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Nanette Funk - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A very tangled knot: Official State socialist women’s organizations, women’s agency and feminism in Eastern European State Socialism
European Journal of Women's Studies, 2014Co-Authors: Nanette FunkAbstract:This article discusses some current research claims on gender and State Socialism in Eastern Europe from 1945 to 1989. It raises questions about claims by Revisionist Feminist Scholars that official State socialist women’s organizations were ‘agents’ on behalf of women, or women’s movements, perhaps feminist, and not ‘transmission belts’ of communist parties. State socialist policies are described as ‘friendly towards women’ and ‘pro-women’. In contrast, the author claims that these organizations both were and were not agents on behalf of women, and also prevented women’s agency. Meaningful women’s agency is not actually shown to occur intermittently throughout their history, but in two contexts – before 1955 or in moments of political rupture. Scholars do not distinguish the who, when, and what – Who could be agents? When could they be agents? And what kind of agents could they be? State policies, the author claims, were also at one and the same time ‘friendly’ and ‘unfriendly’ towards women, sometimes h...
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a very tangled knot official State socialist women s organizations women s agency and feminism in eastern european State Socialism
European Journal of Women's Studies, 2014Co-Authors: Nanette FunkAbstract:This article discusses some current research claims on gender and State Socialism in Eastern Europe from 1945 to 1989. It raises questions about claims by Revisionist Feminist Scholars that official State socialist women’s organizations were ‘agents’ on behalf of women, or women’s movements, perhaps feminist, and not ‘transmission belts’ of communist parties. State socialist policies are described as ‘friendly towards women’ and ‘pro-women’. In contrast, the author claims that these organizations both were and were not agents on behalf of women, and also prevented women’s agency. Meaningful women’s agency is not actually shown to occur intermittently throughout their history, but in two contexts – before 1955 or in moments of political rupture. Scholars do not distinguish the who, when, and what – Who could be agents? When could they be agents? And what kind of agents could they be? State policies, the author claims, were also at one and the same time ‘friendly’ and ‘unfriendly’ towards women, sometimes h...
David Lane - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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elites and classes in the transformation of State Socialism
2011Co-Authors: David LaneAbstract:The year 2011 marks the twentieth anniversary of the end of the Soviet Union. This may be an appropriate time to evaluate the adoption by previously State socialist societies of other economic and political models. The transition has sometimes been described in positive terms, as a movement to free societies with open markets and democratic elections. Others have argued that the transition has created weak, poverty-stricken States with undeveloped civil societies ruled by unresponsive political elites. Which is the more accurate assessment? David Lane examines a few of the theoretical approaches that help explain the trajectory of change from Socialism to capitalism. He focuses on two main approaches in this volume--elite theories and social class. Theories dwelling on the role of elites regard the transformation from Socialism to capitalism as a type of system transfer in which elites craft democratic and market institutions into the space left by State Socialism. Lane contrasts this interpretation with class-based theories, which consider transformation in terms of revolution, and explain why such theories have not been considered the best way of framing the transition in the post-socialist States. While recognizing that elites can play important roles and have the capacity to transform societies, Lane contends that elite theories alone are inadequate to explain a system change that brings free markets. In contrast, he proposes a class approach in which two groups characterize State Socialism: an administrative class and an acquisition class.
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Global Capitalism and the Transformation of State Socialism
Studies in Comparative International Development, 2009Co-Authors: David LaneAbstract:The article outlines the footprint of international economic interests under State Socialism, and considers in more detail the economic integration of the postcommunist countries into the world system in the post-1989 period of the building of capitalism. The focus of the article is on the extent of economic globalization of countries and their economic corporations. It is contended that the globalization of capitalist companies and the direct role of global economic forces had little importance under State Socialism. Since 1989, policy in the former State socialist countries has been geared to “joining” the world system, optimistically its core. Important differences have developed between the postsocialist States with respect to economic penetration and exposure to the world market. The outcomes have not fulfilled the expectations of early advocates of transformation and entry to the world economy. Although the new member States of the European Union have entered the world economy as formal members of the “core,” they are not economically equal to the dominant “old” members of the EU. In all the postcommunist countries, there is an absence of large scale global companies, of comparable levels of innovation, research and development. Russia is a resources rich country, a “hybrid” social formation containing elements of State economic control, national capitalism, and global capitalism. I conclude that the semi periphery is not a transient category in the world economy; it has potential for persistence and renewal.
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post State Socialism a diversity of capitalisms
2007Co-Authors: David LaneAbstract:The disintegration of the State socialist societies in the early 1990s left ambiguous the type of political and economic order which was to replace them. Their fall was not a consequence of the classical pattern of revolution, in which an alternative ex ante economic system was postulated in the political policy of the reformers. The major systemic changes advocated by the reformers were the removal of the dominant Communist Party and its replacement by democratic forms and a move to markets in place of centralized planning. There was no major claim that capitalism would form an alternative economic and political system. Only after the Communists had left power was capitalism publicly advocated as a means to further democracy and public well-being. The new leaders in these societies, in alliance with those in the hegemonic capitalist world, set out to create, on the ashes of State Socialism, a social system having a capitalist market economy, a polyarchic polity and a pluralist civil society. Such intentions, however, left problematic the component parts of the type of capitalism which might be constructed and the ways that a system transfer could be effected on the institutions of State Socialism. The most favoured economic model is that of neo-liberalism, the Anglo-American type of capitalism, which was adopted by the major policy makers. (On the components of this policy, see Williamson 1990).
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from State Socialism to capitalism the role of class and the world system
Communist and Post-communist Studies, 2006Co-Authors: David LaneAbstract:Abstract While theories of global capitalism have added a new dimension to our understanding of the dynamics of the modern world, a ‘globalisation’ approach to the transformation of the State socialist societies is relatively underdeveloped. This paper studies the role of international and global factors under State Socialism and the world system in the pre-1989 period. The paper considers traditional Marxist approaches to the transition to capitalism and criticises the model of State capitalism as well as the world system approach. In contrast, social actors (the ‘acquisition’ and ‘administrative’ social strata and the global political elite)are identified as playing a major role in the fall of State Socialism, and were a nascent capitalist class. The transformation of State Socialism, it is contended, had the character of a revolution rather than a shift between different types of capitalism.
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From State Socialism to capitalism: The role of class and the world system ☆
Communist and Post-communist Studies, 2006Co-Authors: David LaneAbstract:Abstract While theories of global capitalism have added a new dimension to our understanding of the dynamics of the modern world, a ‘globalisation’ approach to the transformation of the State socialist societies is relatively underdeveloped. This paper studies the role of international and global factors under State Socialism and the world system in the pre-1989 period. The paper considers traditional Marxist approaches to the transition to capitalism and criticises the model of State capitalism as well as the world system approach. In contrast, social actors (the ‘acquisition’ and ‘administrative’ social strata and the global political elite)are identified as playing a major role in the fall of State Socialism, and were a nascent capitalist class. The transformation of State Socialism, it is contended, had the character of a revolution rather than a shift between different types of capitalism.
Yanqi Tong - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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transitions from State Socialism economic and political change in hungary and china
The Journal of Asian Studies, 1999Co-Authors: Timothy Cheek, Yanqi TongAbstract:Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Hungary and China Under State Socialism Chapter 3 Preliminary Ideological and Political Liberalization Chapter 4 The Political Consequences of Economic Reform Chapter 5 Societal Challenges to the Political Establishment Chapter 6 The Adaptability of the Political Establishment Chapter 7 Coalition and Confrontation Chapter 8 Developments in Hungary and China After 1989 Chapter 9 Conclusion
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Mass alienation under State Socialism and after
Communist and Post-communist Studies, 1995Co-Authors: Yanqi TongAbstract:Abstract This paper examines the development and endurance of mass alienation under State Socialism and its aftermath. It argues that mass alienation was originally a reaction to the defects of the State socialist system, and later developed into a pattern of behavior that is harder to transform than the political and economic institutions that created it. Moreover, the paper argues that although widespread mass alienation may either help the opposition movement to achieve the establishment of a democratic political system or considerably erode the governing ability of the regime, it does not help to create a normal market system, nor does it help to create stable democratic institutions. In most cases, the most likely scenario is a period of “corrupt markets” and “unstable democracy.”
