The vivid discussion on civil society in Eastern Europe that flourished during the late 1980s and early 1990s has faded somewhat, and been partly replaced by new attempts to conceptualise the nature of social change taking place in these countries. This book strives to continue and go beyond the civil society discourse by analysing the interrelationship between education and civic culture in post-communist countries. The volume offers detailed case studies, written by specialists from the region and from Western Europe and North America, examining everyday patterns of civic culture; the linkage between education and national identity, ethnicity, gender and religion; the experience and attitudes of youth; and attempts to render education systems better suited to the demands of post-communist society.

Undertakes an analysis of the development of civil society in post-Soviet Russia. This book analyzes the Russian context and considers the roles of the media, business, organized crime, the church, the village, and the Putin administration in shaping the terrain of public life.

Investigates the often controversial relationship between gender, equality and education from international and comparative perspectives. This volume also investigates whether gender equality in education is really being achieved in schools around the world or not.

This book examines the development of the non-state sector and NGOs in China since the onset of reform in the late 1970s. It explores the major issues facing China’s non-state sector today, assesses the institutional barriers faced by its developing civil society, and compares China’s example with wider international experience.

The last decade of the 20th century saw radical changes in Eastern Europe and the former USSR. Most of these countries made a transition from totalitarianism or authoritarianism to democracy and from central planning to a market economy. Adding to the latter, a number of national entities gained their independence after the disintegration of the federative states of the USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Many recent studies have focused on these double, in some cases triple transitions, and scholars from different fields analyzed the so-called "1989 Revolution" from different perspectives. Rather less scholarly attention has been paid to the future of post-communist constitutions and prospects for constitutionalism in these countries. The main questions dealt with throughout this study can be formulated as follows: Will liberal democratic constitutionalism take root in these countries? Will new constitutions in Eastern Europe and the former USSR perish or survive? This study also aims at contributing to the construction of a general constitutional theory by studying the causes and dynamics of constitutional change in general. Such constitutional change is not only on the East European, but also on the West European agenda. The purpose of this study is not to introduce a general theory about constitutional in/stability, but studying post-communist constitutions will help us to understand the causes and dynamics of constitutional change from a broader perspective.

An international collection of papers focused on media, culture and society in postcommunist Russia. Contributors deploy a wealth of primary data in examining the kinds of issues that are central to our understanding of the kind of system that has been established in the world's largest country after a period of far-reaching change.

T-Kits ( = Training kits) are a product of the Partnership Agreement on European Youth Worker Training run by the CoE and the European Communities Commission

Modernisation has been a constant theme in Russian history at least since Peter the Great launched a series of initiatives aimed at closing the economic, technical and cultural gap between Russia and the more ‘advanced’ countries of Europe. All of the leaders of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia have been intensely aware of this gap, and have pursued a number of strategies, some more successful than others, in order to modernise the country. But it would be wrong to view modernisation as a unilinear process which was the exclusive preserve of the state. Modernisation has had profound effects on Russian society, and the attitudes of different social groups have been crucial to the success and failure of modernisation. This volume examines the broad theme of modernisation in late imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia both through general overviews of particular topics, and specific case studies of modernisation projects and their impact. Modernisation is seen not just as an economic policy, but as a cultural and social phenomenon reflected through such diverse themes as ideology, welfare, education, gender relations, transport, political reform, and the Internet. The result is the most up to date and comprehensive survey of modernisation in Russia available, which highlights both one of the perennial problems and the challenges and prospects for contemporary Russia.

This is a book about four rural secondary schools of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, a newly independent Central Asian state of the former USSR. Utilizing case study methods, we describe and discuss how teachers, administrators and students are attempting to survive the proclaimed “transition” to democracy and a market economy within their particular schools and communities. We view this work primarily as a cultural study of schools and school life, not a work about the national education system. There is in fact a growing volume of other writings on issues and problems in education in Central Asia, some of which we have ourselves contributed to (see DeYoung, 2004; Reeves, 2004). The focus in this study, however, involves school, individual, and group lives and dynamics in and around the four village schools we studied during 2004 and 2005. Two of the four schools are in Chui Oblast; one in Naryn Oblast, and one in Batken Oblast. One Chui school lies within an economically and demographically stable community by Kyrgyz standards; the other school faces more serious economic and migratory issues. Our Naryn school is located in an isolated livestock-breeding region of Kyrgyzstan high in the Tien Shan mountains near China. Finally, we describe community and school situations in an agricultural community in the south that is characterized by considerable poverty-driven labor migration. Our work involved schools in the small town of Shopokov, and the villages of Tash Dobo, At-Bashy and Ak-Tatyr. These are all actual places on the map of Kyrgyzstan – if your map is detailed enough. In several cases, nearby smaller schools are also discussed as they relate to our primary institutions.

Reflecting on almost three decades of postsocialist transformations, the second edition of Globalization on the Margins explores continuities and changes in Central Asian education development since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, with a particular focus on the developments that took place since the production of the first edition in 2011. Rather than viewing these transformations in isolation, the authors place their analyses within the global context by reflecting on the interaction between Soviet legacies and global education reform pressures in the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. This new edition, in addition to a revised introduction and a newly added conclusion, consists of four thematic sections, each reflecting a key theme in the educational life of the Central Asian states. These thematic sections, introduction and conclusion collectively update our understanding of the recent developments and challenges in education of the five Central Asian states. They, however, go beyond mere information update, so as to complicate, re-engage, re-form and re-define the margins, taking up ‘margins’ a conceptual, geographic, cultural, and geo-political construct. Notwithstanding the diversity of local and international authors, variety of theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, and conceptual lenses, the essays reveal the complexity and uncertainty of the post-socialist education transformations. Instead of portraying the transition process as the influx of Western ideas into the region, Globalization on the Margins provides new lenses to critically example education as a contested field of diverse perspectives, competing forces, and multidirectional flow of ideas, concepts, and reforms in Central Asia. ENDORSEMENTS: "Hindsight famously brings clarity. And, much of what happened after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union has now been correctly deeded over to historians. Nonetheless, we ignore that history at our peril. The contributors to this volume show that carefully textured and historically attuned education research generates deep insights into ongoing transformations and the political, cultural, social and economic structures, relations, and practices that do the work of producing margins and centers in the first place." ~ Noah W. Sobe, Loyola University Chicago "Globalization on the margins and at the epicentre of the battles of the Great Powers. Two excellent educators, Sarfaroz Niyozov and Iveta Silova, compiled a timely and long-awaited scholarly work based on empirical research in societies, which had similar history close to three decades ago. All the contributors are prolific educators who know the education system from within and without, who either hailed from the region or have spent a considerable amount of time to know the systems well. The book contains remarkable stories of education through the ups and downs of historical evolution. It is a must-read primer for anyone interested in learning about high quality research in the field of education in Central Asia. It is a huge contribution to educational research with an impact on research and teaching for years to come." ~ Duishon Shamatov, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan "The challenge of moving Central Asia from the borders of the Soviet Empire to the world’s center is the focus of the discussions in ‘Globalization on the Margins.’ The transition to the Western models of education was happening in the context of major paradigm shift, which entire humanity was experiencing and which could be described as the arrival of the new post-industrial civilization. During this process, Central Asian countries have been pushed to the margins, because their contribution to the wealth of the new world know-how was much less pronounced than that of their Western neighbours. Therefore, investment into the research that contributes to local knowledge production seems a natural solution to the problem. All the contributors to this book have a vast experience in the region and many of their observations are thought provoking. This is a very insightful and much needed book." ~ Elena Lenskaya, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, Russia