Mothers, Families, or Children? is the first comparative-historical study of family policies in Poland, Hungary, and Romania from 1945 until the eve of the global pandemic in 2020. The book highlights the emergence, consolidation, and perseverance of three types of family policies based on “mother-orientation” in Poland, “family orientation” in Hungary, and “child-orientation” in Romania. It uses a new theoretical framework to identify core and contingent clusters of benefits and services in each country and trace their development across time and under different political regimes, before and after 1989. It also examines and compares policy continuity and change with special attention to institutions, ideas, and actors involved in decision making and reform. As family policies continue to evolve in the era of European Union membership and new governmental and societal actors emerge, this study reveals mechanisms that help preserve core family policy clusters while allowing reform in contingent ones in each country.
Contains fourteen essays that examine, through a public policy focus, the 1978 civil service reform and its aftermath. The essays view policy design, implementation, and evaluation, as well as the overall politics of administration and institutional change. An indispensible tool for students of public administration, bureaucratic politics, and personnel policy.
Contributors: Carolyn Ban; John Halligan; Kirke Harper; Mark Huddleston; J. Edward Kellough; Larry M. Lane; Chester A. Newland; James L. Perry; Beryl A. Radin; Robert Vaughn; and the editors.
The End of Peasantry? examines the dramatic recent decline of agriculture in post-Soviet Russia. Historically, Russian farmers have encountered difficulties relating to the sheer abundance of land, the vast distances between population centers, and harsh environmental conditions. More recently, the drastic depopulation of rural spaces, decreases in sown acreage, and overall inefficiency of land usage have resulted in the disruption and spatial fragmentation of the countryside. For many decades, rural migration has been a selective process, resulting in the most enterprising and self-motivated people leaving the rural periphery. The new agricultural operators representing nascent but aggressive Russian agribusiness have difficulty co-opting traditional rural communities afflicted by profound social dysfunction. The contrast between agriculture in proximity to large cities and in their hinterlands is as sharp as ever, and some vacant niches are increasingly occupied by ethnically non-Russian migrants. All of these conditions existed to some degree in pre-Soviet times, but they have been exacerbated since Russia took steps toward a market economy.
Understudied and often underestimated in the West, the crisis facing Russian agriculture has profound implications for the political and economic stability of Russia. The authors see hope in the significant increase in land use intensity on vastly diminished farmland. The lessons gathered from this thoroughly researched study are far-reaching and relevant to the disciplines of Slavic and European studies, agriculture, political science, economics, and human geography.
Following World War II, the American Occupation created Western style democratic institutions in Japan and sought to develop a society and culture that would support a democratic political system. Now, after four decades, the successes and failures of Japanese democracy can be assessed. How equal are Japan’s citizens? To what extent are their views represented in the legislature? How does Japan handle dissent and protest? How stable is its democracy?
In closely related and readable essays, thirteen leading experts consider three main components of democracy in Japan - political, social, and economic. The editors’ introduction provides historical background, making this book accessible and valuable for students, the general reader interested in Japan, as well as the specialist.
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