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Civic Engagement in East-Central Europe

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Future of Civil Society

Abstract

Civil society was at the forefront of the programs and discussions of those opposing communism and promoting democracy during the 1980s within the Eastern Bloc and has had a long-lasting influence also on Western social science discourses. Students of civil society should reflect on the issues and changing meanings of the concept during this development, beginning with communist dictatorship and leading up to the European Union accession of most former communist countries of Eastern and Central Europe. The analysis of Central and Eastern European states focuses on Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia and has produced ambivalent attitudes towards civic engagement and civil society in postcommunist democracies. This chapter will refer mainly to examples from the Hungarian experience.

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Authors

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Annette Zimmer Eckhard Priller

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© 2004 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden

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Szabó, M. (2004). Civic Engagement in East-Central Europe. In: Zimmer, A., Priller, E. (eds) Future of Civil Society. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-80980-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-80980-3_6

  • Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-8100-4088-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-322-80980-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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