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Understanding Politics in Hungary
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Research Report No. 2. April 2001
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Understanding Politics in Belarus Research
Report No. 3. June 2001
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Understanding Politics in Research Report No. 10. December 2002
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Version: Understanding Politics in Bulgaria
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Research Report No. 15. May 2003
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Understanding Politics in Kyrgyzstan Research Report No. 16. October 2003 Abstract: The attacks on the World Trade Center and, six months later, the police killing of six citizens engaged in a peaceful protest in the south of Kyrgyzstan provoked a legitimacy crisis that had long been in the making. The “nation-building” project being pursued by the current state class is contradicted by that same class’ reliance on local and regional clan-based networks that are remnants of the pre-Soviet and pre-“national” past. These countervailing tendencies are important obstacles to the development of a true national identity and national politics and to the development of an integrated national economy and also contribute significantly to distorted economic development. Kyrgyzstan began its post-Soviet political life by creating a reputation as being an emerging democracy surrounded by a ring of authoritarian states, all run by former Communist apparatchiki. The Kyrgyz president, Askar Akayev, an academic, was elected twice in free and open elections. Since that time Kyrgyzstan, while still the most liberal society in Central Asia, has grown increasingly authoritarian as Akayev has concentrated more and more power in his hands at the expense of legislative prerogatives. Simultaneously, the once vibrant free press has been largely muted through the liberal use of libel laws and vocal opposition leaders have been imprisoned. This has all happened amid increasing impoverishment and desperation on the part of the people and Kyrgyzstan has achieved the status of being one of the world’s most corrupt and venal states. Kyrgyzstan is accurately described as a “predator state”; i.e., a state in which a relatively small state class preys upon the body politic for its own personal enrichment at the expense of the mass of the people. This mode of governance is an enormous incentive to the growth of millenarian religious movements and the degeneration of the “predator state” into a “failed state” in which the state itself collapses.
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Understanding Politics in Research Report No. 18. February 2004 Abstract: Coming soon Version: Understanding Politics in Georgia Research Report No. 22. November 2004 Abstract: Coming soon Version: Understanding Politics in Estonia Research Report No. 25. April 2005 Abstract: Coming soon Version: Understanding Politics in Czech Republic Research Report No. 20. May 2004 Abstract: The heritage of Czechoslovakia and, since 1993, the Czech Republic, has often been presented as one of intrinsic democracy, political pluralism and an ethos of social welfare combined with market economics. This heritage therefore can and is indeed seen as boding well for the country’s post-communist transition. While such history is important for domestic moral and for international support, the transition has instead depended very much on the nature of how politics has been played in the Czech lands. Among the defining features of Czech politics is the presence of strong, intellectual and celebrated personalities. Foremost among these are Václav Havel, who served until 2003 as president, and Václav Klaus, post-communist Czechoslovakia’s Finance Minister and then Czech Prime Minister, thereafter a key opposition figure, and from 2003, President. But even with such individuals, this paper argues that political parties remain essential to the workings of Czech politics. The party system has demonstrated traits of both continuity and change – party fortunes can alter significantly and parties can splinter, new ones be created and others disappear. This can give a sense of high political accountability and freedom. In practice, the system is constrained by the need for outright or de facto coalition governments. And civil society, taken to be so important to Czechoslovakia’s ‘Velvet Revolution’ of 1989, seems rather muted and popular interest in and satisfaction with conventional politics appears low. In addition to an apparent weakness of civil society, international institutions and the accession process to NATO and the EU have had a surprisingly substantial impact on domestic politics and practice. History, always subjective in any case, is to a substantial degree what one makes of it, and historical legacies have not single-handedly explained political developments in the Czech Republic. Version:
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