Trust and Democratic Transition in Post-Communist Europe

Trust and Democratic Transition in Post-Communist Europe PDF Author: Ivana Marková
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780197263136
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
These ten essays are concerned with theoretical and empirical analyses of trust and distrust in post-Communist Europe after the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989. Differences between meanings of trust in countries with democratic traditions and in post-totalitarian countries raise questions about the ways in which history, culture and social psychology shape the nature and development of political phenomena. The authors show that while political and economic changes can have rapid effects, cultural and psychological changes may linger behind and influence the quality of political trust and representations of democracy.

Trust and Democratic Transition in Post-Communist Europe

Trust and Democratic Transition in Post-Communist Europe PDF Author: Ivana Marková
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780197263136
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
These ten essays are concerned with theoretical and empirical analyses of trust and distrust in post-Communist Europe after the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989. Differences between meanings of trust in countries with democratic traditions and in post-totalitarian countries raise questions about the ways in which history, culture and social psychology shape the nature and development of political phenomena. The authors show that while political and economic changes can have rapid effects, cultural and psychological changes may linger behind and influence the quality of political trust and representations of democracy.

Building Trust and Democracy

Building Trust and Democracy PDF Author: Cynthia Michalski Horne
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198793324
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
This volume explores the effects of transitional justice measures on trust-building and democratization across twelve countries in Central and Eastern Europe and parts of the Former Soviet Union over the period 1989-2012. The author argues that transitional justice measures have a differentiated impact on political and social trust building, supporting some aspects of political trust and undermining other aspects of social trust. Moreover, the structure, scope, timing, and implementation of transitional justice measures condition outcomes. More expansive and compulsory institutional change mechanisms register the largest effects, with limited and voluntary change mechanisms having a diminished effect, and more informal and largely symbolic measures having the most attenuated effect. These differentiated and conditional effects are also evident with respect to transition goals like supporting democratic consolidation and reducing corruption, since these goals respond differently to the mixtures of institutional and symbolic reforms found in transitional justice programs. The author develops an original transitional justice typology focusing on the degree to which lustration measures, public disclosure procedures, and file access provisions are expansive and compulsory, limited and voluntary, largely informal and symbolic, or actively rejected. Using this typology, the author categorizes post-communist countries according to the scope and implementation of their measures in order to test hypotheses linking trust building and transitional justice across twelve cases in the region. The resulting new datasets allow for a quantitative examination of the relationship between different types of transitional justice programs and a range of possible state building and societal reconciliation goals, including political trust building, social trust building, democratization, the strengthening of civil society, the promotion of government effectiveness, and the reduction of corruption. Comparative case studies of four transitional justice programs-Hungary, Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria-- draw on field work, primary and historical documents, and interview materials to explicate trust-building dynamics, with particular attention to regime complicity challenges, historical memory issues, and communist legacies. Oxford Studies in Democratization is a series for scholars and students of comparative politics and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on the comparative study of the democratization process that accompanied the decline and termination of the cold war. The geographical focus of the series is primarily Latin America, the Caribbean, Southern and Eastern Europe, and relevant experiences in Africa and Asia. The series editor is Laurence Whitehead, Senior Research Fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.

Democracy and Democratization

Democracy and Democratization PDF Author: John D Nagle
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780761956792
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
This wide-ranging overview of the processes of democratization in post-Communist Europe, places the transitions in East-Central Europe within a broad European and global context. The authors begin with a introduction to the concept and theories of democracy and then examine the emerging politics of the new democracies to set the post-Communist transitions in longer-term comparative perspective with earlier and existing processes of democratization in Southern Europe, Latin America, and East and Southeast Asia. Finally the politics of EU accession are introduced to place the transitions within the wider context of European integration. Concluding with a summary of recent critiques of modern democ

The Democratic Transition of Post-Communist Europe

The Democratic Transition of Post-Communist Europe PDF Author: M. Petrovic
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137315350
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Tracing both economic and political developments through the prism of history as well as more recent developments, this book casts new light on the role of communist history in setting the different regional successes in post-communist transition.

