Suchergebnisse

Discusses the present & potential role of the middle class (Mc) in the development & transformation of Central & Eastern Europe. A number of postcommunist countries have pursued the establishment of a new Mc as a means of promoting economic & political stability. However, this effort has been complicated by a number of circumstances: lack of local capital & class traditions, increasing social resistance to liberal reforms, historical hostility toward the Western concepts of Mc, & the absence of Mc ideology & unity. It is argued that the Mc is not merely the product of liberal economic reforms, but also a creation of these reforms. Although the owner class in Central Europe & intelligentsia of Eastern Europe have been cited as predecessors to the new Mc, it is concluded that the transition toward the ideology & structures of the new Mc is not inevitable, but requires economic & institutional guidance & support. T. Sevier

Explores the idea of civil society and how it is being implemented in Eastern Europe. Relating the concept of civil society in Eastern Europe to sociological theories, this book makes international comparisons where appropriate. It also discusses particular aspects of civil society, and examines the difficulties of establishing civil society

This book explores the idea of civil society and how it is being implemented in Eastern Europe. The implosion of the Russian empire fifteen years ago and the new wave of democratization opened a new field of inquiry. The wide-ranging debate on the transition became focused on a conceptual battle, the question of how to define ""civil society"". Because totalitarian systems shun self-organization, real existing civil society barely existed East of the Elbe, and the emergence of civil society took unusually complex and puzzling forms, which varied with national culture, and reflected the deep