Originally published in 1994, this volume analyses the relationship between political parties and trade unions in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria. Political parties had high visibility in the changes that took place in Eastern Europe during the 1980s and early 1990s. Far less visible were the developments in the trade union sphere, where the old ‘mass organizations’ of the communist period, now independent, were joined by newly-formed organizations, and both played a central role in politics.
'. . . this volume represents one of the best works written to date on party organizational development in east central Europe and is essential reading for all political scientists interested in party politics in postcommunist systems.' - John T. Ishiyama, Slavonic Review Party Structure and Organization in East-Central Europe focuses on the origin and development of new political parties within different countries in East-Central Europe. The book has a clear focus on party structure and organization. It is one of the first books to present empirical studies of the development of political parties in Eastern Europe. Whilst making a distinctive contribution, it also feeds into the broader debate about party development and links with other issues of political theory.
Over a quarter of a century after the fall of the Berlin Wall and 10 years after their accession to the European Union (EU), Central and Eastern Europe Countries (CEECs) still show marked differences with the rest of Europe in the fields of labour, work and industrial relations. This book presents a detailed and original analysis of labour and social transformations in the CEECs. By examining a wide range of countries in Central Europe, Labour and Social Transformation in Central and Eastern Europe offers a comprehensive and contrasting view of labour developments in Central and Eastern Europe. Chapters explore three related issues. The first deals with the understanding of the complex process of Europeanization applied in the sphere of labour, employment and industrial relations. The second issue refers to the attempt to link the Europeanization approach with an analysis mobilizing the theoretical concept of "dependent capitalism(s)". The third issue refers to the cumulative trends of labour weakening and labour awakening that has emerged, in particular in the aftermath of the crisis beginning in 2007-2008. This book will be of interest to academics, policy makers and stakeholders at European and national level in the EU member states.
There have been numerous accounts exploring the relationship between institutions and firm practices. However, much of this literature tends to be located into distinct theoretical-traditional 'silos', such as national business systems, social systems of production, regulation theory, or varieties of capitalism, with limited dialogue between different approaches to enhance understanding of institutional effects. Again, evaluations of the relationship between institutions and employment relations have tended to be of the broad-brushstroke nature, often founded on macro-data, and with only limited attention being accorded to internal diversity and details of actual practice. The Handbook aims to fill this gap by bringing together an assembly of comprehensive and high quality chapters to enable understanding of changes in employment relations since the early 1970s. Theoretically-based chapters attempt to link varieties of capitalism, business systems, and different modes of regulation to the specific practice of employment relations, and offer a truly comparative treatment of the subject, providing frameworks and empirical evidence for understanding trends in employment relations in different parts of the world. Most notably, the Handbook seeks to incorporate at a theoretical level regulationist accounts and recent work that link bounded internal systemic diversity with change, and, at an applied level, a greater emphasis on recent applied evidence, specifically dealing with the employment contract, its implementation, and related questions of work organization. It will be useful to academics and students of industrial relations, political economy, and management.
Prior to 1989, the communist countries of Eastern Europe and the USSR lacked genuine employer and industry associations. After the collapse of communism, industry associations mushroomed throughout the region. Duvanova argues that abusive regulatory regimes discourage the formation of business associations and poor regulatory enforcement tends to encourage associational membership growth. Academic research often treats special interest groups as vehicles of protectionism and non-productive collusion. This book challenges this perspective with evidence of market-friendly activities by industry associations and their benign influence on patterns of public governance. Careful analysis of cross-national quantitative data spanning more than 25 countries, and qualitative examination of business associations in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Croatia, shows that postcommunist business associations function as substitutes for state and private mechanisms of economic governance. These arguments and empirical findings put the long-standing issues of economic regulations, public goods and collective action in a new theoretical perspective.
This comprehensive textbook is the first to go beyond a West European perspective and provide a clear overview of the whole of European politics. Jan-Erik Lane and Svante Ersson address the similarities of key political features among states in Western, Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern Europe and look forward to political developments at the turn of the century. Traditionally, books have polarized Europe by focusing on points of divergence. European Politics provides a thoroughgoing analysis of several converging themes, including political culture, the nature of the state, party systems, and the formation of government and public policies. With this approach to economic, social and political aspects of politics in Europe this major text presents a Europe that, within the context of reform, transition and integration, has more in common in the early 1990s than ever before. With a clear thematic structure and helpful discussions of data drawn from some 30 countries European Politics offers both an accessible and genuinely comparative text which will be essential reading for student and researcher alike.
Political parties are the fabric of democratic politics. In 1991 a new Russia emerged after seven decades of one-party dictatorship, claiming to be on the road towards democracy. In this volume the authors analyse the many contradictions, dilemmas, and paradoxes of reconstituting free party politics and democratic rule in a severely traumatized country. Frequently from a comparative perspective they deal with a range of topics, from the behaviour of the new parties in parliament, the role of ideology in cementing party organizations, to the character and prospects of the transient Russian party system.
`The book is well written and clearly structured, bringing together much dispersed material. The most interesting part of the book is the case study of the Czech engineering firm CKD. The case study gives an insight into the continuing processes of transition: transition is a process, rather than a jump from Socialism to capitalism. The author provides solid evidence on the ways in which adjusting to the market has proved painful, and in the end unsuccessful for CKD, which has been merged with another firm. Overall, Transformation at Work provides a valuable insight into the realities of the transition process at the enterprise level′ - Employee Relations In this book, Anna Pollert questions the values hidden in the burgeoning literature on `transformation′, and addresses the main concerns arising from these. In exploring the key issues of post-communist transformation, the author discusses important theoretical issues about the nature of change and continuity, such as historical, socio-economic and political effects of transformation, the broad problems of how workers and their organizations respond to change from command to capitalist economies, and case studies of how managers, workers and trade unionists experience these changes within their organizations. Transformation at Work explores the key issues of post-communist transformation in Eastern Europe. The author discusses important aspects of the nature of change and continuity including: historical, socio-economic and political effects; how workers and their organizations respond to change from command to capitalist economies; and how managers, workers and trade unionists experience change within their organizations.
First published in 1995. This volume offers a comparative perspective on labour relations and political change in eastern Europe within a common theoretical and empirical framework. Its coverage includes Bulgaria, and Czech and Slovak republics, Hungary, Poland, and Russia. Particular attention is given to the dynamics of changes in labour relations and privatisation, which are now critical to the more general process of political and economic transformation. This title will be of interest to scholars and students of politics, sociology and modern history.
This text provides a source of citations to North American scholarships relating specifically to the area of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It indexes fields of scholarship such as the humanities, arts, technology and life sciences and all kinds of scholarship such as PhDs.
