Surviving Post-Socialism - Local Strategies and Regional Responses in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (Hardcover, New)

The disintegration of Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 marked the beginning of what was hailed both East and West as a period of tranformation to liberal democracy. Yet in the years that have followed, the peoples of the vast region have found themselves dealing with new tensions, insecurities and the chaos of the new order. This wide ranging study comprises of case studies drawn from various countries of the former socialist world. Centring around the theme of survival strategies developed in response to changing cultural, political and economic structures, the contributors consider the problems implicit in these changing economies at all levels, from household strategy to state and policy formation. It covers a huge geographical area and explores many other themes such as: gender; ethnicity; migration; employment and labour patterns; changing family structures; and ideas of nationalism. By emphasizing local level experience, regional difference and the use actors make of local knowledge in developing survival strategies, this study argues that local level research is essential to an understanding of the transformations taking place.