Newsletter - Social Science in Eastern Europe 2000-2
SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH ON EASTERN EUROPE:
COUNTRY REPORTS
Editorial
Almost two years ago, the Social Science Information Centre published a
special issue of our Newsletter (1998, No. 3) on the occasion of the 29th German
Congress of Sociology in which ten articles on different aspects of German
social science research on Eastern Europe were presented. The purpose of this
undertaking was to highlight the main research issues in the frame of
transformation research, which stood in the center of attention of German social
scientists after the fall of the Berlin wall. The September 1998 issue is
available via Internet or can be ordered free of charge.[1]
The present issue is designed for the Sixth World Congress of the
International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICCEES) to be held
in Tampere, Finland, July 29 to August 3, 2000. This time we have addressed well
known and recommended researchers[2] in a number
of North, West and South European countries with the invitation to report on the
situation of social science research on Central and Eastern Europe in their
countries. As far as we know, a similar review still does not exist anywhere.
Our aim is to encourage and support mutual information, networking and
cooperation between social scientists from different parts of Europe.
Although we had started our call for papers rather late our request was
accepted very positively. The invited authors were asked to deal with research
topics, list outstanding research centres/institutions, name leading researchers
in the field, describe institutions offering special information in the field,
data sources and archives, list research networks as well as recent
publications, important research projects, participation in international
research projects, national funding sources/programmes. This was a very
ambitious call for the time left for the contributors to prepare their articles
was very short. We would like to thank the authors for their national reports,
which allow an insight into the framework of social science research in the
different countries.
We are proud to present articles on the following eleven countries: Austria,
Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
and United Kingdom. Countries missing will get a chance in later issues of this
Newsletter.
Almost all contributions report on recent trends in research on Eastern
Europe. Frequent patterns are the reorganization of or reduced funding for the
traditional area studies institutes (viewed upon as children of the Cold War)
and the increasing interest of social scientists in focusing their research on
Central and Eastern Europe. New sources of funding have been opened especially
with regard to comparative research involving mixed research teams. In countries
like Italy and Spain with very weak traditional interests in the area, the
political events aroused some enthusiasm for such engagement, which could be
stabilized only in Italy. Of all the countries presented the United Kingdom has
the most elaborate tradition of research on Eastern Europe, which has been
successfully restructured during the past decade to meet the new demand for
scholarly information on Central and Eastern Europe.
Since the political bifocal division of Europe came to an end and the
post-Communist countries were relieved from the political restrictions being
imposed on them by the Soviet Union, the specificities of the individual
countries in the area of Central and Eastern Europe have reappeared and had a
chance to develop. Thus, some of the real or interpreted similarities between
the countries have disappeared and have lead to the prediction that in a not too
distant future most research on Central and Eastern European countries will be
conducted within the frame of the different social science disciplines or will
get integrated into the newly developing field of European studies. But even if
it should be the case, we are of the opinion that there will be permanent demand
for special information from and about the countries in transition.
We kindly ask our readers to comment on the articles offered and invite
further remarks on the topic. Please feel free to submit articles from countries
that have not been included so far.
Yours editorial board
[1] Requests can be sent by mail to Social
Science Information Centre, Schiffbauerdamm 19, D-10117 Berlin, Germany or by
e-mail to iz@berlin.iz-soz.de.
[2] Our thanks go to all those colleagues who
helped us find the right persons for the contributions.
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