Post-socialist World Research Articles

“The Communists cannot take us to Europe”: negotiating Moldova's place in the post-socialist world

In 2005, Moldova's Communist Party was re-elected to power on a platform that promised unification with the European Union, reversing the position officially held since 2001 which oriented the country toward Russia. The Party's new orientation also sparked widespread debate, especially within intellectual circles, as many individuals found themselves in the strange position of being ideologically anti-Communist and pro-European, at a moment when Communists themselves had become pro-European. This paper aims to capture the use of ‘Europe’ in the social and political negotiations of culture workers, whose professional identity includes a strong element of political opposition, and to explore how the increased proximity and power of the European Union to Moldova has caused the social and political geography of ‘Europe’ to shift within Moldova.

Managing change: the comeback of post-socialist cities

The paper explores major trends and patterns of change embedded in the overall process of economic, social and political transformation that profoundly influence the spatial adaptation and repositioning of post-socialist cities. It reflects on important issues such as the efforts to create competitive, socially inclusive and well-governed cities in the post-socialist world. The research draws much-needed attention to an important set of urban policy issues with wide implications for the success of the transition process in the region. It explores the links between the transition to democracy, markets and decentralized governance, and highlights the most salient characteristics of these multilayered processes on the spatial transformation in post-socialist cities. The main argument is that the impact of these processes of urban change has created a mosaic of diverse urban experiences. Despite this diversity, the spatial transformation has several principal dimensions: (1) new spaces of production/consumption reflecting globalization and economic restructuring within the hierarchy of cities; (2) social differentiation in residential spaces associated with growing inequality and the emergence of new forms of urban poverty; and (3) conflicts and selective urban development associated with new models of governance and institutional transformation. The exploration of these ‘transitions’ through the urban lens emphasizes the importance of strategic urban management to address the unique challenges of post-socialist cities and their dynamic realities.

Transnationalism and the Social Mobility of Migrant Workers from the Post Socialist World

Since the accession of A8 and A2 member states to the EU in 2004 and 2007, labour mobility across borders has intensified with large numbers of migrant workers seeking economic and social opportunities in member states other than their home country. In particular, it is widely held that the UK is one of the major 'receiving' states for migrant workers from the post-socialist world. Policy directions have been focussed either around encouraging migrant workers to fill labour shortages in the UK or around the integration of migrants into communities and neighbourhoods once they have arrived, using a demand led, responsive approach. The degree of social mobility amongst these migrant workers is not widely discussed, nor is it commonly studied using a transnational frame of reference which sees migrants as maintaining links to their home communities and traditions after they have moved (Basch et al., 1992). Studies on social mobility have tended to be viewed through a national lens, often comparing states and their levels of social mobility (Breen, 2004), but rarely acknowledging the transnational dimension. This overlooks complex social networks across state borders and the important social and cultural capital involved in these exchanges. I posit that transnational networks of migrant workers have a dynamic effect on relative social mobility, whereby notions of class, occupational and social status shift based on interactions between home and host community. Improving knowledge and understanding of these networks could help to inform further policy development around the integration and settlement of migrant workers in the UK, contributing to equality of opportunity and social justice for those often living at the margins of society. This paper will explore the literature around transnational migrant networks and social mobility, providing a review of existing discourse with a hope of stimulating debate around future research directions in transnational migration. It will also provide an overview of current policy debates concerning migration management, considering how far the social mobility of migrants features at a policy level.

Participatory measurements of sustainable urban development and quality of life in post-socialist Zadar, Croatia

Over the last two decades, there has been an intensive discourse and research about measuring sustainable urban development. Many cities, regions and countries have decided to introduce indicators for monitoring and measuring the progress towards sustainability. Today there is a wide spread perception that information on the environment in general, and urban environment in particular, is the determinant of effective rational decisions and allocation of resources. Such information would enable planners and decision makers to formulate redistributive policies and programmes to address some of the disparities that exist in a post-socialist city. Cities of the post-socialist world characterized by sharp disparities, socio-economic contrasts and environmental degradation provide an excellent laboratory for tracing information on the quality of urban life. The current situation in the emerging Croatian coastal city of Zadar reflects the diversity of the post-socialist urban change in a very fragile Mediterranean landscape. This paper takes a critical look at sustainable development and its measurements. It describes the participatory approach through which different local communities in Zadar were evaluating quality of life based on basic pillars of sustainable development. The identification and collection of their opinions provide valuable data base and community input into urban governance and development planning decision making.

The rise and fall of social partnership in postsocialist Europe: the Commonwealth of Independent States

ABSTRACTTraditional trade unions throughout the postsocialist world embraced ‘social partnership’ as a means to secure their institutional survival in a radically changed economic and political environment. The commitment of national governments to social partnership ebbed and flowed through the 1990s, but it was confirmed, at least rhetorically, in Central and Eastern Europe by the prospect and requirements of accession to the European Union. This article explores the fate of social partnership in the ‘other half’ of Europe, the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, where social dialogue has largely been abandoned and trade unions alternatively marginalised or subordinated to the state apparatus.

Comparing Apples: Normalcy, Russia, and the Remaining Post-Socialist World

Shleifer and Treisman (2005) argue that Russia is a "normal country" but their benchmark for normalcy refers primarily to middle-income countries like Mexico and Argentina. Drawing on data from the World Bank and Transparency International, two economists explore this argument by placing Russia in a different context. Russia's experience is examined in comparison with other post-socialist transition countries sharing common political and economic histories with Russia, which have faced similar transition obstacles since communism's collapse. Russia's economic performance, media freedom, democracy, and corruption since transition are compared to these benchmarks in all other post-socialist countries since they began their transitions.

Where is the Post-socialist Working Class?

In reflecting on two recent popular representations of Poland’s working-class communities and ongoing work in one particular community in southern Poland, this article explores a range of literatures that locate working-class communities in both socialism and post-socialism. It draws attention to the dualities of representation of these working-class communities and seeks to explain these representations, connecting the specificities of the post-socialist world to wider social and economic shifts. Building on the ‘new working-class studies’ and other recent interpretations of working-class lives and cultures, it invokes alternative accounts of working-class lives after socialism, which move beyond the dualities identified, and seeks to reinscribe class as important in the discourses and materialities of post-socialism, East and West.

Should patients get the treatment they want?

Patients should get the treatment they want if it is the right thing for them, and it is possible and reasonable to provide it. Unfortunately, this simple answer to the question is superficial. In fact, it requires difficult judgements with uncertainty as to who should make them. Doctors have responsibilities to patients and their relatives, to the health organizations that employ them, and to society at large. These are often discussed and, increasingly, assessed (however, ineffectively and bureaucratically). Patients have, arguably, the right to be treated correctly by a doctor in an appropriately organized health service. But rights have parallel responsibilities, even if perhaps unwritten and unacknowledged, although in this postsocialist world, patient responsibilities are less discussed. The right to good health care implies a responsibility not to deprive others of good health care. If people are generally unmindful of social membership, this is partly the legacy of the extreme

Post-Socialist Pension Reform: Contributory and Non-Contributory Approaches

The pension reforms that were enacted in Central-Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union in the past decade reflect considerable diversity, but share one common feature: a move from a universalist-redistributive heritage to strongly differentiated, earnings-related benefits, with an emphasis on contributory financing. the differences in level and scope of old-age protection are widening, however, as plummeting formal employment translates into sharply decreasing coverage ratios. Thus, the importance of the existing non-contributory benefits for the elderly, that currently play a relatively marginal role in the post-socialist world, may soon be increasing.

Foreign aid for a post-euphoric Eastern Europe: the limitations of western assistance in developing civil society

This article raises three considerations with respect to attempts by Western governments and donor institutions to foster democracy and produce an ‘instant’ civil society in the post-socialist world. First, there is the divergent intellectual/academic discussion in both the East and West about the meaning of civil society. It is contended that the lack of a substantive consensus on this issue has directly affected donor practices to promote democracy and strengthen civil society in Eastern Europe. The second consideration refers to donors’ inconsistent support of civil society (however defined), which has exposed ‘aid’ as lacking any long-term strategy. The third consideration revolves around the issue of how Western assistance practices with regard to civil society have shaped a democratic facade for the oligarchic regime in one post-Soviet state — Ukraine, and have contributed to the emergence of new types of grant-oriented civic activists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), known as grantoids (grant-eaters). It is argued that the different points of departure in conceptualizing civil society in the East and in the West create an opposing set of references and a series of practical problems.

Neo-leftists versus neo-liberals: PRC intellectual debates in the 1990s

This paper examines the contemporary debates among ‘neo-leftist’ and ‘neo- liberal’ Chinese intellectuals as a means of discussing strategies for intellectual criticism in a post-socialist world. While sympathetic towards the neo-leftist critique of neo-liberal views on markets, I argue that the neo-leftist refusal to reflect on the shortcomings of the Cultural Revolution leads to an unfortunate reproduction of Maoist rhetorical strategies in their writings. After examining some of these rhetorical strategies, I conclude by suggesting that a deconstruction of the category of liberalism itself offers greater promise for contemporary intellectual criticism.

Democratization and Economic Reform

Are democratization and economic reform in tension with each other, or are they mutually supportive processes? A survey of new democracies in Latin America, Southern Europe, and the postsocialist world suggests that the answer varies by region. In the postsocialist cases, the relationship is positive and robust; in the other two regions, the relationship is negligible. Region, however, cannot serve as the explanation. Instead, what emerge as critical—and what happen to vary by region—are three factors that shape the relationship between democratization and economic reform: the timing of democratization, the agenda of transformation, and variations in governing mandates.

