Nations in Transit 2003: Democratization in East Central Europe and Eurasia By Freedom House
Nations in Transit is Freedom House's incisive and authoritative assessment of
post-Communist reform in 27 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the
former Soviet Union. In this annual research effort, leading regional and
country specialists review key indicators of democratization and the rule of law
and present their findings through in-depth reports and comparative ratings that
measure the state of electoral processes, civil society, independent media,
governance, and corruption in each country under study. It is the only
comprehensive, comparative, and multidimensional study of the post-Communist
condition.
600 pages; 0-7425-2871-5, $75.00 cloth; 0-7425-2872-3, $39.95 paper
http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com/ISBN/0742528715
Postcommunist Transformation and the Social Sciences: Cross-Disciplinary
Approaches Edited by Frank Bonker, Klaus Muller, and Andreas Pickel
Explores postcommunist systemic change, the role of religion and collective
identity, the significance of trust and economic culture, patterns of
state-economy interactions in enterprise restructuring, the context of EU
expansion, the strengths and weaknesses of economic theory and neoliberal
doctrine, and the history of ideas in the postcommunist transformation debate.
Bringing together leading experts in the field to illustrate the fruitfulness of
multidisciplinary analysis in understanding socioeconomic transitions, this work
will be valuable for economists, sociologists, and political scientists alike.
304 pages; 0-7425-1838-8, $74.00 cloth; 0-7425-1839-6, $34.95 paper
http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com/ISBN/0742518388
Call for Reviewers Ab Imperio International Academic Quarterly on Theory and
History of Nationalism and Empire in the Post-Soviet Space and Central/Eastern
Europe
From: Ab Imperio International Academic Quarterly on Theory and History of
Nationalism and Empire in the Post-Soviet Space and Central/Eastern Europe. http://abimperio.net
the international multi-disciplinary bilingual Russian-English academic
quarterly "Ab Imperio" specializing in theory and history of nationalism and
empires in the post-Soviet space and in Eastern/Central Europe is soliciting the
scholars and potential contributors for writing book reviews and reviewing the
literature focuisng on the publication's agenda.
Accroding to the editorial policy, the preference is given to the researchers
from CIS in writing on the books of their western colleagues, and, vice versa,
the western scholars are encouraged to write on the Russian-language books,
though other variants are also welcome.
The regularly updated list of the books can be found at Ab Imperio web-site:
http://abimperio.net
The Editors of AI would be glad to consider your own requests/propositions
concerning reviewing the recently published literature.
Those interested in reviewing for Ab Imperio, send your requests to:
In the wake of the momentous geopolitical changes of 1989, countries in Central
and Eastern Europe, former Soviet republics and constituent states of the
Russian Federation have engaged in various forms of nation-building or
re-building. From the very beginning, language diversity has played a crucial
part in this process.
This volume aims to take stock of the experience of the countries concerned in
dealing with linguistic diversity. Its emphasis is on the interplay between, on
the one hand, the politics of language, namely, the way in which internal power
struggles and minority-majority relations crystallize around language and, on
the other hand, the development of language legislation codifying the respective
status of the different languages, against the backdrop of complex historical,
ethnic and sociolinguistic realities.
The opening chapter, by Will Kymlicka and François Grin, discusses the ways in
which these issues are linked to the main discourses about state intervention in
language matters, namely, the discourse of rights and the policy analysis
approach. The nine case studies in the book, from the high-visibility cases of
the Baltic States and of Central and East European States, to much less known
language policy developments in Armenia or Tatarstan, provide in-depth analyses
illustrating the remarkable range of language politics and language policy in
times of change. The book also includes the case of a stateless people, the
Roma, and the politicization of the debate on the standardization of Romanes.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction: Assessing The Politics of Diversity in Transition Countries
PART I. ONE STATE - ONE LANGUAGE?
The 1999 Slovak Minority Language Law: Internal or External Politics?
