How is Eastern Europe today different then Western Europe after World War 2?
And also, do you think there is a need for a new Marshall Plan to help Eastern Europe?
Thank you.
Rob, thank you so much. Great answer.
Woah, thanks everybody!
I’ll lists the differences this way and then you can compare and contrast:
Western Europe is advanced, democratic, developed, and industrialized. They are the high-income countries of Europe which are characterized by democratic political systems, mixed economies have combined free market with aspect of welfare trade, and they have alliances with the United States, NATO and the Europe Union. Countries of Western Europe are consistently voted as top ranking human index countries and have the highest quality of life rates in the world. Countries that are considered part of Westerns Europe can be the following, but are not limited to: United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Greece.
Eastern Europe are post-communist countries. These countries have mediocre quality of life readings, and have budget deficient, political and economical corruptions. These are mostly due to these countries all having previous communist regimes, so now they’re trying to slowly recover. Countries considered Eastern Europe can be named as the following, but not limited to: Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.
I’ll lists the differences this way and then you can compare and contrast:
Western Europe is advanced, democratic, developed, and industrialized. They are the high-income countries of Europe which are characterized by democratic political systems, mixed economies have combined free market with aspect of welfare trade, and they have alliances with the United States, NATO and the Europe Union. Countries of Western Europe are consistently voted as top ranking human index countries and have the highest quality of life rates in the world. Countries that are considered part of Westerns Europe can be the following, but are not limited to: United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Greece.
Eastern Europe are post-communist countries. These countries have mediocre quality of life readings, and have budget deficient, political and economical corruptions. These are mostly due to these countries all having previous communist regimes, so now they’re trying to slowly recover. Countries considered Eastern Europe can be named as the following, but not limited to: Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.
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Huge difference:
All of Europe was destroyed after WW2, everyone suffered in the big famine. Everything was rationed, people relied on care packages from the US for clothing and food. then the great winter set in and many Europeans died of starvation and frost.
All of Eastern EU today is intact, there is housing with heating, food, clothing, democratic governments, trade, industry etc are functioning, no one is going hungry etc.
So, there is no ‘Plan’ needed to help the people like it was post WW2.
Here is a great map that shows you which US state is comparable to a state outside of the US.
It is called the US States Renamed For Countries With Similar GDPs
http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/06/10/131-us-states-renamed-for-countries-with-similar-gdps/
It shows you how poor today’s US Americans are in comparison to other people in the world.
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Eastern Europe is a region which was crippled by communism’s impact; however, if you think about the rate at which they are developing then it is reasonable to presume that for every 10 years that goes by the differences decrease hugely.
Robs answer is correct to a certain extent, and his analysis of Western Europe is very accurate; however, to label the Czech Republic and Poland as lacking democracy is somewhat inaccurate. As, after all, they have both developed massively in the last 20 years, and the economic stability which Czech Rep experiences meant that the economic impacts of the recent recession have affected them far less drastically than countries such as Greece. Poland, on the other hand is the only country in the EU which has experienced a measured GDP increase since 2003 – not an example of ’slow recovery’ as Rob stated.
In fact, if you were to go to many E.European countries you would realize that the differences do not exist in the major cities, Moscow, Prague and Warsaw are just as productive and beautiful as many Western Cities, and I say this as a non biased Englishman.
The main difference, I feel, is between Belarus, Russia and Ukraine and the remaining Western European countries, as these 3 are the countries in which most political corruption exists, and in which their is the largest disparity between rural and urban communities.
As for a Marshall Plan, I think everyone would agree that it is something which is not a possibility and which is also not necessary for E.Europe and for it I am going to assume you are American. These countries are being expected to completely renovate their political and economic systems in what is an extremely tiny amount of time. Since communism’s fall huge advances have been made, and with the strong work ethic these countries possess along with some EU guidence they are more than capable of eliminating the gap which exists between some of the countries.
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