Civil Society and Democratic Transition in East Central Europe

1993 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Bernhard
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central

Introduction: The State of Democracy 20 Years on

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Rupnik ◽  
Jan Zielonka
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
The State ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Eu

The countries of East-Central Europe (ECE) embarked on a democratic transition in 1989 were proclaimed consolidated democracies when they joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. Today most of the new democracies are experiencing “democratic fatigue” and some seem vulnerable to an authoritarian turn. The EU, seen as the guarantor of the post-1989 democratic changes, is experiencing an unprecedented economic, financial, and democratic crisis with the combined challenges of technocracy and populism. The article explores the different approaches to the study of democracies in ECE, their specific features and vulnerabilities, and tries to provide an interpretation of the premature crisis of democracy in ECE in a broader transeuropean context.

Anti-Political or Just Anti-Communist? Varieties of Dissidence in East-Central Europe and Their Implications for the Development of Political Society

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 286-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Renwick
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Third

Several authors argue that the heritage of dissident ideas and activity in East-Central Europe has hindered the development of post-communist political society. But this proposition has not been subject to systematic analysis. This article focuses on one part of that proposition: whether dissident ideas corresponded to the features of “ethical civil society” that some argue harm political society. Concentrating on Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, it differentiates eight varieties of dissident thought. It then assesses the relation of the three most important varieties to ethical civil society, finding that one variety resembled ethical civil society very closely, another only marginally, and the third not at all. It finally draws out implications for the study of political society in the region.

The Rhetoric of War and the Reshaping of Civil Society in North Macedonia

Slavic Review ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-364
Author(s):  
Vasiliki Neofotistos
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Direct Connection ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Republic Of Macedonia ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Europe Today

In this article, I explore recent efforts to “de-Sorosize” the Republic of Macedonia, arguing that they reveal an obsession in Macedonia—and more broadly in east central Europe—with defending ethnonational interests against assumed interlopers. New, self-proclaimed patriotic associations have mobilized ideas of combined external and internal threats to national existence as though there were a war frontier. This imagined war frontier marks the dividing line between belligerent nationalists, who claim that Macedonian sovereignty and national identity are under threat of extinction, and the Macedonian center-left and liberal (moderate and left-leaning) NGOs, which tend to promote greater inclusiveness in society, are assumed to side with “the Albanians,” and to have a direct connection to George Soros. The case study of Macedonia highlights the outright public rejection of liberal ideals and the key role that populist, militant sensibilities play in the formation of civil society groups in Europe today.

The Earthquake, Civil Society, and Political Change in Turkey: Assessment and Comparison with Eastern Europe

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Kubicek
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
The State ◽  
Positive Experience ◽  
Political Liberalization ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central

Civil society has been widely celebrated as instrumental in democratization, but in some countries it remains poorly developed. Such was the case in Turkey, but many hoped that the 1999 earthquakes would lead to an invigoration of civil society and subsequent political liberalization. Examining this claim shows that Turkish civil society has not been able to sustain the energy it enjoyed immediately after the earthquake because of factors within civil society itself and the attitude of the state. This relative failure is then contrasted with the more positive experience of civil society in East-Central Europe. The comparisons reveal some limits to the utility of a civil society approach to democratization. I conclude by assessing the ability of other actors and factors to fashion political reform in Turkey today.

The reinvention of ‘civil society’: transnational conceptions of development in East-Central Europe

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Agnes Gagyi ◽  
Mariya Ivancheva
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Local Development ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Status ◽  
State And Market ◽  
Transnational Solidarity ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores how the notion of ‘civil society’ in East-Central Europe, and the discursive and organisational practices attached to the term, have been deployed in politics, and how this has affected how local development and empowerment are conceived and funded. In this respect, struggles over the meaning and practice of ‘civil society’ activism in the region speak to longstanding debates within the community development field relating to the role of state and market; the status, function, and relevance of professionalised organisations within communities; the relationship between political and economic freedoms; and the possibilities for meaningful transnational solidarity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document