Language Battles in the Baltic States: From 1989 into 2002
Identities and Language Politics in Ukraine: The Challenges of Nation-State
Building
PART II. TITULAR LANGUAGE PROMOTION AND BILINGUALISM
Language Policy in the Republic of Armenia in the Transitional Period
The Politics of Language Reform and Bilingualism in Tatarstan
Kalmykia: Language Promotion against all Odds
PART III. IDENTITY; DIFFERENTIATION AND UNIFICATION
Language Issues in the Context of Slovenian Smallness
Ethnicity, Language and Transition Politics in Romania: The Hungarian
Minority in Context
Language Corpus and Language Politics: The Case of the Standardization of Romani
Managing Multiethnic
Communities Project Series
Reconciling Diversity: Approaches from the Top and the Bottom in Post-conflict
Countries in Southeastern Europe
By Nenad Dimitrijevic and Petra Kovacs
Forthcoming in September 2003
Language: English 320 pages ISBN: 963 9419
69 9
The dust has yet to settle in the former Yugoslavia, the receipts have not yet
been counted and the total is far from being determined in the lens of Balkan
states that have a long history of hosting multiethnic populations.
The inroads of decentralization and the transition to a free market follow an
axis of development extending from Llujbjana to Pristina. Sophisticated claims
for and examples of multiethnic community management have been emerging. Draft
legislation on individual and collective rights is in place but on a whole the
public sector has yet to be managed in accordance with the accepted principles
of multiethnicity written into the peace agreements and new borders of the
present, whether due to inadequate resources, insufficient technical expertise
or a lack of political will.
Following the success of Managing Multiethnic Local Communities in the Countries
of the Former Yugoslavia, Nenad Dimitrijevic and Petra Kovacs return to the MMCP
series to re-examine the mosaic of the former Yugoslavia. They argue for a
breath before anyone might conclude that the barriers have stopped accumulating
in the aftermath of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. This volume includes many
cases of multiethnic management on the local level and presents both top-down
and bottom-up approaches to multiethnic community management that have emerged
in the last five years.
Stabilization of coexistence has improved government and facilitated return in
Bosnia. Reconciliation is happening on the ground in Croatia. Kosovo is battling
with an imposed coexistence. Macedonia struggles to recognize ethnic diversity.
Serbia is just now assuming responsibility for local initiatives that
accommodate diversity in Serbia. There is also a short portrait on provisional
state support for minority initiatives in Slovenia.
This publication can be ordered via e-mail. Please contact
lgipublications@osi.hu with your
request.
By Monica Robotin and Levente Salat
Forthcoming in October 2003
Language: English 320 pages ISBN 963 9419
75 3
Democracy is the hardest form of government to implement. Democracy is not an
easy recipe of salt, flour, water and yeast that yields bread. It requires total
commitment from everyone if it is to work well and not leave segments of society
permanently poor or disenfranchised, especially under the conditions of an
economic transition that moves jobs and opportunities elsewhere. Gestures and
words are not enough to ensure equal rights for everyone. Managing diversity
requires dynamic politicians, a cooperative administration and a moderately
educated public in order to ensure transitional democracy succeeds.
The book presents various models of minority participation through political
parties in Post-Communist Europe based on the experiences of Hungarians in
Slovakia and Romania, and Albanians in Macedonia. It asks to what degree are
these ethnic groups integrated into governing coalitions on behalf of their
constituencies in their respective states and covers innovative alternatives and
solutions to the management of multiethnic communities.
Levente Salat takes a hard look at democratic theory in his introduction to A
New Balance: Democracy and Minorities in Post- Communist Europe and puts it to
the test against the background of literature relevant to the field. He tackles
the theoretical principles of democracy and highlights the mechanisms and
innovations that enable effective dialogue for democracy to happen if not
flourish in Southeastern Europe.
In conclusion, Monica Robotin offers a comparative summary of the three cases
and analyses the developments in minority participation and legislation that
have appeared to address diversity in Post-Communist Europe today. Two useful
appendices refer to legislative provisions concerning minorities and a
comparative table of the relevant legislation in the countries concerned.
This publication can be ordered via e-mail. Please contact
lgipublications@osi.hu with your
request.
Thomas Pogge World Poverty and Human Rights Cambridge: Polity Press,
2002, 284 pp., 27.95 USD, ISBN 0745629954 (Paperback).
Reviewed by Dusan Pavlovic (G17 Institute, Belgrade) Buy
book from Amazon
The number of books having a critical attitude towards the effects of
globalization seems to be on the rise recently. Pogge's World Poverty and Human
Rights offers a moral critique of the existing international economic order,
putting forward the justification of and solutions for the alternative
international arrangement. The book is meant primarily for the Western readers.
