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

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Central European University Press eBook-Package 2013-1998
• VerfasserIn: Swain, Nigel,
• Place / Publishing House: Budapest ;, New York : : Central European University Press, , [2022]; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (412 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- List of Tables and Maps -- Preface -- Preface -- Chapter 1. Politics, Policies and Legal Measures -- Chapter 2. Common General Findings -- Chapter 3. Bulgaria -- Chapter 4. Czech Republic -- Chapter 5. Hungary -- Chapter 6. Poland -- Chapter 7. Romania -- Chapter 8. Slovakia -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index of Research Villages -- General Index