Central and Eastern Europe: Europeanization and Social Change

The collapse of communism in 1989 paved the way for the reunification of the continent. For Eastern European countries, the reaffirmation of their political, economic and social independence took place simultaneously within a context marked by globabization and the rules of the European union. This book analyses the impact of the different dynamics of change since 1989 on public policy and on various economic and political sectors. The author’s approach is elaborated in terms of strategies, conflicts, alliances and resources anchored in the communist period, sometimes even before, and revitalized by the new rules of the game. He studies the way in which national traditions of sovereignty within the new States combined with 21st century economic and political liberalism. By emphasizing the intensity and rapidity of the dynamics of change which have taken place since 1989, the author shows both the new States’ ability to adopt global and European rules and their determination to subscribe fully to the Europe of today.

This book analyzes the impact of the different dynamics of change since 1989 on public policy and on various economic and political sectors of Central and Eastern Europe.

François Bafoil obtained his Ph.D. from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (IEP) and graduated in Polish, Philosophy and Sociology. Extended research fellowships at the Lodz University, Poland (1984), Alexander Humboldt Fundation Fellow, Freie University and WZB in Berlin (1988-1994). Before joining CERI in 2003, he served as EU expert in charge of ex-ante assessment with the Ministry of Economy in Warsaw (2002-2003) and as special advisor to the OECD for the Territorial Review of Poland. 2008/2009 associate professor at the university of Köln (Germany). Member of the scientific boards of the Institut für Europäische Politik in Berlin, the Centre for Social Studies (PAN) in Warsaw, the Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales (CIFE) in Berlin and Nice, and of the editorial boards of Allemagne aujourd’hui and Le Courrier des pays de l’Est. François Bafoil develops comparative studies in sociology on Central and Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.