Pogge wants to give morally compelling arguments about why global inequality
must require our attention. Most of Western academics, economists, journalists,
and politicians do not see poverty and inequality as morally important issues,
or at best pay lip service to them. This book targets at those who think that
global poverty are to be ignored, as well as to those who believe that their
conduct, policies, and global economic institutions deserve no substantial moral
evaluation.
David Bruce MacDonald
Balkan Holocausts?: Serbian and Croatian Victim Centered Propaganda and the War
in Yugoslavia Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 2003. 308 pp. 24.95 USD, ISBN 0-71906467-8 (softcover).
Reviewed by Florian Bieber (ECMI) Buy
book from Amazon
This study is a comprehensive comparative analysis of nationalist myths in
Croatia and Serbia before and during the disintegration of Yugoslavia. The focus
on myths of victimization follows the research (e.g. Vesna Pesic or Ivan Colovic)
conducted on nationalist mobilization in former Yugoslavia, which has identified
it as one of the most forceful mobilizers. The comparative dimension allows
David Bruce MacDonald to highlight the similarities between the two cases.
Cambridge University Press is pleased to announce
the publication of. . . The Weakness
of Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe by
Marc Morjé Howard, University of Maryland, College Park
"This book is a major achievement: a multi-method, cross-national study of civil
society that demonstrates the decisive impact of Leninist rule on the
post-communist world. . . . Howard's study will surely become a standard work
for students of civil society and democracy." -Jeffrey Kopstein, University of
Toronto
"Marc Howard has presented the most systematic and convincing evidence to date
that the Eastern European 'post-communist' countries, despite their seemingly
diverse trajectories since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, continue to share
deep and abiding cultural similarities rooted in their common experience of
Leninist dictatorship. . . . Anyone interested in the future of Europe in the
21st century should read this book." -Stephen Hanson, University of Washington
"In his superb study, Howard manages to link democratization studies, theorizing
on civil society, and the debate on social capital. He blends quantitative and
qualitative data into an end product that will be a 'must' for students of
post-Communist Europe. A rare and enviable success." -Claus Offe, Humboldt,
University zu Berlin
"A wonderful book! Marc Howard has taken a subject we all care about. . . and
written a major account of the problem. . . . I found the argument to be
completely convincing." -A. James McAdams, University of Notre Dame
Over a decade has passed since the collapse of communism, yet citizens of
post-communist countries are still far less likely to join voluntary
organizations than people from other countries and regions of the world. Why do
post-communist citizens mistrust and avoid public organizations? What explains
this distinctive pattern of weak civil society? And what does it mean for the
future of democracy in post-communist Europe? In this engaging study, Howard
argues that the legacy of the communist experience of mandatory participation in
state-controlled organizations, the development and persistence of vibrant
private networks, and the tremendous disappointment with developments since the
collapse of communism have left most post-communist citizens with a lasting
aversion to public activities. In addition to analyzing data from over 30
democratic and democratizing countries in the World Values Survey, Howard
presents extensive and original evidence from his own research in Eastern
Germany and Russia, including in-depth interviews with ordinary citizens and an
original representative survey.
2003/220 pp./14 line diagrams/22 tables
0-521-81223-2/Hb/List: $60.00
0-521-01152-3/Pb/List: $24.00
For information about how to order this book or how to request an examination
copy for course consideration, please contact us at: Order Dept € Cambridge
University Press € 100 Brook Hill Drive € West Nyack, NY 10994
Toll-Free: (800) 872-7423 / FAX: (914) 937-4712
http://us.cambridge.org/politicalscience/
NEC Regional Yearbook Besides the hardcopy, the New Europe College Regional Program Yearbook for
2001-2 has been published also on the Net at:
http://library.nec.ro/papers/regional2001-2002/yearbook.htm It comprises the
research papers of the NEC Fellows within the 2001-2 Regional Program coming
from Bulgaria, Moldova, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. The studies cover different
fields, from sociology, to visual arts.
Panaite on Quataert The Ottoman Empire,
1700-1922 (H-Levant) H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-Levant@h-net.msu.edu
(March 2003)
Donald Quataert. _The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922_. New Approaches to
European History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. xxii + 205 pp.
