Green Barons, Force-of-Circumstance Entrepreneurs, Impotent Mayors: Rural Change in the Early Years of Post-Socialist Capitalist Democracy

Nigel Swain

Published by Central European University Press 2013

Green Barons, Force-of-Circumstance Entrepreneurs, Impotent Mayors

Rural Change in the Early Years of Post-Socialist Capitalist Democracy

Nigel Swain

https://doi.org/10.1515/9786155225710

Overview
Contents

About this book

An exemplary study in comparative contemporary history, this monograph looks at rural change in six countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. In the 1990s most of these nations experienced a fourth radical restructuring of agricultural relations in the twentieth century, and all went through the dramatic transition from communism to capitalism. The author analyzes attempts to activate democracy on a local level and recreate farming structures and non-agricultural businesses based on private ownership and private enterprise. He describes the emergence of a new business class that seeks to dominate local government structures; the recuperation of former communist farming entities by former managers; and the transformation of peasants into rural citizens, who nevertheless remain the underdogs. Swain exposes common features as well as specific divergences between the six countries; he portrays the winners, losers and engineers of transformations. He situates his themes in a wider context that will appeal to a broad range of social scientists and historians.

Author / Editor information

Swain Nigel :

Nigel Swain is lecturer at the School of History, University of Liverpool. He is the author of Collective Farms which Work?, Cambridge University Press, 1985; Hungary: The Rise and Fall of Feasible Socialism, Verso, 1992; and Eastern Europe since 1945 (with Geoffrey Swain), Palgrave Macmillan, 1993.

Reviews

"After twenty years of extensive research and publications on diff erent aspects of rural change in postsocialist eastern Europe, Nigel Swain is unquestionably a leading scholar in this field. With his Green Barons, Force-of-Circumstance Entrepreneurs, Impotent Mayors, a volume on rural change in east central and southeastern Europe from 1989 until the mid-1990s, he offers a synthesis of his knowledge. This is to be treated as overwhelmingly good news... 'Green barons' and 'force-of-circumstance entrepreneurs' aptly describe the two most common careers in rural postsocialist eastern Europe. In a broader historical perspective, the postsocialist pattern of landholding was unique in that many owned land but few had the human, social, or cultural resources to embark on farming it privately and commercializing the products."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Tables and Maps Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. Politics, Policies and Legal Measures Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Chapter 2. Common General Findings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
Chapter 3. Bulgaria Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Chapter 4. Czech Republic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Chapter 5. Hungary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
Chapter 6. Poland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Chapter 7. Romania Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
Chapter 8. Slovakia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	321
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	361
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	373
Index of Research Villages Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	391
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	393

Language: English
Publisher: Central European University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 412
Keywords: Agriculture; Democratization; Eastern Europe; Economic conditions; Political economy; Regime change

eBook

Published: October 10, 2013
ISBN: 9786155225710