Uncertain Transition: Ethnographies of Change in the Postsocialist World. Edited by Michael Burawoy and Katherine Verdery. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. Pp. 328. $65.00 (cloth); $23.95 (paper).Where Was the Working Class? Revolution in Eastern Germany. By Linda Fuller. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999. Pp. x+242. $68.00 (cloth); $24.95 (paper).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewUncertain Transition: Ethnographies of Change in the Postsocialist World. Edited by Michael Burawoy and Katherine Verdery. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. Pp. 328. $65.00 (cloth); $23.95 (paper). Where Was the Working Class? Revolution in Eastern Germany. By Linda Fuller. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999. Pp. x+242. $68.00 (cloth); $24.95 (paper).Simon ClarkeSimon ClarkeUniversity of Warwick Search for more articles by this author University of WarwickPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Sociology Volume 106, Number 2September 2000 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/316969 Views: 55Total views on this site Permission to reprint a book review printed in this section may be obtained only from the author.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Uncertain Transition. Ethnographies of Change in the Postsocialist World

Uncertain Transition. Ethnographies of Change in the Postsocialist World

Uncertain Transition: Ethnographies of Change in the Postsocialist World

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Traders, Disorder, and Citizenship Regimes in Provincial Russia Chapter 3 Fuzzy Property: Rights, Power, and Identity in Transylvania's Decollectivization Chapter 4 Barter of the Bankrupt: The Politics of Demonetization in Russia's Federal State Chapter 5 Slick Salesmen and Simple People: Negotiated Capitalism in a Privatized Polish Firm Chapter 6 But We Are Still Mothers: Gender, State, and the Construction of Need in Hungary Chapter 7 Deconstructing Socialism in Bulgaria Chapter 8 Redefining the Collective: Russian Mineworkers in Transition Chapter 9 Portable Worlds: On the Limits of Replication in the Czech and Slovak Republics

Uncertain Transition: Ethnographies of Change in the Postsocialist World

Uncertain Transition: Ethnographies of Change in the Postsocialist World

Rationality and Corruption in the Post-Socialist World

This paper uses the new literature on norms and rationality to explore why societies develop widespread corruption as a means of organizing economic activity. Paying particular attention to the post-socialist world, it explores the evolution of these norms as part of a more general development of flexible responses to rigid assignments of property rights. The emergence of a strong norm against attending to formal legal rules makes the unwinding of such corrupt practices and expectations especially problematic.

Development of Entrepreneurial Skills in a Post-Socialist Country

The last decade has witnessed dramatic changes in the whole post-socialist world. The old Communist system in Central and Eastern Europe has been dismantled and free-market economies have been initiated. Despite the fact that Central and Eastern European countries were on different levels of socio-economic development, they had many things in common, including the problems. However, the countries of the former USSR encountered greater obstacles on their way to the free market. This also applies to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In contrast to East Germany, Poland, Hungary and former Yugoslavia, private property and entrepreneurship did not exist in these countries during the Soviet period. The purpose of this paper is to describe the most important theoretical problems concerning understanding of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship and to discuss different methods of developing entrepreneurial skills.

The Problem of Democracy in Cuba: Between Vision and Reality.

Drawing on years of field research in Cuba, this text examines the relationship between socialism and democracy, in classical Marxist theory and in the practice of the Cuban revolution. While the author notes the roles that underdevelopment and external threat have played in undermining the possibility for democratic socialism in this century, she focuses specifically upon a theoretical heritage plagued by silences, absences and simplifications concerning key political questions. Within this framework, she then turns to the Cuban revolution and, in a revisionist interpretation, identifies the succession of critical moments at which the question of democracy was raised and the nature of the leadership's response, or lack thereof. She maintains that the consistency with which the leadership reined in, at these moments, the possibilities it itself had evoked, compounded by its extreme paternalism, has been as destructive of the social project of the revolution as the dire economic straits in which Cuba finds itself in a post-socialist world. This probing analysis provides a unique and informative look at the ideological legacy of a nation struggling to endure the changing tides of history.

Post-socialist world orders: Russia and China and the UN system

Journal Article Post-socialist world orders: Russia and China and the UN system Get access Post-socialist world orders: Russia and China and the UN system. By Robert Boardman. London: Macmillan in association with St Martin's Press, New York. 1994. 200pp. Index. £30.00. ISBN 0 333 55236 9. George Blazyca George Blazyca 1University of Paisley Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 71, Issue 1, January 1995, Page 140, https://doi.org/10.2307/2624029 Published: 01 January 1995