The origins of backwardness in Eastern Europe : economics and politics from the Middle Ages until the early twentieth century
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The origins of backwardness in Eastern Europe : economics and politics from the Middle Ages until the early twentieth century
University of California Press, c1989
- : pbk
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Note
Papers originally presented at a conference in June 1985 at Bellagio, Italy
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
ISBN 9780520064218
Description
Reaching back centuries, this study makes a convincing case for very deep roots of current Eastern European backwardness. Its conclusions are suggestive for comparativists studying other parts of the world, and useful to those who want to understand contemporary Eastern Europe's past. Like the rest of the world except for that unique part of the West which has given us a false model of what was "normal," Eastern Europe developed slowly. The weight of established class relations, geography, lack of technological innovation, and wars kept the area from growing richer.
In the nineteenth century the West exerted a powerful influence, but it was political more than economic. Nationalism and the creation of newly independent aspiring nation-states then began to shape national economies, often in unfavorable ways.
One of this book's most important lessons is that while economics may limit the freedom of action of political players, it does not determine political outcomes. The authors offer no simple explanations but rather a theoretically complex synthesis that demonstrates the interaction of politics and economics.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780520076402
Description
Reaching back centuries, this study makes a convincing case for very deep roots of current Eastern European backwardness. Its conclusions are suggestive for comparativists studying other parts of the world, and useful to those who want to understand contemporary Eastern Europe's past. Like the rest of the world except for that unique part of the West which has given us a false model of what was "normal", Eastern Europe developed slowly. The weight of established class relations, geography, lack of technological innovation, and wars kept the area from growing richer. In the nineteenth century the West exerted a powerful influence, but it was political more than economic. Nationalism and the creation of newly independent aspiring nation-states then began to shape national economies, often in unfavorable ways. One of this book's most important lessons is that while economics may limit the freedom of action of political players, it does not determine political outcomes. The authors offer no simple explanations but rather a theoretically complex synthesis that demonstrates the interaction of politics and economics.
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I. Causes and Consequences of Backwardness
Daniel Chirot
2. Economic Backwardness in Eastern Europe in Light of
Developments in the West
Robert Brenner
3. Agrarian Systems of Central and Eastern Europe
Peter Gunst
4. The Polish Economy and the Evolution of Dependency
Jacek Kochanowicz
5. Tradition and Rural Change in Southeastern Europe
During Ottoman Rule
Fikret Adanir
6. Imperial Borderlands or Capitalist Periphery?
Redefining Balkan Backwardness, 1520-1914
John R. Lampe
7. The Social Origins of East European Politics
Gale Stokes
CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX
by "Nielsen BookData"
