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Public administration (PA) as a discipline and public governance as a closely related concept have been developing constantly and rather rapidly in recent years. A particularly lively progress is characteristic of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), owing to its post-communist legacy and subsequent transition. This paper outlines the mainstream topics of PA development within The NISPAcee Journal, which covers the CEE region and beyond. The principal objective of the paper is to systematically and quantitatively codify a series of text documents that comprises 142 articles published between 2008 and 2016 in The NISPAcee Journal, in order to identify the characteristics of PA development in the region. The paper investigates three hypotheses: first, whether the quality of the articles changed throughout 2008 - 2016; second, whether The NISPAcee Journal attests a multidisciplinary orientation in terms of scientific contributions from different disciplines, and third, whether The NISPAcee Journal reflects the West-East knowledge transfer among PA academia. The three hypotheses were tested against seven analytical dimensions. The research findings reveal that governance is the prevailing cognitive paradigmatic approach of The NISPAcee Journal. Europeanisation is the common thread of almost all articles, with a particular emphasis on the ideological elements of the Neo-Weberian and New Public Management doctrines. Qualitative methodology is still the prevailing research method, and the occurrence of mixed methodology is rare. The topical orientation of the analysed manuscripts is very diverse. A considerable emphasis is placed on the analysis and development of PA as a discipline. The majority of researchers originate from CEE countries and focus their studies on Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Caucasus. Scientific partnership between the Eastern and the Western academic worlds is still scarce. Given the low level of exchange of best academic practices between Western and Eastern Europe, research results indicate the need for an increased internationalisation of the NISPAcee Journal and a more holistic approach to tackle the future challenges of global and regional PA and public governance more adequately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problems of higher education in central and eastern Europe are discussed, including the processes of reform and the communist past; the need to both rebuild elites and expand participation; the role of the university between state and market; the relationship between research and teaching; and priorities for cooperation between western and eastern Europe. (DB)

Discusses the fall of communism in eastern Europe. Applies Latin America models to eastern Europe. Suggests that revolutions are shaped by the systems against which they are directed. Concludes that the problems of eastern Europe are not caused by the system so much as by geography. Argues that poor capitalism may lie in the future for eastern Europe. (DK)

After the general societal and political change in November 1989 in Czechoslovakia, the subject "History of Psychology" became the stable component of curriculum of studying psychology at the Department of Psychology of Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. The author of this paper has taught "History of Psychology" in Czech since 1998 for more than 20 years all students of psychology and he is teaching this subject the students of ERASMUS+ program from whole Europe, studying at Charles University in Prague, now. Indivisible part of the curriculum is represented by the history of Czechoslovak and Czech psychology. In References, the most important publications in the field of history of Czechoslovak and Czech psychology are presented., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

This introduction provides some insights on this special issue of Mortality, entitled Dying and Death in Former Communist European Countries, setting the issue against the general background of death studies and, more specifically, of death studies in eastern European countries. Some relevant references to the Dying and Death in 18th-21st Century Europe International Conference, organised in Romania, at the '1 Decembrie 1918ʹ University of Alba Iulia, Romania, between 2007 and 2019, are also made. The rationale and also the limitations of this special issue are brought into attention. The papers that form this issue are briefly presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food production in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is described; the opportunities and limitations of the region's land resources for agriculture are examined; and the evolution of the institutional structures of agriculture are discussed. Recent developments to improve the food supply are outlined. (RM)

