Why did the wave of democracy that swept the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe starting more than a decade ago develop in ways unexpected by observers who relied on existing theories of ...democracy? In Postcommunism and the Theory of Democracy, four distinguished scholars conduct the first major assessment of democratization theory in light of the experience of postcommunist states. Richard Anderson, Steven Fish, Stephen Hanson, and Philip Roeder not only apply theory to practice, but using a wealth of empirical evidence, draw together the elements of existing theory into new syntheses. The authors each highlight a development in postcommunist societies that reveals an anomaly or lacuna in existing theory. They explain why authoritarian leaders abandon authoritarianism, why democratization sometimes reverses course, how subjects become citizens by beginning to take sides in politics, how rulers become politicians by beginning to seek popular support, and not least, how democracy becomes consolidated. Rather than converging on a single approach, each author shows how either a rationalist, institutionalist, discursive, or Weberian approach sheds light on this transformation. They conclude that the experience of postcommunist democracy demands a rethinking of existing theory. To that end, they offer rich new insights to scholars, advanced students, policymakers, and anyone interested in postcommunist states or in comparative democratization.
We are at a critical juncture in world politics. Nuclear strategy and policy have risen to the top of the global policy agenda, and issues ranging from a nuclear Iran to the global zero movement are ...generating sharp debate. The historical origins of our contemporary nuclear world are deeply consequential for contemporary policy, but it is crucial that decisions are made on the basis of fact rather than myth and misapprehension. InNuclear Statecraft, Francis J. Gavin challenges key elements of the widely accepted narrative about the history of the atomic age and the consequences of the nuclear revolution.
On the basis of recently declassified documents, Gavin reassesses the strategy of flexible response, the influence of nuclear weapons during the Berlin Crisis, the origins of and motivations for U.S. nuclear nonproliferation policy, and how to assess the nuclear dangers we face today. In case after case, he finds that we know far less than we think we do about our nuclear history. Archival evidence makes it clear that decision makers were more concerned about underlying geopolitical questions than about the strategic dynamic between two nuclear superpowers.
Gavin's rigorous historical work not only tells us what happened in the past but also offers a powerful tool to explain how nuclear weapons influence international relations.Nuclear Statecraftprovides a solid foundation for future policymaking.
An exciting analysis of the myriad literary effects of Tiananmen, Belinda Kong'sTiananmen Fictions Outside the Squareis the first full-length study of fictions related to the 1989 movement and ...massacre. More than any other episode in recent world history, Tiananmen has brought a distinctly politicized Chinese literary diaspora into stark relief.Kong redefines Tiananmen's meaning from an event that ended in local political failure to one that succeeded in producing a vital dimension of contemporary transnational writing today. She spotlights key writers-Gao Xingjian, Ha Jin, Annie Wang, and Ma Jian-who have written and published about the massacre from abroad. Their outsider/distanced perspectives inform their work, and reveal how diaspora writers continually reimagine Tiananmen's relevance to the post-1989 world at large.Compelling us to think about how Chinese culture, identity, and politics are being defined in the diaspora,Tiananmen Fictions Outside the Squarecandidly addresses issues of political exile, historical trauma, global capital, and state biopower.
Since the mid-1990s, Japan's regional economic strategy has transformed. Once characterized by bilateralism, informality, and neomercantilism, Japanese policy has shifted to a new liberal strategy ...emphasizing regional institution building and rule setting. As two major global powers, China and the United States, wrestle over economic advantages, Japan currently occupies a pivotal position capable of tipping the geoeconomic balance in the region. Japan's New Regional Reality offers a comprehensive analysis of Japan's geoeconomic strategy that reveals the country's role in shaping regional economic order in the Asia-Pacific. Saori N. Katada explains Japanese foreign economic policy in light of both international and domestic dynamics. She points out the hurdles to implementing a state-led liberal strategy, detailing how domestic political and institutional changes have been much slower and stickier than the changing regional economics. Katada highlights state-market relations and shows how big businesses have responded to the country's interventionist policies. The book covers a wide range of economic issues including trade, investment, finance, currency, and foreign aid. Japan's New Regional Reality is a meticulously researched study of the dynamics that have contributed to economic and political realities in the Asia-Pacific today, with significant implications for future regional trends.
A comprehensive introduction to the important economic, social and political processes and development issues in this increasingly popular area of study. Employing a groundbreaking thematic approach ...the book centres its discussion on the interrelation between contemporary development theories and continuing transition issues in this huge and complex region.
