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58012. Democratic Transitions: Puzzles & Surprises from West to East
- Author:
- Giuseppe di Palma
- Publication Date:
- 01-1990
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- Recent communist crises in Eastern Europe seem to have caught many analysts by surprise. They also show features that set them apart from contemporary crises of right-wing dictatorships. The paper analyzes the reasons for the surprise in the light of theories of communism and of civil society under communism developed since the death of Stalin. It also examines and tries to account for the special features of the crises: their sudden acceleration •. the regimes' loss of a will to rule, the mobilization of large popular strata. Explanations focus on the goal-oriented nature of communist regimes as an alternative to the Western order. It makes the issue of self-identity and self justification crucial to these regimes-more crucial than for right-wing dictatorships. Therefore, the announcement by the Soviet hegemon itself that the goal has failed removes those tenuous shreds of self-justification to which the regimes desperately cling. This also makes possible and explains mass mobilization and the revival of civil society as a cathartic exercise. The paper concludes with an analysis of the prospects for democratization in Eastern Europe in the light of recent transitions in Southern Europe and Latin America. Democracy may develop-theoretical pessimism notwithstanding--as a matter of calculus and through an accelerated process of learning.
- Topic:
- Politics, Dictatorship, Identity, Post-Communism, and Democratic Transitions
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Eastern Europe
58013. Work, Worth, & Justice in a Socialist Mixed Economy
- Author:
- David Stark
- Publication Date:
- 01-1990
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- A French translation of this essay appears as "La valeur du travail et sa retribution en Hongrie," in Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, no. 85, November 1990, pp. 3-19. An earlier version of this paper was presented in a seminar of the Group de Sociologie Politique et Morale, November 1986. It benefitted from conversations with Pierre Bourdieu and from lengthy discussions with Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thevenot while their book, Les economies de la grandeur (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1987), was in progress. My thanks especially to Monique Djokic Stark for her helpful criticisms and suggestions.
- Topic:
- Justice, Socialism, Work, and Mixed Economy
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, and Hungary
58014. Stabilization & State Enterprise Adjustment: The Political Economy of State Firms After Five Months of Fiscal Discipline, Poland 1990
- Author:
- Janusz M. Dabrowski
- Publication Date:
- 01-1990
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- This report describes the behavior of Polish state firms after six months of fiscal stabilization. On the one hand, it is shown that state firms are attempting to adapt to fiscal constraints and the fall in domestic demand caused by the Mazowiecki government's stabilization plan. On the other hand, it tries to demonstrate that the continued confusion of both property rights and managerial authority impede the formulation and implementation of strategic adjustment plans at the firm level. The report also challenges a number of the governing stereotypes concerning managerial, union, and Employee Council behavior during the process of firm adjustment. In the final section, a proposal for the partial, indirect give-away of state assets is sketched. It is argued that the commercialization of state enterprises, and their partial assignment to publicly held investment associations presents the possibility of both clarifying managerial authority and more clearly introducing external market pressures into the strategic calculation of firms.
- Topic:
- Political Economy, Investment, Fiscal Policy, and Stabilization
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, and Poland
58015. Realism and Regionalism: American Power and German and Japanese Institutional Strategies During and After the Cold War
- Author:
- Joseph M. Grieco
- Publication Date:
- 04-1990
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
- Abstract:
- Germany's foreign economic policy places enormous weight on formal European institutions. In contrast, Japan has not had an institutionalist orientation in regard to its East Asian neighbors. This paper addresses the question of why Germany and Japan differ so greatly on this issue of regional economi. institutions. It suggests that the differences observed in German and Japanese interests in regard to such arrangements constitute a puzzle if they are examined from the perspective of liberal ideas about the functional bases of international collaboration, or from the viewpoint of realist propositions about hegemony and cooperation and about the impact of polarity on state preferences. The paper also puts forward a realist-inspired analysis (focusing on American power in the post-Cold War era as well as American national strategy in the early years of that conflict) that might help account for the strong German bias in favor of regional economic institutions and the equally pronounced Japanese aversion to date for such arrangements.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Cold War, and International Organization
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, America, Europe, Israel, East Asia, Asia, and Germany
58016. Observing Nicaragua's Elections, 1989-1990
- Publication Date:
- 05-1990
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Carter Center
- Abstract:
- During the entire electoral process, the political system in Nicaragua gradually opened so that by election day, the major political parties acknowledged that they had an adequate opportunity to explain their positions to the Nicaraguan people. The Council of Freely-Elected Heads of Government shared the conclusion of the parties: the Nicaraguan people were free to vote their preferences in a fair election, and the official results reflected the collective will of the nation.
- Topic:
- Security, Democratization, Government, Peace Studies, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Latin America and Central America
58017. The Constitution of Critical Intellectuals: Polish Physicians, Peace Activists, & Democratic Civil Society
- Author:
- Michael D Kennedy
- Publication Date:
- 01-1989
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- The post-communist system in Eastern Europe will be distinguished by the quality of its civil society. The market will cast civil society's construction in one mold, but a democratic civil society will depend on the constitution of critical intellectuals, or the making of individuals with the inclination and capacity to understand their personal situation to reflect a public condition, and to understand the public condition as constituted through potentially transformed power relations. In order to illuminate this general process, this paper rethinks the distinction of intellectuals and considers two important cases of the making of critical intellectuals in pre-transition Poland. Physicians in 1980-81 and peace activists in 1985-88 illustrate how instabilities create opportunities for new groups of people to become critical intellectuals and how critical intellectual work can create new possibilities for social transformation. By illuminating these processes, this paper hopes to contribute to the expansion of critical intellectuality in and about Eastern Europe.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Activism, Post-Communism, Democratic Transitions, and Intellectuals
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Eastern Europe
58018. Perestroika without Glasnost in Africa
- Publication Date:
- 02-1989
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Carter Center
- Abstract:
- The aim of the inaugural seminar of the Governance in Africa Program (G.A.P.) was to bring together a diverse group of scholars to reflect on some of the central issues which confront the continent. The program takes its acronym from the increasing gap between the democratic and developmental aspirations expressed during the anti-colonial struggle and the monopolization of power and the deepening economic predicament today.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Government, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Africa
58019. Common Sense on Competitiveness
- Author:
- Jimmy Carter
- Publication Date:
- 04-1988
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Carter Center
- Abstract:
- The United States faces a competitiveness crisis. The indicators are abundant. An alarming number of American students and workers do not seem to have the skills needed to succeed in the more demanding jobs of the modern economy. Many American inventions never make it from drawing board to marketplace, or arrive too late - long after aggressive foreign firms have captured customer loyalty. Some American products have been improperly designed or priced too high to compete with top-quality foreign imports. Partly as a result, not enough American companies have penetrated foreign markets with U.S. goods and services.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States
58020. Myth, Reality, and the Future in Southern Africa: Challenges for a New Administration
- Author:
- The Carter Center
- Publication Date:
- 03-1988
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Carter Center
- Abstract:
- When one examines all the foreign policy issues likely to face the next U.S. administration, southern Africa, while inherently difficult, may be the most promising of all in terms of actually influencing positive developments and obtaining measurable results in a short time span. Current policies have begun to capitalize on a tentative movement among nations in the region to address certain situations which are prohibiting stabilization. However, with the existence of an international consensus concerning the illegality of the occupation of Namibia and the dehumanization of the policy of apartheid more could be done to advance a multilateral approach toward southern Africa. In short, a real opportunity to bring peace to a troubled region is being missed. Part of the problem is lack of accurate information and understanding of what is happening in the region. Advocacy and passion have often clouded or distorted reality.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and Foreign Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United States