V. The return of history.

Different religious groups in Central and Eastern Europe influenced societies in the region after the fall of Communism and continue to play a crucial role in culture, politics, social networks and value transformations. As part of the REVACERN (Religion and Values in Central and Eastern Europe Research Network) project – supported by the EU Sixth Framework Program – more than 70 researchers from 15 countries in the region analyzed and discussed the most important trends in values, religions and religious communities and presented their findings in a comparative way. They tested well-known theories of secularization, nationalism, democracy and pluralism in the colorful region Central and Eastern Europe. This book summarizes their most important findings in seven chapters, addressing religion and its entanglements with geography, values, nationalism, Orthodoxy, education, legal regulation, civil society, social networks, new religious movements and new forms of religiosity. Each chapter also provides a regional overview.

The aim of this monograph is to provide a comprehensive overview on the International HRM in Central and Eastern Europe supported by qualitative research results. It is the first available publication on contemporary tendencies in IHRM in Central and Eastern Europe, published and based on the CRANET (the Cranfield Network on International HRM) cooperation. Therefore, there are contributions of experienced and relevant authors active in research and publishing in Central and Eastern Europe. This book consists of three sections. The first focuses on the major impact of internationalisation of HRM in Central and Eastern Europe, identifying impacts of foreign investments, explaining emerging HRM models in the international business environment, introducing evolution of international HRM, including relevant factors of labor market changes and cultural diversity influences. The second section introduces a reflection of business aspects and internationalization in partial HRM functions. The third section contains qualitative research results performed in international companies and delivers an empirical background in the form of case studies. This predetermines the monographs valuable material for researchers in the field of HRM-related disciplines, as well as for teachers and students of graduate programs in business, economics and management.

How did political power function in the communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe after 1945? Making Sense of Dictatorship addresses this question with a particular focus on the acquiescent behavior of the majority of the population until, at the end of the 1980s, their rejection of state socialism and its authoritarian world. The authors refer to the concept of Sinnwelt, the way in which groups and individuals made sense of the world around them. The essays focus on the dynamics of everyday life and the extent to which the relationship between citizens and the state was collaborative or antagonistic. Each chapter addresses a different aspect of life in this period, including modernization, consumption and leisure, and the everyday experiences of “ordinary people,” single mothers, or those adopting alternative lifestyles. Empirically rich and conceptually original, the essays in this volume suggest new ways to understand how people make sense of everyday life under dictatorial regimes.

No matter how one defines its extent and borders, Eastern Europe has long been understood as a liminal space, one whose undeniable cultural and historical continuities with Western Europe have been belied by its status as an “Other” in the Western imagination. Across illuminating and provocative case studies, The World beyond the West focuses on the region’s ambiguous relationship to historical processes of colonialism and Orientalism. In exploring encounters with distant lands through politics, travel, migration, and exchange, it places Eastern Europe at the heart of its analysis while decentering the most familiar narratives and recasting the history of the region.