This volume focuses on how the national elites in Central and South-Eastern Europe perceived the peasantry during the process of building the modern state and democratic political systems. The central theme of the discussion is the integration of peasants into the political system, with the aim of transforming them from the dependent subjects of various public figures to active citizens. The politicization of the rural world, in terms of increasing peasants’ participation in public affairs and their identification with ideas concerning the “common good,” was integral to the modern transformation of societies in these regions. The studies in this volume examine the relationship between the peasantry and central and local state institutions, such as the administration, schools and the army; associations of all kinds; and social figures, including intellectuals, teachers, local notables and priests, who sought to uplift the rural world as part of the modernization agenda.

Sorin Radu is a professor at the “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu (Romania), convenor for Romania of the ICHRPI (since 2013). The area of scientific research covers the history of Romania in the 19th and 20th centuries, with an focus on democratic construction, the electorate, political parties, and ideologies.Constantin Iordachi is a professor at the Central European University in Vienna (Austria). He is the president of the International Association for Comparative Fascist Studies and a member of the Academic Committee of the House of European History in Brussels, and member of the Academia Europaea. He is also the co-editor-in-chief of East Central Europe and a consultant editor of Fascism: Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies.Ovidiu Buruiana is a professor at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Ia.i (Romania). His research focuses on Romania in the 20th century, especially the history of political parties and the history of ideas in the interwar period. He is a founding member of the “Society for Historical Studies in Romania”.Andrei Florin SORA is Associate Professor at the University of Bucharest (Romania). He participated in several national and international research projects, and his scientific concerns interests cover the whole of modern and contemporary history, focusing on the relationship between the continuities of social structures and the dynamics of moments of historical change.

Introduction. Subjects or Citizens: How Peasants Became Citizens and Integrated into Nation-States in Central and South-Eastern Europe - Sorin Radu, Ovidiu Buruian., Andrei Florin Sora
Rural Economy and Agrarian Modernization. Peasants as Industrial Workers in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia: The Pathway to Modernization and Urbanization - Jelena Rafailovi.
Peasants into Farmers and Citizens: Economic and Political Tensions after the Interwar Agrarian Reforms in Greater Romania - Dietmar Müller
The Price of Modernity: The Policies of the Polish and Soviet States toward Peasants (1918–1939–1941) - Marek Wierzbicki
Agrarian Reform, Agronomic Innovation, and State Intervention in Interwar Greece - George Gassias
Peasantry, Nation-Building, and Cultural Integration. Peasants and State-Building in Romania: The Dialectics of War, Rebellion and Land Reform - Claudiu Cr.ciun
Peasantry and the Building of the Romanian Nation in Inter-imperial Context - Valer Cosma
The Print Media of German Settlers in the late Russian Empire: Between Traditions, Adaptation, and Integration in the Age of High Industrialization - Lilija Wedel
Schooling and Extracurricular Activity in Romania (1900–1940): Primary Education as Agent of Transformation in the Rural World - Ovidiu Buruian.
Political Integration and Rural Power Structures. The Parliamentary Representation of Constituencies Inhabited by Nationalities in Dualist-Era Hungary: An Examination Through Statistical Data - József Pap
Romanian Candidates and Rural Voters in Eastern Hungary, the Banat and Transylvania (1880s to 1918) - Ovidiu Iudean, Vlad Popovici
Between Rural Roots and Political Power: The Case of the Members of Parliament with Rural Background in Interwar Transylvania - Daniela Mârza
List of Contributors
Index