scholarly journals The State of Rural Sociology as Presented in Four Periodicals – Rural Sociology, Sociologia Ruralis, Journal of Rural Studies, Eastern European Countryside

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Zabłocki

Abstract This article is an analysis of differences and similarities between four Englishlanguage journals on rural sociology. The comparison covered topics discussed in about 600 articles published in the journals in the years 1995-2010 and the regional affiliation of their authors. In the comparison, all articles and texts on empirical research published in this period in Eastern European Countryside were considered. In total, 141 texts were published in this annual journal. Out of the three other journals (Rural Sociology, Sociologia Ruralis, Journal of Rural Studies) 50 articles for each of three periods: 1995-1996, 2002-2003, 2008-2009, were selected. Results of the comparison show that the journals have strictly regional profiles, and that present rural sociology does not seem to be the science on social phenomena in world-wide rural areas. Rural sociology used in the four studied journals does not develop the knowledge that would be useful in solving problems of the rural population. In the three journals under study (Rural Sociology, Sociologia Ruralis, Journal of Rural Studies) almost exclusively sociology of rural areas in Western Europe and Northern America was developed, and their contributors were almost always authors from the two regions. The fourth journal - Eastern European Countryside - was concerned, adequately to its title, with rural phenomena in Central and Eastern Europe

Werkwinkel ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-22
Author(s):  
Jo Sterckx

Abstract Over the last 20 years, literary nonfiction has become increasingly popular among the Dutch reading public. Thanks to increasing sales, translations and literary awards the genre achieved a strong position in Dutch literature. This article analyzes the image of Central and Eastern European countries in Dutch literary nonfiction of the last ten years (2004-14). It searches for characteristics of an orientalist and balkanist discourse and the presence of the imagological centre-periphery model in the works of Geert Mak, Jelle Brandt Corstius, Olaf Koens, Joop Verstraten and Jan Brokken. Contemporary Dutch literary nonfiction contains a euro-orientalist discourse. Characteristics such as underdevelopment, hedonism, obscurity and authenticity are projected on Central and Eastern Europe, which is put in the periphery of Western Europe.


2021 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 141-155
Author(s):  
Piotr Szymaniec

The paper describes the debates which took place during the 4th Annual CEENELS Conference (Moscow, 14–15 June 2019). The aim of the conference was to analyse the issue of legal innovativeness in Central and Eastern Europe, the topic which was chosen as a continuation of previous CEENELS conferences. The organizers wanted to challenge the widespread belief that the legal culture of Central and Eastern Europe lacks original and innovative concepts and ideas. Even if the conference did not bring a definitive answer about the character of Central and Eastern European countries’ legal culture, it showed that the region is not only a territory of legal transplants and reception of legal ideas, concepts and institutions, created in Western Europe or the US.


2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Minkenberg

A central topos in the study of Central and Eastern European contemporary politics in general, and of its radical right politics in particular is the emphasis on the extraordinary relevance of history and geography. In fact, the entire transformation process after 1989 is often clothed in terms of historical and geographical categories, either as a “return of history” or a “return to Europe”, or both. In these various scenarios, the radical right claims a prominent place in this politics of return, and the study of this current echoes the more general concern, in the analyses of the region, with historical analogies and the role of legacies. Sometimes analogies are drawn between the post-1989 radical right and interwar fascism, in terms of a “Weimarization” of the transformation countries and the return of the pre-socialist, ultranationalist or even fascist past e the “return of history”. Others argue that since some Central and Eastern European party systems increasingly resemble their Western European counterparts, so does the radical right, at least where it is electorally successful e the “return to Europe”. According to yet another line of thought, the radical right in the region is a phenomenon sui generis, inherently shaped by the historical forces of state socialism and the transformation process and, as a result and in contrast to Western Europe, ideologically more extreme and anti-democratic while organizationally more a movement than a party phenomenon. In all these approaches, the key concepts of “legacies” and the radical right are often underspecified. This volume takes a closer look at the intersection of history or particular legacies, and the mobilization of the radical right in the post-1989 world of the region, while attempting to provide a sharper focus on key concepts. Regardless of the different approaches, all contributions show that with the radical right, a peculiar “syncretic construct” (Tismaneanu) has emerged in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989, which is derived from both pre-communist and communist legacies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-74
Author(s):  
Joanna Krasodomska ◽  
Paweł Zieniuk

Objective: The paper presents the issue of non-financial information assurance and identifies the practices of companies operating in Europe in this regard. Methodology/research approach: The research is based on a literature review and analysis of a sample of 935 companies whose non-financial reports, prepared according to the GRI guidelines, are available from the GRI Sustainability Disclosure Database. In particular, we analyze how many companies had their non-financial information verified in 2017 and their previous practice in this regard (since 2005), as well as their structure according to the assuror type, the assurance standard used, the engagement type, and the assurance scope. Findings: Nearly half of the companies had their non-financial information independently and externally verified, including 34 Eastern European companies (30%) and 426 from Western Europe (52%). Most of the entities which provide assurance are so-called Big Four audit companies, mainly Deloitte and E&Y, which use the ISAE 3000 standard for this purpose. The most common engagement type is limited engagement. Limitations: The study is descriptive, which results from the nature of the data collected and the large disparity between companies using assurance in Western and Eastern Europe. Originality/value: The Article broadens accounting knowledge, in particular, on non-financial reporting. It indicates the need to take steps towards the wider use of non-financial information assurance in Eastern Europe.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 69-84
Author(s):  
Csilla Polster

