Westernizing the east: external influences in the post-communist transformation of eastern and central europe

Abstract

Despite the large amount of literature analysing the transition and the growing body of literature on the 'coercive' impact of the EU and NATO, the more 'voluntary' dimensions of policy diffusion remain under-researched. In fact, external influences have been quite substantial, and have manifested themselves in various ways, as an examination of the role of the most important international actors shows. Empirical evidence from an analysis of the transformations in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia permits the construction of a framework for the study of external influences on post-communist politics across the phases of transition.

Administrative Structure in Times of Changes: The Development of Estonian Ministries and Government Agencies 1990–2010

“…Though the impact of international financial institutions (IFIs; e.g., International Monetary Fund, World Bank, EuropeanBank for Reconstruction and Development) and their agendas has been clearly recognized in the case of economic policies of the young CEE democracies (see, e.g., Bruszt, 2002), it has been more difficult to estimate the effect of IFIs and other international actors on the development of public administrations. On the one hand, the external influence on the CEE democratization has appeared in several different forms (e.g., consultancy, development aid, or conditions for financial support) and, on the other hand, its impact has been dependent on the domestic political preferences and configurations (Zaborowski, 2005). Therefore, it is generally concluded that the administrative changes in the first phase of transition can be expected to be driven most of all by the strategies of political elites with a central aim to overcome the legacy of the previous system (Hesse, 1997;Nemec, 2009).…”

‘State Bureaucrats’ and ‘Those NGO People’: Promoting the idea of civil society, hindering the state

“…But it was also around the same time when the civil society concept arrived in the country through its third trajectory, this time in the 'democratisation', 'transformation' and 'development' programmes sponsored by the Western institutions (Lewenstein and Pawlik, 1994;Wedel, 1998;Zaborowski, 2005). The civil society term, which was not that popular until late 1980s in the West, now thanks to Solidarity hype became resurrected and grasped the attention of the Western intellectuals (Keane, 1988(Keane, , 1998(Keane, , 2003Ost, 1994).…”

“…As Graff (2010) notices one of the main ‘problems’ with Polish civil society is the privileged position of NGOs, and persistent undermining (both by activists as well as academics) of other forms of engagement. In the mainstream discourse, the passage from civil society talk to discussion of NGOs’ issues is so smooth, it is almost invisible (Gawin and Gliński, 2006; Gliński, 2006a; Kurczewski, 1992; Lewenstein and Melchior, 1992; Rymsza et al., 2007; Zaborowski, 2005). Effectively, the conversion of civil society and NGOs into the one entity is being taken for granted.…”

Include me out: theatre as sites of resistance to right-wing populism in Estonia, the Czech Republic and Hungary

“…After the fall of communism, according to current political rhetoric, the former communist countries from Eastern Europe should have quickly adapted to the Western market economy and cultural strategies (Zaborowski 2005). As a reaction to this pressure, cultural production from the region has started to display more local (autochthonous) cultural traditions and neo-traditional styles.…”