Copyright of Comparative Economic Research is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The idea of modern cremation was much more than a notion of a more hygienic, ecological and aesthetically acceptable method for the disposal of human remains. From its inception at the end of the 18th century, all the way into the second half of the 20th century, it was tied to various political, national and cultural ideologies, with the common factor throughout being anticlericalism and secularisation. In this paper, I will explore the development and status of the idea and practice of cremation in countries which found themselves behind the Iron Curtain after the Second World War. Did modern cremation serve in the interest of socialist social order and communist ideology, and if so, in what way? What was the fate of the idea in relation to the specificities of different communist regimes and what factors affected its adoption or rejection? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bohemistyka is the property of Instytut Filologii Slowianskiej Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This research considers cross-national diffusion of international human resource management (IHRM) ideas and practices by applying an emergent frame of sociological conceptualisation – ‘social institutionalism’ (SI). We look at cultural filters to patterns of diffusion, assimilation and adoption of IHRM, using Romania as a case study. The paper considers the former Communist system of employment relations, suggesting that through institutionalisation former ways of thinking have a residual influence on definitions and practice of people management in post-Communist Eastern Europe. The paper provides a new perspective on HRM by discussing the value of SI as a general model for understanding cross-cultural receptivity to HR ideas, sensitising the HR practitioner and academic to institutionalised culture as a historical legacy influencing absorption of international management ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper suggests that European political identity, as a fragile project, is always in need of external significant 'others' in order to buttress a sense of common fate within the sui generis political entity of the European Economic Community/European Union (EU). Adopting a historical and diachronic perspective, the paper argues that for decades the threat of Eastern European communism represented one such external other as a gathering element for Western Europe, but that with the end of the Cold War this 'other' was gradually replaced by the threat of Islam and Islamism (and by extension Turkey's possible entry into the EU). Europe's threat was first the communist sickle; it is now Islam's crescent. Such a portrayal is obviously problematic because of its populist and simplistic appeal that has served political purposes. This needs to be questioned. The return of religion through what is currently described as desecularisation is a rather recent issue for Europe and the question of multireligious Europe ought to be taken seriously. The paper argues, in the line of Delanty, that one should adopt a civilisational approach to Europe, thus giving real space to differences within Europe, and reflect on certain biases of secularity and laicite towards the dominant religion in various countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the relationships between higher education and the labour market in Serbia. In order to understand this relationship better, this paper will first provide a brief history of the country and the history of its higher education structures. The paper will then discuss higher education from post Second World War until the fall of communism, highlighting how tertiary education met the goal of preparing young people for life in a socialist economy. The second part of the paper will discuss higher education after the fall of communism, and will show how higher education is not inadequately preparing Serbian graduates for the needs not only of the free market, but the new global economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• By focusing on the case of Lithuania, this paper develops a framework for understanding the development and characteristics of interest groups and the broader category of interest systems in the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe. • Nearly two decades have passed since the transition to democracy in the former Baltic Soviet republics and Eastern Europe. These nations have established democratic elections, modern judicial systems, institutions of representative government and guarantees of civil rights and civil liberties. Successful democratization, however, also requires the construction of a civil society characterized by open channels of communication between citizens and interests and their governments. Recent studies of the democratization of the former Soviet republics and satellite states in Eastern Europe have rarely addressed the development and role of interest groups and lobbying in these nations. This paper fills this void by presenting the findings of the first major study of interest group politics and lobbying in Lithuania. The major findings are based upon interviews of nearly 50 Lithuanian political, academic, bureaucratic and media elites conducted in the July of 2005. • Overall, the lobbying community in Lithuania is underdeveloped, often corrupt, and is negatively perceived by many Lithuanians elites. Much of this is due to the legacy of communism which heavily influences the perception and efficacy of interest groups and lobbying resulting in a suspicion among the public and government officials that has impeded the development of an effective lobbying community. Lithuanian interest groups do not use sophisticated practices or tactics of lobbying; access is largely based on personal connections and corrupt practices. The business community is the most effective lobby due to its contacts and extensive resources; in contrast, the labour lobby is weak due to a hangover from communist times. Looking to the future development of the Lithuanian lobbying community, it is unclear what effect the entry of Lithuania into the European Union (May 2004) will have on the development of interest group activities and lobbying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the manner in which the east of Europe has been theorized in the post cold war environment, and the implications for our understanding of the relationship between east and west. It argues that hegemonic discourses of neoliberalism lend a quality of inevitability to the integration of east into west, which in turn leads to a singular conception of Europe at the end of a trajectory of development. The paper argues that the relationship of western Europe to eastern Europe is more fruitfully explored through the conceptual framework of a center to its margins, which allows for a broader range of analysis on the issues – conceptual and implementational – at stake in transition processes, and which will allow for a theoretical exploration of where power is located and exercised. Because eastern Europe is understood in scholarly and policy communities as politically and geographically European, the study of postcommunist transition in Europe falls outside the purview of a development studies community that is increasingly focused on the emerging north/south divide. In a scholarly environment where the East/West divide no longer constitutes a salient focus of study, there is a need for the development of a framework that will provide a richer understanding of the reconstituted relationships being formed in Europe in the post-cold war environment. This paper argues that the social, economic, and political impact of disciplinary neoliberalism in eastern Europe can benefit from an analysis that takes into consideration the Eurocentric, disciplinary power that lies at the core of the transition process. Toward this end, it is necessary to query the discursive foundations of what constitutes the `properly European' in order to develop a framework for a more fruitful course of analysis with respect to the relationship between Europe and its fluctuating eastern margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The politics of identity is a controversial and ardent topic in contemporary constitutional theory. As this paper is intended to show, East-European minority politics may provide an interesting angle to the study of this sensitive and complicated issue. The dilemma is the following: It is the Murphy-law of prejudice that when it comes to the maltreatment of members of various ethnic groups no serious definitional or recognition-difficulties arise. It is because when it comes to discrimination or ethnic hostility, it is always the daily practice of the majority that will define membership in the discrete and insular minority group. Defining qualification requirements therefore to minority groups seems to pose difficulties only in the context of minority-identity based preferences. This anomaly is however more then of theoretical jurisprudential interest, as in some cases the entire effectiveness of the aimed minority protection schemes may depend thereon. It is fearful that having a post-communist mentality towards state policies with an ethnicized system of preferences, due to the lack of political cultural and public moral restraints, these preferences will simply be seen as services provided by the (alienated, thus for no sympathy or co-operation eligible) state. What seems to be in the centerfold of East European minority politics is thus ``ethnocorruption '', that is the utilizing and misusing of remedial measures for private and from the legislator's intentions independent means. In this paper, following a constitutional semantical analysis of the minority identity, the demons of ethnocorrpution will be demonstrated through a comparative assessment of a case study of a Hungarian legislation and its possible progeny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1954 the football association of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) became one of UEFA's founding members. With Germany divided, and Cold War tensions at their peak, football provided one of the few cultural outlets that consistently breached the Iron Curtain. East German clubs participated regularly in UEFA competitions. The national team entered the inaugural European Championship in 1960. GDR administrators and referees became respected figures within the European game. This paper examines the history of early East German involvement in European football competitions, and the tensions that surrounded the GDR's dialogue with the European football community. Analysing the experiences of players and spectators, it focuses on the East German game as a multi-layered site of cultural transfer. Allied to the Soviet Union, GDR football primarily looked east for inspiration and opponents. At the same time, it sought contacts with the West, home of Europe's best football teams, in order to raise standards and deepen socialist influence in ‘bourgeois’ international sports organisations. There were deep ambiguities to the GDR's position at the geographic centre of European football. These ambiguities reflected competing local, national, and international identities that persistently undercut East German communism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Two important schools of thought began in the nineteenth century in Central Europe: Marxism and psychoanalysis. They had much common but there were significant differences. The Marxist influence on early psychoanalysts played out in one way in Europe and another way in the United States. Freud and his Austro-Marxist colleagues were committed to human welfare and social justice. They established a network of clinics that offered psychoanalysis to patients of limited means. The free clinics movement did not cross the Atlantic. There was a cohort of Marxists in the United States who belonged to the United States Communist Party. They were not publicly socially committed, but this paper will try to show that their Marxism influenced their psychoanalytic theory, practice, and politics.

