Mihai Varga

Mihai Varga (1981) came to the ASSR in September 2006. His general interests lie in the very broad field of problems of post-communist societies. More specifically, his research is concerned with the link between patterns of citizens’ political participation and the marketization of post-communist countries’ economies.

He studied political science (BA) in Bucharest, Romania, and European Studies (MA) at the Viadrina University in Frankfurt/Oder, Germany. While he has always been an Eastern Europe aficionado, it was only through the stay in Frankfurt that he discovered his current interest in those few instances of grassroots collective action that have empowered citizens to make their voices heard in their countries’ politics both under and after communism.

An essential way station in his career has been his involvement in and experimenting with NGOs in the field of student rights and cultural preservation of various sites and monuments.

His PhD project at the ASSR deals with one form of political participation, trade unions, in two post-communist countries – Romania and Ukraine - where citizens’ involvement in political processes has been particularly difficult throughout transition (i.e., since the fall of communism).

For more information see also http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/m.varga.