The year 1989 brought the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. It was also the year that the economic theories of Reagan, Thatcher, and the Chicago School achieved ...global dominance. And it was these neoliberal ideas that largely determined the course of the political, economic, and social changes that transformed Europe—both east and west—over the next quarter century. This award-winning book provides the first comprehensive history of post-1989 Europe. Philipp Ther—a firsthand witness to many of the transformations, from Czechoslovakia during the Velvet Revolution to postcommunist Poland and Ukraine—offers a sweeping narrative filled with vivid details and memorable stories. He describes how liberalization, deregulation, and privatization had catastrophic effects on former Soviet Bloc countries. He refutes the idea that this economic "shock therapy" was the basis of later growth, arguing that human capital and the “transformation from below” determined economic success or failure. Most important, he shows how the capitalist West's effort to reshape Eastern Europe in its own likeness ended up reshaping Western Europe as well, in part by accelerating the pace and scope of neoliberal reforms in the West, particularly in reunified Germany. Finally, bringing the story up to the present, Ther compares events in Eastern and Southern Europe leading up to and following the 2008–9 global financial crisis. A compelling and often-surprising account of how the new order of the New Europe was wrought from the chaotic aftermath of the Cold War, this is essential reading for understanding Europe today. Philipp Ther is professor of Central European history and director of the Institute of European History at the University of Vienna.
Denken ohne Geländer Schlögel, Karl
Osteuropa (Stuttgart),
12/2019, Letnik:
69, Številka:
12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Europas autoritäre Populisten behaupten, es habe das Wunder von 1989 nicht gegeben. Und allzu leicht schenken ihnen selbst ihre Gegner Glauben. Doch es ist schlicht falsch. Alles, was ab der ...Perestrojka geschah und 1989 kulminierte, war unglaublich, unerhört, voller Illusionen – aber es war keine Illusion. Seitdem sind in Europa Menschen und Gesellschaften, Räume und Kulturen, Politik und Wirtschaft in Bewegung, wenn auch anders, als es die Sozialwissenschaften mit linearen Konstrukten, Konzepten und Theorien der Transformation erwarteten. Doch statt sich mit retrospektiv teleologischen Interpretationen über die Vorstellung vom „Ende der Geschichte“ lustig zu machen, sollte man fragen, vor welchem Erfahrungs- und Erwartungshorizont diese entstand. Die Mikrogeschichte des „historischen Augenblicks“ als eine Geschichte der Kontingenz wird erst noch geschrieben werden. Diese Geschichte ist mehr als Erinnerung und pädagogische Unterweisung. Sie ist ein Arsenal zur Schärfung der Sinne.
Europe’s authoritarian populists claim that the miracle of 1989 never happened. All too often, even their counterparts tend to believe this. However, this is simply not true. The events following Perestroika, which reached their peak in 1989, were incredible, unprecedented, and marked by many illusions – but they were not an illusion in themselves. Since then, people and societies, spaces and cultures, politics and economies have been shifting and changing in Europe, albeit in a different way to that predicted by the social scientists, with their linear constructs, concepts and theories of transition. But instead of mocking those who thought that 1989 marked the “end of history”, we should avoid such retrospective teleology and ask what spaces of experience and expectation were behind such perceptions. The micro-history of this “historical moment” as a history of contingency has yet to be written. This history is more than just remembrance and educational instruction. It is an armoury for sharpening the senses.
Celem artykułu jest wykazanie przemian, które nastąpiły w polskim teatrze dramatycznym (przedmiot badań) po 1989 r. w kontekście transformacji politycznej w Polsce, oraz wskazanie genezy i skutków ...tychże zmian. Problem badawczy zawiera się w analizie wpływu czynników społecznych lub/i politycznych na instytucję teatru dramatycznego w Polsce ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem okresu od drugiej połowy lat 90. XX w., kiedy to narodził się nurt „nowego teatru”, realizowanego w duchu teatru zaangażowanego. Podkreślenie instytucjonalnego wymiaru teatru jest istotne, ponieważ uwypukla jego rangę w życiu publicznym. W procesie badawczym wykorzystano obserwację polskiego życia teatralnego (wytworów artystycznych oraz zjawisk społecznych i politycznych im towarzyszących) oraz analizę źródeł tekstowych.
The Japanese Economy Watanabe, Hiroaki Richard
2020, 2020-05-21, 2020-05-28
eBook
A concise and up-to-date survey of Japan's recent economic history, the economy's characteristic features and the challenges it continues to face, from economic stagnation to an ageing population.
In this social and cultural history of Czechoslovakia's "gentle revolution," James Krapfl shifts the focus away from elites to ordinary citizens who endeavored-from the outbreak of revolution in 1989 ...to the demise of the Czechoslovak federation in 1992-to establish a new, democratic political culture. Unique in its balanced coverage of developments in both Czech and Slovak lands, including the Hungarian minority of southern Slovakia, this book looks beyond Prague and Bratislava to collective action in small towns, provincial factories, and collective farms.
Through his broad and deep analysis of workers' declarations, student bulletins, newspapers, film footage, and the proceedings of local administrative bodies, Krapfl contends that Czechoslovaks rejected Communism not because it was socialist, but because it was arbitrarily bureaucratic and inhumane. The restoration of a basic "humanness"-in politics and in daily relations among citizens-was the central goal of the revolution. In the strikes and demonstrations that began in the last weeks of 1989, Krapfl argues, citizens forged new symbols and a new symbolic system to reflect the humane, democratic, and nonviolent community they sought to create. Tracing the course of the revolution from early, idealistic euphoria through turns to radicalism and ultimately subversive reaction,Revolution with a Human Facefinds in Czechoslovakia's experiences lessons of both inspiration and caution for people in other countries striving to democratize their governments.
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