DEMOCRACY ON THE KOLKHOZ RUINS. DISCUSSIONS ABOUT LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN MOLDAVIAN VILLAGE

This article presents materials collected in two Moldavian villages in 2002-2003. Its main theme is the emergence of civil society and the perception of local government. The author argues that nowadays peoples' attitude toward the local government is basically the same as it was in the USSR. There are however changes in the system of values, which combines the old kolkhoz relations with new social and economic conditions. The author provides the reader with a brief theoretical sketch on the genesis and evolution of the concept of civil society. In order to show similarity between various countries, he compares the situation in Moldavia to that in Poland. This way, with the use of literature, he shows main tendencies in the political culture of Central and Eastern Europe.