Trust in Contemporary Society

Trust in Contemporary Society PDF Author: Masamichi Sasaki
Publisher: International Comparative Soci
ISBN: 9789004348806
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Trust in Contemporary Society, by well-known trust researchers, deals with conceptual, theoretical and social interaction analyses, historical data on societies, national surveys or cross-national comparative studies, and methodological issues related to trust. The authors are from a variety of disciplines: psychology, sociology, political science, organizational studies, history, and philosophy, and from Britain, the United States, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, and Japan. They bring their vast knowledge from different historical and cultural backgrounds to illuminate contemporary issues of trust and distrust. The socio-cultural perspective of trust is important and increasingly acknowledged as central to trust research. Accordingly, future directions for comparative trust research are also discussed.Contributors include: Jack Barbalet, John Brehm, Geoffrey Hosking, Robert Marsh, Barbara A. Misztal, Guido Möllering, Bart Nooteboom, Ken J. Rotenberg, Jiří Safr, Masamichi Sasaki, Meg Savel, Markéta Sedláčková, Jörg Sydow, Piotr Sztompka.

The Weakness of Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe

The Weakness of Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe PDF Author: Marc Morjé Howard
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521011525
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Seeks to explain the weakness of civil society in the countries of post-Communist Europe.

Beyond Post-communist Studies

Beyond Post-communist Studies PDF Author: Terry D. Clark
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315498715
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
This book makes the case that several East Central European countries have emerged as fully consolidated democracies. As such, they may be integrated into the mainstream of political science research, and not consigned forever to a transitional category encompassing countries that are now fully democracies as well as some that are not democratic at all. The author outlines the steps of another transition - from post-communist studies to political science research. He demonstrates how institutionalist, or rational choice, theories can be applied to the analysis of political processes in the successfully democratized countries, and proposes a new research agenda for political scientists studying the region. The results of this work can enrich political science as well as our understanding of both democracy and the polities of contemporary Eastern Europe.

Democracy and Its Alternatives

Democracy and Its Alternatives PDF Author: Richard Rose
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801860386
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
The collapse of Communism has created the opportunity for democracy to spread from Prague to the Baltic and Black Seas. But the alternatives—dictatorship or totalitarian rule—are more in keeping with the traditions of Central Europe. And for many post-Communist societies, democracy has come to be associated with inflation, unemployment, crime, and corruption. Is it still true, then, as Winston Churchill suggested a half-century ago, that people will accept democracy with all its faults—because it is better than anything else? To find out, political scientists Richard Rose, William Mishler, and Christian Haerpfer examine evidence from post-Communist societies in eastern Europe. Drawing on data from public opinion and exit polls, election results, and interviews, the authors present testable hypotheses regarding regime change, consolidation, and prospects for stabilization. The authors point out that the abrupt transition to democracy in post-Communist countries is normal; gradual evolution in the Anglo-American way is the exception to the rule. While most recent books on democratization focus on Latin America and, to some extent, Asia, the present volume offers a unique look at the process currently under way in nine eastern European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, and Ukraine. Despite the many problems these post-Communist societies are experiencing in making the transition to a more open and democratic polity, the authors conclude that a little democracy is better than no democracy at all.

Social Capital and the Transition to Democracy

Social Capital and the Transition to Democracy PDF Author: Gabriel Badescu
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134515308
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
The concept of social capital has been used by political scientists to explain both the transition to democracy in Eastern Europe and the decline of social cohesion in Western societies. This edited collection presents the latest quantitative research on how post-communist countries are adapting to Western models of society. The book combines theoretical and institutional analysis with detailed case-studies looking at Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania and the former East Germany.

The Quality of Democracy in Post-Communist Europe

The Quality of Democracy in Post-Communist Europe PDF Author: DEREK HUTCHESON
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351376179
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
The countries of the former Eastern Bloc and Soviet Union have exhibited remarkable diversity in their post-communist regime paths. Whereas some states have become demonstrably more democratic and have moved in the space of fifteen years from the periphery to the centre of European politics, in others the political and economic climates seem hardly to be better, and their societies no more free, than in the final years of the Cold War. Assessing progress towards democracy in the former Eastern Bloc - or the lack of it - requires a qualitative examination of post-communist polities. This collection of articles brings together a number of perspectives, both macro and micro-analytical, on the 'quality' of democracy in post-communist Europe. This volume was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics.