Publisher's Synopsis
The 1989/90 revolution in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union is often presented as bringing about democracy. This book goes beyond this image by making an empirical study of the reality of grassroots politics in three very different societies: Hungary, Estonia and Russia. The focus is on the interaction between regime change and citizen action. Was there a total break with the communist period (did civil society start in 1989) or did the opening up period start before 1989? And were citizen movements a direct response to popular frustration or were they a more structured creation within the new political environment? - - This book is based on collaborative research conducted between 1991 and 1994 on activism in two contrasting fields: the environment (where the level of degradation is well known) and housing (where inequality under communism was extensive and where housing privatization introduced a new stake into political conflicts). Its focus is on the emergence of environmental and housing movements in the new political context in the three societies. - - After a substantial introduction by the editors, the book is made up of a series of case studies written by local sociologists who took part in the collaborative research. These studies offer a fascinating picture of the diversity of experience between the societies and show how it is systematically linked to their particular forms of communism and to their post?1989 economic and political experience.
