Politics and the Environment in Eastern Europe - cover image

Copyright

Eszter Krasznai Kovacs

Published On

2021-07-28

ISBN

Paperback978-1-80064-132-7
Hardback978-1-80064-133-4
PDF978-1-80064-134-1
HTML978-1-80064-644-5
XML978-1-80064-137-2
EPUB978-1-80064-135-8
MOBI978-1-80064-136-5

Language

  • English

Print Length

342 pages (xii+330)

Dimensions

Paperback156 x 24 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.93" x 9.21")
Hardback156 x 27 x 234 mm(6.14" x 1.06" x 9.21")

Weight

Paperback1433g (50.55oz)
Hardback1827g (64.45oz)

Media

Illustrations27

OCLC Number

1262131675

LCCN

2020447490

BIC

  • RNKC
  • RNKH
  • RND

BISAC

  • NAT010000
  • NAT011000
  • SCI026000

LCC

  • DJK51

Keywords

  • East Europe
  • West Europe
  • Environment
  • Political ecology
  • Environmentalism

Politics and the Environment in Eastern Europe

Europe remains divided between east and west, with differences caused and worsened by uneven economic and political development. Amid these divisions, the environment has become a key battleground. The condition and sustainability of environmental resources are interlinked with systems of governance and power, from local to EU levels. Key challenges in the eastern European region today include increasingly authoritarian forms of government that threaten the operations and very existence of civil society groups; the importation of locally-contested conservation and environmental programmes that were designed elsewhere; and a resurgence in cultural nationalism that prescribes and normalises exclusionary nation-building myths.

This volume draws together essays by early-career academic researchers from across eastern Europe. Engaging with the critical tools of political ecology, its contributors provide a hitherto overlooked perspective on the current fate and reception of ‘environmentalism’ in the region. It asks how emergent forms of environmentalism have been received, how these movements and perspectives have redefined landscapes, and what the subtler effects of new regulatory regimes on communities and environment-dependent livelihoods have been.

Arranged in three sections, with case studies from Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Serbia, this collection develops anthropological views on the processes and consequences of the politicisation of the environment. It is valuable reading for human geographers, social and cultural historians, political ecologists, social movement and government scholars, political scientists, and specialists on Europe and European Union politics.

Endorsements

Politics and the Environment in Eastern Europe is a wonderful volume that makes an excellent set of unique contributions to the political ecology and political anthropology of Eastern European environmentalism, environmental policy and the post-socialist transition. In fact, there is no other project like it as far as I am aware of, and the collection of engaging and critical chapters will surely be a sought-after resource for the present and future scholarship of the region. The project is timely and significant and will help to push theory and ethnography forward into new and fresh areas of inquiry.

Edward Snajdr

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Reviews

Given its theoretical and empirical depth, this book makes an essential read to all (early/advanced career) scholars interested in critically engaged and non-essentialist understandings of social movements and protests, whether or not related to the environment, whether or not situated in the EE region. The Open Access eBook enhances its reach to scholars’ of the Majority World in a true gesture of environmental and social justice.

Adriana Mihaela Soaita

Eurasian Geography and Economics, 2023. doi:10.11647/OBP.0244

Full Review

Contents

  • Eszter Krasznai Kovacs
  • György Pataki

Concluding Thoughts

(pp. 307–314)
  • Eszter Krasznai Kovacs
  • György Pataki
  • Mikulás Černìk
  • Balsa Lubarda
  • Imola Püsök
  • June Brawner
  • Jovana Dikovic
  • Zsüli Fehér
  • Arnošt Novák
  • Jana Hrckova
  • Alexandra Coțofană
  • George Iordăchescu
  • Renata Blumberg
  • Éva Mihalovics
  • Eszter Krasznai Kovacs

Contributors