Tables, plates, maps, figures, notes, bibliography, and index.
No price listed (cloth), ISBN 0-521-63328-1; $20.00 (paper)
0-521-63360-5.
Greece and Turkey
after the End of the Cold War Christodoulos Yiallourides & Panagiotis Tsakonas, editors
A collective work that seeks to inventory most of the outstanding issues
between, and factors that contribute to an overall understanding of
Greek-Turkish relations. The international context in which these are played out
is given significant emphasis. Included are articles on military competition,
crisis management, the Cyprus problem, internal political considerations,
external forces and geopolitics.
Pages x + 497 p.
Paperbound
ISBN: 0-89241-593-2
Price: $30
http://www.caratzas.com/category.cfm?Category=2
Hurst Catalogue on
the Balkans and Eastern Europe
The new complete 32pp. catalogue, listing all of Hurst's publications on the
Balkans and Eastern Europe, is now available as a downloadable pdf at
http://www.hurstpub.co.uk/
If you wish to receive a conventional printed copy in the post, please send an
email with your name and address to:
maria@hurstpub.co.uk
'With Bosnia after Dayton Hurst have added another valuable title to their
unrivalled list of publications on the Balkans'
(Professor Mark Mazower, Times Literary Supplement, 14 Feb. 2003)
Zones of Conflict; US Foreign Policy in the Balkans and the Greater Middle East by Vassilis K. Fouskas has just been published by Pluto press, London (Seven
chapters-List of Abbreviations-Two maps-Bibliography-Index-182 pages. ISBN: 0
7453 2029 5 paperback and 0 7453 2030 9 hardback - www.plutobooks.com).
The book offers a sustained analysis of US policy objectives after the Cold War
in the Balkans, Central Asia and the Middle East. It also looks systematically
at the hegemonic antagonism between key EU states, Russia, China and the US for
the strategic control of Eurasia and its oil and gas producing zones.
Praises for the "Zones of Conflict"
"Finally, an excellent counterblast to Zbigniew Brzezinski, written with verve
and intelligence", Donald Sassoon, Professor of Comparative European History,
Queen Mary, University of London
"An interesting interpretation of US policy in what the author describes as the
Eurasian region of the Balkans and the Greater Middle East", Stevan K.
Pavlowitch, Professor Emeritus of Balkan History, University of Southampton
"Thanks to the 'Zones of Conflict' we have a refreshing new interpretation of
post-Cold War American foreign policy that challenges basic assumptions of the
American foreign policy establishment", Van Coufoudakis, Dean Emeritus and
Professor Emeritus, Indiana, University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne and Rector
Intercollege, Nicosia, Cyprus
"[Fouskas] is looking at both an interesting and under-theorised part of the
world and the role of the US within it", Ray Bush, Senior Lecturer in Politics,
University of Leeds
The author, Vassilis K. Fouskas, is the founding Editor of Journal of Southern
Europe and the Balkans, Senior Research Fellow in European and International
Studies at Kingston University, London, and a Leverhulme Fellow (2002-03).
George A. Kourvetaris, Victor Roudometof, Kleomenis Koutsoukis, Andrew G.
Kourvetaris (eds.), The New Balkans: Disintegration and Reconstruction. Boulder: East European Monographs, 2002. 468pp., 62 USD, ISBN 0880334983
(hardback).
Reviewed by Emilian Kavalski (University of Loughborough, UK) Email:
E.R.Kavalski@lboro.ac.uk
Order book from Amazon
The collapse of the Soviet and East European communist regimes (if anticipated
at all) has never been expected to be a peaceful affair; however, the violent
forms it took in the southeastern corner of Europe challenged and shocked out of
their place quite a number of seemingly well-lodged preconceptions. Thus, making
sense of the Balkan "crises" of the 1990s has been the topic of a number of
recent analyses. The New Balkans: Disintegration and Reconstruction comes from a
similar vein of scholastic explorations, while, at the same time, attempts to
proffer itself as the authoritative voice in the field of Southeast European
studies encompassing the dual nature of post-Cold War conflicts in the Balkans.
On the one hand the volume focuses on the destruction and disintegration of the
established pattern of statehood in the region. On the other, it endeavors to
evince a new hope as well as prospects for building and reconstructing better
futures for its peoples. In spite of the commendable effort as well as the
collection of essays by established names in the field, this volume (like many
other before it) fails to achieve its self-imposed goals and, most importantly,
does not succeed to contribute new perspectives both on the origins of the
current situation in the Balkans, let alone insightful ideas for chartering its
prospects.
At first glance, the volume seems well-organized into three sections exploring:
(i) the historic background of the ethnic conflicts in the Balkans (which is
also the largest part in the book, containing eight of the sixteen essays); (ii)
economic and civil society development; and (iii) security issues. Perhaps, this
structure outlines the editors' rendition of the triple-transition problematique.
Divided in this way, the volume offers itself as a promising suggestion for the
study of the Balkans. However, such aura is quickly dispelled when one embarks
on perusing the pages of this volume.
One of the main reasons for the misgivings of The New Balkans derives from the
editorial mismanagement of its structure. It is obvious that the majority of
contributors (if not all) take the term "Balkans" in its wider (or what some
might call its "geographic") meaning; that is: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece,
Romania, Turkey, and the states that emerged after the disintegration of
Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, an overwhelming number of essays (ten out of sixteen)
focus on the issues and problems of the so-called "Western Balkans". Thus, a
more appropriate title for the book would have been The New Post-Yugoslav Space,
since it is the disintegration and reconstruction of Yugoslavia that is at the
heart of the book. Said otherwise, The New Balkans fails to throw significant
light on the post-communist (or as the editors would probably call it
"post-emotional") transition of the region towards Euro-Atlantic structures.
Instead the volume remains mired in some quasi-suggestions and semi-conclusions
on the future of the "region", without making it clear is it the wider Balkans,
or the particular post-Yugoslav environment that it has in mind.
Another reason for the shortcomings of this volume is the fact that the bulk of
the contributions were originally written for a 1996 special issue of the
Journal of Political and Military Sociology. Although, that it is very often
refreshing to be confronted with the conclusions and suggestions of the recent
past (especially when revisiting studies undertaken during the height of the
Yugoslav crises) The New Balkans does not make the grade in rendering its
explorations into the language of the post-Milosevic and post-Tudjaman "Western
Balkans" and a closer and deeper association into the European Union and the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization for "Southeastern Europe". In fact, the
volume overlooks the important implication of such linguistic designation and,
hence, division of the region, which emerged in the mid-1990s. In effect, it
completely overlooks the suggestion that the Balkans is a region not because of
its own awareness as such, but because of the external perception of the
region's political, economic and social environment.
A third major flaw of the volume is the thinly veiled political agenda that it
seems to drive forward. Its premise is an apparently uncritical usage of the
volume's terminology (i.e. "nation" and "power"). The New Balkans fails to
account for the altered nature and especially content of such emotionally and
ideologically laden concepts. In other words, the volume lacks a cognitive
exploration of the ideas and concepts at the core of its terms (as is the case
with the lacking explanation and understanding of the perception of "the
Balkans"). This organizational failure leads the editors to put forward the
claim (of dubious academic value) that "the current fervor of Albanian
nationalists and that of Bulgarian nationalists during the pre-World War II
period" are similar (p. 9). Strange as it may sound with its reminiscence of
primordial essentialism such statements are common throughout the pages of the
volume (see for instance the chapter on the name of Macedonia). Thus, one is
left with the question what kind of reconstruction the volume would like to
suggest for the Balkans: one that is going to bring the region closer to the
Euro-Atlantic organizations and standards, or one that is going to plunge it
even further into "nationalist" fervor? Moreover, such statements put into
question the real motivations of the editors of the volume?
These are just few of the ideas one gets after reading The New Balkans. The
volume fails to live up to the expectations that it sets out and perhaps the
field of Balkan Studies could have done better without its presence. Strikingly
enough, there is nothing new that The New Balkans offers to its readers.
However, since it already exists probably the volume could be of some use as a
reference source to students of the region, but one that needs to be approached
with knowledge of its weaknesses.
The protection of national minorities by their kin-state (Science and technique
of democracy No. 32) (2002) The passionate and at times virulent discussions ensuing from the adoption
by Hungary, in June 2001, of the Act on Hungarians living in Neighbouring
Countries dramatically revealed that too little attention had been paid until
then by the international community to the phenomenon of the concern of certain
states for their kin-minorities. The Venice Commission was called upon to fill
this gap. This volume contains the report on the preferential treatment of
national minorities by their kin-states, the proceedings of a colloquy on the
same subject organised by the Commission in June 2002 as a follow-up to the
report, as well as a collection of the existing national legislation on
kin-minorities.
Also published Minorities in international law, by Gaetano Pentassuglia (2002)
http://book.coe.int/GB/CAT/LIV/HTM/l1970.htm
ISBN : 92-871-5082-6
Format : 16x24, 420 pages
Price : 28 E / 42 US$
Available from Council of Europe Publishing - 67075 Strasbourg Cedex
E-mail : publishing@coe.int
Visit our site : http://book.coe.int
Fax : +33 (0)3 88 41 27 80
Fundraising... Volume 2 - Secret Insights and Earned Income Ventures 127 of the best case studies from the archives of Nonprofit and Charity News
have now been compiled into a COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL as Volume 2 of this acclaimed
series. Written from a "business finance" perspective, just one idea can
reimburse you for the purchase many times over. The manual is now available for
US$145 (which includes express delivery anywhere in the world).
NGO Resources Worldwide
PO Box 614
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Türkiye-Yunanistan
Eski Sorunlar, Yeni Arayislar (Turkey-Greece
Old Problems, New Searches)
ASAM, 2002
Edited by Birgül Demirtas-Coskun
Contributors: Erol Kurubas, Alexis Heraclides, Haluk Alkan, Kostas Ifantis,
Herkül Millas, Kamil Mehmet Büyükcolak, Ercüment Tezcan, Mustafa Aydin
238 pages
ISBN: 975-6769-53-x
Composed of articles by both Turkish and Greek scholars, the book aims at
dissecting the recent Turkish-Greek rapprochement that unexpectedly began in
1999. It basically seeks to propose answers to the following thorny questions:
Which internal and external factors made it possible for Turkish and Greek
governments to cooperate in a range subjects related to "high" and "low
politics"? Will the current improvement prove itself to be permanent or is it
bound to tear apart at some time in the future as was the case with the previous
cooling off periods? The book is hoped to contribute to the literature on
Turkish-Greek relations by providing different analyses of the recent period
from both sides of the Aegean.
To order,
AVRASYA STRATEJİK ARAŞTIRMALAR MERKEZİ
Konrad Adenauer cad. No: 61 Yıldız -Çankaya /ANKARA
Tel: +90 312 4916070 (PBX) Faks: 0 312 4916099
E-mail: kitapdagitim@avsam.org
Three Social Science Disciplines in Central and Eastern Europe. Handbook on
Economics, Political Science and Sociology (1989-2001) Max Kaase, Vera Sparschuh (Eds.) and Agnieszka Wenninger (co-editor)
Berlin/Bonn/Budapest 2002, 668 pages, ISBN 3-8206-0139-2. 44,90-EUR
The handbook is a joint publication of Collegium Budapest and Social Science
Information Centre (IZ), Bonn/ Berlin. Thirty country reports on development and
current state of three social disciplines - economics, political science and
sociology- in ten Central and Eastern European EU accession countries are
uniformly structured and enable an insight into historical foundations,
methodical and thematic orientations as well as a quick overview over the most
important actors/institutions and funding institutions in respective
country/discipline. Bibliographical appendices (including original titles and
English translations) present the most important literature. The registers and
the CD-ROM enclosed in the book allow for a targeted access to
persons/institutions.
Well founded analyses by East European experts provide highly up-to-date
orientation knowledge on social sciences in Eastern Europe to both scientists
and students. Different development paths of social sciences in Central and
Eastern European countries can also be viewed from a comparative perspective.
You can comfortably order the book directly via the Internet at:
http://www.gesis.org/Bestellen/IZ/index.htm?order/dokumentationen.htm or
send us an e-mail (wenninger@berlin.iz-soz.de).
"Refugee Studies and Politics: Human Dimensions and Research Perspectives" Edited by: Susanne Binder & Jelena Tosic
Facultas Verlag, Vienna 2002
Only recently has cultural and social anthropology increasingly started to deal
with the phenomenon of flight. Due to their scope, anthropological approaches
however offer an ideal basis for an interdisciplinary discussion on the subject.
