Civil society and demography in Central and Eastern Europe

Imre Kovách

Institute of Sociology

Hungarian Academy of Sciences

• CEE specificities– Late development – special features

• Scientific (political) debates --- no compromise

• Social and political technocrats --- ethos of modernisation, Europeanization, liberalisation, market adjustment versus special structural peculiarities ---- civil sphere

• Bureaucratisation, EU enlargement, generalisation of EU rural development policy --- political mistakes

• Notes on CEE rural demography – Rural population: 23-25 % --- 47-50 % in CEE– Over-populated rural– Double rural settlement structure

• Remote, backward villages – accumulated poverty, rural ghetto

• Rural areas co-operating with urban economy, society – counter-urbanisation, sub-urbanisation, interaction

– Territorial development in new and old member states• De-agriculturisation• De-peasantisation (poverty is no re-peasantisation)• Missing de-ruralisation

– Necessity of new CEE development paradigm– Urban and rural based development

• The civil rural – rural civil

– the end of early 90ies dream – autonomy– civil associations:– proliferation but linked to policy

• Financial, economical reasons• State and local policy control • Traditions, weak trust• Less economic autonomy • Household economy – revival of individual

strategies

Example case: Collective Farmers Marketing Initiatives in Post-

Socialist CountriesTISENKOPFS, KOVÁCH, LOŠŤÁK AND ŠŪMANE

• Rebuilding Collective Marketing through the Integration of Capitals

• Overcoming Distrust and Path Dependency of Farmers’ Disorganization

• The Role of Learning• Building Policy Networks • Relevance of social factor (capital) in

economic action

Civil associations in the new and old EU member states

Old member states New member states autonomy weaker autonomy

private finance financial subordination

multi- networks policy relations

transforming traditions quasi traditions

collective actions in economy individual actions in economy

co-operation of individuals state and policy control

non –profit for profit

social embedding elite, intermediate classes

trust needs for rebuilding trust

interactive regulation over- and under- regulation

Post-modernity and post-materialism Pre-modern, modern, post-modern and post-material

Future potentialsNetworking

Learning

Capital accumulation

Changing rural images and rural – urban relations

General projectification

new classes (project class)

multi-actor power structures