Over the past few decades, social and political life has undergone some dramatic developments connected with the melting of its national and international levels into a global one. These changes should be considered from three perspectives.
Firstly, from the circulation of goods, services, information, knowledge, labor, capital, ideas, cultural values, etc. While mobility, in particular its economic notion, is not itself a new phenomenon, it is certainly more widespread, intensive, and productive than it was in the past. Today, welfare cannot be assured without access to this circulation.
Secondly, new conceptions of power have emerged to explain the complex reality of globalized politics. Nation-states and supra-national organizations are just among several different actors who have a say. Power is now exercised by a growing number of NGOs, the media, transnational companies, as well as influential individuals who take advantage of global communication channels. A natural environment of power is now a network: it affects all actors involved and raises questions on the effectiveness of traditional policy instruments. Metaphorically, policy is no longer a game of chess but rather a snooker game where the reactions of all the factors are hardly predictable.
This “new deal” of power is connected with the third point: how to produce and distribute public goods within the global sphere. Societies cannot develop without assured internal and external security, a sustainable environment, adequate infrastructure, education, or a stable and enforceable legal regime. However, the production and consumption of goods in national borders and isolated functional fields (e.g. education separated from security) have lost their effectiveness. Also, the balance of costs and benefits between the providers and the receivers of these goods can be questioned. Therefore, a new approach – a system of global public goods delivered by networked power – would be a demanded solution.
The program aims to explore the three aforementioned themes within the context of the post-communist transformation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This process started in 1989 with the collapse of the communist regime. Importantly, this regime largely excluded the region from participating in the rapidly expanding globalization. After the former power′s institutional system was dismantled, three important questions emerged:
(1) How to access the global economic sphere without further threatening an already shaky social system?;
(2) How to join the global power structure, including where to look for new allies, how to exert power in the new environment, and how to preserve (or else re-define) the newly acquired sovereignty?; and
(3) How to find new ways to produce and consume public goods?
Most countries in the region opted for a “fast track” of integration into the global framework through radical adjustments and national policy reorientations without necessarily ensuring protection against new risks. But not all of them chose this way. Many lagged behind in unsuccessful attempts to develop a “third way”. Some of them could not go forth and integrate; some even deepened their isolation. Much is to be learned from these efforts, experiences, successes and failures. All in all, they can be considered as a poll of diversified reactions to globalization.
