In 2011, China continues to be the world’s largest recipient of direct foreign investment—which in 2010 totaled US$105 billion. China is also the world’s second largest economy after the U.S. Once a staunchly Communist state, China now advocates a “social market economy” as its business system. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, this paper seeks to understand what is meant by a “soc...

The striking electoral success of the Ataka party in 2005 and 2009 challenges the scholarly analysis and the political decision-making alike. Do really extreme right wing ideology and policies have fertile ground in Bulgaria? If yes, why is this the case and to what extent? Combining historical and social-structural approaches, the author concludes that the appearance of the Ataka party and its...

Purpose – The paper investigates the utility of economic theory for post-Communist economic transformation. It serves to explain the main reasons for market reform failure in different post-Communist countries. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review suggests that after the collapse of the Communist system there was no economic theory of transition to market. Whenever one considers th...

A backlash against liberal gender and sexuality attitudes has been an issue in many societies, especially post-Communist. However, it takes a different shape each socio–cultural context. This article contributes to academic debates about neo-traditionalism the post-Soviet space focuses specifically on Armenia. It points at some possible mechanisms that make these societies look more neo-traditi...

Modernization theorists from Karl Marx to Daniel Bell have argued that economic development brings pervasive cultural changes. But others, from Max Weber to Samuel Huntington, have claimed that cultural values are an enduring and autonomous influence on society. We test the thesis that economic development is linked with systematic changes in basic values. Using data from the three waves of the...

The constitution-making processes and trajectories of the East-Central European democracies have been more challenging than often supposed. Consolidation allegedly rests on ‘liberal consensus’ that emerged after communism. This consensus has much less robust widespread believed increasingly confronted with illiberal counter-forces. article contributes to a critical discussion constitutional pol...

We use a difference-in-differences strategy that compares Communist with Western European countries to test the effect of the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe on the flow of book translations between countries. We find that translations of Western European titles into former non-Soviet Communist countries increased by a factor of eight with the fall of Communism and reached Western level...

The transformation of communist societies into democratic ones in Europe 1988-1990 is a massive and complicated phenomenon. Claiming that they were implementing democracy, the local regimes had been trying to maintain their influence states, for which lot resources, including media. In terms political communication, mass media claimed not even position an individual actor next politicians or au...

The paper analyses the extent to which information technology is used in European developed and post-communist countries. Indicators such as internet usage, e-commerce and e-government are used to measure the gap between European developed and post-communist countries. Special focus is given to the analysis of the difference in the level of education of male and female inhabitants who use inter...

Cultural trauma occurs when members of a collectivity feel they have been subjected to a horrendous event that leaves indelible marks upon their group consciousness, marking their memories forever and changing their future identity in fundamental and irrevocable ways. While this new scientific concept clarifies causal relationships between previously unrelated events, structures, perceptions, a...