With the extinction of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe and the vacuum left behind by them, states have entered a stage of political crisis and establishing future trajectories in terms of governance. In this paper we propose to discusses several aspects concerning different trajectories of post-communist states and the factors that influenced their journey [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artistic representations of the Holocaust (be they literary, visual, or cinematic) have, more often than not, stirred up controversies and provoked heated debates in the academic and non-academic circles alike. Of these kinds of representations, the cinematic ones - by virtue of the medium's undeniable popularity - have often been at the forefront of such discussions, in which their content and mode or representation have been analyzed and scrutinized for authenticity, appropriateness, and historical accuracy. The aim of my paper is not so much that of doing a content analysis of films about the Holocaust, but rather to investigate the social and historical context in which they were made, by looking at three case studies of Central- and East-European countries: Poland, Hungary, and Romania. All three countries share similarities (the fact that they were all part of the Soviet bloc until 1989), but also notable differences: while in Poland and Hungary, popular dissent with the communist regime was more vocal and visible in the latter half of the ninth decade, the national-communist Romanian regime tried to stifle completely any form of political opposition. The legacy of the Holocaust was also dealt with differently in all three cases, a factor that undoubtedly influenced both the number, and the content of films directly or indirectly representing it. My intention, therefore, is to make a comparative analysis of Holocaust representations in Polish, Hungarian, and Romanian cinema by focus - ing on films made both before, and after 1989, from Andrzej's Wajda's Samson to István Szabó's Sunshine and from Péter Forgács' Free Fall to Radu Gabrea's Gruber's Journey, with the aim of discovering whether the social and political context in which these films were made had any impact on their representation of the Holocaust and, if so, to what extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was originally published as a chapter in the author's recent book Europe since 1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2010). The book tells the dramatic story of the economic, social, political, and cultural transformation of Europe during the transition from the Cold War to the European Union. The author charts the overwhelming impact of the collapse of communism on every aspect of European life. Europe became safer and more united, and Central and Eastern Europe started on the difficult road to economic modernization. However, the western half of Europe also changed. European integration gained momentum. The single market and the common currency were introduced, and the Union enlarged from nine to twenty-seven countries. This period also saw a revolution in information and communication technology, the increasing impact of globalization and the radical restructuring of the political system. The book explores the impact of all of these changes as well as the new challenges posed by the economic crisis of 2008-9 and asks which way now for Europe? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research I explore the effect of religious denomination and belonging on political participation in former communist countries of East Central Europe after the fall of communism. In the early 1990s, mostly as a response to forced secularization during communism, authors heralded a massive religious revival in the countries formerly belonging to the Eastern Bloc. In this paper I show that the re-discovery of God and church was not equally popular in all countries. Moreover, I explore the links between religious participation and political participation and I find no uniform transnational effect of denomination. Rather, the Eurobarometer survey data from the early 1990s suggests that the ways in which religious believing and belonging influence political participation at the beginning of democratization is context driven. Indeed, one of the strengths of this paper resides in my attempt to capture the religious context in post-communist Europe shortly after its collapse. I thus contribute to a better understanding of how religious and political involvement are intertwined during early transition in East Central Europe. In the conclusion, I advocate the need for adequately taking context into consideration, especially given its dynamic and multi-faceted nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-Communist transition to social health insurance in many of the Central and Eastern European and Central Asian countries provides a unique opportunity to try to answer some of the unresolved issues in the debate over the relative merits of social health insurance and tax-financed health systems. This paper employs regression-based generalizations of the difference-in-differences method on panel data from 28 countries for the period 1990-2004. We find that, controlling for any concurrent provider payment reforms, adoption of social health insurance increased national health spending and hospital activity rates, but did not lead to better health outcomes.

