Post-Communist Transition

This paper analyzes public perceptions of Joseph Stalin and Stepan Bandera in modern Ukraine. It uses data from a national representative survey conducted in September 2013 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology for this study. The analysis reveals major determinants of attitudes toward the leaders of, respectively, the Soviet Union and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, amid continuing attempts to recast their political identities in contemporary Ukraine.

"Starting from the presidential campaign of 2004, “the hot issues” of history are more and more actively abused in the political technologies of leading parties in order to manipulate electoral preferences.
A special attention in these technologies is given to the Soviet past as connected with the more traumatic memories typical for different electoral groups. In Ukraine, the mobilisation of electorate with the abuses of the past is especially effective because it overlaps with the regional differences.
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"The book is devoted to the experience of niche tourists from Poland who repeatedly visit the countries of the former Soviet Union as destination of their self-organized budget travel. The main motivation for writing this book was the question why they choose this destination, what they perceive as attractive while on tour as well as who these people are as far as their background and life-trajectories are concerned.
The empirical material for this book has been collected over 5 years (2008-2012). The material consists of 32 in-depth interviews with self-organized budget tourists travelling from Poland to the countries of the former Soviet Union as well as other types of primary and secondary data.
The role of tourism in identity formation has been elaborated in the way that allowed for merging the scholarship on the symbolic meanings and individual gratifications of tourism with critical literature on the role of tourism in establishing and maintaining of social inequalities, marking of social status in particular.
I was interested in a particular type of tourism – alternative tourism. An alternative tourist is described as someone who takes genuine care of the natural and cultural environment, who lives in accommodation provided by local hosts (and not big chain international hotels), who uses local means of transportation, and whose attitude to local people is marked by equal and fair treatment. Relying on the sources that suggest that new middle classes in the West build and/or mark their social position primarily on life style choices and careful selection of the leisure activities, I was interested in whether the choice of Polish niche tourists might have similar function. More broadly, the question of whether the Polish niche tourist were imitating their western counterparts and thereby whether post-communist transformation is a diffusion of western styles and social processes of modernization eastwards was at the background of more particular analysis.
In order to tackle the issue of imitation and its role in social change the work of Gabriele Tarde has been applied. Classic French sociologist suggested that social change occurs through both imitation and innovation, while emphasizing that imitation is more basic and wide spread than innovation. Moreover, Tarde – unlike Emile Durkheim - did not assess imitation negatively. For Tarde imitation was basic and most wide spread means of adaptation, especially in the situation of uncertainty. It also allowed reacting to new situations in a more efficient way, securing from misfire. Imitation of typical alternative tourists’ discourse was surely a feature of Polish niche tourists narratives. Moreover, some discursive figures were repeated from text to text and by different types of interlocutors (e.g. journalists and private people, travel writes and tourist instructors).  Elaborating on Tarde’s ideas and led by research material’s features I have attempted to formulate the concept of echolalia. I have defined echolalia as an instance of repeating of the form or content of some narrative in other narratives. The term in used in linguistics, folklore studies and psychiatry. Echolalia is considered a mechanism of increasing emotional force of poetic message (in folklore) or a means of participating in interaction when other means of doing so are limited (due to aphasic condition, in autistic children etc.). More generally, in interactional linguistics and conversation analysis repetition is treated as a basic mechanism of communication whereby the interlocutors make sure all partners participate in interaction, the mechanism that marks shared understanding of communicative situation (Tannen 1989). I suggested that repetition of the form and content of other people’s narratives (and repetition of their practices) can serve the function of marking one’s position in a group, signalling group belonging, and generally be instrumental in orienting oneself in uncertain social conditions (the uncertainly is presumed to be caused by social transformation and the shifts in social structure).
In the third chapter the central aim was to outline how alternative tourism is connected to class position in society in the West and see if and how Polish niche tourism to the countries of the former Soviet Union functions as a group position marker.
After the transformation in Poland the class structure has considerably shifted. Some authors suggest that the weakness of middle class is one of the reasons for the slow and/or faulty transformation. Others however claim that the growth of Polish middle class is achieved at the cost of the demise of intelligentsia – a social stratum that traditionally was responsible for cultural production as well as for the maintenance of  civic values in the country. The concept new middle class is used by the authors describing Polish class system change with reserve. When the term appears it is usually synonymous with “professionals” (Domański 2000). On the basis of the analysis central to this book, it appears that Polish new middle classes are a hybrid of intelligentsia and western new middle class. Yet, Polish niche tourists also demonstrate the features typical of intelligentsia with its distinctive tradition of low budget tourism. One indication is that in the majority of cases tourist pattern is inherited from their parents. Niche tourism practice is a replication of a family tradition and not imitation of a western type of alternative tourism. Second, a number of tourists treat niche tourism as a rite of passage and have no intention to continue it to further stages of life. And finally there was a noticeable differentiation in the use of niche tourism experience upon return.
History, or diachronic perspective, can mean generational change. It can also be seen as a more long-term process of the constructing and modifying the representations and meanings of the former Soviet Union (and Russian Empire in the earlier period) in Poland. In the forth chapter an overview of the longue dure perspective on Polish relation to this geopolitical area is drawn. First and foremost, travel writing – a primary source of the imagery of other lands for general public – is presented as a contested practice. The post-colonialist perspective is used to unravel how and why travel writing is essentially involved in producing difference. Besides and alongside travel writing, the immediate relation between Poland and Russian Empire (later Soviet Union) are represented through the snap-shots of the historically changing representations.
In the chapter the selected representations of Russia that were popular in Poland are outlined, including Jan Potocki, Astolphe de Custine, Ferdynand Ossendowski and Ryszard Kapuściński. It is demonstrated that in current travel writing only selected images are echoed or repeated while others are effectively omitted. The final part of this chapter is devoted to the comparative analysis of the two Polish travel writers who currently represent Russia and former Soviet Union in their essays. It is claimed that despite differences both authors create a figure of traveller as a knowledgeable/powerful person. They achieve it through widely quoting and imitating authoritative genres such as encyclopaedia, cook books or detective stories. As a result their potential reader is encouraged to follow this power/knowledge pattern as the only viable way of narrating travel experience.
The goal of the fifth chapter therefore is to establish what are the actual representations of Polish niche tourist visiting the countries of the former Soviet Union. Tourists are influenced by the western patterns of alternative travel, they are also affected by their own family history as well as the historical depth of Polish vision of the region, and more particularly they are keen readers of the contemporary travel writing. The goal of this chapter is to see what are the echoes that niche tourists reproduce in their travel narratives; what are the potential peculiar features of their representations; what particular types of ambiguities and contradictions their narratives contain. In the analysis of these narratives I am less interested in the image of the region, and more - in what these narratives potentially do for the tourists, especially their identity construction. The four dimensions of representations are distinguished: 1) people; 2) space, 3) time and 4) food. The analysis of the four dimensions confirm that despite being influenced by historical and systemic constraints tourists aim at constructing their subjective image of the region, and the tourists’ subjectivity and agency is central to tourist experience. The representations of Otherness are primarily tools for imagining and constructing Self.
In the concluding chapter the attention is paid to intersubjectivity of niche tourist experience. The repetitions and echolalia in tourist representations are interpreted through the framework of their interactive functionality. Niche tourists are seen as a type of contemporary subject who seeks to find understanding and certainty and build a community of similarly minded people through discursive practices. Thus the narratives of tourists are not so much the representations of Otherness as the communicative mechanisms used to establish one’s own position in an uncertain world. The authenticity of tourist experience is dialogical, i.e. it is negotiated with meaningful others. Through the narratives niche tourists inscribe themselves into the world, marking their unique but socially relevant identities. Imitation is thus inextricably linked to innovation and change."

This article concerns the extent to which corrupt behavior is dependent on the organizational power structure and the resources available for illegal exchange. This qualitative study is based on 42 in-depth interviews with organizational actors in different organizations in Hungary. Four core themes emerged from the analysis of the interviews: (a) isolated corruption at the bottom, (b) the middle level’s own corruption, (c) “technicization” when middle-level professionals and expert groups are used to legalize the corruption of the dominant coalition, and (d) “turning-off controls” when organizational elites intentionally deactivate internal and external controls to avoid detection.

The dramatic increase in the use of the World Wide Web and the Internet in government may foreshadow important changes in the nature of governance. A number of theorists have posited that the adoption of networked information systems is accompanied by inevitable shifts toward democratic government. Others argue that technologies are secondary factors in changes in levels of democracy or types of governance. Our article examines the openness of cabinet-level websites in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and post-communist countries as a measure of an important aspect of governance that has only recently been operationalized. It provides a brief review of other studies in this field and the directions in which they are heading. The article analyzes the effects of political, cultural, economic, and technical factors on openness of cabinet-level websites in OECD and post-communist countries. The question is whether the level of democracy and cultural legacies affect openness of electronic governments. The study employs statistical analysis of a comparative database of national-level public agency websites that is produced by the Cyberspace Policy Research Group (CyPRG). The dependent variable is based on transparency and interactivity scores and availability of cabinet-level websites. The independent variables include Freedom House and Polity indexes of democracy, historical legacy, religious tradition, and the GDP per capita and number of Internet users per 1,000 people. Regression analysis shows that democracy, historical legacies, level of economic development, and religious tradition affect openness of cabinet-level websites in OECD and post-communist countries. This study demonstrates need to distinguish between cyberdemocracy and “Potemkin e-villages,” that is, window-dressing, in electronic governments.

An analysis of the coverage of post-communist countries by the major U.S. television networks from 1998 to 2009 reveals that U.S. allies receive more positive coverage than do non-allies or adversaries and that there are systematic biases in the representation of many post-Soviet countries.

"The October 1993 events and the December 1993 elections raise a question about prospects for liberal democracy in Russia. Many liberal politicians in Russia maintained that liberal democracy gained decisive victory as a result of the October 1993 events. One can argue that fundamental changes in the value orientations of the main actors have not occurred. Authoritarian values presented by such organizations as the Russian Communist Workers Party, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party have remained strong. In the case of free elections, the authoritarian parties would receive significant weight in parliament. This happened in the December 1993 elections. The success of the Liberal Democratic Party led by an extreme antiliberal, Zhirinovsky, has confirmed the influence of authoritarianism. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation and its ally, the Agrarian Party, also have received a significant share of votes. Liberal democrats from Russia's Choice have suffered a significant defeat.

Charismatic leaders currently play a significant role in Russia. The success of the Liberal Democratic Party is to a great extent due to a charismatic figure, Vladimir Zhirinovsky. He has widely used political demagogy and appeal to emotions instead of rational arguments. Presently, liberal democrats in Russia are dependent on Yeltsin's presidential status and personal charisma. Yeltsin's charisma has begun to weaken as his actions, especially in the economic sphere, have failed to bring the results which he promised. The strong dependency on personality of Yeltsin can endanger Russian liberal-democratic reforms. Liberal politicians lack charisma, and their organizations are too weak to become dominant in Russian politics in the near future.

Many liberal politicians, both in Russia and in the West, continue to orient their actions toward president Yeltsin believing that democracy in Russia could be secured by a strong presidential power. However, such power can be used to destroy democracy. The 1996 presidential elections can bring a challenge to liberal reforms and democracy from authoritarian and charismatic politicians. Presently, Russian democracy rests on the balance of power between liberal democrats on the one hand and authoritarian nationalists and communists on the other. The latter can use both democratic and undemocratic means in their political struggle. In such a situation, liberal democrats face the dilemma of choosing between democratic or authoritarian reform paths.

Lack of legitimacy is another problem of Russian democracy. Copying Western liberal and democratic constitutions and other laws alone could not establish the rule of law when people do not consider them as legitimate. The political conflict between the president, parliament and vice-president -- which was resolved by anti-constitutional means in October 1993 -- is an example of the weak legitimacy of the rule of law and the democratic form of government. The prospects for stable liberal and democratic order in Russia depend on liberalization and rationalization of values. In present Russia, authoritarian values are strong, and charismatic leaders are influential. The rule of law lacks legitimacy. Liberal democrats are divided and dependent on Yeltsin’s status and favor."

