Trust and Democratic Transition in Post-Communist EuropeIvana Markova OUP/British Academy, 2004 M09 9 - 217 pages These ten essays are concerned with theoretical and empirical analyses of trust and distrust in post-Communist Europe after the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989. The contributors come from different disciplines, ranging from history, economics and political science to social psychology and sociology. They are all specialists on the countries about which they write, and they show above all that the Soviet 'bloc' was in fact a rich spectrum of different countries with diverse histories, cultures and traditions, and - not surprisingly - with different expectations for the future. Like other social concepts, trust never makes sense in isolation but only within the network of other concepts - in this case, social capital, faith, belief, solidarity, reciprocity and security. 'Trust' is a highly polysemic term. Differences between meanings of trust in countries with democratic traditions and in post-totalitarian countries raise questions about the ways in which history, culture and social psychology shape the nature and development of political phenomena. These questions include: antinomies such as trust versus risk, and trust versus fear; the co-existence of rural and urban systems; legitimacy of different political regimes; and the arbitrariness of decisions and the abuse of common sense in totalitarianism. The transition period in many post-Communist countries has now been completed and in others it is likely to be completed in the near future. Yet the authors show that while political and economic changes can have rapid effects, cultural and psychological changes may linger and influence the quality of political trust and representations of democracy. As post-Communist countries become members of the European Union, many problems discussed in this book will recede into history. Yet the theoretical issues addressed by the authors, such as the interdependence of politics, culture and human psychology, will remain central to current and future concerns in social and human sciences. |
Contents
Socialization | 25 |
Forms of Social Solidarity in Russia and the Soviet Union | 47 |
A Historical | 63 |
Forced Trust as | 85 |
Estonia | 109 |
Diffuse Trust or Diffuse Analysis? The Specificity of Political | 133 |
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Common terms and phrases
analysis arrears authorities British Academy bureaucrats Cambridge University Press cent central Chapter citizens Communist concept confidence contrast correlates corruption cultural Czech Czechoslovakia democratic denunciation developed dialogical Dunn economic elected elite Estonian Estonian language European European Union example fear forms function Georg Simmel groups human ideology impact individual institutions interpersonal trust Kazakh Kazakhstan krugovaya poruka language leaders Ledeneva legitimacy Marková means modern Moldova Moscovici networks officials opinion organization parliament Party peasant communities perceptions Poland Polish political distrust political system political trust post-Communist countries post-Communist Europe post-Soviet post-Soviet republics pre-modern Putin question relations relationships Republic of Moldova responsibility Romania rules Russian minority secret police secret societies Šimečka Simmel situation social capital social representations sociology Soviet Union specific surveys Sztompka tion titular nation transformation Transnistria Transnistrians trust and distrust trust/distrust trust/fear urban VCIOM village
References to this book
Trust and Distrust: Sociocultural Perspectives Ivana Marková,Alex Gillespie (Ph. D.) No preview available - 2008 |