Wk10 - Politics in Central and Eastern Europe Flashcards
1
Q
What are the two regions?
A
- Central Europe: Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.
- The Balkans: Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, former Yugoslavia.
2
Q
Background to CEE?
A
- two regions.
- empire domination impacted politics and the economy - the Hapsburg, Prussia and Russian empires in C. Europe and the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans. Balkans - comparatively weaker development of the economy to those countries in the centre side of the CEE. Presence of authoritarianism.
- WW1 under right-wing authoritarian dictatorships.
WW2 Soviet Influence. - the sphere of infleunce was very important during WW2 and especially during the Cold War.
- By 1947 there were 9 Communist states
3
Q
A
3
Q
What were the nine communist states?
A
- Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, GDR, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia.
4
Q
What is the CEE term?
A
- a political term, not necessarily geographically accurate.
- used as a term to refer to this particular geographical region and the influence of the Soviet Union.
- support for communism diverged
5
Q
How was Communist support diverged?
A
- popular support for communism in Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
- weak communist regimes in Albania, Bulgaria, GDR, Hungary, Poland, Romania - maintained through USSR military threat.
6
Q
What are Gait’s ‘satellisation’ and ‘sovietisation’?
A
- satellisation refers more to the influence of the Soviet Union over these particular countries.
- sovietisation is the reconfiguration of the domestic architecture of these states to fit the Soviet model.
- both describe the power relations between these two blocs.
7
Q
Key characteristics of the CEE?
A
- close integration at political, military and economic levels with Soviet Union.
- communist party dominance, centralised power.
- public economy, centralised planning.
- direct control of institutions and social movements: including the press, unions, churches, courts, etc.
- dominance of Marxism-Lenism.
8
Q
…
A
- 1949 Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) (economic)
- 1947-1956 Communist Information Bureau (Cominform) (economic)
- 1955 Warsaw Pact – military cooperation (same year as NATO)
9
Q
What was the 1949 Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA)?
A
- Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
- Objective: balance out the involvement of the US and maintaining the spread of communism in check.
- Main focus - economic cooperation and providing technical aid, assistance and development of raw materials and industrial equipment. Parallel ideas of trade and cooperation which was being advanced by the West.
- expanded its membership to other countries, e.g., Vietnam joined later.
10
Q
What was the 1947-1956 Communist Information Bureau (Cominform)?
A
- all states but Yugoslavia joined.
- Cominform - way to ensure Soviet control in the bloc and was focused on the development of collective industry.
11
Q
A
11
Q
What was the 1955 Warsaw Pact?
A
- same year as NATO.
- military cooperation.
- Albania (withdrew 1961), Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, GDR.
- Experienced several moments of crisis, notably in the 1960s and towards the end of the same decade.
- Prague spring – consolidation of the Warsaw Pact.
12
Q
Differential adaptation to Communism:
A
- variation in control from the Soviet Union:
+ Hungary, Yugoslavia greater control over economies - to the point of implementing some instances of decentralisation.
+ Poland and Yugoslavia agriculture remained in private hands (Hancock, 2018:591; Gowland, 2006)
+ Poland, the Catholic Church was independent from the state and the civil society more extensive. There was freedom within the Church and civil society was more active.
13
Q
Examples of protests and revolts:
A
- 1953 GDR strikes
- 1956 Hungarian coup
- 1968 Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia
- 1986 Brezhnev Doctrine - responsibility of Communist parties (challenged in 1985).
Poland’s protests - 1956, 1968, 1971, 1976
13
Q
Why did the GDR strikes occur?
A
- due to suppression by the Soviet Union.
- closed to the West - this was physically done through the construction of the Berlin Wall.
14
Q
1956 - Hungarian coup:
A
- soviet army remained until 1991.
- thousands imprisoned
- most oppressive regime within CEE.
15
Q
1968 Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia:
A
- some attempts at the time of shifting the approach towards an open market. This was in contrast to the dominance of the Communist model - attempts of reformism didn’t progress.
- 1968: Soviet tanks and thousands of Warsaw Pact troops until 1989.
16
Q
Key Poland protests:
A
- 1956: Polish October Revolution
- 1980: Solidarity Solidarność was founded - trade union that spread nationwide protests to pursue better wages and demand the reinstating of some mass layoffs that had happened.
- 1981: martial law imposed.
17
Q
What caused the fall of communist regimes?
A
- 1985 Gorbachev repeals Brezhnev Doctrine after gaining power.
- “No one has the right to claim a special position in the socialist world. The independence of each Party, its responsibility to its own people, the right to resolve questions of the country’s development in a sovereign way-for us, these are indisputable principles.”
- initially Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR and Romania became more repressive.
18
Q
1989 transitions:
A
- decline of communism, increased currency debts and low economic growth.
- Poland debt - 41 bn and 20 bn in Hungary.
- Poland and Hungary: negotiated reform.
- Romania: violent coup.
GDR: reunification with West Germany.
1993 Czechoslovakia: Czech and Slovak Republics. - Yugoslavia: ethnic and religious divides and the civil war that ensued.
19
Q
Political reform:
A
- depended on the revolution that took place - the change was slower in Poland and Hungary.
- influence of parties in post-communist states depended on the kind of revolution.
- Poland and Hungary above: political change slower, negotiation of election rules, limited opposition.
- GDR, Czechoslovakia - below: communist party little involvement.
20
Q
Economic reform:
A
- gradual approach - changes have to take around a decade and must be progressive. The rationale behind this to protect the most vulnerable groups in society.
- shock therapy: Poland : Poland “Balcerowicz Plan” and Hungary “Bokros austerity package”. Changes are abrupt - price liberalisation, privatisation, etc - but must happen abruptly.
- incremental transition: Czech and Slovak Republics.
- no reform in Romania until 1996.
21
Q
What are the short-term effects of economic reform?
A
- recession
- rise and fall in unemployment - e.g. in Poland there was a swift change from 6% in 1990 to 17% in 2003 in employment.
- hyperinflation - Poland was around 500% and dropped in the late 90s.
- malnutrition ad poverty were also common - Poland reached 44% in 1992 and in Romania this was 41%.
22
Governments and parliaments - post-communism:
- not rooted in society and emerged quite abruptly, unfocused emergence.
- traditional cleavages (centre-periphery, state/church, urban/rural, etc) are not present.
- key cleavage: former communists vs anti-communist (Hancock, 2018:593).Anchor to emergence of parties.
- ‘Proto-parties’: members from all parts of the political spectrum (Gowland, 2006:247). Also they tend to be quite immature parties that may not fulfil expectations
- fragmentation - solidarity split unto 15 different parties between 1989 and 1991.
23
What is civil society?
- loosely defined term but it could be considered as uncoerced collective action, pursuit of common interests, purposes and values.
- the presence of a civil society and an active participation are signs of a healthy democracy.
varied composition, level of autonomy and power.
24
25
Civil society in Poland:
- strong civil society rooted in the values of patriotism, social justice, freedom and religion.
- independent media
- history of unionism present - presence of trade unions.
- high number of foundations, societies, NGOs (comparative to other CEE states).
- 2020: until then there were 100,000 NGOs registered in Poland.
26
Civil society in Hungary:
- weaker civil society.
- some signs of repression post-1956 (failed) revolution.
- media repressed under present govt.
27
Civil society in Romania:
- civil society very weak
- extreme economic and political suppression under communism.
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Interest groups:
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