- 250 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
Understanding the dramatic political, social, and economic changes that have taken place in Poland in the mid-1980s is one key to predicting the future of the communist bloc. Jadwiga Staniszkis, an influential, internationally known expert on contemporary trends in Eastern Europe, provides an insider's analysis that deserves the attention of all scholars interested in the region. Staniszkis presents the breakthrough of 1989 as a consequence not only of systemic contradictions within socialism but also of a series of chance events. These events include unique historical circumstances such as the emergence of the "globalist" faction in Mosow, with its new, world-system perception of crisis, and the discovery of the round-table technique as a productive ritual of communication, imitated all over Eastern Europe. After describing the development, collapse, and reorganization of a "new center" in Poland in 1989-1990, she discusses the first attempt at privatizing the economy. Her analysis of the dilemmas accompanying breakthrough and transition is an invaluable guide to the challenges that face both capitalism and democracy in Eastern Europe. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1991.
Understanding the dramatic political, social, and economic changes that have taken place in Poland in the mid-1980s is one key to predicting the future of the communist bloc. Jadwiga Staniszkis, an influential, internationally known expert on contemporary
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Foreword
- Chapter One History and Chance: The Dynamics of the Breakthrough in the Eastern Bloc
- Introduction The Logic of Privatization in the State Sector
- Chapter Two Political Capitalism and Other Patterns of Privatization
- Introduction: New Configurations and Their Dynamics
- Chapter Three Stage One: Forming the New Center
- Chapter Four Stage Two: The Collapse of the New Center and Its Reorganization
- Chapter Five The Discrete Revolution: The Role of Society in the Transformation Directed from Above
- Conclusion: Dilemmas for Democracy in Eastern Europe
- Afterword
- Notes
- Index