In the context of the forceful dispute over national identity in Moldova, the Communist government of 2001–2009 aimed to articulate a project of “Moldovan identity” which was raised to the level of a state ideology. In the spirit of Soviet propaganda, this project was implemented through public holidays and celebrations. The following analysis examines two case studies—the Wine Festival and the Independence Cup—by discerning the performative practices designed as part of the nation-building project in Moldova between 2005 and 2009. Organized at the official level, but with the strong assistance of mass media, these public events were intended to win the support and attention of Moldovan society by employing rituals and performances similar to those of the Soviet period. The paper addresses the characteristics and mechanisms of these performative practices, and considers why this nation-building project did not achieve its goals, but instead caused tension and disputes. One of the main aims is to understand how the Communist government sought to redefine “the Moldovan nation”. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Problems / Problemos is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Europe experienced few waves of democratization after World War II, transition to democracy occurring in different social, economic and political contexts. The present paper focuses on the way in which pre-democratic situation and the socio-economic context during democratization influence learning of support for democracy and compares the dynamic of support for democracy in Spain and Romania, during the post-totalitarian period. The two countries belong to different waves of democratization and having a different totalitarian past (fascist for Spain and communist for Romania). Using data provided by Eurobarometer for Spain (1986 -2010) and by Central and Eastern Eurobarometer, Candidate Countries Eurobarometer and Standard Eurobarometer for Romania (1990-2010) we decompose the social change in changes due to cohort replacements and transformation produced by the contextual effects. The results of the crossclassified fixed effects models (CCFEM) indicate strong effects of the socialization under the communist regime and significant contextual effects for both countries on support for democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the relationship between the policies of the Soviet Union and the state of communism in Europe following World War Two. The author attests that two fundamental differences arose in the Soviet attitude regarding Europe: the cessation of revolution as a viable means of solving conflicts between states and the emergence of a communist influence that was integral to Europe’s future. The role of Joseph Stalin, who held the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s Central Committee, is discussed. The paper urges that the hostilities that arose between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia led to the demise of any potential for international communism.

What happened 20 years ago in the region formerly ruled by a communist regime was a velvet revolution. And even if it was a revolution without bloodshed, it is a legitimate question to ask what was realized of the revolutionary motto: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité? Liberty is a bundle of rights, composed of at least three sets: (1) political rights; (2) rights of free entrepreneurship, free entry to the market; and (3) freedom of choice between alternative goods and services. There is great progress in achieving all three categories of liberty. As for egalitarian values, inequality rapidly increased, causing aversion against the new order in a large fraction of society. Fraternité, in other words solidarity, is a widely accepted value, but there are great difficulties in its implementation. Post-socialist countries inherited a premature welfare state. The majority of people would prefer universal social entitlements, while the necessary material resources are not sufficient for these ambitious goals. This paper concludes with a discussion of various policy options for easing the contradictions between conflicting and inconsistent objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]