Download or read book On Baltic Slovenia and Adriatic Lithuania written by Zenonas Norkus and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book provides an innovatory internationally comparative causal analysis of the variation in political and economic outcomes of post-communist transformations after the first decade, using multi-value qualitative comparative analysis and TOSMANA software. This analysis includes a critical revision of received dichotomies (e.g. on gradualism versus "shock therapy") about post-communist transformation, a discussion of the counterfactual scripts of post-communist transformation, and contributes to current debates on the varieties of post-communist capitalism. This conceptual framework is applied in case studies of the transformation in the Baltic States, with special consideration given to the possibility of alternatives to the Lithuanian way and the challenges of populism in this country's politics. Book jacket.
Download or read book Baltic Socialism Remembered written by Ene Kõresaar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does it mean to tell a life story? How is one’s memory of communism shaped by family, profession, generation and religion? Do post-communist Baltic states embrace similar memories? The Baltic states represent not only a geographical but also a mnemonic region. The mental maps of people who live on this territory are shaped by memories of Soviet socialism. Baltic Socialism Remembered captures the workings of the memory of diverse groups of people who inhabit the region: teachers, officials, young people, women, believers. It comes as no surprise that their memories do not overlap, but often contradict to other groups and to official narratives. Baltic Socialism Remembered is a rare attempt to engage with the mnemonic worlds of social groups and individuals rather than with memory politics and monumental history. The contributors try to chart unpredictable ways in which public and national memory affect individual memory, and vice versa. Understanding complexity and diversity of memory workings in such compact region as the Baltic states will enable a more nuanced policy-making. This book was originally published as a special issue of Journal of Baltic Studies.
Download or read book Estonia Latvia and Lithuania Country Studies written by Walter Iwaskiw and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-06-13 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is one in a continuing series of books prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. This volume is about Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Download or read book Past for the Eyes written by Oksana Sarkisova and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do museums and cinema shape the image of the Communist past in today’s Central and Eastern Europe? This volume is the first systematic analysis of how visual techniques are used to understand and put into context the former regimes. After history “ended” in the Eastern Bloc in 1989, museums and other memorials mushroomed all over the region. These efforts tried both to explain the meaning of this lost history, as well as to shape public opinion on their society’s shared post-war heritage. Museums and films made political use of recollections of the recent past, and employed selected museum, memorial, and media tools and tactics to make its political intent historically credible. Thirteen essays from scholars around the region take a fresh look at the subject as they address the strategies of fashioning popular perceptions of the recent past.
Download or read book Museums of Communism written by Stephen M. Norris and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-03 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did communities come to terms with the collapse of communism? In order to guide the wider narrative, many former communist countries constructed museums dedicated to chronicling their experiences. Museums of Communism explores the complicated intersection of history, commemoration, and victimization made evident in these museums constructed after 1991. While contributors from a diverse range of fields explore various museums and include nearly 90 photographs, a common denominator emerges: rather than focusing on artifacts and historical documents, these museums often privilege memories and stories. In doing so, the museums shift attention from experiences of guilt or collaboration to narratives of shared victimization under communist rule. As editor Stephen M. Norris demonstrates, these museums are often problematic at best and revisionist at worst. From occupation museums in the Baltic States to memorial museums in Ukraine, former secret police prisons in Romania, and nostalgic museums of everyday life in Russia, the sites considered offer new ways of understanding the challenges of separating memory and myth.
Download or read book A History of the Baltic States written by Andres Kasekamp and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-10-26 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this key textbook, Andres Kasekamp masterfully traces the development of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, from the northern crusades against Europe's last pagans and Lithuania's rise to become one of medieval Europe's largest states, to their incorporation into the Russian Empire and the creation of their modern national identities. Employing a comparative approach, a particular emphasis is placed upon the last one hundred years, during which the Baltic states achieved independence, endured occupation by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and transformed themselves into members of the European Union. This is an essential textbook for undergraduate students taking modules on Eastern or Central European History, Communism and Post-Communism, the Soviet Union, or Baltic Culture and Politics. Engaging and accessible, this is also an ideal introduction to the Baltic States for general readers.
Download or read book Taming Nationalism Political Community Building in the Post Soviet Baltic States written by Dovile Budryte and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-05-15 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revisiting the process of political community building in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, this book analyzes the roles that international actors have played in these processes and assesses the unintended consequences of this involvement. The study differs from other works on ethnic minorities and nationalism in the former Soviet Union by exploring the use of minority rights discourse and the salience of historical memory. Case studies examine the transformation of nationalism in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - all former Soviet republics - which have experienced Soviet nationalities policy first-hand. Primarily intended for an academic audience and practitioners interested in promoting tolerance in multi-ethnic societies, the book's historical narrative will also appeal to readers with a general interest in the former Soviet Union and post-Communism.
Download or read book The Black Book of Communism written by Stéphane Courtois and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 920 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This international bestseller plumbs recently opened archives in the former Soviet bloc to reveal the accomplishments of communism around the world. The book is the first attempt to catalogue and analyse the crimes of communism over 70 years.
Download or read book The Baltic States from the Soviet Union to the European Union written by Richard C. M. Mole and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an informative and interesting overview of developments in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as they made the transition from Soviet domination to membership of the EU. It focuses in particular on the concepts of identity, sovereignty and power in the domestic and international politics of the Baltic states.