The study investigates the economic growth in Central and Eastern Europe in the last 25 years. The economy can be regarded as a substantial topic in any country, but it is even more interesting in developing countries. One of the basic ideas of the European Union is the convergence between member states, namely the reduction of development disparities, which can be achieved through faster economic growth in less‑developed countries. Growth theory is one of the main topics in economics. Its significant importance is because the desire for development is one of the main driving forces of mankind. The aim of the study is to reveal the crucial differences and common features between the growth paths of the eleven Central and Eastern European member states of the European Union. After presenting growth theories, the growth performance of the examined Central and Eastern European member states is pinpointed. During the research, GDP per capita, population, migration, activity rate, employment rate, unemployment rate, foreign direct investment and foreign trade openness are considered.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (338) ◽  
pp. 61-66
Author(s):  
Sandris Ancans

AbstractThe economy of Latvia lags behind economically developed nations approximately fourfold in terms of labour productivity in the tradable sector, which is the key constituent of a modern economy, thereby affecting future sustainable development in the entire country, including the rural areas. The economic backwardness is characteristic of the entire Central and Eastern Europe. This is the heritage of a communist regime that lasted for about half a century and the economic system termed a (centrally) planned economy or a command economy. However, such a term for the communist-period economy is not correct, as it does not represent the purpose it was created for. Accordingly, the paper aims to assess the effect of the communism period on the economic backwardness of the Central and Eastern European region of the EU. A planned economy that existed in all communist countries, with the exception of Yugoslavia, was not introduced to contribute to prosperity. It was intended for confrontation or even warfare by the communist countries under the guidance of the USSR against other countries where no communism regime existed, mostly Western world nations with their market economies. For this reason, it is not correct to term it a (centrally) planned economy or a command economy; the right term is a mobilised (war) economy. An extrapolation of a geometric progression for GDP revealed that during the half a century, Latvia as part of the USSR was forced to spend on confrontation with the West not less than EUR 17 bln. (2011 prices) or approximately one gross domestic product of 2011. The research aim of the paper is to assess the effect of the communism period on the economic backwardness of the Central and Eastern European region of the EU.


2019 ◽  
pp. 354-356
Author(s):  
David Sorkin

This concluding chapter presents ten theses on emancipation. One, emancipation is the principal event of modern Jewish history. Two, the term “emancipation” was historically polysemous: it referred to the liberation or elevation of numerous groups. Three, the emancipation process commenced around 1550 when Jews began to receive extensive privileges in eastern and western Europe and in some instances rights in a nascent civil society. Four, there were two legislative models of emancipation: conditional and unconditional. Five, there were three regions of emancipation: western, central, and eastern Europe. Six, the Ottoman Empire comprised a fourth region of emancipation. Seven, the equality of Judaism was fundamental to the Jews' equality. Eight, emancipation mobilized Jews politically. Nine, emancipation was ambiguous and interminable. Ten, emancipation was at the heart of the twentieth century's colossal events.


Author(s):  
Daniil A. Anikin ◽  
◽  
Andrey A. Linchenko ◽  

Within the framework of this article, the theoretical and methodological framework of the philosophical interpretation of the concept “memory wars” was analyzed. In the context of criticism of allochronism and the project of the politics of time by B. Bevernage, as well as the concept of the frontier by F. Turner, the space-time aspects of the content of memory wars were comprehended. The use of Bevernage's ideas made it possible to explain the nature of modern memory wars in Europe. The origins of these wars are associated with an attempt to transfer the Western European project of “cosmopolitan” memory, in which Western Europe turns out to be a kind of a “referential” framework of historical modernity, to the countries of Eastern Europe after 1989. The uncritical use of Western European historical experience as a “reference” leads to a superficial copying of the politics of memory, which runs counter to the politics of the time in Eastern Europe. In Eastern Europe, the idea of two totalitarianisms is presented as a single and internally indistinguishable era, and the politics of modern post-socialist states are based on the idea of a radical spatio-temporal distancing from their recent past. The article analyzes the issue of the specifics of the Eastern European frontier, the conditions for its emergence and the impact on modern forms of implementation of the politics of memory. The frontier arises as a result of the collapse of the colonial empires and becomes a space of symbolic struggle, first between the USSR and Germany, and then between the socialist and capitalist blocs. The crisis of the globalist project of the politics of memory and the transfer of the German model of victimization to the territory of the Eastern European frontier leads to the competition of sacrificial narratives and the escalation of memorial conflicts, turning into full-fledged memory wars. The hybrid nature of the antagonistic politics of memory in the conditions of the frontier leads to the fact that not only the socialist past, but also the national trauma of individual states becomes the subject of memory wars. The increasing complexity of the mnemonic structure of the frontier is associated with the emergence of a number of unrecognized states, whose memory politics, in contrast to the national discourses of Eastern European states, is based on a synthesis of the Soviet legacy and individual elements of the imperial past.


2020 ◽  
pp. 162-181
Author(s):  
Ireneusz Paweł Karolewski

This chapter focuses on Central and Eastern European (CEE) member states of the EU, and how they positioned themselves in the new constellation of conflicts within the EU in the aftermath of the multiple crisis. It deals mainly with the Visegrad Group (V4) and explores its ‘repositioning’ in regard to two crisis-ridden policy fields of the EU: controversies about the rule of law and the refugee crisis. With regard to the former issue, the chapter discusses Poland as the most prominent case among the CEE countries. Against this background, it highlights two specific aspects of domestic politics: the memory games that the V4 countries play with their past and the Euroscepticism of government circles as well as a broader public.


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