Disintegration and integration in East-Central Europe, 1919-post-1989

Disintegration and integration in East-Central Europe, 1919-post-1989
Author: Wilfried Loth
Publisher:
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2014
Genre: Electronic book
ISBN: 9783848713301

In this volume, based on a colloquium at the Faculty of European Studies, Babes-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca, the integration of former member states of the Soviet bloc into the European Union is discussed in its broad historical context. 30 scholars are providing a comprehensive insight into the state of integration of East-Central European countries.

Globalization in State Socialist East Central Europe

Globalization in State Socialist East Central Europe
Author: Béla Tomka
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 135
Release: 2024
Genre: Electronic books
ISBN: 3031635248

This open access Palgrave Pivot explores four major aspects of globalization: foreign trade, capital and information flows, and the movement of people. The book examines how the state socialist countries of East Central Europe fit into the general trend of globalization after WWII. It focuses on three specific countries in the region: Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. The study also considers conceptual problems: whether recently introduced terms such as 'alternative globalization' and 'socialist proto-globalization' are plausible for interpreting state socialist globalization. Special attention is paid to the study of continuities and discontinuities in the process of globalization in East Central Europe, which is a key issue in current debates. This requires a long-term perspective, so the study covers not only the decades before 1989 but also subsequent developments. In doing so, the book attempts to find a balance between old and new mainstream interpretations: it recognises that East Central European societies experienced considerable globalization during the state socialist era; however, based on empirical findings, instead of 'alternative' or 'proto-' globalization, the book suggests other notions to conceptualize this process, including fragmentation, selectivity, and unevenness. Thus, the proposed understanding could also contribute to discussions on globalization beyond East Central Europe. Béla Tomka is a professor of Contemporary Social and Economic History at the University of Szeged, Hungary. He is the author of 16 books including Welfare in East and West (2004), A Social History of Twentieth-Century Europe (2013, winner of 'Outstanding Academic Title 2013 Award' by Choice, American Library Association), Austerities and Aspirations: A Comparative History of Growth, Consumption and Quality of Life in East Central Europe since 1945 (2020), and the editor of several other volumes. He is the head of the Department of Contemporary History, University of Szeged, co-founder and board member of the International Social History Association, Amsterdam, as well as leader of the History of Globalization Research Group, Budapest-Szeged, established by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Europe's Cold War Relations

Europe's Cold War Relations
Author: Ulrich Krotz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2019-10-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1350104523

This thought-provoking collection analyses the European Community's external relations between 1957 and 1992, with a particular focus upon their broader impact and global significance. Reconceptualizing the long arc of the EC's international role, from its inception in the 1950s to the end of the Cold War, the chapters identify and assess the factors that either supported or impeded Europe's international projection within this period. Organized into three parts, the authors investigate the EC's relations with key countries and world regions, discuss its activities within key policy areas, and offer reflections and conclusions on the various arguments that are put forward. Each chapter considers the entire period from 1957-1992 to identify and explain overarching trends, key decisions and historical conjunctions through scholarly literature, key debates and original discussion of each topic or policy issue. A final chapter situates the main findings within wider contexts, situating the EC in Cold War history. Bringing together international history and international relations, this project allows for cross-disciplinary dialogue and the careful discussion of key concepts, analytical approaches, and empirical findings. Filling a gap in our understanding of the early development of the EC's role as an autonomous global actor, this book holds important messages for the modern day, as the EU's position in global politics continues to shape the world.

There are Two German States and Two Must Remain?

There are Two German States and Two Must Remain?
Author: Deborah Cuccia
Publisher: Georg Olms Verlag
Total Pages: 403
Release: 2019
Genre: History
ISBN: 3487158108

In the night of 9 November the images of thousands of Eastern Germans pouring into Berlin security checkpoints at Bernauerstraße and West Berliners knocking the first brick out of the Wall literally travelled around the world. More than any other frontier, the division of Berlin as its physical representation epitomized in peoples mind the ultimate sign of the division of Europe into spheres of influence. More than any other event in Central Eastern Europe, the Berlin Walls demolition contributed to reshape both geographical maps and ideological camps. It is, therefore, not in the least surprising that these events captured the attention of millions of Europeans, ranging from present-day observers to prominent experts. Still, throughout the years, the main research focus has been either on the inner German dynamics or on the role played by the Superpowers. With the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Wall in the offing and an apparent creeping estrangement between Italy and Germany making the front page, the time is ripe for providing deeper insights into the reactions arising in Italy from the German events. How did the Italian vision of the German Question evolve? How did Rome perceive and react to the process leading to German unity? What kind of tools had the European integration process and the evolution of the Italian-German relations? How did Rome cope with the challenge issued by this acceleration of history? In answering these questions, the book goes far beyond the limitations imposed by a traditional diplomatic and foreign policy approach, embracing also the economic and cultural levels, as well as the mass media. The year 1989 was a test of the level of maturity attained by the Italian-German couple, which casts a long shadow that goes far beyond their respective national borders.

Christian Democracy and the Fall of Communism

Christian Democracy and the Fall of Communism
Author: Michael Gehler
Publisher: Leuven University Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2019-11-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9462702160

Debates on the role of Christian Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe too often remain strongly tied to national historiographies. With the edited collection the contributing authors aim to reconstruct Christian Democracy’s role in the fall of Communism from a bird's-eye perspective by covering the entire region and by taking “third-way” options in the broader political imaginary of late-Cold War Europe into account. The book’s twelve chapters present the most recent insights on this topic and connect scholarship on the Iron Curtain’s collapse with scholarship on political Catholicism. Christian Democracy and the Fall of Communism offers the reader a two-fold perspective. The first approach examines the efforts undertaken by Western European actors who wanted to foster or support Christian Democratic initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe. The second approach is devoted to the (re-)emergence of homegrown Christian Democratic formations in the 1980s and 1990s. One of the volume’s seminal contributions lies in its documentation of the decisive role that Christian Democracy played in supporting the political and anti-political forces that engineered the collapse of Communism from within between 1989 and 1991.

Remaking Central Europe

Remaking Central Europe
Author: Peter Becker
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2020-12-29
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0192596934

Over the last two decades, the "new international order" of 1919 has grown into an expansive new area of research across multiple disciplines. With the League of Nations at its heart, the interwar settlement's innovations in international organizations, international law, and many other areas shaped the world we know today. This book presents the first study of the relationship between this new international order and the new regional order in Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Habsburg empire. An analysis of the co-implication of these two orders is grounded in four key scholarly interventions: understanding the legacies of empire in international organizations; examining regionalism in the work of interwar international institutions; creating an integrated history of the interwar order in Europe; and testing recent claims of the conceptual connection between nationalism and internationalism. With chapters covering international health, international financial oversight, human trafficking, minority rights, scientific networks, technical expertise, passports, commercial treaties, borders and citizenship, and international policing, this book pioneers a regional approach to international order, and explores the origins of today's global governance in the wake of imperial collapse.

European Socialist Regimes' Fateful Engagement with the West

European Socialist Regimes' Fateful Engagement with the West
Author: Angela Romano
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2020-09-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000210359

This edited volume analyses European socialist countries’ strategy of engagement with the West and the European Economic Community in the long 1970s. The book focuses on a time when the socialist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe banked their hopes for prosperity and stability on enhanced relations with the West. Crossing the traditional differences among diverse fields of historiography, it assesses the complex influence of European and global processes of transformation on the socialist elites’ reading of the international political and economic environment and their consequent decision-making. The volume also explores the debate in each country among and within the elites involved in policymaking as they elaborated this strategic view and coped with shortcomings and unexpected turns. A comparative analysis of national cases shows a shared logic and common patterns, together with national variations and a plurality of views on the desirability of exchanges with their capitalist neighbours and on the ways to promote them. The multinational coverage of seven countries makes this volume a starting point for anyone interested in each socialist state’s foreign policy, intra-bloc relations, economic strategy, transformation and collapse, relations with the European Community and access to the EU. This book will be of much interest to students and researchers of Cold War Studies, European history, and International Relations. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.routledge.com/European-Socialist-Regimes-Fateful-Engagement-with-the-West-National-Strategies/Romano-Romero/p/book/9780367356170, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Italy in the International System from Détente to the End of the Cold War

Italy in the International System from Détente to the End of the Cold War
Author: Antonio Varsori
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2017-11-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 3319651633

This edited collection offers a new approach to the study of Italy’s foreign policy from the 1960s to the end of the Cold War, highlighting its complex and sometimes ambiguous goals, due to the intricacies of its internal system and delicate position in the fault line of the East-West and North-South divides. According to received opinion, during the Cold War era Italy was more an object rather than a factor in active foreign policy, limiting itself to paying lip service to the Western alliance and the European integration process, without any pretension to exerting a substantial international influence. Eleven contributions by leading Italian historians reappraise Italy’s international role, addressing three complex and intertwined issues, namely, the country’s political-diplomatic dimension; the economic factors affecting Rome’s international stance; and Italy’s role in new approaches to the international system and the influence of political parties’ cultures in the nation’s foreign policy.

Deporting Europeans

Deporting Europeans
Author: Ioana Vrabiescu
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2021-04-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 149858781X

In Deporting Europeans, Ioana Vrăbiescu examines how states within the European Union (EU) collaborate in the policing and deportation of EU citizens within EU territory. Vrăbiescu argues that the deportation of EU citizens reifies existing inequalities between central states, like France, and peripheral states, like Romania. By highlighting the massive deportation of Romanians from France, Vrăbiescu showcases these inequalities and the intricacies of EU geopolitics.