Towards a Market Economy in Central and Eastern Europe

2021 ◽  

This book is devoted to a symbolic event that defined the life and values of several generations. Half a century ago, Czech communists tried to give a new impetus to their country’s system of government by combining socialist values with a rational market economy and the mechanisms of a developed democracy. This effort failed, and the state was occupied by the military. This book is the result of joint efforts by Russian, Czech, and Romanian historians, archivists, and cultural and literary scholars, who—exploring new documents and materials—have reinterpreted these events and their lessons from a present-day perspective. Objectively, the “Prague Spring” is from a bygone era, but it is still a milestone, and many of the problems encountered during the Prague Spring are still relevant today. The authors hope that they have contributed to the historiography of the now-distant events of 1968 and that their contributions will help in analysing the experiences of the past in order to be prepared for the events of the future. This book is aimed at specialists in the history and culture of Central and Eastern Europe, students of higher educational institutions, and the general reader interested in twentieth-century history.


Politeja ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (7 (34/2)) ◽  
pp. 181-194
Author(s):  
Igor Grieckij

Central and Eastern Europe countries and NATO enlargement in foreign policy of Russian Federation in 1992‑1992 The beginning of the 1990s is one of the most interesting and controversial periods in the history of Russian foreign policy. At that time, extensive reforms were introduced in Russia in the framework of transition to market economy and institutions of civil society. Russia’s foreign policy has undergone great changes, as well, many of its fundamental provisions were subject to significant adjustment. In particular, the new leadership of Russia is no longer considered NATO as an enemy, and even let in a possibility of Russia’s prospects for NATO membership in future. However, by 1994, the Kremlin’s position on that issue has changed dramatically. This article examines the nature of these changes in Russia’s foreign policy, as well as the reasons why the Russian government perceived negatively the CEE countries’ aspirations to join NATO, and considered it as a threat to its national interests.


2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikola Naumov ◽  
Adi Weidenfeld

The 1989 fall of the Iron Curtain marked the beginning of new economic, socio-cultural and political realities for the former socialist states in Central and Eastern Europe. Along with the economic restructuring from statecentralised to market economy, democratisation and liberalisation initiated a transformation of the socialist urban space, which was characterised by the changing role of its iconic landmarks. This conceptual paper examines these post-1989 changes, which range between the removal of these landmarks and their transition into market led iconic and flagship attractions. The paper identifies the changing role of tourism from a topbottom orchestrated to a market led activity, which explains the transformation of some of these landmarks. It introduces a new framework for studying this process by suggesting that iconisation, de-iconisation and re-iconisation processes are interrelated to other strategies and approaches to the transition of the socialist urban landscape into a western market economy. The paper identifies avenues for further research and provides some recommendations for improving the management of similar processes.


Author(s):  
Raimundas Duzinskas ◽  
Arturas Jurgelevicius

After the collapse of central planned economy in Central and Eastern Europe, all affected countries experienced dramatic change towards the market economy. Seemingly, market economy could bring prosperity and plant “american dream” in Central and Eastern Europe. However, the way towards market economy of every country became not that easy as was thought primarily. Different models of transition period did not bring rapid results, however. “Shock Therapy” or gradualist approach was the central pillar of debates of economists and politicians. However, none of them could predict the exact consequences to the development of economies. The official approach to market economy was considered liberalization. The creation of extremely important preconditions for transitions was lacking. The most important market institutes such as social capital, human resources were not created timely which caused long social economic consequences to countries’ development. Lithuanian experience of transforming economy and integration to EU is analyzed in the paper. Lithuanian experience might be applicable to other potential candidate countries. In order to identify the level of development such indicators were selected: competitiveness index, rate of social exclusion and at risk of poverty, GDP growth rate, minimum wage and others.


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