Download or read book Post Communist Romania at Twenty Five written by Lavinia Stan and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2015-06-24 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2014 marked the 25th anniversary of the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe. The events of 1989 are widely seen as having ushered in new all-encompassing reforms in almost all areas of life. In few other places were reforms more contested and divisive than in Romania, a country that suffered greatly under the sultanistic-cum-totalitarian dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu, faced the region’s only bloody anti-communist revolt, and as such had the longest to travel on the road from communism to democracy. We now have a generation’s worth of experience with these wrenching reforms that have deeply affected Romania’s political institutions and political culture, and ultimately allowed it to become a member of the coveted European Union club. This volume gathers key lessons for democratic theory and practice from Romania’s first twenty-five years of post-communist transformation. Written by leading experts in the field of Romanian Studies, the chapters focus on the most important factors that have shaped the country’s political transformation during the first 25 years of post-communism.
Download or read book Religion and Politics in Post Communist Romania written by Lavinia Stan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-10-25 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the post-communist era it has become evident that the emerging democracies in Eastern Europe will be determined by many factors, only some of them political. Throughout the region, the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Greek Catholic churches have tried to impose their views on democracy through direct political engagement. Moreover, surveys show that the churches (and the army) enjoy more popular confidence than elected political bodies such as parliaments. These results reflect widespread disenchantment with a democratization process that has allowed politicians to advance their own agendas rather than work to solve the urgent socio-economic problems these countries face. In this penetrating study, Lavinia Stan and Lucian Turcescu investigate the interaction of religion and politics in one such country, Romania. Facing internal challenges and external competitions from other religions old and new, the Orthodox Church in Romania has sought to consolidate its position and ensure Romania's version of democracy recognizes its privileged position of "national Church", enforcing the Church's stances on issues such as homosexuality and abortion. The post-communist state and political elite in turn rely on the Church for compliance with educational and cultural policies and to quell the insistent demands of the Hungarian minority for autonomy. Stan and Turcescu examine the complex relationship between church and state in this new Romania, providing analysis in key areas: church collaboration with communist authorities, post-communist electoral politics, nationalism and ethno-politics, restitution of Greek Catholic property, religious education, and sexual behavior and reproduction. As the first scholars to be given access to confidential materials from the archives of the communist political police, the notorious Securitate, Stan and Turcescu also examine church archives, legislation, news reports, and interviews with politicians and church leaders. This study will move the debate from common analyses of nationalism in isolation to more comprehensive investigations which consider the impact of religious actors on a multitude of other issues relevant to the political and social life of the country.
Download or read book Transitional Justice in Post Communist Romania written by Lavinia Stan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first volume to overview the complex Romanian transitional justice effort, detail the political negotiations that have led to the adoption and implementation of relevant legislation, and assess these processes in terms of their timing, sequencing, and impact on democratization.
Download or read book Post Communist Progress and Stagnation at 35 written by Lavinia Stan and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Post Communist Romania written by D. Light and published by Springer. This book was released on 2001-02-02 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on contributions from various disciplines, this up to date collection analyses Romania's experiences of the transition from the harsh realities of the Ceausescu dictatorship to the uncertainties of the efforts to consolidate democracy and introduce a market economy. With its focus on Romania's progress in coming to terms with the legacy of its communist past, the realities of pluralism, the introduction of a market economy and the challenge of European integration, the volume will be key reading for academics, students and practitioners interested in transition and Romania.
Download or read book Twenty Five Sides of a Post Communist Mafia State written by Balint Magyar and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 677 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twenty-five essays accompany, illustrate and underpin the conceptual framework elaborated in Post-Communist Mafia State, published in conjunction with this volume. Leading specialists analyze the manifestations of the current political regime in Hungary from twenty-five angles. Topics discussed include the ideology, constitutional issues, social policy, the judiciary, foreign relations, nationalism, media, memory politics, corruption, civil society, education, culture and so on. Beyond the basic features of the economy the domains of taxation, banking system, energy policies and the agriculture are treated in dedicated studies. The essays are based on detailed empirical investigation about conditions in today?s Hungary. They nevertheless contribute to the exploration of the characteristic features of post-communist authoritarian regimes, shared by an increasing number of countries in Europe and Central Asia.ÿ Joint publication with Noran Libro, Budapestÿ ÿ
Download or read book Post Communist Transitional Justice written by Lavinia Stan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-26 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores how the former communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe have grappled with the serious human rights violations of past regimes.
Download or read book Art Religion and Resistance in Post Communist Romania written by Maria Alina Asavei and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-10-22 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book illuminates the interconnections between politics and religion through the lens of artistic production, exploring how art inspired by religion functioned as a form of resistance, directed against both Romanian national communism (1960-1989) and, latterly, consumerist society and its global market. It investigates the critical, tactical and subversive employments of religious motifs and themes in contemporary art pieces that confront the religious ‘affair’ in post-communist Romania. In doing so, it addresses a key gap in previous scholarship, which has paid little attention to the relationship between religious art and political resistance in communist Central and South-East Europe.