"    Statistical analyses of the voting results from all national parliamentary and presidential elections held between 1991 and 2006 and survey data concerning attitudes towards major historical issues confirm the existence of strong and persistent regional cleavages in post-Soviet Ukraine. Western Ukrainian regions, which differ significantly in terms of their historical legacies
from regions in Eastern Ukraine, are much more supportive, compared to Eastern Ukraine, of pro-nationalist and pro-Western parties and politicians, and they are much less supportive of pro-Communist and pro-Russian parties and politicians.
        Similarly, Eastern Ukrainians, compared to Western Ukrainians, express much more favorable attitudes towards the incorporation of Eastern Ukraine by Russia in the seventeenth century, the Bolshevik Revolution, the whole period of Ukraine’s inclusion in the Soviet Union, the past Communist political system, Russian tsars, and Soviet political leaders. People from Western Ukraine are much more likely than the residents of other regions to
regard the artificial famine of 1932/1933 as a result of deliberate Soviet policy directed against ethnic Ukrainians. Western Ukrainians demonstrate much more favorable views than their Eastern Ukrainian counterparts towards the UPA and historical Ukrainian nationalist and pro-independence leaders.
        Regression analysis shows that historical legacies, linked to different historical experiences before Soviet unification, have the largest effect, compared to other factors, on electoral behavior and on attitudes towards historical issues. Keeping other factors, such as ethnicity and the level of economic development constant, the history of Austro-Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, and Czechoslovak rule is the biggest determinant of the regional pro-nationalist/pro-Western vote index, the pro-Communist/pro-Russian vote index,  and individual attitudes towards the past Soviet political system. Catholic religion and Ukrainian ethnicity also affect the regional electoral behavior indexes but to a lesser extent and less consistently than the historical legacy does. Age, education, Catholic religion, and gender are significant
determinants of attitudes towards the Soviet political system. However, their effects are weaker compared to the effects of historical legacy variables.
    This study concludes that the regional political cleavages in post-Communist Ukraine reflect primarily cultural differences that emerged as a result of distinct historical experiences in Ukrainian regions in the periods before World War I and World War II. These findings imply that the regional differences in electoral behavior and attitudes towards major historical issues will not disappear in Ukraine in the near future.
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This paper examines the influence of historical archetypes, foreign constitutional law and external consulting on the post-socialist constitution-making processes in Bulgaria and Romania (1990/91). In particular, three hypotheses are holded: First, both the Bulgarian and the Romanian constitutions of 1991 follow in their basic structures and the formulation of many norms historical archetypes from their own constitutional histories. In the Bulgarian case, this somewhat surprisingly is the socialist constitution of 1971 but not the so-called "Tărnovo Constitution" of 1879. In Romania, in contrast, the pre-socialist constitutions of 1866 and 1923 have had exerted the strongest influence. Second, the autonomous perception of Western democratic constitutional law played an important role in both cases. In Bulgaria, it was particularly the constitutions of Spain (1978) and Italy (1947) that took strong effects. Romania oriented itself mainly at the French constitution of 1958, although this orientation decreased markedly during the course of the constitution-making. Third and finally, Western consulting is shown to have had no measurable impact on both constitution-making processes.

"The article considers two cases:
(1) decision by which the Slovak Constitutional Court (Pl. US 8/04-202) invalidated s. 8(8) of Act 365/2004 on Anti-
Discrimination, which purported to transpose Council Directive 2000/43 Art.5 on positive action, as incompatible with the Slovak Constitution; and
(2) the decision of the Czech Constitutional Court decision (Pl. US 37/04) which upheld a provision on the shift of burden of proof in the Code of Civil Procedure s.133a(2), which purported to transpose Council Directive 2000/43 Art.8 as consistent with the Czech Constitution.
The article argues that neither the respective courts' attitude to the EU (relatively positive in both cases), nor their overall attitude to equality (considerably formalistic in both cases) explains the different outcomes. Rather, it was probably the non-mandatory nature of the provision on positive action, which allows rather than requires Member States to implement it, which led to the Slovak Constitutional Court's rejection of it in national law."

"This article looks at the legal notion of gender equality in the Czech Republic as EU
harmonization obligations meet with the socialist past. While the transition from state
socialism to capitalism brought positive legal reforms – many incurred in the EU accession
process – some of these new mechanisms, especially anti-discrimination and gender equality
provisions, are mistrusted and misunderstood by legal actors. The article submits that the
current notion of equality is influenced by the socialist past, and that both a continuity of
conceptions between past and present about gender and equality, and attempts to distance the
new capitalist order from its socialist predecessor impact it."