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An exemplary study in comparative contemporary history, this
monograph looks at rural change in six countries: Bulgaria, Czech
Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. In the 1990s most
of these nations experienced a fourth radical restructuring of
agricultural relations in the twentieth century, and all went
through the dramatic transition from communism to capitalism. The
author analyzes attempts to activate democracy on a local level and
recreate farming structures and non-agricultural businesses based
on private ownership and private enterprise. He describes the
emergence of a new business class that seeks to dominate local
government structures; the recuperation of former communist farming
entities by former managers; and the transformation of peasants
into rural citizens, who nevertheless remain the underdogs. Swain
exposes common features as well as specific divergences between the
six countries; he portrays the winners, losers and engineers of
transformations. He situates his themes in a wider context that
will appeal to a broad range of social scientists and historians.
An established introductory textbook that provides students with an
engaging overview of the complex developments in Eastern Europe
from the end of the Second World War through to the present.
Tracing the origins of the socialist experiment, de-Stalinisation,
and the transition from socialism to capitalism, it explores the
key events in each nation's recent history. This is an ideal core
text for dedicated modules on Eastern European History or Europe
since 1945 (including Central Europe and the Balkans) - or a
supplementary text for broader modules on Modern European History
or European Political History - which may be offered at all levels
of an undergraduate history, politics or European studies degree.
In addition it is a crucial resource for students who may be
studying the recent history of Eastern Europe for the first time as
part of a taught postgraduate degree in Modern European history,
European politics or European studies. New to this Edition: - A
fully revised new edition of an established text, updated
throughout to incorporate the latest research - Provides coverage
of recent events - Offers increased focus on social and cultural
history with greater emphasis on everyday life and experiences in
Eastern Europe
Why were Hungarians, including those who would be considered
radical in the West, happy to see the introduction of a market
economy? Why was there no real opposition to the dismantling of
socialist achievements like universal free education and health
care? Nigel Swain's topical book answers these questions through
one of the most thorough analyses to date of a socialist economy in
practice and dissolution.
Carefully tracing Hungary's postwar economic history, Swain shows
why both Stalinist central planning and 'feasible' market socialism
failed. He argues that these failures were caused not by
imperfections in the Hungarian model, but by crucial problems
inherent in the socialist project itself. Far from a eulogy to
free-market capitalism, yet offering a sobering account of the
consequences of socialist economic errors--technological
backwardness, corruption and declining morale--"Hungary" will be a
major contribution to political and economic debate on the left.
An established introductory textbook that provides students with an
engaging overview of the complex developments in Eastern Europe
from the end of the Second World War through to the present.
Tracing the origins of the socialist experiment, de-Stalinisation,
and the transition from socialism to capitalism, it explores the
key events in each nation's recent history. This is an ideal core
text for dedicated modules on Eastern European History or Europe
since 1945 (including Central Europe and the Balkans) - or a
supplementary text for broader modules on Modern European History
or European Political History - which may be offered at all levels
of an undergraduate history, politics or European studies degree.
In addition it is a crucial resource for students who may be
studying the recent history of Eastern Europe for the first time as
part of a taught postgraduate degree in Modern European history,
European politics or European studies. New to this Edition: - A
fully revised new edition of an established text, updated
throughout to incorporate the latest research - Provides coverage
of recent events - Offers increased focus on social and cultural
history with greater emphasis on everyday life and experiences in
Eastern Europe
This book analyses Hungarian collectivization from a sociological
perspective. Rather than consider Eastern European societies in the
light of social stratification and social mobility surveys, it
takes as its point of departure the commitment of Eastern European
societies to industrialization within the constraints of a
socialist economy and, by examining social change from the
viewpoint of labour and those who control it, places the focus more
strongly than has traditionally been the case on the production of
social wealth, and the relations which circumscribe it, rather than
on the ways in which wealth is distributed and consumed.
The book's novelty lies both in the fact that it is the first book
in English to analyse Hungarian collectivisation from a
sociological perspective, and also in the nature of that
perspective. Rather than consider Eastern European societies in the
light of social stratification and social mobility surveys, it
takes as its point of departure the commitment of Eastern European
societies to industrialisation within the constraints of a
socialist economy and, by examining social change from the
viewpoint of labour and those who control it, places the focus more
strongly than has traditionally been the case on the production of
social wealth, and the relations which circumscribe it, rather than
on the ways in which wealth is distributed and consumed.
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