Suchergebnisse

The book consists of articles from East European Politics and Societies, a journal published in the United States that first appeared in 1987. This selection is composed of papers written by the journal's founders and early authors, among them Zygmunt Bauman, Tony Judt, Katherine Verdery, Vladimir Tismaneanu, Elemer Hankiss, Vesna Pusic, Maria Todorova. The first section Before the Change consists of texts written in the late 1980s; its authors tried to identify the cracks that would undermine or reform the existing system. In the second part of the book Alternative Futures contributors sketch

Examines the relationship between the Soviet Union and East Europe; 8 articles. Effect on East European political and economic life; chances for political liberalization.

IN 1989, COMMUNIST PARTIES IN EASTERN EUROPE SURRENDERED POWER BECAUSE THEY LACKED POLITICAL LEGITIMACY, LOST CONTROL OF THE INSTRUMENTS OF COERCION, AND COULD NO LONGER RELY ON MOSCOW FOR SUPPORT. STUDENTS OF EAST EUROPEAN AND SOVIET POLITICS FAILED TO UNDERSTAND OR PREDICT THE FUNDAMENTAL NATURE OF THE CRISIS LEADING TO THE OVERTHROW OF MARXIST-LENINIST RULE IN EASTERN EUROPE. HENCE, RECENT WORKS ON SOVIET-EAST EUROPEAN RELATIONS THAT ASSUME BOTH CONTINUED COMMUNIST PARTY CONTROL IN EASTERN EUROPE AND CONTINUED SOVIET DOMINATION OF THE REGION ARE HISTORICALLY INTERESTING BUT HAVE BEEN OVERTAKEN BY EVENTS.

Aus westeuropäischer Sicht

The problems confronted by Eastern European countries are hypothesized to be problems of social construction and not of socialism itself. Moreover, they are mistakes or weaknesses of an incorrect theory of socialist construction. This is based on their premature self-evaluation as socialist countries. None of these socialist countries have reached the utopian socialist state but they were broadly applying the laws appropriate to that state and it is this contradiction which has brought about the crisis in Eastern Europe. Thus, it is this study's aim to demonstrate the feasibility of a proposed research framework on understanding the developments in Eastern Europe consisting of five steps in testing the above-mentioned hypothesis in principle. The socialist vision includes the abolition of inequality where, under this condition, equality becomes a reality. The problem with this vision is that it is utopian, even Marxists recoil from giving an explicit elaboration of the ultimate socialist vision. However, without abandoning the vision of a future society, socialism is made operational by a series of feasible structures of society. To avoid falling into this paradox, the process of construction must be consistent with the laws of social change. Only if each of the successive stages in the construction of post-capitalist society maximizes freedom, democracy and equality will the process of construction move progressively towards socialism. Until such time, Eastern Europe will tread the capitalist path.

Both Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union are locked in domestic battles over the nature and extent of a dramatic reform process that touches on the economic and political foundations of the region. (SJO)