Download or read book Dracula Is Dead written by Sheilah Kast and published by . This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "If they gave out gold medals for books, Dracula is Dead would get one. It's a fascinating, long overdue, and timely look at Romania, giving readers an unparalleled view of my country's many, many layers." Nadia Comaneci, Olympic Champion and Gymnastics coach In December 1989, Romanians overthrew dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, ending more than forty years of Communist totalitarianism. Five years ago, on the twentieth anniversary of the fall of Communism in Romania, former United States ambassador to Romania Jim Rosapepe and his wife, award-winning journalist Sheilah Kast, wrote Dracula Is Dead. Now, on the twenty-fifth anniversary, they've updated it in a second edition. The book has achieved an amazon.com ranking of #5 in the essays/travelogues category and shares thoughtful insights on how Romania has reintegrated with Europe, while preserving its unique heritage. Today, Romania is a thriving democracy, an economic success, and a member of NATO and the European Union. Since 1989, Romania's economy has grown by 220% and its population has shrunk by thirteen percent as the birthrate fell and younger people left for higher pay in Spain and Italy. In 2014, Romania elected an ethnic German as president. Most important, Romania is now a normal European country with largely open borders and confidence that its future is democratic. What's the story behind the Romanian miracle? Join this amazing tour of an amazing land beyond Dracula, beyond orphans, beyond Communism, to the vibrant culture, unique history, and 21st century skills that define modern Romania. In the last decade, Romania became a world class player in IT - and in cinema. Romanian films such as "Tales from the Golden Age," "12:08 East of Bucharest," and "4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days" all won awards at Cannes in recent years - and have more fans abroad than at home. You'll travel to Bucharest, the capital city once called the Paris of the East, where centuries-old Orthodox Christianity thrives in tandem with cutting-edge information technology; to Maramures in the north, where the Holocaust took a great toll on a once vibrant Jewish community that included Nobel Prize-winner Elie Wiesel; to Transylvania, home not just to Vladepe Tepes, the real-life Dracula, but to the historic struggles between Romanians and Hungarians, now at peace; and to fascinating spots in-between. Along the way, you'll meet people, famous and unknown, who have made Romania -- people like King Michael, who in World War II, at age twenty-two, led a coup to unseat a fascist dictator, only to be forced into exile by the Communists; Ion Iliescu, both a leading figure during Communism and Romania s first democratically elected president; and Judith Katona, a young woman who, like many Romanians, went abroad to study after the Revolution but returned to create the new Romania. More than a travelogue or memoir, Dracula Is Dead: Travels in Post-Communist Romania presents Romania through American eyes, taking you with Jim and Sheilah as they discover a remarkable country of boundless hospitality, brilliant skills, and a bright future in a peaceful Europe. Romania's quarter-century since the Revolution has been a bumpy ride - divisive politics, economic cycles, and a war next door. But, through it all, Romania has emerged more free, more prosperous, and more secure. It also has preserved its unique culture - Romance language, Latin culture, Christian Orthodox religion, tolerant inclusion of ethnic minorities, rural village life, and love for (almost) all things American. See for yourself. "What a great read! With the eye of the journalist and the ear of the politician, Sheilah Kast and Jim Rosapepe make their Romanian experience so absorbing that you'll want to jump on the next plane to go see for yourself. But I refuse to believe that Dracula is really dead." Cokie Roberts, author, syndicated columnist, and senior political analyst for ABC News and National Public Radio
Download or read book Post Communist Mafia State written by B lint Magyar and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Having won a two-third majority in Parliament at the 2010 elections, the Hungarian political party Fidesz removed many of the institutional obstacles of exerting power. Just like the party, the state itself was placed under the control of a single individual, who since then has applied the techniques used within his party to enforce submission and obedience onto society as a whole. In a new approach the author characterizes the system as the ?organized over-world?, the ?state employing mafia methods? and the ?adopted political family', applying these categories not as metaphors but elements of a coherent conceptual framework. The actions of the post-communist mafia state model are closely aligned with the interests of power and wealth concentrated in the hands of a small group of insiders. While the traditional mafia channeled wealth and economic players into its spheres of influence by means of direct coercion, the mafia state does the same by means of parliamentary legislation, legal prosecution, tax authority, police forces and secret service. The innovative conceptual framework of the book is important and timely not only for Hungary, but also for other post-communist countries subjected to autocratic rules. ÿ
Download or read book Romania Under Communist Rule written by Dennis Deletant and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first synthesis of the history of communism in Romania, from the founding of the Romanian Communist Party in 1921 to the revolution that led to the downfall of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu in December 1989. This book is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the development of communism in Romania and the impact of four decades of communist rule on Romanian society. Romania Under Communist Rule is divided into three parts. The first presents the period of Soviet domination and the consolidation of the Communist regime in Romania during the period from 1947 to 1955. The second discusses the Romanian Communist Party's efforts at autonomy in the period from 1956 to 1969, including the withdrawal of Soviet troops form Romania in 1958, and the coming to power of Nicolae Ceaucescu after the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in 1965. The third and final section of the book analyzes the neo-Stalinist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaucescu, culminating in the overthrow of the communist regime in Romania as a result of the December 1989 revolution. The author, Dennis Deletant, is a leading specialist on Romanian history and culture. Professor of Romanian studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London, he is recognized as the leading authority on Romanian history in Great Britain.