Dieter Segert - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Handbook of Political, Social, and Economic Transformation - State-socialist Transformations in the Twentieth Century
The Handbook of Political Social and Economic Transformation, 2019Co-Authors: Dieter SegertAbstract:This chapter examines European State Socialism, which emerged in the Russian Revolution of 1917. It has two roots, the social democratic labour movement and specific problems of underdeveloped, peripheral capitalist societies. While generally relying on Marx, the Bolsheviks invented the doctrine of the ‘new type of party’. After the conquest and stabilization of power, they built in Russia the institutions of classical State Socialism and led the country on a specific path of modernization. After 1945, there was a second wave of State-socialist transformation in eight States of East Central and South East Europe. In all countries except Yugoslavia, the formal institutions of the Soviet model were established but the informal practices between countries differed considerably. At the end of the chapter, the blind spots and desiderata of three scholarly interpretations of State Socialism are discussed.
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Is There Really Something Like “Eastern Europe”? And If So, Why Do We Need Area Studies of It?
Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 2015Co-Authors: Dieter SegertAbstract:Eastern Europe is more than only a pure geographical term; it is an invention of the eighteenth century. Later, it became a catchword for the Soviet bloc. The puzzle consists in the fact that it did not disappear after the end-of-State Socialism. The paper presents good causes as to why there should be further pursuing of an academic discipline of area studies on Eastern Europe. The thesis will be demonstrated by resuming the discussion about the nature of State Socialism.
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Understanding the “footprint of State Socialism” in east central European post-Socialism
Human Affairs, 2013Co-Authors: Dieter SegertAbstract:The paper outlines the debate on European State Socialism as a social and political order. There are different attempts to obtain a better understanding of the core principles of this type of society and a continuing public debate on it. Following the end of the decade of the transition from “Socialism to capitalism” we can observe a renewal in the debates on the “Ancient regime” and its heritage. There are different reasons for this phenomenon; these include new insights from the archives and the recent politics on history in post-socialist societies. The new “zeitgeist” following the world financial crisis of 2008 might be an additional reason. The issues that developed are discussions on the nature of State Socialism, some hypotheses on the role of reformers within the changes to late Socialism from the perspective of political science, and some assumptions on the methods adopted by former reform socialists after 1989.
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An Unexpected Dawn: The Prague Spring and the Mechanism of Change in State Socialism
Debatte, 2008Co-Authors: Dieter SegertAbstract:From the perspective of post-1989, Soviet-style State Socialism is seen as a historical dead end. This account of the attempt to reform State Socialism in the Prague Spring of 1968 attempts a different interpretation. The reforms in Prague were a remarkable attempt to live up to the original Marxist ideal of a just and politically free modern society. What were the policies of the reformers around Alexander Dubcek? How were these reforms at all possible in the first place? Why were they carried out and who were the main actors? When did this development begin that later blossomed into the Prague Spring? Finally, what does the emergence of this practical transformation have to say about State Socialism and its power structure: in view of the reforms that actually happened, is it meaningful to describe it still as a totalitarian dictatorship?
Andrew G Walder - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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after State Socialism the political origins of transitional recessions
American Sociological Review, 2015Co-Authors: Andrew G Walder, Andrew Isaacson, Qinglian LuAbstract:Transitions from State Socialism created a startling range of initial economic outcomes, from renewed growth to deep economic crises. Debates about the causes have largely ignored the political dis...
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Social stratification in transitional economies: property rights and the structure of markets
Theory and Society, 2013Co-Authors: Andrew G Walder, Dan WangAbstract:In transitions from State Socialism, property rights are re-allocated to organizations and groups, creating new markets and new forms of economic enterprise that reshape the stratification order. A generation of research has estimated individual-level outcomes with income equations and mobility models, relying on broad assumptions about economic change. We redirect attention to the process of economic change that structures emerging markets. The process varies across market sectors, depending on the entity that is granted rights formerly exercised by State organs, and on the combination of rights they are granted. The transformation of three sectors in China—agriculture, steel manufacturing, and real eState—shows how different allocations of property rights alter the stratification order in strikingly different ways. Historical analysis of the evolution of markets and enterprises integrates insights from economic sociology into research on social stratification, providing a structural perspective on transitions from State Socialism.
