Balkan Transition

(Proceedings

of the International Conference,

December 14-15, 1996 Sofia, Bulgaria)

Ivaylo Ditchev (ed.)

ACCESS Association, Sofia, 1997

ISBN 954-600-008-6

(Language: English)

The essays in this book were originally presented at a conference in Sofia on 14 - 15 December 1996. Historians, political scientists, specialists in cultural studies, media and economy discussed the specificity of the transition in the Balkans; papers on Turkey and Moldavia broadened the regional context. The book presents authors from Bulgaria, France, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldavia, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia.

The book builds on paradoxes. Оne is the question of the specificity of Balkan communism that has emerged after the fall of communism. Instead of becoming social-democratic, the communist parties in the region have chosen an eclectic political position centered on anti-Western tendencies, protectionism and xenophobic attitudes. Тhe other paradox is the question of Balkanites trying to escape from their Balkan identity, and thus in fact proving to be true Balkanites.

The book also includes diagrams and tables that display political and economic data from statistic surveys of the countries from the region.