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1 - The Challenge of Transformation since 1989: An Introduction

from Part One - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2019

Sabrina P. Ramet
Affiliation:
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim
Christine M. Hassenstab
Affiliation:
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim
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Summary

Until 1989, communist parties were hegemonic throughout the Central and Southeast European region. With the downfall of communism in the course of 1989–1990, new challenges, opportunities, and problems have presented themselves. In the years following 1989, two states – Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia – broke up into their constituent parts, ten of the resulting fourteen states were admitted into NATO and eight of them also joined the European Union (EU). States in the southern tier continue to be affected by corruption, cronyism, and monopolization of the media. But, prior to 2010, most observers were optimistic about the prospects for states in the northern tier to continue to build liberal democratic states. However, since May 2010 in Hungary and since October 2015 in Poland, there have been tendencies of backsliding, with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán even proclaiming his intention to build and maintain an illiberal de-facto one-party state. Poland’s Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán have followed the same playbook – restricting and, in Hungary, taking over control of, the media; establishing party control of the judiciary; and playing the patriotic card, while ostracizing gays and lesbians. Religion remains strong in most of the region, with religious affiliation even gaining ground in Bulgaria since 1989.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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References

Further Reading

Abrahams, Fred C. Modern Albania: From dictatorship to democracy in Europe (New York: New York University Press, 2016).Google Scholar
Fink-Hafner, Danica and Mitja, Hafner-Fink. “The Determinants of the Success of Transitions to Democracy,” in Europe–Asia Studies, 61(9) (2009), pp. 16031625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forrester, Sibelan, Zaborowska, Magdalena, and Gapova, Elena (eds.). Over the Wall/after the Wall: Post-communist cultures through an East–West gaze (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004).Google Scholar
Lendvai, Paul. Orbán: Hungary’s strongman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).Google Scholar
Martin, Roderick. Constructing Capitalisms: Transforming business systems in Central and Eastern Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).Google Scholar
Ramet, Sabrina P., Ringdal, Kristen, and Dośpiał-Borysiak, Katarzyna (eds.), Civic and Uncivic Values in Poland: Value transformation, education, and culture (Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2019).Google Scholar
Rueschemeyer, Marilyn and Wolchik, Sharon (eds.). Women in Power in Post-communist Parliaments (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2009).Google Scholar
Tismaneanu, Vladimir. Fantasies of Salvation: Democracy, nationalism, and myth in post-communist Europe (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998).Google Scholar
Vachudova, Milada Anna. Europe Undivided: Democracy, leverage, and integration after communism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).Google Scholar

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