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Comparative Politics of Central and Eastern Europe
Midterm terms
10
Political Studies
Undergraduate 4
03/04/2013

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Term
Solidarity
Definition
the communist world’s first free world trade union brought about by the Gdansk Agreement after worker dissatisfaction in the shipyards. At first, it is only a trade union, but begins to act like an independent political organization. It is originally a workers’ movement. Intellectuals help negotiate the agreement and start to join. They suggest a meeting between the government, the Church, and this group. General Jaruzelski imposes martial law and the group was banned. The ability of it to survive, despite coordinated attempts to repress it, demonstrated the weakness of the Communist party in Poland, eventually leading to the demoralization of its leadership, and contributing to the collapse of ruling Communist parties. Up to the declaration of martial law in December 1981, the Soviets continued to extend economic assistance in the form of fuel and raw materials supplies, expressed doubts about Jaruzelski's firmness of intentions, but held to its position that Soviet armed intervention was out of the question. Led by Walesa
Term
Ceaucescu
Definition
In 1965, Ceaușescu succeeded to the leadership of Romania’s Communist Party as first secretary. He won popular support for his independent, nationalistic political course, which openly challenged the dominance of the Soviet Union. In the 1960s, he virtually ended Romania’s active participation in the Warsaw Pact military alliance and condemned the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces. His secret police maintained rigid controls over free speech and the media and tolerated no internal dissent or opposition. To repay foreign debts from heavy borrowing, he ordered the export of much of the country’s agricultural and industrial production in 1982. The resulting extreme shortages of food, fuel, energy, medicines, and other basic necessities drastically lowered living standards and intensified unrest. He also instituted an extensive personality cult and appointed his wife, Elena. On December 25 1989, the couple was shot marking the end of communism
Term
Zhivkov
Definition
Became the communist leader of Bulgaria in 1956 during de-Stalinization. He played an important role in Bulgaria during the 1970s, and as the leader of the communist party he maintained tight control of Bulgaria and squashed any domestic attempts at opposition to the party. His reign was significant for its close ties to Moscow—Bulgaria was Russia’s closest ally in the USSR.
Term
Hodza
Definition
PM of Albania very strict communist rule focus was military and secret police, had lots of purges.
First allied with Yugoslavia, but then switched to USSR when Stalin had rift with Tito.Switched to China when Khrushchev’s destalinizaiton policy came out.when China started having good terms with the west went onto a isolation policy
ended all work with other countries
no private property
no religion
first officially atheist state
Albania went opposite of all countries, increased grip over the people, led to more communist control
a lot of nepotism
Followed the Chinese model: Cultural Revolution, Great Leap Forward
Emphasis on changing women’s roles
Leader of Albania until the mid-1980’s
Followed by Ali, who had laxer trade regulations and brings Albania out of isolation
Term
Perestroika
Definition
After 1985, Gorbachev comes to power with a dismal economy and he decides that he needs to restructure the economy (). It became the unintended catalyst for dismantling what had taken nearly three-quarters of a century to erect: the Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist totalitarian state. All of Gorbachev's reforms were done in hopes of reforming communism, not abolishing it as many people think. He wanted to create a sustainable form of communism. Perestroika may have indirect impact on the Soviet military, because Gorbachev wanted the Soviet Union to retreat from the World contest or rivalry against the US.so the economic reforms may have helped the soviets to have some relief from the hardships of spending much on military.
Term
Glasnost
Definition
Gorbachev calls for or greater openness, so toleration of Bloc-banned things and discussion of problems through the creation of independent groups. Media, news, newspapers are controlled by the state. That means that the government tells them what to print and what to show. People in Russia, Eastern Europe and in particular East Germany were being bombarded with such things as Western music. They were beginning to realize that there was much more out there. More than their government was telling them or allowing them to know. So Mikhail Gorbachev began a period of openness in the Soviet Union.
Term
Sinatra Doctrine
Definition
This policy says, “Do it your way” on an international scale. Gorbachev’s declared renunciation in 1988 of the “Brezhnev Doctrine”, which declared the “limited sovereignty” of the socialist states and had been in effect since 1968. It retrospectively justified, for instance, the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968 to crush the “Prague Spring”. The Brezhnev Doctrine was replaced after 1988 by this, which conceded the socialist brother states fully sovereign authority to go their “own way”.
Term
Brezhnev Doctrine
Definition
Soviet Union has the right and duty to intervene to save communism wherever it is threatened. a statement by the Leader of the USSR, Leonid Brezhnev, made in the 1968, that once a country had become Communist, with a Communist government, it would therefore remain Communist forever; there was no possibility of any political, social, or economic system ever replacing Communism in such a state. Also was a Soviet foreign policy outlined in 1968 which called for the use of Warsaw Pact forces to intervene in any Eastern Bloc nation which was seen to compromise communist rule and Soviet domination, either by trying to leave the Soviet sphere of influence or even moderate its policies. The Doctrine was used to retrospectively justify the Soviet crushing of the Prague Spring movement in Czechoslovakia. Frightened away movements in Poland
Term
Charter 77
Definition
A document that called on the authorities to live up to their agreement to improve human rights. Mainly urban intellectuals signed it. It provides the basis for the eventual overthrow of communism. This declaration and petition appeared in Western Europe in January 1977; it was a human rights document authored by a group of Czechoslovakians that spawned a movement later known by the same name. The document cites Czechoslovakian government’s violations of human rights based on the country’s Constitution and international treaties to which it had signed. Some founding members of the group were involved in the transition from Communist to democratic rule in 1989.
Term
Dubcek
Definition
In 1968, takes power from Novotny. While most leaders used coercion and material benefit, he wants to try and become a legitimate leader and win the trust of the people. He is associated with the Prague Spring, or Socialism with a Human Face. In light of his political forms, Warsaw Pact troops invade, capture the leadership, and take them to Moscow where he has a breakdown. Before the invasion, he was considering a crackdown. They’re forced to sign agreeing to Soviet troops permanently stationed in Czechoslovakia and erase all the reforms (post-January course). promises he will try and keep change, but this becomes impossible.
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