Genesis of a Social Space: Think Tanks in Belarus 1992–1995

2020 ◽  
pp. 088832542093779
Author(s):  
Maria Bigday
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Political Field ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Science And Politics

This article belongs to the special cluster, “Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe”, guest-edited by Katarzyna Jezierska and Serena Giusti. The article looks at think tanks through the prism of a specific social space whose emergence is ascribable to both transnational processes and local social structures. Four processes are identified as shaping the institutionalization of the first think tanks in Belarus, founded as a tool for the “desovietization” of science and “democratization” of politics in the early 1990s: (1) the destabilization of relations between science and politics spurred by the Soviet perestroika beginning in 1986; (2) the autonomization of national elites and a political field in Belarus following the collapse of the Soviet Union; (3) the transformation of the labor market, including the crisis of state-supported research and academia, which ejected a large number of well-educated professionals; and (4) the intensification of transnational exchanges and the legitimization of references to Western practices. To systematically analyze these processes, a model consisting of the following four dimensions is proposed: configuration of relations between science and politics, position of the think tank space in the field of power, professional logics of career or competition, and transnational diffusion of resources and their local appropriation.

scholarly journals Military Security in Central and Eastern Europe – from overarching principles to current NATO perspectives

2019 ◽  
Vol 193 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-557
Author(s):  
Sławomir Wojciechowski
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
The North ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Collective Defense ◽  
Military Security ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Adaptation Processes

This year, NATO is celebrating its 70th anniversary and the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty. The Alliance was founded in the early days of the Cold War, but found itself in a new geopolitical situation after the col-lapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the bipolar world. The organi-zation has been transforming ever since and over time this transfor-mation has included both expansion and adaptation to new circum-stances. With the return of Russian neo-imperial ambitions in the re-cent years, NATO has been given new impetus. Emerging threats and challenges, which are mainly of a military nature, have been addressed by NATO through further recent adaptation processes which were based on the return to the core role of the Alliance, namely collective defense and deterrence. This, in turn, has created a boost of NATO ac-tivity on the ground, which means that improvement with regard to interoperability and integration is now in high demand.

scholarly journals Introduction: Travelling from West to East: Think Tank Model Adaptation to Central and Eastern Europe

2020 ◽  
pp. 088832542094683
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Jezierska ◽  
Serena Giusti
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
The Social ◽  
Short Period ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World

This article is part of the special section “Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe” guest-edited by Katarzyna Jezierska and Serena Giusti. This is an introduction to the Special Section on Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe. Apart from this introduction, the Section includes four articles, which explore the nature and conditions of think tanks operating in Belarus, Ukraine, Czech Republic, and Poland. Think tanks are usually understood as institutions claiming autonomy whose main aim is to influence policy making based on the social analysis they produce. The most apparent blind spot in extant think tank research is its predominant focus on the English-speaking world. We argue that by focusing on think tanks in non-Western contexts, we can better understand think tanks. When studying the diffusion of the organizational form of think tanks to new contexts, it is not enough to maintain the “sender” perspective (the formulation of the institutional characteristics of think tanks in the contexts in which they first emerged). We need to complement or even modify that perspective by also taking into account the “receiver” perspective. In other words, internationally circulated ideas and institutional patterns are always interpreted and translated in local “receiving” contexts, which coproduce, reformulate, and readjust the blueprint. Our focus in this Section is therefore on the translation and local adaptation of the think tank institution in the context of Central and Eastern Europe, a region that has undergone deep changes in a relatively short period.

