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11. Between State & Market: Changing Agriculture in Postcommunist Poland

Author:
Krysztof Gorlach
Publication Date:
01-1993
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
The paper deals with the problems of changes in Polish agriculture under current conditions. These conditions include the legacy of the communist period (agrarian structure as well as patterns of activity among farmers), the new pro-market agricultural policy, and the need for privatization of former large state farms. However, the transformation of the largest part of Polish agriculture, that is, about two million relatively small family farms, seems to be the key problem now. The author tries to analyze some stimulants and barriers to the process of change, as well as some options for the future. These options include: the so-called "farmerization path," the "fossilization solution," and the "third way."
Topic:
Agriculture, Markets, Privatization, and Post-Communism
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, and Poland

12. Ethnic Issues in Post-Communist Czechoslovakia

Author:
Sharon Wolchik
Publication Date:
01-1992
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
This paper examines the increase in the political salience of ethnicity in the postcommunist period in Czechoslovakia. as in several other postcommunist states, ethnic issues dominated the political agenda in the first two years after the collapse of the communist system and led to the negotiated breakup of the federation. Differences regarding reform led to a series of political crises in 1990 and 1992. Symbolic issues also contributed to the conflict. Political leaders played an important role in increasing the political salience of ethnicity during this period. Their ability to channel the dissatisfaction and uncertainty that accompanied the economic and political changes underway to mobilize support for ethnic aims reflect the fact that Czechs and Slovaks differ in their attitudes toward many important economic and political issues. These differences, in turn, reflect the influence of each people's history, levels of economic development, the legacy of the communist period, and the distinct ways in which the transition to the market affects each region.
Topic:
Politics, Economy, Ethnicity, Post-Soviet Space, and Post-Communism
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe and Czechoslovakia

13. Democratic Transitions: Puzzles & Surprises from West to East

Author:
Giuseppe di Palma
Publication Date:
01-1990
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
Recent communist crises in Eastern Europe seem to have caught many analysts by surprise. They also show features that set them apart from contemporary crises of right-wing dictatorships. The paper analyzes the reasons for the surprise in the light of theories of communism and of civil society under communism developed since the death of Stalin. It also examines and tries to account for the special features of the crises: their sudden acceleration •. the regimes' loss of a will to rule, the mobilization of large popular strata. Explanations focus on the goal-oriented nature of communist regimes as an alternative to the Western order. It makes the issue of self-identity and self justification crucial to these regimes-more crucial than for right-wing dictatorships. Therefore, the announcement by the Soviet hegemon itself that the goal has failed removes those tenuous shreds of self-justification to which the regimes desperately cling. This also makes possible and explains mass mobilization and the revival of civil society as a cathartic exercise. The paper concludes with an analysis of the prospects for democratization in Eastern Europe in the light of recent transitions in Southern Europe and Latin America. Democracy may develop-theoretical pessimism notwithstanding--as a matter of calculus and through an accelerated process of learning.
Topic:
Politics, Dictatorship, Identity, Post-Communism, and Democratic Transitions
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe

14. The Constitution of Critical Intellectuals: Polish Physicians, Peace Activists, & Democratic Civil Society

Author:
Michael D Kennedy
Publication Date:
01-1989
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
The post-communist system in Eastern Europe will be distinguished by the quality of its civil society. The market will cast civil society's construction in one mold, but a democratic civil society will depend on the constitution of critical intellectuals, or the making of individuals with the inclination and capacity to understand their personal situation to reflect a public condition, and to understand the public condition as constituted through potentially transformed power relations. In order to illuminate this general process, this paper rethinks the distinction of intellectuals and considers two important cases of the making of critical intellectuals in pre-transition Poland. Physicians in 1980-81 and peace activists in 1985-88 illustrate how instabilities create opportunities for new groups of people to become critical intellectuals and how critical intellectual work can create new possibilities for social transformation. By illuminating these processes, this paper hopes to contribute to the expansion of critical intellectuality in and about Eastern Europe.
Topic:
Civil Society, Activism, Post-Communism, Democratic Transitions, and Intellectuals
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe