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The communists of East Central Europe came to power promising to bring about genuine equality, paying special attention to achieving gender equality, to build up industry and create prosperous societies, and to use music, art, and literature to promote socialist ideals. Instead, they never succeeded in filling more than a third of their legislatures with women and were unable to make significant headway against entrenched patriarchal views; they considered it necessary (with the sole exception of Albania) to rely heavily on credits to build up their economies, eventually driving them into bankruptcy; and the effort to instrumentalize the arts ran aground in most of the region already by 1956, and, in Yugoslavia, by 1949. Communism was all about planning, control, and politicization. Except for Yugoslavia after 1949, the communists sought to plan and control not only politics and the economy, but also the media and information, religious organizations, culture, and the promotion of women, which they understood in the first place as involving putting women to work. Inspired by the groundbreaking work of Robert K. Merton on functionalist theory, this book shows how communist policies were repeatedly undermined by unintended consequences and outright dysfunctions.

Orthodox Churches, like most religious bodies, are inherently political: they seek to defend their core values and must engage in politics to do so, whether by promoting certain legislation or seeking to block other legislation. This volume examines the politics of Orthodox Churches in Southeastern Europe, emphasizing three key modes of resistance to the influence of (Western) liberal values: Nationalism (presenting themselves as protectors of the national being), Conservatism (defending traditional values such as the "traditional family"), and Intolerance (of both non-Orthodox faiths and sexual minorities). The chapters in this volume present case studies of all the Orthodox Churches of the region

"This monograph focuses on the challenges which interwar regimes faced and how they coped with them in the aftermath of World War I, focusing especially on the failure to establish and stabilize democratic regimes, as well as on the fate of ethnic and religious minorities. Topics explored include the political systems and how they changed during the two decades under review, land reform, Church-state relations, and culture. Countries studied include Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania"--

Intro -- Preface -- Pronunciation of German Vowels and Consonants -- Contents -- About the Author -- Acronyms -- List of Maps -- List of Tables -- Chapter 1: Introduction: The Freedom to Conform -- National Identity and Conformity -- The Argument in This Book -- Chapter 2: Nazi Germany, 1933-1945: Nonconformity as "Degeneration" -- The Nazi State -- Race-The Foundation of the Nazi Understanding of National Identity -- Reconstructing National Identity -- Madagascar or Palestine? -- Other "Life Unworthy of Life" -- The Lebensborn Program -- From Ghettos to Genocide -- The Holocaust -- Nonconformity in the Third Reich -- Dissent and Opposition in the Religious Sphere -- Protestant Opposition in Bavaria -- The Assault on Religious Instruction -- Protests by the Holy See and Bishops of Both Major Christian Churches -- Further Protests -- Policing Sexuality and Youth -- Women and Marriage -- Organizing the Youth -- Repressing "Unnatural" Desire -- German Identity and the Arts -- The Struggle Against Degenerate Art -- The Struggle Against Degenerate Music -- From Opposition to Resistance -- Conclusion -- Chapter 3: Democratic Reconstruction Under Allied Occupation, 1945-1949: Neither Tradition nor "Degeneration" -- Denazification -- The Nuremberg Trials -- Dismissals of Nazis -- Pro-Nazi Sentiments in Society at Large -- Demilitarization -- Reeducation and Culture Change -- Democratization -- Imposing Democracy by Undemocratic Means? -- Dissent Among Catholic Intellectuals -- Conclusion -- Chapter 4: The Soviet Occupation Zone, 1945-1949: Building New Structures of Conformity -- The Transformation of Justice and Administration -- Reparations and Expropriations -- The SED and the Bloc Parties -- The Establishment of the SED -- Opposition from the CDU -- Denazification -- Schools and Religion -- The Educational Sector -- Religion and the Churches.

