Torsello, Davide - Pappová, Melinda: Social Networks in Movement. Time, interaction and interethnic spaces in Central Eastern Europe - Nostra Tempora 8. (Somorja-Dunaszerdahely, 2003)
Introduction
Introduction 35 after the fall of socialism, presents a certain degree of cohesion which is not affected by the geographical delimitation of space. However, the impact of different state and EU policies on Slovenia and Croatia finds expression in different and contradictory way of conceiving the nation groups. Section Three adds a new dimension to the issues outlined above. Social interaction and migration are the main themes of the papers included in this section with two dominant focuses: the Roma in Slovakia and historical processes of ethnic migration in Central Eastern Europe. Szép (Chapter Nine) and Weinerová (Chapter Ten) give accounts of the complexity of the Roma problem from two different, but complementary, standpoints. Szép deals with the problem taking an approach ‘‘from above”. The author describes the measures taken in the last five years by the Slovak state in response to international attention focused on Slovak Roma due to their migration waves as asylum seekers to Western Europe. On the other hand, Weinerová analyses the problem of Roma migrations “from below”, dealing with the economic and social reasons that lead Romanies to seek asylum out of Slovakia. In the chapter she points out that behind the harsh critics of the international press on the issue, there is a dramatic reality of impoverishment, exploitation through usury and life at the margins of society that leads segments of the Roma populations to seek asylum abroad. Uherek and Plochová (Chapter Eleven) introduce the phenomenon of contemporary “voluntary migration” taking place in the past decade between postsocialist countries (Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and other CIS states) towards the Czech Republic. The chapter compares the situation of two different cases of migration. In the first, the Czech state demonstrated efforts to assist the adaptation and integration process of the incoming group which brought about positive results. In the second case the state intervention is absent. This, along with other factors characteristic of the migrating group,