Science and Politics in the U.S.S.R.: The Genetics Debate

1951 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 486-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela N. Wrinch
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
World Culture ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
World Science ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Social ◽  
Science And Politics

In the Soviet Union, views on all intellectual subjects—the social sciences, philosophy, and even the biological and physical sciences—are frequently regarded as expressions of political views. As a consequence, all intellectual fields are considered appropriate arenas for the struggle against “reaction” and other supposed manifestations of “bourgeois” ideology. To consider science a-political and supra-national, or to speak approvingly of “world science” or “world culture,” is to subscribe to the “bourgeois” ideology of “cosmopolitism”—an ideology which is assumed by virtue of its universalist emphasis to deprecate the contributions to culture made by individual nations.

scholarly journals Dangling in a Vacuum: A Presentation of Polish Think Tanks in Political Life

2020 ◽  
pp. 088832542094110
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Jezierska
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Positioning Theory ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Institutional Identity ◽  
Political Field ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Data

This article belongs to the special cluster, “Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe”, guest-edited by Katarzyna Jezierska and Serena Giusti. This article explores the image and reputation of think tanks in their reciprocal relationship with their environment. The aim is to unravel the logic of think tanks’ institutional identity formation in the largely understudied context of Poland. How do Polish think tanks present themselves and how are they (re)presented by others? To answer these questions, the Goffmanian microsociological framework and positioning theory are adjusted to a study of institutions. The analysis of original interview and media data reveals that Polish think tanks project an image of and are perceived by the media as being weak. I argue that this image and reputation of weakness should primarily be explained by think tanks’ and the media’s perceptions of the political field, which confine the possible identity and positioning of think tanks.

Comparative Law in Central and Eastern Europe

2019 ◽  
pp. 180-200
Author(s):  
Zdeněk Kühn
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Comparative Law ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich History

The region of Central and Eastern Europe covers many of the European nations east of Germany. The dominant nation of the region is Russia. Between Russia and Germany there are, first, a number of small nations composing the region known as Central Europe (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia); second, the nations which formed the western part of the Soviet Union; and, third, the states on the Balkan peninsula. This article shows the rich history of comparative law before the installment of communist regimes, such as the era of Stalin, and then discusses comparative law under communism and the role and status of comparative law after the fall of communist rule.

Development of Comparative Law in Central and Eastern Europe

2006 ◽  
pp. 214-236
Author(s):  
Zdeněk Kühn
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Comparative Law ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich History

The region of Central and Eastern Europe covers many of the European nations east of Germany. The dominant nation of the region is Russia. Between Russia and Germany there are, first, a number of small nations composing the region known as Central Europe (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia); second, the nations which formed the western part of the Soviet Union; and, third, the states on the Balkan peninsula. This article shows the rich history of comparative law before the installment of communist regimes, such as the era of Stalin, and then discusses comparative law under communism and the role and status of comparative law after the fall of communist rule.

scholarly journals Muzyczne reprezentacje przeszłości w dziecięcych filmach animowanych wyprodukowanych w Europie Środkowo- Wschodniej w latach komunizmu

2020 ◽  
pp. 55-70
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Lidia Babulewicz
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Chronological Order ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Animated Films ◽  
Musical Representations ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Made In

Musical Representations of the Past in Animations for Children Produced in Central and Eastern Europe in Times of Communism The subject of the article is the composition strategies of presenting the bygone time in animated films produced in the integrated cultural space that was, during the communist era, Central and Eastern Europe. Productions made in two countries – in the Soviet Union and in Poland – are considered. The discussion of film examples is conducted in an approximate chronological order, according to the time of production of individual pictures. The presentation of specific productions is not intended to exhaustively analyse these audiovisual works, but to review thematic threads related to the past and in their context compositional ideas and tendencies.

scholarly journals Stosunki rosyjsko-francuskie w przededniu podpisania paktu o nieagresji w 1932 roku w świetle polskich czynników wojskowych

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-144
Author(s):  
Tomasz Gajownik
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
The Other ◽  
Actual State ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The One ◽  
Inter State

The non-aggression pact concluded in November 1932 between France and the Soviet Union was on the one hand the peak achievement of French diplomacy in implementing the plan of strengthening influence in Central and Eastern Europe, and on the other the growing position of Moscow in the international arena. The signed document was the first inter-state agreement concluded by France and the USSR. From the perspective of the Second Polish Republic, the Franco-Soviet rapprochement could have had certain unfavorable consequences. That is why both civilian and military factors closely watched the negotiation process between both parties and tried to determine the actual state of bilateral relations.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document