This volume, as a publication of the proceedings of the international conference
"Refugee Studies and Politics: Human Dimensions and Research Perspectives" which
took place at the University of Vienna, presents an overall view to present
discussions in Refugee Studies and Refugee Policies.
The book has a strong regional focus on former Yugoslavia, but also deals with
issues in Africa, Austria and in the European Union. Additionally this
publication has a significant focus on gender issues.
It is addressed to researchers in relevant fields of social and political
sciences, NGO-activists and members of international and state organisations,
and finally to students of social sciences. This volume is both addressed and
dedicated to persons who have experienced flight and/or displacement.
You can order the book at: www.wuv-verlag.at
or by visiting the site
www.wittgenstein2000.at
The Male Face of Trade Unions in Central and
Eastern Europe, by Jasna A. Petrovic, published by ICFTU CEE, in April 2002.
Jasna Petrovic is the Coordinator of the Women's Network for Central and Eastern
Europe. Send your request (with your postal address) to:
jasna.petrovic1@sssh.hr
Disrupting and Reshaping. Early Stages of Nation Building in the Balkans edited by Marco Dogo and Guido Franzinetti
The papers collected in this book discuss and compare four cases of transition
from the Ottoman imperial regime to the nation-state polity and legitimacy
(Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey) in the Balkans between XIX and XX
century.
The authors are European historians of different school, age and provenance
(from West to East: Edinburgh, Turin, Trieste, Belgrade, Sofia, Athens, Ankara).
Among the topics they approach in these pages, the reader will find: wars and
"disorder", as a prologue to disruption of Ottoman authority and eventual
secession; traditional political culture and new political élites; agrarian
conditions, modernising policies and peasant separateness; legitimising
ideologies and conflicting political loyalties in the new nation-states.
Political upheaval and subsequent state-centred activities and trends
(constitutionalism, history writing, enlarged enfranchisement.), rather than
ethno-cultural heritages, are here proposed as relevant factors in the shaping
of national identities.
Publishing House: Longo Editore Ravenna.
Books and Occasional Papers can be ordered directly from the Web page of the
Network: www.eurobalk.net
Post-Communist
transition as a European Problem edited by S.Bianchini, G.Schoepflin and P.Shoup
AVALIABLE FROM THE END OF NOVEMBER 2002
When international research on the post communist transition in CEI (Central
European Initiative) countries started in 1999, the issues analysed in this book
were not on the agenda. They emerged, unexpectedly, in the course of the
project, which involved about fifty European and American scholars. This book,
the first in a series of four, deals innovatively and provocatively with a
crucial question: to what extent has the post communist transition in CEI
countries gradually turned into a difficult transformation, which cannot be
isolated from the process of European integration? In other words, in the
post-communist transition an integral part of a transition which has involved
Europe as a whole, since the end of the cold war, in the reconstruction of its
political unity? The overcoming of the separation caused by bloc politics
interacts with the process globalisation and localisms, making the European
scenario much more interdependent and dynamic than the now obsolete
interpretations based on the East-West divide are capable of investigating. This
book provides readers with interpretation tools which defy facile current
opinions, looking at post-communist Europe from the point of view of Europe,
tout court.
Publishing House: Longo Editore Ravenna.
Books and Occasional Papers can be ordered directly from the Web page of the
Network: www.eurobalk.net
R. J. Crampton The Balkans since the Second
World War London and New York: Longman, 2002. xxxiv + 374 pp. Tables, maps, notes,
bibliography, index. $22.00 (paper), ISBN 0-582-24883-3.
Reviewed for H-Diplo by Joe Mocnik <jmocnik@bgnet.bgsu.edu>,
Department of History, Bowling Green State University
A Survey of Post-1945 Balkan History
It is anything but easy to write a single-volume history of Albania, Bulgaria,
Greece, Romania and "the territories which between 1944 and 1992 made up the
[Socialist] Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" (p. xiv). The people of this
south-eastern European region on the mountainous Balkan Peninsula have
exceptionally diverse heritage in virtually every aspect of life including
culture, economy, politics and religion. The region has a rich history of
initiating and participating in local and global conflicts. The Great Schism of
1054 between Rome (Western, Catholic) and Constantinople (Eastern, Orthodox)
divided the population's spiritual allegiances and created artificial
differences that were for centuries habitually exploited by belligerent rulers
on both sides. Since the Middle Ages the Balkans served as the bulwark of
western civilization against the Ottoman Empire and the Islam. In the modern
times, the region became infamous for providing an immediate cause for the First
World War. The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the
throne of Austria-Hungary, by Serbian radicals detonated the explosive
international situation. During the Cold war the "iron curtain" arbitrarily
separated all Balkan countries, except Greece, from the rest of Europe and the
democratic world in general. Following the collapse of communism, the region
dominated the headlines once again during the last decade of the twentieth
century because of the bloody dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, which
destabilized the region and brought the horrors of ethnic cleansing and
[un]civil war back to Europe.
