Postcommunism from Within

Jan Kubik is Professor and Chair in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. His publications include Anthropology and Political Science and The Power of Symbols against the Symbols of Power.Amy Linch is a lecturer in Political Theory at Pennsylvania State University. She is an editor of the International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest 1500-Present.

• List of Tables List of Figures Preface Seteney ShamiAcknowledgments Introduction. Postcommunism in a New Key Amy LinchPart One: General Approaches to Postcommunism1 From Transitology to Contextual Holism Jan Kubik2 Social Justice, Social Science, and the Complexities of Postsocialism Thomas C. Wolfe and John PicklesPart Two: Gender3 Social Justice, Hegemony, and Women's Mobilizations Joanna Regulska and Magdalena Grabowska4 Grounds for Hope? Voices of Feminism and Women's Activism in Romania Laura Lovinvi Contents5 Transformation to Democracy Medea BadashviliPart Three: Poverty6 Poverty and Popular Mobilization in Postcommunist Capitalist Regimes Ivan Szelenyi and Katarzyna Wilk7 "Scandalous Ethnicity" and "Victimized Ethnonationalism" Alina Vamanu and Iulian VamanuPart Four: Corruption8 A Critique of the Global Corruption "Paradigm" Alena V. Ledeneva9 Informal Payments to Doctors Rasma Karklins10 Informal Relations in Public Procurement Ase Berit Grodeland Afterword. Mobilizing Justice Across Hegemonies in Place Michael D. Kennedy About the Contributors Index

This book is an excellent collection of research which shows the gaps in understanding that have emerged from studying post-communist states and societies from above and from the perspective of taken-for-granted concepts, such as the neat separation of public and private spheres. Rather the contributors illustrate the need to disaggregate the concepts that have been used to understand post-communist problems and to disaggregate, as researchers, our own approaches and assumptions. (Europe-Asia Studies) This is a much-needed collection. Studies of the political and economic transformation of the postcommunist countries have focused on the role of the state and market, obscuring both a full consideration of the role of society and the impact of change on society. Such a bottom-up perspective is necessary to understand the phenomenon of postcommunism. In bringing together a series of essays on focused gender, poverty, and corruption the book is a must for anyone who wants to develop a multifaceted and nuanced understanding of the far-reaching changes of the past two decades. - Michael Bernhard,Raymond and Miriam Ehrlich Chair, Department of Political Science, University of Florida This is a much-needed book that charts a new path in studying postcommunist societies. Jan Kubik, Amy Linch, and their collaborators propose an original, multidisciplinary approach that challenges standard modes of analyzing transformations in Central and Eastern Europe. This approach, calling for careful and context-sensitive empirical research, recognizes the diversity of experiences and outcomes in the region and offers conceptual tools to understand vastly dissimilar societies and cultures undergoing massive political, social, and economic transformations. For anyone concerned with patterns of postcommunist transformation, this is a must read. - Grzegorz Ekiert,Professor of Government and Director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard U