I'm not all that familiar with Eastern Europe, but a few recent articles on the Economist, such as this one, suggest that many Eastern European countries have been more severely hurt by the "Great Recession" than those of the more developed Western Europe. An interesting study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace further notes that this is the case.
With that in mind, I'd love to see results from public opinion polls a few years back to see how those stacked up against the 1991 base year. I'm thinking the 2005 results would show the "glow" brightening.
So what about this really shocked you? It's kind of understandable that without a lot of prosperity, you would feel a little disillusioned, no?
ReplyDeleteAlso, a cynic might say that some of the countries listed - particularly Ukraine - live in a pseudo-Democracy at best. The rumored corruption and political influence on their country makes them nearly a failed state by European standards...
I came into my economic prosperity argument after initially starting the post; at first I was simply shocked to hear that those who've made the switch would essentially want to return to Communism - especially in light of their tremendous growth over the past 2 decades.
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