Austria
In collaboration with
RECET
The Research Center for the History of Transformations (RECET) is an institute for advanced research that takes the year 1989 as a starting point to think about social, economic, and cultural transformations in the wake of deep historical caesuras on a European and global scale. Its Transformative Blog and Transformative Podcast host scholars commenting on current affairs and discussing their cutting-edge research in the field of historical transformations.
RECET’s concept of transformation is inspired by Karl Polanyi and looks beyond the hegemonic post-1989 teleologies of marketization and democratization. This approach also allows us to take a long-durée perspective on transformations, with emphasis on the interdisciplinary connections to sociology, economics, and cultural and social anthropology. RECET follows the concept of Comparative Area Studies. Our focus on Central and Eastern Europe is enlarged by comparisons and the study of entanglements with other world regions, such as East Asia, and the co-transformation of Western countries.
Website: www.recet.at
Twitter/Facebook: @recetvienna
Youtube: RECET Vienna
Articles
Preparing for the good times to be over
A month into Russia's invasion, is the EU ready for the challenge?
Russia’s war on Ukraine is clearly an attack on the whole of Europe, but domestic responses are still stuck with the narrative of patriarchal solidarity and the concern for consumer comfort on the home front. Philipp Ther argues for active solidarity, and with it, to prepare for the end of the convenience Europe has known: it may hurt, but without it, the long-term losses to freedom and welfare are likely to be higher.
Russia’s aggression may have knocked the pandemic out of most headlines but hasn’t stopped its spread. In wartime, as during any disaster, epidemic diseases take an incredible toll. Ukraine was long viewed as a geopolitical sideshow by the US and EU, resulting in the lowest vaccination rate in Europe.
Entering Kazakhstan
A new answer to how autocracies survive
Coup attempt or assertion of supremacy? It is still not clear what has happened in Kazakhstan. Whatever the case, the hijacking of the demonstrations has severely damaged prospects for the country’s democratization.
A just transformation?
Why the Polish PiS government is standing up for the Coal Republic
The trauma of the 1990s economic shock therapy reverberates in the Polish resistance against the green transition. The PiS government is demanding the EU finance the climate transformation, leaving them with funds to preserve the iconic coal industry despite its economic failure.
Focal points
"Vom Wissen der Jungen" / "Knowledgeable youth" is a collaboration between Eurozine, RECET and Viennese community radio Radio ORANGE 94.0, funded by the City of Vienna (Stadt Wien Kultur).