Explaining Peaceful Change in Central and Eastern Europe

Author(s):  
Alexander Tabachnik ◽  
Benjamin Miller

This chapter explains the process of peaceful change in Central and Eastern Europe following the demise of the Soviet system. It also explains the failure of peaceful change in the Balkans and some post-Soviet countries, such as the Ukrainian conflict in 2014. The chapter accounts for the conditions for peaceful change and for the variation between peaceful and violent change by the state-to-nation theory. The two independent variables suggested by the theory are the level of state capacity and congruence—namely the compatibility between state borders and the national identities of the countries at stake. Moreover, according to the theory, great-power engagement serves as an intervening variable and in some conditions, as explained in the chapter, may help with peaceful change.

Author(s):  
Wojciech Sowa

Thracian belongs to the group of languages spoken over the entire period of Antiquity in the areas of south-eastern Europe (mostly the Balkans) and which, like other vernaculars spoken in this and neighbouring areas, had died out by the end of the Roman period leaving but scanty evidence. This chapter provides an introduction into the state of our current knowledge about the Thracian language and epigraphy and the perspectives of research of this language. Since our comprehension and understanding of grammatical system of Thracian is limited, the current knowledge of the language makes any translation of attested inscriptions impossible. It is however expected that the progress in studying development and history of the Greek script may provide us with new and relevant data for interpretation of Thracian.


2001 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Schimmelfennig

The decision of the European Union to expand to Central and Eastern Europe is a puzzle for rationalist intergovernmentalism. This approach to the study of European integration accounts for most of the preferences of the state actors and many characteristics of the intergovernmental bargaining process but fails to explain why it resulted in the opening of accession negotiations. I introduce the mechanism of rhetorical action in order to show how the supporters of enlargement succeeded in overcoming the superior material bargaining power of their opponents. Through the strategic use of arguments based on the liberal norms of the European international community, the “drivers” caught the “brakemen” in the community trap and, step by step, shamed them into acquiescing in Eastern enlargement.


Author(s):  
Paul Shore

Interactions between Jesuits and Orthodox believers have been characterized both by meaningful encounters and by conflict and misunderstanding. The gaps between urban, transnational, and book-oriented Jesuit culture and the traditional, rural, and preliterate cultures of many Orthodox populations were underscored by different theological ideas and by great power politics. Ethnic rivalries and a historic suspicion of Catholicism among some Orthodox also contributed to tensions. Jesuits nonetheless worked over a wide portion of Russia, the Balkans, and other locations in Eastern Europe, although their success in converting Orthodox was always very modest. The Soviet era brought severe persecution to Jesuits. Since 1991, the Society has returned to the region, but with a focus now based on education, compassion, outreach, and social justice rather than on proselytizing.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-89
Author(s):  
Vitaliy Bondarchuk ◽  
Alina Raboshuk ◽  
Svitlana Shypina

The paper is aimed at the study of the effects of world financial crisis of 2007-2008 on the strategies of the multinational corporations operating in Central and Eastern Europe. The economic downturn has abruptly halted the successful economic growth of the Central and Eastern European countries in the years preceding the crisis. In this connection, the question arises whether these structural changes in the economy will lead to reevaluation of expansion strategy by the foreign multinational corporations in Central and Eastern Europe. t has been established that in the post-crisis period the middle and top managers have a tendency towards paying more attention to the state competitiveness, the quality of the state institutions, and its political leadership. Moreover, movement of production facilities and logistics systems from Western Europe to the Eastern and Central European countries will be continued, due to cheaper resources and loyal conditions of access to them.


2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-593
Author(s):  
BÉLA GRESKOVITS

ABSTRACT What is attempted in the East is catching up with the West from a recent position of worse-than-Latin-American economic backwardness. Until now, populations that were sentenced to political patience by the logic of poor democracies have reluctantly backed this enormous effort. Central and Eastern Europe’s post-socialist path is characterized by an increasingly discredited ideology of a return to Europe and a non- European combination of substitute institutions of development: radical opening towards the world economy, damaged institutions of labor representation, eroded state capacity, and often strong private and foreign dominance in the financial and other strategic sectors. There is a chance for a few countries to succeed. Yet various development traps may be more likely in the end than a “Great Spurt” in the Gerschenkronian sense.


2021 ◽  
pp. 59-83
Author(s):  
Artem Ulunyan

The article examines the assessments of the global strategic concept «One Belt, One Road» of the PRC by the representatives of the Central and Eastern European expert community and by the Albanian media. After the Cold War, the formation processes of national states in the post-Yugoslavian space have started in the Balkans, and the region has come under tight probe of the Euro-Atlantic community, of Russia and Turkey as well as of the Peoples Republic of China, which had not displayed earlier such a keen interest in this region. In the context of the global strategy outlined by the party-state leadership of mainland China, the Balkans and Central Eastern Europe have turned into important connecting link in the Chinese geostrategic concept «One Belt, One Road». In the 2010 s, the PRC has begun to establish a wide-range network of transport corridors, designed to start a «new edition» of the historical «Silk Road» and to serve as an instrument for the economic advancement of the PRC on a transcontinental scale. This policy of economic expansion of the PRC, encompassing regions and continents on its way, is being actively discussed in the expert community of Central and Eastern European states from the standpoint of identifying both specific mode of actions engaged by the party-state leadership of the PRC, as well as local conditions, interests and probable results of the implementation of the Chinese project. The author notes that expert assessments range from positive to sharply negative, which indicates the absence of a definitive opinion on this issue. In Albania, a Balkan state closely linked to both Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, especially due to the presence of a large Albanian ethnic component in a number of countries of the region, the participation in the implementation of the project «One Belt, One Road» was strongly influenced by economic and political relations with the Euro-Atlantic community.


2019 ◽  
pp. 309-319
Author(s):  
David Sorkin

This chapter discusses how the reclamation of citizenship, the restitution of property, and negotiations for reparations stretched across postwar Europe, with some activities continuing into the twenty-first century. In western and central Europe, Jews quickly regained citizenship. France, Italy, and Holland abrogated Nazi decrees to restore Jews' citizenship; Germany granted citizenship irrespective of religion. In east-central and eastern Europe, in contrast, Jews struggled to regain or retain rights. Stalin's and Khrushchev's governments discriminated against Jews throughout Soviet society; they effectively turned Jews into second-class citizens. In Hungary, Jews experienced a second “reverse emancipation.” Romania purged the state apparatus and arranged for Israel to ransom Jews for hard currency. Poland gave Jews citizenship de jure yet began to discriminate against them. Meanwhile, the governments of Holland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and France laid the legal foundation for restitution during the war by declaring Nazi expropriations illegal. Eighteen governments signed a declaration to restore property.


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