1st Edition

Studies on Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century Regional Crises and the Case of Hungary

By Ivan T. Berend, György Ránki Copyright 2002
    362 Pages
    by Routledge

    This volume centres on the collaborative work of Ivan Berend and György Ránki, begun in Hungary in the 1950s and continuing till Ranki's death in 1988, but includes papers by each individually as well as those written jointly. The subject is the social and economic history of Central and Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, with a particular focus upon Hungary. The first part looks at the troubled German-Hungarian relations during Hitler's rule; although focusing on Hungary, it also provides an understanding of the economic ties between Germany and Central and Eastern Europe during the turbulent war years. The economic and political problems of the region in the interwar years are dealt with in the second part. Two of the four studies in the final section present the efforts and strict limitations of reforms in state socialist Hungary. The other two analyze the post-communist economic transformation of Central and Eastern Europe during the 1990s in a broad international context.

    Contents: Preface; Nazi Germany and Hungary: German-Hungarian relations following Hitler’s rise to power (1933-34); The German occupation of Hungary; Die deutsche wirtschaftliche Expansion und das ungarische Wirtschaftsleben zur Zeit des zweiten Weltkrieges; Unwilling Satellite or Last Satellite - some problems of Hungarian-German relations; Economy, Society, and Politics in Interwar Central and Eastern Europe: Economic problems of the Danube region after the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy; Range and Constraint. The small states of the Danube Basin and the international political and economic system, 1919-45; State and society in East Central Europe between the two World Wars; Limits of Reforming State Socialism and Transformation after its Collapse in the 1990s: The first phase of economic reform of Hungary: 1956-57; The crisis of the Hungarian Reform in the 1970s; End of century global transition to market economy: Laissez-faire on the Peripheries?; From regime change to sustained growth in Central and Eastern Europe (the 1990s.); Index.
    'It is an educational read for anybody who wishes to gain a deeper insight into modern Hungarian history.' Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte