Theorizing Transition

How do we understand the dramatic changes that are transforming the societies of Eastern and Central Europe and those 'peripheral' countries witnessing a shift to the market? Theorizing Transition tries to answer this important question through a variety of studies of the complex political, economic and social transformations occurring in eastern Europe and parts of the periphery that have moved away from strong state direction of their societies. The transformations underway in post-Communist societies, far from leading in a straightforward manner to a single model of economic and political life seven years after the events of 1989, now seem to have generated complex and highly differentiated regional systems of adjustment. Theorizing Transition includes contributions by geographers, economists, sociologists, feminists, planners and scholars of international studies who attempt to unravel the complexity of change in post-communism through examining: theoretical perspectives on transition, industrial and regional restructuring, agrarian change, de-collectivisation and rural struggles, and ethically and gendered transformations in a variety of Eastern and Central European contexts. The authors also examine the comparative experiences of de-collectivisation, and economic and state restructuring in 'peripheral' societies undergoing transformation. Examining transformations using a variety of perspectives from critical political economy and cultural theory, Theorizing Transition provides both a rich empirical map of the dimensions of post-Communism and raises important theoretical issues about how we interpret these changes.