The volume configures a multidisciplinary perspective on the concept of intellectual elites and describes their action in Eastern European cultures, bringing together studies signed by a number of eminent Romanian scholars from various fields of the Humanities.

The world is increasingly becoming less democratic and this trend has not left Southeast Europe untouched. But instead of democratic breakdown what we are witnessing is a gradual decline and the rise of competitive authoritarian regimes. This book aims to give a country-by-country overview of how illiberal politics has led to a decline in democracy and the re-emergence of autocratic governance in Southeast Europe, more specifically in the Western Balkans. It defines illiberal politics as the everyday practices through which ruling parties undermine democratic institutions in order to remain in power. Individual chapters examine recent political developments and identify practices of illiberal politics that target electoral institutions, rule of law, media freedom, judicial independence, and enable political patronage, while several thematic chapters comparatively explore cross-regional patterns. This book addresses academics, policymakers, and practitioners with professional interest in Southeast Europe or democratic decline and is both timely and relevant as the European Union attempts to reengage with the countries of the Western Balkans. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.

Disentangling a controversial history of turmoil and progress, this Handbook provides essential guidance through the complex past of a region that was previously known as the Balkans but is now better known as Southeastern Europe. It gathers 47 international scholars and researchers from the region. They stand back from the premodern claims and recent controversies stirred by the wars of Yugoslavia’s dissolution. Parts I and II explore shifting early modern divisions among three empires to the national movements and independent states that intruded with Great Power intervention on Ottoman and Habsburg territory in the nineteenth century. Part III traces a full decade of war centered on the First World War, with forced migrations rivalling the great loss of life. Part IV addresses the interwar promise and the later authoritarian politics of five newly independent states: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Separate attention is paid in Part V to the spread of European economic and social features that had begun in the nineteenth century. The Second World War again cost the region dearly in death and destruction and, as noted in Part VI, in interethnic violence. A final set of chapters in Part VII examines postwar and Cold War experiences that varied among the four Communist regimes as well as for non-Communist Greece. Lastly, a brief Epilogue takes the narrative past 1989 into the uncertainties that persist in Yugoslavia’s successor states and its neighbors. Providing fresh analysis from recent scholarship, the brief and accessible chapters of the Handbook address the general reader as well as students and scholars. For further study, each chapter includes a short list of selected readings.

A comprehensive insight into a region which is characterized by rapid economic and social changes with a significant rise in foreign direct investments and privatization. Analysis covers political, legal, economic and social trends, and topics such as the influence of informal networks and corruption, as well as cultural diversity.

This volume offers readers a multi-layer analysis of issues of law and society in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Ukraine. This collection of thought-provoking essays deals with a wide range of subject matter including constitutional, administrative, civil, and criminal law, as well as aspects of legal culture, corruption, corporate social responsibility, and informal practices of judiciaries. Throughout the volume, readers are given not only a comparative perspective of current practices but are also offered a historical glimpse of law and philosophy in the region. The conclusions and analysis offered by these authors - from the ''East'" as well as from the ''West'' - are supported by survey data, literature, legislation, and court practice in the region and abroad.

Southeast Europe's history of the last two centuries is marked by deep transformations and upheavals: the emergence and disappearance of states; ethnic conflicts and wars; changes of political systems; economic crises; migration movements; and natural disasters. Most of these upheavals have been experienced as deep crises forcing people to adapt to often radically new situations. This can cause crisis management to become a permanent way of life. The book focuses on the cultures of crisis. It analyzes the reactions of societies or individuals to them, their impact on everyday life, on peoples' strategies of coping, on the processes of adaptation, and on peoples' attitudes. Focus is placed on crises relating to migration and post-socialist transformation, to politics and religion, and to labour relations. (Series: Ethnologia Balkanica, Vol. 18) [Subject: Sociology, Southeast European Studies, Politics]Ã?Â?Ã?Â?

This book looks at how Europeanisation affects the link between citizenship and governance in and across the new states of South East Europe. Contributors unpack the intimate relationship between the European Union, national governments, and citizens through a tripartite model that captures the uneven and diversified effects of Europeanisation on the governance of citizenship-related policy areas. Reflecting on the meaning of governance in different contexts, this book invites the readers to reconsider the terms and concepts that are commonly used for studying the consolidation of new states. By doing so, it directs attention to the transformative power of European integration not only on modes of governance but also on practices and experiences of citizenship. Individual chapters are ‘paired’ to examine three policy areas that are to a different degree affected by the requirements of European Union accession. Combining analysis of policy frameworks with assessment of their impact, the contributors highlight that the impact of Europeanisation can be located on a continuum stretching from ‘strongest’ in matters regarding justice and home affairs, to ‘moderate’ in general issues of social policy, to ‘weakest’ in transforming citizenship through education policies. This book was originally published as a special issue of European Politics and Society.

In southeast Europe, more than 20 years of rapid change under the combined impact of transformation, globalization, and EU integration have deeply affected the structures of everyday life and have produced a variety of (post-)modern lifestyles. This book's contributions focus on the changing practices and patterns of everyday life. The concepts of multiple modernities and post-modernity appear to be particularly appropriate for a region in which everyday life is marked by often sharp contrasts: the coexistence of modern and traditional labor relations and legal concepts * the return to traditional religions and the adherence to new religious forms * the enthusiasm for modern communication technologies * the reliance on national identification. Understanding these paths to (post-)modernity is relevant for those generally interested in processes of socio-cultural change, but particularly for those interested in the Balkans. (Series: Ethnologia Balkanica - Vol. 16)

Contents: Southeastern Europe: the unlikely security community? Environmental security in Southeastern Europe: a basis for regional co-operation; Russian in the Transcaucasus and Kosovo: from insecurity to security provider?; Churches and (in) security providers in Southeastern Europe; Bulgaria and the disintegration of Yugoslavia: between ethnic affinity and international commitment; regional implications of a failed transition to democracy: the case of Serbia; The internationalisation of conflict in the Transcaucasus and the former Yugoslavia; The OSCE security model for the Balkans: a viable model for the 21st century?; Lessons from UN Peacekeeping in Cyprus; Srebenica: The failure and future of safe areas; Conflict management in Southeastern Europe: the use of force as a last resort; The Georgian-Abkhazian conflict: failed realpolitik with moralistic justifications?; Rethinking the concept of peace-building: Bosnia and the lessons for Kosovo; Kosovo and the international community; Index.

The book explores the views of elites alongside those of the wider population in the European Union. The chapters place the new member states – and the potential candidate Serbia – on the map of Europe in this context for the first time. The volume's comparative method goes beyond the standard old member states versus new member states divide. It assesses regional differences within Central Europe and evaluates the problem of European and national identity formation, perception of external threats to the EU (including Russia), differences between economic and political elite views about the integration process and the connection between national performance and public opinion about Europe. Even though, in each country, positive views are dominant about the integration process, heterogeneous views prevail behind the image of a unifying Europe. The book’s major contribution is that it makes the new member states more visible and provides hard evidence while remaining theoretically driven. Furthermore, it covers the most important topics that emerge in studies concerning European integration. The book is intended for those interested in European integration in general but Central and Eastern European comparativists will find it particularly useful. This book was published as a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies.