Articles by Daniel Brett
European Journal of Public Health, 2019
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality rates in Eastern European countries are among t... more Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality rates in Eastern European countries are among the highest in the world. Although unhealthy diet is an important risk factor for both of these chronic diseases, traditional eating habits and their health effects in this region have not yet been explored. This analysis assessed the relationship between traditional dietary pattern and mortality from all-causes, CVD and cancer in Eastern European population-based cohorts.
Central Europe, 2019
What did peasants discuss at party meetings? Were they mobilized by ethnic politics or indifferen... more What did peasants discuss at party meetings? Were they mobilized by ethnic politics or indifferent to them altogether? The end of the First World War brought about universal male suffrage in much of Europe, and with it the process of mass politics began. The concept of national indifference is important in understanding interwar politics, because this period is often studied teleologically with attention focused on extremism and nationalism as the primary mobilizing issue
Agrarian movements have been under-researched, and when Agrarians have been studied, it has been through the prism of elite politics. This comparative paper seeks to redress this omission by looking at grassroots rural politics. The interwar countryside was marked by profound political, economic and social transformation but also in terms of what Robert Paxton has described as the ‘triple crisis of the countryside’ – worsening economic conditions, the declining status of the countryside and inadequate political representation. The paper will explore how reform and crisis impacted how agrarian politics functioned at a local level by asymmetrically comparing cases from Romania, Poland and Ireland, with the final case helping to contextualize Eastern Europe within the wider European experience This paper argues that the rural population was mobilized, but primarily in the context of local issues rather than national ethno-political questions. Local party organization was, to paraphrase James C Scott, the site ‘of an exchange of small arms fire’ in rural class conflict, as questions regarding the control of public space, generational conflict and power within the village mobilized peasants. Thus, I argue that it was the underlying socio-economic issues that mobilized the rural population, not nationalism. The dynamics of these conflicts were shaped by local economic, political and social power dynamics, and by using indifference as a concept, we can look more deeply at interwar politics from a grassroots perspective and develop a more nuanced understanding of local, national and European politics.
Highlights
• Ruling pro-European parties and long-established Communist Party lost significantl... more Highlights
• Ruling pro-European parties and long-established Communist Party lost significantly.
• Moldova's Socialist Party were the biggest winner.
• The elections concern more than ethnic and geopolitical cleavages.
• Endemic corruption is harming established parties' reputation and electability.
• Moldova's elections demonstrate continued electoral and institutional volatility.
Drawing on the work of Maurice Duverger, this paper explores the dynamics of dual systems in the ... more Drawing on the work of Maurice Duverger, this paper explores the dynamics of dual systems in the post-communist world by focusing on Romania. Unlike in states such as Poland and Russia, where conflicts between the president and the parliament were resolved relatively early in the transition period, conflict appears to have only recently emerged in Romania. This paper argues that the capacity for such conflict has existed since 1989 due to the nature of Romania’s exit from communism and its subsequent transition, which shaped and institutionalised the specific forms of Romanian political culture and its party system. However, actual conflict has emerged only because of recent, externally generated changes in the party system, and the relative decline in the electoral power of the Social Democratic Party. Two attempts by President Băsescu’s opponents to remove him from office, along with increasing constitutional manipulation by all actors, call into question the consolidation of democracy in Romania. That actors have shown a willingness to gain power or remove their opponents by any means necessary, including the use of undemocratic methods, rather than by establishing a broad popular base to achieve these ends reflects the structural problems of the Romanian party system.
Edited Volumes by Daniel Brett
... The volume starts with an analysis by Julia Mannherz of social conflict in late imperial Russ... more ... The volume starts with an analysis by Julia Mannherz of social conflict in late imperial Russia and moves on to Sergei Zhuk's discussion of the Stundist movement in ... We would also like to thank our academic advisor Professor Alena Ledeneva for her support and guidance. ...
Papers by Daniel Brett
European Journal of Public Health, 2019
Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality rates in Eastern European countries ... more Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality rates in Eastern European countries are among the highest in the world. Although unhealthy diet is an important risk factor for both of these chronic diseases, traditional eating habits and their health effects in this region have not yet been explored. This analysis assessed the relationship between traditional dietary pattern and mortality from all-causes, CVD and cancer in Eastern European population-based cohorts. Methods We used data from the Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors in Eastern Europe (HAPIEE) multi-centre prospective cohort study based in Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic (age range at baseline: 45-70 years). Diet was assessed by food frequency questionnaire, and we constructed an Eastern European diet score (EEDS) from nine food groups considered as “traditional” in this region. The relationship between EEDS and all-cause, CVD and cancer mortality was calculated with Cox-regression models. Result...
Romania has experienced large anti-government protests on multiple occasions in the last few year... more Romania has experienced large anti-government protests on multiple occasions in the last few years, most recently in August this year. Yet as Daniel Brett explains, the achievements of these protests have been modest and short-lived, with the country's ruling Social Democratic Party still maintaining power. He highlights that while the protesters and opposition parties may be united in their opposition to corruption, they have radically different views on social and economic issues, hampering their ability to change the direction of Romanian politics.
The Moldovan elections were seen as a vote for either Russia or Europe. The sudden support for th... more The Moldovan elections were seen as a vote for either Russia or Europe. The sudden support for the Moldovan Socialist party in the election was seen as evidence of a 'turn to Russia'. In this paper we argue that nationalism and ethnicity are among the least important factors influencing voters. We argue that corruption and poverty are more important issues.
We look at the nature of the Moldovan electoral and party system, patterns of support and argue that the election was much more than Europe or Russia.
Chapters by Daniel Brett
Agrarian Reform and Resistance in an Age of Globalisation: The Euro-American World and Beyond, 1780-1914, 2019
Politics and Peasants in Interwar Romania: Perceptions, Mentalities, Propaganda, 2017
With political science as its starting point, this paper uses theoretical frameworks developed by... more With political science as its starting point, this paper uses theoretical frameworks developed by Maurice Duverger and Angelo Panebianco and takes a synoptic overview of agrarianism to deconstruct PNŢ as a political organization. It argues that internal division, which had its roots in ideological conflict around the place of the peasantry in society, prevented organizational reform of the party. The failure to reform in turn denied the peasantry active agency within the party and hence hampered the effectiveness of the party in representing peasant interests. This paper argues that PNŢ was not exceptional in suffering from these problems by comparing and contrasting it with examples from Ireland (Clann na Talmhan – Children of the Land / National Agricultural Party), Poland (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe -Polish Peasants Party) and Sweden (Centerpartiet – Centre Party). It argues that the post-1918 period needs to be contextualised by a deeper analysis of founding moments and decisions made the early developmental stages of the parties. Doing so will deepen our understanding of peasant politics in Romania but also situate the Romanian case within the wider family of rural/agrarian parties that were emerging across Europe during this period.
Central and East European Politics, 2014
Transforming Rural Societies: Agarian Property and Agrarianism in East Central Europe in the Ninteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 2013
Book Reviews by Daniel Brett
Spiegelungen. Zeitschrift für deutsche Kultur und Geschichte Südosteuropa, 2017
Review of Rural protest groups and populist political parties edited by Dirk Strijker, Gerrit Voe... more Review of Rural protest groups and populist political parties edited by Dirk Strijker, Gerrit Voerman and Ida Terluin
H-Net Reviews, 2018
Review of 'The Collectivization of Agriculture in Communist Eastern Europe: Comparison and Entang... more Review of 'The Collectivization of Agriculture in Communist Eastern Europe: Comparison and Entanglements.' Editors Constantin Iordachi and Arnd Bauerkämper. Budapest, New York, CEU Press, 2014
Canadian Slavonic Papers, 2011
Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 2015
Conference Presentations by Daniel Brett
Books by Daniel Brett
Contents
Mysterious knocks, flying potatoes and rebellious servants: Spiritualism and social c... more Contents
Mysterious knocks, flying potatoes and rebellious servants: Spiritualism and social conflict in late imperial Russia
Julia Mannherz
The Ukrainian Stundists and Russian Jews: a collaboration of evangelical peasants with Jewish intellectuals in late imperial Russia
Sergei Zhuk
“Forebears”, “saints” and “martyrs”: the politics of commemoration in Bulgaria in the 1880s and 1890s
Stefan Detchev
Celebrating the nation: the case of Upper Silesia after the plebiscite in 1921
Andrzej Michalczyk
Three states, one common past: chance or malediction? The role of history and historiography for the formation of collective identities and mutual relations in
Belarus, Lithuania and Poland
Rüdiger Ritter
The Bulgarian monarchy: a politically motivated revision of a historical image in a post -socialist transitional society
Markus Wien
Emerging institutional order? National Investment Funds in Poland
Maria Aluchna
Uploads
Articles by Daniel Brett
Agrarian movements have been under-researched, and when Agrarians have been studied, it has been through the prism of elite politics. This comparative paper seeks to redress this omission by looking at grassroots rural politics. The interwar countryside was marked by profound political, economic and social transformation but also in terms of what Robert Paxton has described as the ‘triple crisis of the countryside’ – worsening economic conditions, the declining status of the countryside and inadequate political representation. The paper will explore how reform and crisis impacted how agrarian politics functioned at a local level by asymmetrically comparing cases from Romania, Poland and Ireland, with the final case helping to contextualize Eastern Europe within the wider European experience This paper argues that the rural population was mobilized, but primarily in the context of local issues rather than national ethno-political questions. Local party organization was, to paraphrase James C Scott, the site ‘of an exchange of small arms fire’ in rural class conflict, as questions regarding the control of public space, generational conflict and power within the village mobilized peasants. Thus, I argue that it was the underlying socio-economic issues that mobilized the rural population, not nationalism. The dynamics of these conflicts were shaped by local economic, political and social power dynamics, and by using indifference as a concept, we can look more deeply at interwar politics from a grassroots perspective and develop a more nuanced understanding of local, national and European politics.
• Ruling pro-European parties and long-established Communist Party lost significantly.
• Moldova's Socialist Party were the biggest winner.
• The elections concern more than ethnic and geopolitical cleavages.
• Endemic corruption is harming established parties' reputation and electability.
• Moldova's elections demonstrate continued electoral and institutional volatility.
Edited Volumes by Daniel Brett
Papers by Daniel Brett
We look at the nature of the Moldovan electoral and party system, patterns of support and argue that the election was much more than Europe or Russia.
Chapters by Daniel Brett
Book Reviews by Daniel Brett
Conference Presentations by Daniel Brett
Books by Daniel Brett
Mysterious knocks, flying potatoes and rebellious servants: Spiritualism and social conflict in late imperial Russia
Julia Mannherz
The Ukrainian Stundists and Russian Jews: a collaboration of evangelical peasants with Jewish intellectuals in late imperial Russia
Sergei Zhuk
“Forebears”, “saints” and “martyrs”: the politics of commemoration in Bulgaria in the 1880s and 1890s
Stefan Detchev
Celebrating the nation: the case of Upper Silesia after the plebiscite in 1921
Andrzej Michalczyk
Three states, one common past: chance or malediction? The role of history and historiography for the formation of collective identities and mutual relations in
Belarus, Lithuania and Poland
Rüdiger Ritter
The Bulgarian monarchy: a politically motivated revision of a historical image in a post -socialist transitional society
Markus Wien
Emerging institutional order? National Investment Funds in Poland
Maria Aluchna
Agrarian movements have been under-researched, and when Agrarians have been studied, it has been through the prism of elite politics. This comparative paper seeks to redress this omission by looking at grassroots rural politics. The interwar countryside was marked by profound political, economic and social transformation but also in terms of what Robert Paxton has described as the ‘triple crisis of the countryside’ – worsening economic conditions, the declining status of the countryside and inadequate political representation. The paper will explore how reform and crisis impacted how agrarian politics functioned at a local level by asymmetrically comparing cases from Romania, Poland and Ireland, with the final case helping to contextualize Eastern Europe within the wider European experience This paper argues that the rural population was mobilized, but primarily in the context of local issues rather than national ethno-political questions. Local party organization was, to paraphrase James C Scott, the site ‘of an exchange of small arms fire’ in rural class conflict, as questions regarding the control of public space, generational conflict and power within the village mobilized peasants. Thus, I argue that it was the underlying socio-economic issues that mobilized the rural population, not nationalism. The dynamics of these conflicts were shaped by local economic, political and social power dynamics, and by using indifference as a concept, we can look more deeply at interwar politics from a grassroots perspective and develop a more nuanced understanding of local, national and European politics.
• Ruling pro-European parties and long-established Communist Party lost significantly.
• Moldova's Socialist Party were the biggest winner.
• The elections concern more than ethnic and geopolitical cleavages.
• Endemic corruption is harming established parties' reputation and electability.
• Moldova's elections demonstrate continued electoral and institutional volatility.
We look at the nature of the Moldovan electoral and party system, patterns of support and argue that the election was much more than Europe or Russia.
Mysterious knocks, flying potatoes and rebellious servants: Spiritualism and social conflict in late imperial Russia
Julia Mannherz
The Ukrainian Stundists and Russian Jews: a collaboration of evangelical peasants with Jewish intellectuals in late imperial Russia
Sergei Zhuk
“Forebears”, “saints” and “martyrs”: the politics of commemoration in Bulgaria in the 1880s and 1890s
Stefan Detchev
Celebrating the nation: the case of Upper Silesia after the plebiscite in 1921
Andrzej Michalczyk
Three states, one common past: chance or malediction? The role of history and historiography for the formation of collective identities and mutual relations in
Belarus, Lithuania and Poland
Rüdiger Ritter
The Bulgarian monarchy: a politically motivated revision of a historical image in a post -socialist transitional society
Markus Wien
Emerging institutional order? National Investment Funds in Poland
Maria Aluchna
full version here - http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2015/11/05/romanias-politics-on-fire-why-victor-ponta-resigned-and-what-it-means-for-the-country/
Filmed 8th May 2015.
All talks from our conference (Ljubljana, April 2017) * Organizers: Tamara Scheer, Rok Stergar, Kaja Sirok, Marko Zajc *
Contributions:
Stefan Donecker: Identity and Identification in Premodernity: The State of the Debate 35 years after John Armstrong’ s Nations before Nationalism
Ümit Eser: Before Becoming Bulgarians: Pre-National Identities of the Orthodox Christian Communities in Eastern Rumelia, 1878-1908
Jernej Kosi: When the Slovenes Encountered the Slovenes: Ethnic Boundaries and the Process of Nationalisation in Prekmurje after the Dissolution of Austria-Hungary
Daniel Heler: Ethno-Genesis of Gorani People and ‘Deviant’ Contemporary Histories of Kosovo
Before the Nations, Beyond the Nations - Panel 1 Discussion
Tamara Scheer / John Paul Newman: Donations Requested: The Imperial, National, and Transnational Identities of The Ban Jelačić Association for Disabled Veterans and their Families in Vienna and Zagreb
Robert Shields Mevissen: Identification in the Danube Empire: Shaping Riverine Transformations in the Late Habsburg State
Igor Vranić: Political Patriotism in the Late Habsburg Empire: The Case of Izidor Kršnjavi
Imperial, National, Non-National - Panel 2 Discussion
Karin Almasy: Postcarding Identities in Lower Styria (1890–1920): The Linguistic and Visual Portrayal of Identities on Picture Postcards
Susanne Korbel: Staging Similarities, Staging Differences: (Jewish) Volkssänger and Their Performance of Habsburg Identities
Clemens Ruthner: Colonial Habsburg: The Bosnian Foreigner in Literary Texts of Imperial Austria, ca 1900
Anita Buhin: “Naše malo misto” (Our Small Town): Yugoslav Mediterranean Dream
Defining, Performing, and Staging Identities - Panel 3 discussion
Pieter M. Judson: People and their Categories: Creating Difference from Below and from Above in the Context of Empire
Daniel Brett: It’ s Not About the Nation or Ethnicity: Identity, Politics, and Society in the Romanian and Irish Countryside 1900-1947
Ivan Jeličić: The Typographers’ Community of Fiume: Between Spirit of Category, Class Identity, Local Patriotism, Socialism, and Nationalism(s)
Martin Jemelka / Jakub Štofaník: Being Modern Christian and Worker in the Czechoslovak National State 1918-1938
Peasants, Professionals, Workers - Panel 4 discussion
Marta Verginella / Irena Selišnik: The First Publicly Active Slovene Women on the Intersection of National Identities and Multinational Space
Martina Salvante: Renegotiating Identity: Disabled Veterans in Trentino and South Tyrol
Marco Bresciani: Country for Nationalists? State- and Nation-Building in Post-Habsburg Interwar Istria
Identities in Transition - Panel 5 discussion
Etienne Boisserie: Family Networks and “Generation Key” in the Renewed Approaches of Social Questioning of the Slovak Elite at the Beginning of the 20th Century
Nikola Tomašegović: Statistical Nation-Building in Civil Croatia and Slavonia during the Second Half of 19th Century
Filip Tomić: Serbs in Croatia and Slavonia 1908 – 1914: The Contested Construction of an Ethnic Category, Conditions of its Deployment and the Issue of Its Reception
Luka Lisjak: “Changing the Nation’s Character”: The Slovenian Tradition of Critical National Characterology and Its Role in the Intellectual Definitions of National Identity in the 20th Century
Panel 6 discussion
Tomasz Kamusella: Concluding remarks
Traditional historiography and political science on Romania, and Eastern Europe in general, look upon the period at the end of the Second World War as a break with ‘normal politics’. This thesis concentrates on the Romanian case and argues that in fact the post-1944 period represents the culmination of longer-term political, social and economic processes, all of which severely hampered the ability of PNŢ to oppose the Communists. While not seeking to present a counterfactual narrative, the thesis provides a more nuanced analysis of Romanian politics as well as a contextualization of it within Eastern European Agrarian politics. To this purpose, the thesis uses an interdisciplinary methodology drawing upon political science and sociology. It looks into the development of grass roots politics and the interaction of the local-level (village) politics with elite/national politics in a society undergoing rapid socio-economic transformation. Drawing upon two new archival holdings which provide unprecedented, albeit limited, insights into the internal workings of PNŢ, the thesis emphasizes the role of PNŢ as a political institution and of its organization structures and seeks to account for the party’s failure to undergo any structural reform. It concentrates upon issues of agency, representation and mobilization and proposes an explanation (which archival material that may surface in the future will, I believe, corroborate) as to why the relationship between the social group and their political representatives broke down and what implications this had for the success of the party.
To advance the analysis, I have made the methodological choice of comparing and contrasting the development of Agrarian politics in Romania with that of Poland. Although by no means taking centre stage in the context of the present thesis, the Polish case, however, discharges a dual function: 1) it is used as a mise en scène, providing a wider context for developments in Romanian politics and thus helping avoid the problem of ‘exceptionalism’; 2) it represents a cognate case whereby gaps currently existing in Romanian historiography can be compensated for by analogy with similar historical and political developments in Poland.
On a more general note, this thesis seeks to move beyond traditional explanations as to why PNŢ was unsuccessful in achieving their stated political goals during the interwar and post-war periods. This is achieved by looking at the institutional underpinning of the party and the interaction between their political organization and the social class they represented.