scholarly journals Organized crime as a threat to national security

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Lana Dalinczuk
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Financial Markets ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
East Central ◽  
Economic Developments ◽  
Criminal Groups

All kinds of illegal trafficking, prostitution, pornography, gambling, fraud and counterfeiting, computer crime, corruption, piracy, illegal immigration and many other criminal activities can pose a threat to national and even international security if conducted by larger criminal groups or organizations. The phenomenon of organized crime has acquired a transnational character due to the increasing globalization of financial markets and communications as well as technological development. The three countries of East Central Europe – The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland – can be of interest in terms of organized crime as recent political and economic developments in these countries have made them attractive to such criminal activities. Another problematic region in terms of organized criminal activities is the region of Central Asia which includes several countries of the former Soviet Union – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

scholarly journals The Crisis of Democracy: An East-Central European Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-365
Author(s):  
Jerzy J. Wiatr
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Religious Fundamentalism ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
Economic Underdevelopment ◽  
Democratic Transformation ◽  
East Central European ◽  
Better Than

AbstractPost-communist states of East Central Europe face the authoritarian challenge to their young democracies, the sources of which are both historical and contemporary. Economic underdevelopment, the retarded process of nation-building and several decades of communist rul made countries of the region less well prepared for democratic transformation than their Western neighbors, but better than former Soviet Union. Combination of economic and social tensions, nationalism and religious fundamentalism creates conditions conducive tom the crises of democracy, but such crises can be overcome if liberal and socialist forces join hands.

Populism in the Post-Soviet States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke March
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Social Mobilization ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Breeding Ground ◽  
Minimal Level ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Vladimir Putin

In the former Soviet Union (FSU), sustained instances of populism are rare. The demand side does not represent an equally propitious “breeding ground” for populist backlash as in East Central Europe. However, the supply side is still more problematic, given the consolidation of authoritarian tendencies across the region. Without a minimal level of pluralism, it is extremely difficult to develop genuine and stable populist forces, except in (usually temporary) cases of regime breakdown or elite infighting. Anti-populist leaders (such as Vladimir Putin) have become the rule. Such leaders may employ populist rhetoric, but their fundamental impulse is elitist. They co-opt, mimic, or simply oppress social mobilization, making stability their watchword and regarding genuine populism as a dangerous threat to their rule.

scholarly journals Contradictions on the Road to Democracy and the Market in East Central Europe

1992 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 3-25
Author(s):  
Robin A. Remington
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Road ◽  
On The Road

This analysis focuses on the dilemmas facing policymakers attempting the transition from one-party hegemonic systems to multiparty democracies in post-communist Europe. It investigates the hypothesis that the political conditions for building democracy and the economic conditions required for establishing market economies in these societies are at cross purposes. The author examines the role of the international political economy in the process of democratization in terms of a framework of three primary variables: identity, legitimacy, and security. In applying these variables to post-communist East Central Europe, five significant arenas emerge in which political and economic imperatives come into conflict. The analysis concludes with policy implications for Western decision-makers whose own future security needs and economic well-being are tied to successful transition from communism to viable democracy in East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union.

scholarly journals Introduction: Nationality/Ethnic Settlement Patterns and Political Behavior in East Central Europe

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Z. Jokay
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Western Border ◽  
The Russian Federation

Western experts claim that the end of the Warsaw Pact and the artificial stability it provided, together with what are routinely called “traditional ethnic animosities,” are the causes of continual and inevitable clashes between states in East Central Europe. This area, a triangle formed by the Adriatic, Baltic, and Black Seas, covers the Western border area of the former Soviet Union, and all of Poland, ex-Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, ex-Czechoslovakia and the eastern territories of Germany. This issue of Nationalities Papers is dedicated to the Hungarian ethnic minorities of East Central Europe, in part to examine the validity of the “traditional ethnic animosity” thesis. Spread among seven states, roughly three and a half to four million souls, they constitute the largest diaspora in Europe, and, in relative terms, are more numerous in states around Hungary than the ethnic Russians outside of the Russian Federation on the territory of the former Soviet Union.

A Few Unresolved Mysteries about Stalin and the Cold War in Europe: A Modest Agenda for Research

1999 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-116
Author(s):  
Adam B. Ulam
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Soviet Policy ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Gradual Release

Despite the gradual release of once-classified documents in the former Soviet Union, numerous questions and problems about Stalin's role in the Cold War remain. Some tantalizing clues about Stalin's ambitions and motivations have emerged, but several key aspects of Soviet policy in East-Central Europe in the late 1940s and early 1950s seem just as puzzling as they did before the archives were opened. The further declassification of materials may shed new light on these mysteries, enabling scholars to develop a better understanding of the first decade of the Cold War.

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