The Economist Book of the Week on 29th May 2010 was A Tale of Two Villages by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi. "A dramatic, thought-provoking and sometimes savagely funny account of one of the toughest problems in Europe: the ingrained poverty of the Romanian countryside."

CEU Press launched Masterpieces of History - The Peaceful End of the Cold War in Europe, 1989, the sixth book in the Cold War Reader Series, on May 31 at the Open Society Archives. The volume, based on the ground-breaking research and documentation of the National Security Archive in Washington DC, contains crucial historical documents and is absolutely indispensable for understanding the end of the Cold War.

Prague Tales leads top ten of CEU Press sales after 2000. 2. Memoir of Hungary, 3. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, 4. A Cardboard Castle, 5. Jewish Budapest, 6. A Biographical Dictionary, 7. Stalin – an Unknown Portrait , 8. Uprising in East Germany, 9. A Life under Russian Serfdom, 10. Russian Foreign Policy in Transition





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A Culture of Corruption?
Coping with Government in Post-communist Europe

Edited by William L. Miller, Åse B. Grødeland
and Tatyana Y. Koshechkina, University of Glasgow

"This excellent and thorough study, consisting of nine chapters, undertakes the ambitious task of getting emprirical data on what the authors call 'bureaucratic encounters' between citizens and state officers in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Ukraine... This long-awaited study is an outstanding contribution to political science ...certainly comparable to the classic 'Civic Culture' by Almond and Verba, and an indispensible source of research and inspiration in any political science library" - Political Studies

"...a valuable addition to the literature on corruption in general and on corruption in transitional eastern Europe, in particular ... an excellent survey of how civil society in eastern Europe copes with an endemic social and political condtion, corruption (in its conventional defintion of official self-dealing). Anyone interested in the eventual shape of east European society would do well to consider this volume." - Slavic Review

"Any casual visitor to Central Europe knows how pervasive the perception (and probably the reality) of corruption is. This is, then, a very welcome addition to the literature. Its strength is the focus on ordinary citizens and how they cope with bureaucracy at their level - and on the larger issue of consolidating democracy. This is no expose of elite scandal but a close study of citizen encounters in Slovakia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic. An important chapter on ethnic minorities and officials is welcome. ... This volume will be most accessible to advanced social scientists. ... will benefit many as it shows variation between countries."
- Choice

"Die meisten Studien zur Demokratisierung im postkommunistischen Europa konzentrieren sich auf Entwicklungen auf der nationalen politischen Ebene. Eine bedeutende Ausnahme ist A Culture of Corruption." - Osteuropa


There is wide agreement that democracy should provide citizens with more than a small share of influence over central government. A democratic system should ensure that citizens are treated with fairness and respect by government officials. Based upon a plethora of surveys and in-depth interviews with government officials and citizens, this book focuses on issues such as bribery, corruption, inefficiency and freedom of information, in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

A major strength of A Culture of Corruption is that the authors go beyond analysing public perceptions and behavior and look at public attitudes towards proposals for reform. The authors reveal how the problem of citizens' interactions with officials varies in kind as well as in degree across the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

A Culture of Corruption provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive account of how citizens cope with state officials in post-communist Europe, how they feel about their dealings with these officials and what support they give to proposals for reform.

Contents

Preface. Chapter 1: Unfinished business Chapter 2: Public perspectives on officials Chapter 3: Strategies for dealing with officials Chapter 4: Victims or accomplices - why citizens give presents and bribes Chapter 5: The ethnic dimension Chapter 6: Between state and citizen - officials' perspectives on clients Chapter 7: Confessions and justifications - why officials accept presents and bribes Chapter 8: Proposals for reform

2000
320 pages
ISBN 978-963-9116-98-6 cloth $49.95 / €42.95 / £33.00
ISBN 978-963-9116-99-3 paperback $24.95 / €19.95 / £16.99

 

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