"An original work of historical synthesis by an esteemed international scholar, this book offers the first comparative analysis of the four different types of collectivism (communism, Fascism; Nazism; anarchism) in twentieth-century Europe which aspired to create an 'alternative modernity'. The author presents not only the authoritarian alternatives to democracy of the past century, but also the experiment with anarchism undertaken in Spain in the late 1930s. The concept of the analysis is to show how these political systems are driven by rival visions of alternative modernity and how the prioritization of values plays out in politics. Each political concept discussed in the book found support among broad sectors of its respective population at one time or another, and were championed by professionals in the countries in which they took hold. The political vision which guided the construction (or in the anarchist case, attempted construction) of an alternative to democracy, oriented to an alternative future, is discussed in a balanced and erudite manner in each case. Debates within the participants in these projects are also focused. The book ends with a defense of liberal democracy, exploring departures from it in contemporary Hungary and Poland, but also the US"--

"An original work of historical synthesis by an esteemed international scholar, this book offers the first comparative analysis of the four different types of collectivism (communism, Fascism; Nazism; anarchism) in twentieth-century Europe which aspired to create an 'alternative modernity'. The author presents not only the authoritarian alternatives to democracy of the past century, but also the experiment with anarchism undertaken in Spain in the late 1930s. The concept of the analysis is to show how these political systems are driven by rival visions of alternative modernity and how the prioritization of values plays out in politics. Each political concept discussed in the book found support among broad sectors of its respective population at one time or another, and were championed by professionals in the countries in which they took hold. The political vision which guided the construction (or in the anarchist case, attempted construction) of an alternative to democracy, oriented to an alternative future, is discussed in a balanced and erudite manner in each case. Debates within the participants in these projects are also focused. The book ends with a defense of liberal democracy, exploring departures from it in contemporary Hungary and Poland, but also the US"--

The opening years of 1980 were difficult for Yugoslavia: Open revolt has occurred in Kosovo province and economic hardship has added to a general crisis of confidence. The system of self-management, once the pride of Yugoslav ideologists, has come increasingly under fire in post-Tito Yugoslavia as proponents of the system search for a new basis of

The Catholic Church in Polish History -- Preface -- Personages -- Contents -- List of Acronyms -- List of Maps -- List of Tables -- 1 Introduction -- I -- II -- III -- Notes -- 2 From the Origins to 1772 -- From the Baptism of Poland to the Double Crisis -- Antemurale Christianitatis -- The Reformation -- The Catholic Reformation -- Notes -- 3 The Polish Church in the Era of the Partitions, 1772-1918 -- Prologue -- From the First Partition to the Constitution of 3 May 1791 -- The Second and Third Partitions -- The Russian Sector, 1795-1914 -- Prussian Poland, 1795-1907 -- Austrian Galicia, 1780-1914 -- World War One and the End of the Partitions -- Notes -- 4 The Interwar Republic, 1918-1939 -- Establishing the Nation's Borders -- Demographic and Confessional Make-Up -- Phase 1: The Birth of a Nation, March 1921-May 1926 -- Phase 2: The Sanacja, May 1926-May 1935 -- Phase 3: Rule By the Colonels, May 1935-September 1939 -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 5 War Years and Communism, 1939-1989 -- The Nazi Occupation -- Nazi policy vis-à-vis the Catholic Church -- Sympathy for the Devil -- A Final Tally -- The Communist Era -- The Catholic Church, 1945-1956 -- Gomułka Back in the Saddle Again, Part One: 1956-1966 -- Gomułka Back in the Saddle again, Part Two: 1966-1970 -- The Gierek Era, 1970-1980 -- Cascade to Collapse -- The Second and Third Papal Visits -- The Great Transformation -- Epilogue -- Notes -- 6 Transition to Pluralism, 1989-2004 -- A New Era -- The Fight Over Abortion -- The Church and the EU -- After Glemp -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 7 Controversies in the Life of the Church -- The Church at the Dawn of the Post-Communist Era -- The Church's Agenda -- The Controversy About Collaboration -- The Controversies Surrounding Property Restitution -- The Church and Sex, Priestly Sex Abuse -- Father Rydzyk's Polarizing Statements, Since 2004

"Since the crash of communism in Central and Southeastern Europe in 1989, almost everything in the region has changed--from politics to economics to popular culture to religion. There have been new challenges to confront and new dilemmas. This volume examines the political engagement of religious associations in the post-socialist countries of Central and Southeastern Europe, with a focus on disputes about property restitution, revelations about the collaboration of clergy with the communist-era secret police, intolerance, and controversies about the inclusion of religious instruction in the schools. Each of the countries in the region is analyzed with research grounded in on-site interviews, as well as extensive use of literature in local and Western languages"--

One of the central challenges facing Macedonia, along with other Yugoslav successor states, is to develop civic values and to combat such uncivic values as ethnic intolerance, religious bigotry, and homophobia. This volume brings together specialists in Macedonian affairs to offer insights into the experiences and values of the Macedonians