| Description |
1 online resource (369 pages) |
| Series |
The Postwar World |
|
Postwar world.
|
| Contents |
Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of Maps; Abbreviations and Acronyms; Editorial Foreword; Preface; Dedication; Chapter One. Introduction and General Survey; Perspectives on Central European history; The historical development of Central Europe; Reform imperatives and communist resistance; Regional bases of communist power; Communism and after; Chapter Two. Foundations of the Post-war Order in Central Europe; Central Europe: historical background and meaning; Interwar developments and the onset of hostilities; The war-time origins of modern Central Europe |
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Soviet policy and agreements between the powersThe emerging pattern of communist Europe; Chapter Three. The Communist Takeover and Consolidation of Power; Soviet influence and communist power; Coalition politics in Central Europe; Economic change and post-war recovery; Consolidating communist power; The development of the People's Democracies; Chapter Four. The Politics of Stalinism; Stalinism and the eclipse of national communism; Dimensions of one-party rule; The nature of Stalinist dictatorship; Implications of the purges; Stalinism and the realities of Soviet Control |
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Chapter Five. Socialist Industrialization and Economic DevelopmentBasic features of socialist industrialization; The communist economic model in Central Europe; Economic change and living standards; Reform imperatives and the problems of change; New perspectives on economic change; Chapter Six. Social Change and the Nature of Communist Society; The effects of structural change; Occupational mobility and social equality; Modernization, culture and social change; Consumerism, socialism and social values; Socialism and the new class; Chapter Seven. De-Stalinization and Political Instability |
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Modifications in the Stalinist modelEarly post-Stalin turbulence; Poland: controlled change; The Hungarian revolution; Czechoslovakia and the problems of modulated reform; Chapter Eight. The Politics of Mature Communism; The GDR: de-Stalinization survived; Poland: national credit exhausted; The Kadarist compromise; Consumer-based conservatism; Poland's permanent crisis; Chapter Nine. The Military Basis of the Communist Order; Soviet military power and Central Europe; Aims and organization of the WTO; Military integration and WTO operations; Political functions of military co-ordination |
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Diversity and change in security conceptionsChapter Ten. The Regional Economic Framework; The establishment of COMECON; Institutional development after Stalin; Further moves towards integration; Relative disadvantages of the Eastern economies; Perestroika: the final phase; Chapter Eleven. The End of Communist Rule; Stability and conflict in Central Europe; The Gorbachev influence; The Polish road to post-communism; Parallel but different: the Hungarian path; Movement in the German glacier; The Czechoslovak suite; Chapter Twelve. Post-Communism and the Transition to Democracy |
| Summary |
Central Europe - here, Poland, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia and Hungary - is at the centre of international attention since the Soviet collapse. An understanding of its postwar history is critical to an appreciation of the challenges facing its present rulers. This is an engrossing account of the installation, development, operation and eventual downfall of its (very different) communist regimes, and the transition to the freedoms and uncertainties of the post-Soviet world. The book covers political, economic, social and cultural change, emphasising the crucial relationships |
| Notes |
Conflicting factors in post-communist politics |
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Print version record |
| Subject |
Europe, Central -- History
|
| Genre/Form |
History
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
9781317900719 |
|
1317900715 |
|
