The Origins of Backwardness in Eastern Europe: Economics and Politics from the Middle Ages until the Early Twentieth Century

Description

Reaching back centuries, this study makes a convincing case for very deep roots of current Eastern European backwardness. Its conclusions are suggestive for comparativists studying other parts of the world, and useful to those who want to understand contemporary Eastern Europe's past. Like the rest of the world except for that unique part of the West which has given us a false model of what was "normal," Eastern Europe developed slowly. The weight of established class relations, geography, lack of technological innovation, and wars kept the area from growing richer. In the nineteenth century the West exerted a powerful influence, but it was political more than economic. Nationalism and the creation of newly independent aspiring nation-states then began to shape national economies, often in unfavorable ways. One of this book's most important lessons is that while economics may limit the freedom of action of political players, it does not determine political outcomes. The authors offer no simple explanations but rather a theoretically complex synthesis that demonstrates the interaction of politics and economics. Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments 1. Causes and Consequences of Backwardness Daniel Chirot NOTES 2. Economic Backwardness in Eastern Europe in Light of Developments in the West Robert Brenner THE MECHANISM OF MODERN ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE PROBLEM OF ITS EMERGENCE PROPERTY RELATIONS, RULES FOR REPRODUCTION, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PRECAPITALIST PROPERTY RELATIONS: HOW THEY ARE CONSTITUTED FEUDAL EVOLUTION AS A PRODUCT OF PRECAPITALIST PROPERTY RELATIONS The Origins and Constitution of Feudal Property Relations. From Feudal Property Relations to Feudal Rules for Reproduction. From Feudal Rules of Reproduction to Feudal Laws of Motion. Declining productivity in agriculture. Population growth. Colonization. Political accumulation or state building. Trade, Towns, and Feudal Crisis. AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT? A CRITIQUE OF HISTORICIZED SMITHIANISM COMPARATIVE CHANGE IN THE VARIOUS PARTS OF EUROPE The Maintenance of Backwardness and the Breakthrough to Development. Western Europe: Peasant Proprietorship and the Absolutist State. Northeastern Europe: The Rise of Serfdom. Southeastern Europe: The Ottoman State. Early Modern England: A Breakthrough to Development. NOTES NOTES 3. Agrarian Systems of Central and Eastern Europe Péter Gunst NOTES 4. The Polish Economy and the Evolution of Dependency Jacek Kochanowicz THE MAIN TRENDS OF THE POLISH ECONOMY THE ORIGINS OF DEPENDENCE THE ORIGINS OF THE SERF LABOR ECONOMY THE ECONOMICS OF THE DEMESNE SYSTEM THE EVOLUTION OF THE SERF LABOR ECONOMY THE ECONOMIC IDEOLOGY OF THE NOBILITY PEASANTS AND SERFDOM TOWNS AND BURGHERS THE FATE OF THE POLISH STATE CONCLUSION NINETEENTH-CENTURY POLAND NOTES 5. Tradition and Rural Change in Southeastern Europe During Ottoman Rule Fikret Adanir AGRICULTURE AND SETTLEMENT AT THE TIME OF THE OTTOMAN CONQUEST THE CLASSICAL OTTOMAN LAND REGIME RURAL CHANGE DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY EXPORT-ORIENTED AGRICULTURE AND THE OTTOMAN LANDHOLDING CATEGORY QIFTLIK The Emergence of Qiftliks (Large Farms). The Qiftlik Economy in the Era of Free Trade. CONCLUSION NOTES 6. Imperial Borderlands or Capitalist Periphery? Redefining Balkan Backwardness, 1520—1914 John R. Lampe THE BALKANS BEFORE THE OTTOMAN CONQUEST BALKAN TRADE FROM 1500 TO 1800 CHANGING AGRICULTURAL REGIMES OF THE BALKANS IMPACT OF THE HABSBURG ECONOMY THE NEWLY INDEPENDENT BALKANS CONCLUSION NOTES 7. The Social Origins of East European Politics Gale Stokes NOTES Contributors INDEX Back Cover