Download or read book Nature and National Identity After Communism written by Katrina Z. S. Schwartz and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2006-11-26 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking book, Katrina Schwartz examines the intersection of environmental politics, globalization, and national identity in a small East European country: modern-day Latvia. Based on extensive ethnographic research and lively discourse analysis, it explores that country's post-Soviet responses to European assistance and political pressure in nature management, biodiversity conservation, and rural development. These responses were shaped by hotly contested notions of national identity articulated as contrasting visions of the "ideal" rural landscape.The players in this story include Latvian farmers and other traditional rural dwellers, environmental advocates, and professionals with divided attitudes toward new European approaches to sustainable development. An entrenched set of forestry and land management practices, with roots in the Soviet and pre-Soviet eras, confront growing international pressures on a small country to conform to current (Western) notions of environmental responsibility—notions often perceived by Latvians to be at odds with local interests. While the case is that of Latvia, the dynamics Schwartz explores have wide applicability and speak powerfully to broader theoretical discussions about sustainable development, social constructions of nature, the sources of nationalism, and the impacts of globalization and regional integration on the traditional nation-state.
Download or read book Institutional Legacies of Communism written by Karl Cordell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-07-03 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty years after the demise of communist policy, this book evaluates the continuing communist legacies in the current minority protection systems and legislations across a number of states in post-communist Europe. The fall of communism and the process of democratisation across post-communist Europe led to considerable change in minority protection with new systems and national political institutions either developed or copied. In general, the new institutions reflected the practices and experiences of (western) European states and were installed upon advice from European security organisations. Yet many ideas, legislative frameworks, policies and practices remained open to interpretation on the ground. With case studies on a diverse set of post-communist polities including Slovakia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Estonia, Croatia, the Baltic States and Russia, expert contributors consider how the institutional legacies of the communist past impact on policies designed to support minority communities in the new European democracies. Providing unique empirical material and comparative analyses of ethnocultural diversity management during and after communism, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, European politics, political geography, post-communism, ethnic politics, nationalism and national identity.
Download or read book The Baltic States Years of Dependence 1940 1990 written by Romuald J. Misiunas and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this updated edition of their renowned The Baltic States, Romuald Misiunas and Rein Taagepera bring the story of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia up to the 1990s. The authors describe and analyze how the Baltic nations survived fifty years of social disruption, language discrimination, and Russian colonialism. The nations' histories are fully integrated and compared, and some notable differences between them are pointed out. With two new chapters, a revised preface, and an appendix on the end of Soviet domination, this expanded study covers a tumultuous period of political, economic, cultural, and ecological reform.
Download or read book The System Made Me Do It written by Rasma Karklins and published by M.E. Sharpe. This book was released on 2005-04-25 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Strike up a conversation with a citizen from the post-communist region and invariably the talk will turn to the topic of corruption - the misuse of public power for private gain. People are sure that corruption is widespread, whether from their own experiences or stories they have heard from others. They feel frustrated that there seems to be nothing they can do about it, that they are helpless, and that they are being played for fools. And many are cynical: they feel that they, too, have to play the game because "the system" compels them to do so. But what system exactly? What are the structures and mechanisms of corruption in post-communist societies? "The System Made Me Do It" is the first comprehensive study of the origin, nature, and consequences of corruption in post-communist societies. While international actors decry corruption as a major impediment to democracy building and economic development, the problem is not well understood. This book fills that gap, and suggests innovative and practical institutional strategies for containing corruption. It achieves a rare and perfect balance of disciplined analysis, practicality, and passion.
Download or read book The Collectivization of Agriculture in Communist Eastern Europe written by Constantin Iordachi and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2014-03-31 with total page 571 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ÿThis book explores the interrelated campaigns of agricultural collectivization in the USSR and in the communist dictatorships established in Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe. Despite the profound, long-term societal impact of collectivization, the subject has remained relatively underresearched. The volume combines detailed studies of collectivization in individual Eastern European states with issueoriented comparative perspectives at regional level. Based on novel primary sources, it proposes a reappraisal of the theoretical underpinnings and research agenda of studies on collectivization in Eastern Europe.The contributions provide up-to-date overviews of recent research in the field and promote new approaches to the topic, combining historical comparisons with studies of transnational transfers and entanglements.
Download or read book The Baltic Nations and Europe written by John Hiden and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of all the Soviet Union's subject nationalities, the three Baltic republics, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were the most determined and best organised in seizing the opportunities created by glasnost and perestroika to win freedom from Moscow's grip. At the time of first publication, in 1991, the final section of the book was speculative. Now for this revised edition, the authors have provided a new final chapter which brings the story up to date -- and the three republics to political independence again.
Download or read book A Normal Country written by Andrei Shleifer and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a firsthand glimpse into the intellectual challenges that Russia's turbulent transition generated. It deals with many of the most important reforms, from Gorbachev's half-hearted "perestroika," to the mass privatization program, to the efforts to build legal and regulatory institutions of a market economy.
Download or read book Communism A Very Short Introduction written by Leslie Holmes and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-08-27 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The collapse of communism was one of the most defining moments of the twentieth century. This Very Short Introduction examines the history behind the political, economic, and social structures of communism as an ideology.