ABSTRACT
This chapter considers a range of social issues focusing on civil society and the more decentralised government which has replaced the authoritarianism of the communist years. A somewhat triumphalist note has been sounded by Fukuyama (1992), arguing that the end point of ideological evolution has been reached through the universalisation of Western liberal democracy. However, as society has struggled with the dilemmas of decommunisation, it is evident that full use is not being made of the region’s substantial human resources and there is some nostalgia for the old system of full employment. Given the grave economic crisis, it is proving difficult to find broad agreement on the way forward and in countries with high unemployment nationalism may be essential to provide a sense of unity based on cautious reform to give some encouragement to potential foreign investors while avoiding the high unemployment associated with rapid restructuring. Yet a nationalist agenda is also dangerous on account of the ethnic tensions that are fermented when the leading nations discriminate against minority groups. The range of experiences encountered by evolving civil societies provide the context for a review of party politics. A further dimension concerns demography, with its implications for the labour market as well as governmental welfare obligations towards the young and old. Migration is also considered as a particularly sensitive indicator of economic and social wellbeing.
