[PDF] Transnational Actors In Central And East European Transitions eBook

Author : Mitchell Alexander Orenstein
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Pre
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 49,97 MB
Release : 2008-07-06
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0822973448

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When Vladimir Putin claimed "outside forces" were at work during the Ukrainian Orange Revolution of 2004, it was not just a case of paranoia. In this uprising against election fraud, protesters had been trained in political organization and nonviolent resistance by a Western-financed democracy building coalition. Putin's accusations were more than just a call to xenophobic impulses-they were a testament to the pervasive influence of transnational actors in the shaping of postcommunist countries.Despite this, the role of transnational actors has been downplayed or dismissed by many theorists. Realists maintain that only powerful states assert major influence, while others argue that transnational actors affect only rhetoric, not policy outcomes. The editors of this volume contend that transnational actors have exerted a powerful influence in postcommunist transitions. They demonstrate that transitions to democracy, capitalism, and nation-statehood, which scholars thought were likely to undermine one another, were facilitated by the integration of Central and East European states into an international system of complex interdependence. Transnational actors turn out to be the "dark matter" that held the various aspects of the transition together. Transnational actors include international governmental and nongovernmental organizations, corporations, banks, foundations, religious groups, and activist networks, among others. The European Union is the most visible transnational actor in the region, but there are many others, including the OSCE, NATO, Council of Europe, the Catholic Church, and the Soros Foundation. Transnational Actors in Central and East European Transitions assembles leading scholars to debate the role and impact of transnational actors and presents a promising new research program for the study of this rapidly transforming region.

Author : Mitchell Alexander Orenstein
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Pre
Page : 276 pages
File Size : 11,20 MB
Release : 2008-07-06
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780822973447

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When Vladimir Putin claimed "outside forces" were at work during the Ukrainian Orange Revolution of 2004, it was not just a case of paranoia. In this uprising against election fraud, protesters had been trained in political organization and nonviolent resistance by a Western-financed democracy building coalition. Putin's accusations were more than just a call to xenophobic impulses-they were a testament to the pervasive influence of transnational actors in the shaping of postcommunist countries.Despite this, the role of transnational actors has been downplayed or dismissed by many theorists. Realists maintain that only powerful states assert major influence, while others argue that transnational actors affect only rhetoric, not policy outcomes. The editors of this volume contend that transnational actors have exerted a powerful influence in postcommunist transitions. They demonstrate that transitions to democracy, capitalism, and nation-statehood, which scholars thought were likely to undermine one another, were facilitated by the integration of Central and East European states into an international system of complex interdependence. Transnational actors turn out to be the "dark matter" that held the various aspects of the transition together. Transnational actors include international governmental and nongovernmental organizations, corporations, banks, foundations, religious groups, and activist networks, among others. The European Union is the most visible transnational actor in the region, but there are many others, including the OSCE, NATO, Council of Europe, the Catholic Church, and the Soros Foundation. Transnational Actors in Central and East European Transitions assembles leading scholars to debate the role and impact of transnational actors and presents a promising new research program for the study of this rapidly transforming region.

Author : Rachel A. May
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 41,52 MB
Release : 2007
Category : History
ISBN : 9780739120651

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Rachel A. May and Andrew K. Milton have assembled an array of scholars from different disciplines to examine transitional governments in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Drawing on specific political conditions and organized around topics such as the media, political parties, and political violence, (Un)Civil Societies broadens the discussion about democratization both thematically and geographically.

Author : Geoffrey Pridham
Publisher : Dartmouth Publishing Company
Page : 680 pages
File Size : 44,68 MB
Release : 1995
Category : Political Science
ISBN :

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The phenomenon of transitions to liberal democracy has become a major concern for political scientists in recent decades. This text covers conceptual issues for regime change, theoretical and comparative interpretations of transition and authoritarian collapse, national case-studies of transition (divided into three area studies), the international context of transition, the move towards democratic consolidation, and the future of democratic transition studies.

Author : Jan Zielonka
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 572 pages
File Size : 11,3 MB
Release : 2001-06-14
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0191529192

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This is the second volume in a two-volume series of books on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. The first volume focused on the issue of institutional engineering. This second volume analyses the external parameters of democratic consolidation in thirteen Eastern European countries: how different international actors and various economic, cultural and security types of transnational pressures have shaped democratic politics in the region. The aim is to contrast a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the last ten years. The volume tries to avoid complex debates about definitions, methods and the uses and misuses of comparative research. Instead it seeks to establish what has really happened in the region, and which of the existing theories are helpful in explaining these developments. The volume is divided into two parts. The first part presents a conceptual and comparative frame of analysis, the second consists of detailed studies of individual countries undergoing democratic consolidation. Case study chapters deal with the following countries: Estonia and Latvia, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia, the states of former Yugoslavia, Belarus and Ukraine, and finally Russia. The concluding chapter identifies a set of variables responsible for the enormous impact of external factors on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. It conceptualises the interplay of internal and external factors impinging upon democracy, and shows the interplay of different positive and negative types of external pressures. It also evaluates the conscious Western effort to craft or engineer democracy in Eastern Europe.

Author : Wojciech Sadurski
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 375 pages
File Size : 33,10 MB
Release : 2016-04-08
Category : Law
ISBN : 131716900X

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How have national identities changed, developed and reacted in the wake of transition from communism to democracy in Central and Eastern Europe? Central and Eastern Europe After Transition defines and examines new autonomous differences adopted at the state and the supranational level in the post-transitional phase of the post-Communist area, and considers their impact on constitutions, democracy and legal culture. With representative contributions from older and newer EU members, the book provides a broad set of cultural points for reference. Its comparative and interdisciplinary approach includes a useful selection of bibliographical resources specifically devoted to the Central Eastern European countries' transitions.

Author : Geoffrey Pridham
Publisher : Psychology Press
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 14,44 MB
Release : 1994
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780415110648

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In light of the sudden collape of communist systems in Eastern Europe in 1989-90, this book attempts to explain their democratization from a variety of theoretical perspectives.

Author : Ostap Kushnir
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 423 pages
File Size : 31,86 MB
Release : 2021-08-19
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1793650756

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This edited collection addresses the dynamics of the post-Communist transition in Central Eastern Europe. Its contributors present a detailed analysis of the events unfolding during the last three decades in the region, focusing in particular on identity-building processes and reforms in Belarus, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. The contributors outline reasons why some of these states accomplished a decisive break with the Communist past and became members of European and transatlantic structures, while some opted for pseudo-transition and fostered hybrid political regimes, jeopardizing their genuine integration with the West. A group of states which decided to preserve their Communist legacy is also explained. The collection describes and scrutinizes the formation of geopolitical affiliations and the evolution of discourses of belonging. It also traces the fluctuating dynamics of national decision-making and institution-building, as many of the post-Communist states reconsider and re-elaborate their initial ideas and visions of Europe today. Finally, the collection brings to light the rapidly changing perceptions of the region by the major global actors—the European Union, People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, and others.

Author : Jan Zielonka
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 569 pages
File Size : 43,3 MB
Release : 2001
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0199241686

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This second volume in a series of books on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe analyzes the external parameters of such a consolidation in thirteen Eastern European countries. It explores how different international actors and various economic, cultural, and security types of transnational pressures have shaped democratic politics in the region, especially over the last decade.