods used to measure and explain participation at the local level. The comparative value may be particularly useful for researchers of local systems, especially rural systems (rural studies), who come from various scientific disciplines, including political sociology, rural or urban sociology, and socio-political geography.

The place of dichotomous structures in the thought system of János Kornai

AbstractThe most significant concept of János Kornai's oeuvre is the shortage economy theory as it was presented in Anti-equilibrium more than fifty years ago. According to this, modern economies are never in equilibrium. On the markets of goods and services, the aggregate demand is either significantly higher or significantly lower than the aggregate supply. This dichotomous model is discussed in the first part of the paper.After the collapse of the communist system in 1989/90, shortages disappeared everywhere unexpectedly quickly. But it was also an unexpected development that the institutions of liberal democracy have not developed in several countries and/or collapsed after a short period. Regarding Hungary, Kornai issued an alarm signal at the turn of 2010/2011. He was the first who said that the Orbán regime had turned the country into an autocracy in barely a year. The second part of the paper examines whether Kornai's assertion, shared by many transition-economy specialist, that there are only two political systems (democracies and autocracies) is adequate for the entire range of post-socialist countries. The author's answer to this question is negative.

Transformation of tradition in Kenzo Tange’s projects as a way of shaping contemporary Japanese architecture

This study explored the transformation of tradition in contemporary Japanese architecture, with a focus on Kenzo Tange’s works as a potential solution to the lack of national identity in modern urban spaces, particularly prevalent in post-socialist countries. Such homogenisation, as established by previous research, has negative implications for human psychology. The purpose of this study was to identify K. Tange’s creative approach to the use of tradition in the context of modernity. Ukrainian, Japanese, English, American, and other sources on the history of traditional and modern architecture in Japan, including the theoretical achievements of K. Tange himself and several sources on the architect’s works, were used in the study. A considerable amount of photographic material was also collected for the study. The paper described certain types of traditional religious architecture in Japan. The architecture of Shinto and Buddhism were considered as prototypes. Accordingly, the following objects of K. Tange were analysed: The Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, in comparison with the Ise Shrine Complex; Kurashiki Town Hall in comparison with the main pavilion of the Buddhist temple complex; the Kagawa Prefecture Government Office Building in Takamatsu in comparison with the Buddhist wooden pagoda. As a result, it was found that the transformation of tradition in K. Tange’s works can occur at four levels: the organisation of the master plan, the formation of the interior space of the building, the formation of its overall structure, and at the level of semantics. For each example of transformation, appropriate references were made to certain features of Japanese architecture or traditional Japanese worldview that were discovered during the study. In addition, an algorithm for introducing traditional features into modern architecture was presented, which, given the need to rebuild Ukrainian cities destroyed as of 2023, could help revive them while avoiding the architectural shortcomings of the past

Housing wealth inequality, intergenerational transfers and young households in the super-homeownership system

This article focuses on the problem of housing wealth inequality as an increasingly important dimension of social inequality in post-socialist super-homeownership countries and uses the Czech Republic as a case study. The article shows that housing wealth inequality is higher than income inequality and that it tends to grow in time, especially due to the spatially uneven appreciation of house prices. However, intergenerational housing-related within-family resource transfers have a mitigating effect on growing wealth inequality. Using a microsimulation model, the article shows that any discontinuation of transfers could significantly increase housing wealth inequality in the future, especially among young families. Unlike in some Western societies, intergenerational resource transfers thus work to equalise rather than catalyse housing wealth inequality. These findings have significant implications for measuring social inequalities, demographic trends, and the stability of housing systems in post-socialist countries.

The Sensitivity of Family-Related Behaviors to Economic and Social Turbulence in Post-Socialist Countries, 1970-2010

Many demographic challenges and new trends have been observed across formerly state socialist countries after embarking on their political and economic transition. Including countries that range from Eastern Europe to Central Asia, this study explores whether some family-related events were more sensitive to the transformation that occurred in the 1990s than others, and whether the disruption was immediate or delayed across this wide range of contexts. Based on year-specific hazard ratios over four decades, results point to changes in fertility patterns being clearly linked to the transition. Second birth rates reacted almost immediately to societal disruption, whereas a more delayed change occurred for first births. Although abrupt changes in marriage and divorce rates also occurred, these changes often began before the transition and therefore may be part of longer-term developments. That second births were the most sensitive family event to the immediate change in conditions may be due to economic costs, but also unique characteristics related both to its lack of conferring a new social role on the individual, such as in the case of marriage and parenthood, and the narrower window of time in which this event usually occurs. The delayed changes in first births may instead reflect changes in norms and culture that influenced younger individuals when they reached childbearing ages. * This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”.