Crampton's book lives up to its initial goal of providing "an introduction to
the political evolution of an area which has seldom been out of the headlines in
the last dozen or more years" (p. xvi). The crisp, textbook-like style makes
this book a useful preliminary reading for any student of Balkan history. The
local politicians as well as the general public may also want to consult it in
order not to repeat the mistakes of their predecessors.
Copyright (c) 2002 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the
redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes,
with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of
publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online.
For other uses contact the Reviews editorial staff:
hbooks@mail.h-net.msu.edu.
The Services
Sectors in Central and Eastern Europe by Hermine Vidovic
WIIW Research Reports, No. 289, September 2002
(Reprint, first published by Bank Austria Creditanstalt, Vienna, July 2002;
only available as hard copy)
88 pages including 17 Tables, 7 Figures and 5 Maps
EUR 22.00
For Abstract see http://www.wiiw.ac.at/
WIIW
HANDBOOK OF STATISTICS: COUNTRIES IN TRANSITION 2002 545 pages, in English (including 400 Tables and Graphs)
WIIW, Vienna, October 2002, ISBN 3-85209-007-5
Contains annual and monthly statistics, covering key economic data on twelve
transition countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia,
Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia) for the
period 1990 to August 2002.
Availability:
- Hard copy (published mid-October)
price: EUR 90
- PDF format on CD-ROM (end of September)
price: EUR 90
- MS Excel tables + PDF format on CD-ROM, plus hard copy (mid-October)
price: EUR 225
- MS Excel tables of individual chapters, on diskette (end of September)
price: EUR 36 per chapter
See also
http://www.wiiw.ac.at/handbook.html
To order, please contact Ms. Ursula Köhrl, WIIW,
Oppolzergasse 6, A-1010 Vienna, Austria,
phone (+43-1) 533 66 10 11, fax (+43-1) 533 66 10 50, e-mail: koehrl@wsr.ac.at
SUMMARY CONTENTS
I. REGIONAL OVERVIEW 1990-2001
1. Countries in transition
II. SELECTED ECONOMIC INDICATORS
1. Countries in transition
III. OUTPUT AND EMPLOYMENT
1. GDP by activities and economic sectors
2. Employment by activities and economic sectors
3. Manufacturing industry
3.1 Structure of production
3.2 Structure of employees
3.3 Average monthly gross wages and labour costs
3.4 Labour productivity
4. Selected indicators of agriculture
IV. CONSUMPTION AND INVESTMENT
1. GDP by kind of expenditure
2. Gross investment by type and activities
V. POPULATION AND STANDARD OF LIVING
1. Population and demography
2. Living standard indicators
VI. WAGES AND PRICES
1. Wages and social benefits
2. Price indices, terms of trade
VII. FOREIGN TRADE
1. Foreign trade by regions (exports, imports and trade balances)
1.1 Foreign trade in national currency, by regions
1.2 Foreign trade in EUR, by regions
1.3 Trade with the EU in EUR, by individual countries
1.4 Trade with transition countries in EUR
2. Foreign trade by main partners
2.1 Exports to the top thirty partners, as per cent of total
2.2 Imports from the top thirty partners, as per cent of total
3. Foreign trade by commodity groups
3.1 Exports by commodity groups, as per cent of total
3.2 Imports by commodity groups, as per cent of total
VIII. BALANCE OF PAYMENTS, DEBT AND FDI
1. Balance of payments
2. Indebtedness and reserves
3. Foreign direct investment
IX. MONTHLY STATISTICS1997-2002
1. Selected monthly indicators 1997-2002
