Chapter 2: Post-Communist Transition Under the Umbrella of Uneven EUropeanisation: East Central Europe, the Baltic States and the Balkans

2016 ◽  
pp. 41-74
Author(s):  
Milenko Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Baltic

scholarly journals DECLINING SYSTEMIC TRUST IN THE POLITICAL ELITE IN THE EU’S NEW MEMBER STATES: THE DIVERGENCE BETWEEN EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE BALTIC STATES

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Ágh
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Member States ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Systemic Trust ◽  
The Baltic

In the last decade there has been a process of rolling-back Europeanization efforts in the EU’s new member states (NMS), a process intensified by the global crisis. This de-Europeanization and de-democratization process in the NMS has become a significant part of a more general polycrisis in the EU. The backslide of democracy in the NMS as a topical issue has usually been analysed in terms of macro-politics, formal-legal state institutions, party systems, and macroeconomics. The most significant decline of democratization, however, is evident in the public’s decreasing participation in politics and in the eroding trust. This decline in systemic trust in political elites in the NMS has been largely neglected by analysts. Therefore, this paper concentrates on this relatively overlooked dimension of declining trust and social capital in the NMS. This analysis employs the concepts of governance, trust, and social capital to balance the usual formalistic top-down approach with a bottom-up approach that better illustrates the divergence between East-Central Europe and the Baltic states’ sub-regional development.

scholarly journals European Regional Integration in the Drafting of the Eastern Pact in 1934–1935: Interests of the Baltic Entente and the Little Entente

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-56
Author(s):  
Dalia Bukelevičiūtė
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
European Regional

This article follows the interests and actions of the countries of Baltic and Little ententes with regard to the projected Eastern Pact, which raised marked interest in East-Central Europe in 1934-1935. It seeks to give an answer to the question whether the negotiations over the Eastern Pact brought the interests of the Baltic states closer to those of the Little Entente. It highlights that the progress of negotiations made it clear that each country was more concerned with its security than the common security of the entire bloc, even though both the Little Entente and the Baltic Entente were established for the sake of safeguarding security of their member states and harmonising their foreign policy in this respect. Both regional security bodies declared their agreement to the Eastern Pact but the key difference was that the Baltic Entente was expected to participate in the Eastern Pact directly, whereas only Czechoslovakia was singled out from among the members of the Little Entente. The analysis concludes that Lithuania and Czechoslovakia were the two countries which were most actively concerned with the conclusion of the Eastern Pact.

Fragmentation in East Central Europe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Richter
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The First World War ◽  
New States ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
First World

The First World War led to a radical reshaping of Europe’s political borders like hardly any previous event. Nowhere was this transformation more profound than in East Central Europe, where the collapse of imperial rule led to the emergence of a series of new states. New borders intersected centuries-old networks of commercial, cultural, and social exchange. The new states had to face the challenges posed by territorial fragmentation and at the same time establish durable state structures within an international order that viewed them at best as weak and at worst as provisional entities that would sooner or later be reintegrated into their larger neighbours’ territory. Fragmentation in East Central Europe challenges the traditional view that the emergence of these states was the product of a radical rupture that naturally led from defunct empires to nation states. Using the example of Poland and the Baltic States, it retraces the roots of the interwar states of East Central Europe, of their policies, economic developments, and of their conflicts back to deep in the First World War. At the same time, it shows that these states learned to harness the dynamics caused by territorial fragmentation, thus forever changing our understanding of what modern states can do.

scholarly journals Cross-border cooperation: A major element in regional policy in the new East Central Europe

2002 ◽  
pp. 149-166
Author(s):  
David Turnock
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Regional Policy ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The North ◽  
Eu Eastern Enlargement ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cross Border Cooperation

Borders in East Central Europe have become much more permeable over the past ten years as formalities have been simplified and many new crossing points have opened. At the same time, cooperation in border regions has increased, thanks mainly to the EU 'Interreg' programmes, to include a range of business cultural and conservation interests. In many cases these arrangements have been formalized through Euroregions which have become an indicator of good international relations. The paper reviews these trends with reference to examples and pays particular attention to environmental projects and the joint planning initiatives being undertaken in a number of Euroregions. At a time when regional policy has been generally weak, cross-border cooperation has contributed significantly to cohesion and it is also a good indicator of stability in the region. However, the impact has been greater in the north than in the Balkans and the first round of EU eastern enlargement will have implications for cooperation across the new external borders.

Business Risk from Governmental Corruption in East Central Europe, the Baltic Countries, and Russia

2014 ◽  
pp. 119-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duane Windsor
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Geographic Region ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Business Risk ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Regional Competitiveness ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Baltic Countries ◽  
The Baltic

This chapter places in a comparative, cross-country framework analysis of selected secondary information about business risk from governmental corruption in the region comprised of East Central Europe (including the Balkans), the Baltic Countries, and Russia. The region is an important setting for understanding corruption and anticorruption reform. What defines this geographic region is that all the countries are transitioning from monopoly-party rule and typically Soviet economic and political domination. Globalization is drawing the region into world economic integration through increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Key information from several sources provides an analytically consistent picture. Corruption increases business risk for multinational and domestic enterprises. Corruption deters inward FDI, undermines corporate integrity, and reduces country and regional competitiveness. The chapter provides information and examples about corruption in 21 political entities. These entities range from reasonably clean to endemic corruption, with varying patterns of corruption and anticorruption reform effectiveness. The chapter discusses possible solutions and recommendations and proposes future research directions.

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