Download or read book Remembrance History and Justice written by Vladimir Tismaneanu and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 517 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twentieth century has left behind a painful and complicated legacy of massive trauma, monstrous crimes, radical social engineering, creating collective/individual guilt syndromes that were often specters haunting the process of democratization in the various societies that have emerged out of these profoundly de-structuring contexts, such as Germany, Romania, Russia and others.
Download or read book Modern Romania written by Tom Gallagher and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2008-03 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 1989 fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, Romania, arguably the most regimented of states in the Soviet bloc, has struggled with the transition from totalitarian state to democratic nation. In this insightful examination of modern Romania, Tom Gallagher provides an overview of Romania’s unique political and social history, focusing on both its national identity as well as the legacy of Soviet rule. Gallagher provides an in-depth look at Romania since 1989, focusing on the government’s attempts at economic reform, engagement with democracy, problems with corruption among the ruling elite, as well as the weakness of civil society and the resilience of implacable expressions of nationalism. Ultimately, Gallagher argues that thus far democracy has essentially failed in Romania. In fact, he warns that Romania is on its way to becoming one of the most unequal states in Europe and quite possibly a future trouble-spot unless efforts to resume much-needed reforms are undertaken.
Download or read book Post communist Nostalgia written by Maria Todorova and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the end of the Cold War was greeted with great enthusiasm by people in the East and the West, the ensuing social and especially economic changes did not always result in the hoped-for improvements in people's lives. This led to widespread disillusionment that can be observed today all across Eastern Europe. Not simply a longing for security, stability, and prosperity, this nostalgia is also a sense of loss regarding a specific form of sociability. Even some of those who opposed communism express a desire to invest their new lives with renewed meaning and dignity. Among the younger generation, it surfaces as a tentative yet growing curiosity about the recent past. In this volume scholars from multiple disciplines explore the various fascinating aspects of this nostalgic turn by analyzing the impact of generational clusters, the rural-urban divide, gender differences, and political orientation. They argue persuasively that this nostalgia should not be seen as a wish to restore the past, as it has otherwise been understood, but instead it should be recognized as part of a more complex healing process and an attempt to come to terms both with the communist era as well as the new inequalities of the post-communist era.
Download or read book The Anatomy of Post Communist Regimes written by Bálint Magyar and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-20 with total page 834 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering a single, coherent framework of the political, economic, and social phenomena that characterize post-communist regimes, this is the most comprehensive work on the subject to date. Focusing on Central Europe, the post-Soviet countries and China, the study provides a systematic mapping of possible post-communist trajectories. At exploring the structural foundations of post-communist regime development, the work discusses the types of state, with an emphasis on informality and patronalism; the variety of actors in the political, economic, and communal spheres; the ways autocrats neutralize media, elections, etc. The analysis embraces the color revolutions of civil resistance (as in Georgia and in Ukraine) and the defensive mechanisms of democracy and autocracy; the evolution of corruption and the workings of “relational economy”; an analysis of China as “market-exploiting dictatorship”; the sociology of “clientage society”; and the instrumental use of ideology, with an emphasis on populism. Beyond a cataloguing of phenomena—actors, institutions, and dynamics of post-communist democracies, autocracies, and dictatorships—Magyar and Madlovics also conceptualize everything as building blocks to a larger, coherent structure: a new language for post-communist regimes. While being the most definitive book on the topic, the book is nevertheless written in an accessible style suitable for both beginners who wish to understand the logic of post-communism and scholars who are interested in original contributions to comparative regime theory. The book is equipped with QR codes that link to www.postcommunistregimes.com, which contains interactive, 3D supplementary material for teaching.
Download or read book Under a Red Sky written by Haya Leah Molnar and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2010-03-30 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eva Zimmermann is eight years old, and she has just discovered she is Jewish. Such is the life of an only child living in postwar Bucharest, a city that is changing in ever more frightening ways. Eva's family, full of eccentric and opinionated adults, will do absolutely anything to keep her safe—even if it means hiding her identity from her. With razor-sharp depictions of her animated relatives, Haya Leah Molnar's memoir of her childhood captures with touching precocity the very adult realities of living behind the iron curtain. Under a Red Sky is a 2011 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
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.
