scholarly journals The Unbearable Whiteness of the Polish Plumber and the Hungarian Peacock Dance around “Race”

Slavic Review ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
József Böröcz ◽  
Mahua Sarkar
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
East European ◽  
East Central European ◽  
State Socialist ◽  
The Eu

This contribution interprets the east-central European post-liberal governments’ recent anti-immigrant, anti-refugee and anti-human-rights hysteria in the context of the increasing dependence of the region's societies for livelihood on employment in the western EU, the widespread racialization of east European labor in the western EU, and the refusal of east European political elites and societies at large to consider possible “Left” critiques of the EU. Given those circumstances, and laboring under related anxieties, post-state-socialist political elites and societies have assumed a fundamentalist-racialist posture. They redirect their repressed anger toward incoming refugees, claim an ahistorical, essential kind of Whiteness and contribute to rigidifying European discussions of “race.”

The unbearable lightness of membership: Bulgaria and Romania after the 2007 EU

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlozar A. Andreev
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
First Year ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Socioeconomic Transformation ◽  
East Central European ◽  
The Eu

This paper focuses on the current political and socio-economic situation in the two most recent EU member states, Bulgaria and Romania. Overall, the post-accession period in both countries has been comparable to that in the East-Central European members that had joined the Union on 1 May 2004. However, there have been some significant differences in the postaccession path of Bulgaria and Romania, which set them apart from the rest of the EU-10, as well as among themselves. For instance, the problem of corruption has been a particularly salient theme for the political elites of both countries and it led to the paralysis of the cabinet in Romania during the first year of its membership and to the rise of powerful populist alternatives in Bulgaria. What has probably been even more distinguishing in the cases of Bulgaria and Romania is their apparent inability to swiftly deal with the political and social challenges emerging after accession, as well as to adequately respond to the process of Europeanization. The main reason for this has been the unfinished political and socioeconomic transformation of both countries, accompanied by the consolidation of certain ‘reserve domains’, occupied by the former secret services and semi-mafia structures.

Comparative Opportunities

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 420-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua A. Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Political Behavior ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Distinct Region ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
East European ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior ◽  
East Central European

As the theoretical rationale (and funding opportunities!) for considering Eastern Europe as a distinct region diminish as we move farther away from the momentous events of 1989, the value of including East-Central European countries in comparative studies has only increased. This article outlines how comparative studies of political behavior involving East-Central European countries have evolved in the author’s own research from comparative studies including Russia along with four East European countries, to more broadly based comparative studies including multiple East European countries and former Soviet Republics, to studies where behavior is analyzed in both East European countries and more established democracies, and finally to large cross-national studies focused on questions related to post-communist politics (namely, the legacy of communism on post-communist attitudes and behavior) but relying on the comparative analysis of survey data from countries around the world. In a way, the research has come full circle, from studies of East European political behavior to better understand East European political behavior, to studies including East European countries to better understand general questions of political behavior not specific to post-communist countries, to now the most extensive comparative studies that are, however, designed once again to better understand East European political attitudes and behavior.

Comparative analysis of political transformation in East-Central European countries: Searching for general patterns

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (325) ◽  
pp. 74-83
Author(s):  
Robert Nahapetyan
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Political Development ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
East European ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
East Central European ◽  
Transformation Processes

This paper focuses on political transformation processes in post-Communist countries of the current Visegradgroup or as it is also referred to, Central and East European countries, trying to find similar trajectories orsome general patterns of their political development in comparison both with each other and also otherpost-Communist countries.

Processes of democratization in the East Central European and Balkan states: sovereignty-related conflicts in the context of Europeanization

1999 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Ágh
Keyword(s):  
World Order ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
East European ◽  
Multinational Organizations ◽  
Systematic Overview ◽  
Balkan States ◽  
East Central European

This paper discusses the Central and East European democratic transitions as parts of the global democratization process, including their both external and domestic aspects. The analysis covers six East Central European (ECE) and six Balkan states. It provides a systematic overview of these twelve states with a classification of their external and internal developments. The paper classifies these states according to the three stages of systemic change and according to their EU (association and accession) and NATO (PfP and membership) relationships. In the New World Order, the sovereignty-related conflicts appear in this systematic overview through the analysis of the bilateral and multilateral relations between and among these states as restructuring follows the requirements of the EU and NATO. These multinational organizations actually rearrange both regional structures and neighbourhood relationships. The ECE and Balkan states, based on the parallel criteria of external and internal developments, form four groupings: (1) new entrants—the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia; (2) late-comers to democratization—Slovakia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria; (3) “semi-protectorates” of great powers and international organizations (Bosnia and Macedonia); (4) unsettled countries or conflict-seeking states—Serbia and Albania.

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