Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe

Dr. Heiko Pleines is head of the Department of Politics and Economics of the Research Centre for East European Studies (Forschungsstelle Osteuropa) and lecturer in comparative politics at the University of Bremen, Germany. His major research interest is the role of non-state actors in political decision-making processes and the resulting impact on political regimes.

• Foreword Part I. Dissent Under Socialism 1. Smashing Concrete with Words. The Central European 'Dissidents', Their Representations and Discourses, by Kacper Szulecki 2. The Second Life of the Polish Art World in the Eighties, by Patryk Wasiak Part II. Civil Society and Ethnic Divisions. The Case of the Western Balkans 3. History and Memory. Media Discourse and the Construction of National Identities, by Tonci Valentic 4. Mapping the Ephemeral. Yugoslav Civic Activism and the 1990s Conflicts, by Bojan Bilic 5. External Democracy Promotion of Civil Society in Ethnically Fragmented Post-Socialist Countries, by Franziska Blomberg Part III. Finding One's Place in Civil Society. Examples from Russia 6. Walking the Tightrope. Russian Disability NGOs' Struggle with International and Domestic Demands, by Christian Frohlich 7. Striving for Social Change. NGOs in the Field of HIV/AIDS, Drug Policy and Human Rights in the Russian Federation, by Ulla Pape Part IV. Civil Society After EU Accession 8. Differential Empowerment for Institutional Change. The EU's Impact on State and Non-State Actors in Eastern Europe, by Julia Langbein 9. The Introduction of Regional Self-Governance in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. EU Conditionality vis-a-vis Domestic Societal Pressures, by Senka Neuman Stanivukovic 10. German and Polish 'Memory from Below', by Lars Breuer Part V. Political Participation and Lobbying 11. Can Civil Society Play a Role in Foreign Policy? Societal Groups in the Czech Republic, by David Cadier 12. The (Un)Importance of Public Opinion in Educational Policy-Making in Post-Communist Ukraine. Education Policy 'Elites' on the Role of Civil Society in Policy Formation, by Olena Fimyar About the Authors

"The collection "Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe" highlights a fact that the debate about a European civil society often neglects: The civil societies in the countries of Middle and Eastern Europe are relatively young and the experience of an authoritarian regime still fresh". -- Birgit Sittermann, Forschungsjournal NSB