Utilitarian heritage

While modern heritage is often discussed as a critical resource for sustainable urban and social development, the future of such housing is often limited not by technical but rather by cultural, historical, or socio-economic constraints. In cities with a socialist past, mass housing provided individual apartments for a number of Soviet families and tended to create particular spatial qualities. However, with the collapse of the socialist system, attitudes towards such housing began to transform. This paper is a reflection on the range of perceptions of this heritage, attitudes towards it, and difficulties in shaping contextually informed renewal policy approaches. To what extent do traumatic experiences of the past and the rational use of resources in the present mutually influence each other? This article introduces the controversial debate based on the cases of three former socialist countries: Moldova, Armenia, and Uzbekistan. On the one hand, the ubiquity of mass housing in post-socialist countries fostered tolerance for such a typology. On the other hand, large housing estates are a constant reminder of the traumatic experience of the socialist experiment. This essay discusses the present and the future of large residential estates based on reports, policies, media, and collected expert interviews on approaches to working with mass housing areas. Together, the three contributions and joint reflections attempt to add to the debate about the past, present, and future of middle-class mass housing in various social, cultural, and political conditions.

Coexistence of Multiple Writing Systems: Classifying Digraphia in Post-Socialist Countries

This study aims to specify the definitions of two terms, bigraphia and digraphia, and examine how these phenomena appear in post-socialist countries. It is currently a global phenomenon to use two or more writing systems in one country, due to the spread of English and the Internet. Bigraphia means when the function and prestige of two writing systems (or two varieties of one system) are equal. On the other hand, when there is a difference in the function and/or prestige between two writing systems, it is defined as digraphia. The paper examines the combination of writing systems in post-socialist countries such as Russia, Belarus, Serbia, and Uzbekistan. In-digraphia refers to a situation in which variations of one writing system coexist, and out-digraphia refers to a situation in which two different writing systems coexist. A narrower sense of digraphia is observed in Belarus today: Belarusian Cyrillic-Т(BC-T) is used to write Tarashkievitsa and Belarusian Cyrillic-N (BC-N) is used to write Narkamaŭka. Out-digraphia is observed in Serbia and Uzbekistan. In these countries, Cyrillic and Latin scripts are used to write Serbian and Uzbek. Out-digraphia is also confirmed in Russian texts: It is commonly thought that only Cyrillic letters are used to write Russian, but recently the use of the so-called “macaronic alphabet,” which is a mix of Cyrillic and Latin letters, has become common.

ACHIEVABILITY OF AN OPEN AND INCLUSIVE CITY IDEAL (RIGHT TO THE CITY) IN EUROPEAN POST-SOCIALIST COUNTRIES

In the modern neoliberal world, due to large social stratifications and a large gap in wealth redistribution, the achievability of the ideal of an open city, as the concept of the UN and inclusive city, as the concept of a democratic society, is becoming a great practical challenge and therefore interesting topic for urban policy researchers. The article will open important research topics in contemporary urban policy studies, focusing on post-socialist countries. The main research methods are analysis and presentation (synthesis) of the results of contemporary studies in general, and comparative data on transformation in social housing policy in transitional countries. The paper will also present some challenges of the neoliberal world (example of Occupy London movement), as well as good practices of social housing in Copenhagen, to stimulate better urban and housing policy (learning from experiences) for Belgrade and other post-socialist cities. Keywords: affordable and social housing, post-socialist countries, participatory decision-making, public space, homelessness

Changes on economic freedom in 11 post-socialist countries of Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe in 1996–2022

Motivation: One of the most important dimensions of socio-economic development in democratic countries with market economies remains economic freedom. In this context, it is worth assessing the evolution of economic freedom in 11 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and South-Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia during the period of institutional transformations in 1996–2022.Aim: The aim of the article is to present the results on correlation, s-convergence and s-divergence, as well as a multidimensional comparative analysis in the field of economic freedom. In order to conduct comparative analyzes, the economic freedom indexes published by The Heritage Foundation in Washington and Wall Street Journal will be used. They measure 12 quantitative and qualitative aspects grouped around the four pillars of economic freedom: Rule of Law — property rights, government integrity, judicial effectiveness; Government Size — government spending, tax burden, fiscal health; Efficiency regulators — business freedom, labour freedom, monetary freedom; Open Markets — trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom.Results: The obtained results allow us to assess the generally positive changes in economic freedom in its 12 partial and 1 general aspects in relation to each country separately, as well as in relation to the group of countries that joined the European Union after 2003. They are a significant supplement to the knowledge about creating economic freedom in 11 post-socialist countries in the years 1996–2022.