East European Academies in Transition (Sociology of the Sciences Library, 1)

The political and economic transformation of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries has also affected their research systems. The radical regime change in these formerly state socialist societies made major reforms of their research systems possible. But the implementation of these reforms was constrained by the economic and fiscal crisis following the transition to a market economy. Scholars from post-communist CEE countries have studied in close cooperation how the major research organizations of these countries, their academies of sciences, have reacted to the new opportunities and problems. Based on a preliminary series of country reports, in-depth case studies of selected academy institutes in all major CEE countries were conducted to trace the effect of these changes on scientific research. The present volume analyses the rich case study material in a comparative perspective, highlighting both general trends and significant differences between countries and disciplines. Major aspects are: financial threats and coping strategies, especially personnel reduction and the consequence of an aging research staff, changes in academy-institute relations and in the relationship to the university sector, shifting emphases between basic and applied research, and the new patterns of international cooperation in research.