CITIZENSHIP POTENTIAL OF UNEMPLOYED AND SELF-EMPLOYED YOUTH IN EAST-CENTRAL-EUROPE

The transition to democracy and market economy takes a longer time and high unemployment rates have turned out to be more persistent than mo st east-central Europeans probably expected in 1989. Persistent youth unemployment is also commonly regarded as political threat. The resear ch (1997) involved interviews with a total of 800 young unemployed peo ple, 100 in each of two regions in four east-central European countrie s (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), Alongside this research, p arallel surveys in ail eight regions were conducted among samples of t he young self-employed (400). Generally, young business people demonst rate a civil potential which is compatible with the new political and economic systems. They recognise the significance of their participati on in shaping the political system through the process of general elec tions. They support the principles of the free market economy and attr ibute improvements in family life to its working. Moreover, they evalu ate the EU as the most important body with which to cooperate in the E uropean context. The young unemployed have rather different outlooks. They display less interest in citizen participation. Not only do they regard the quality of family life as having been better in the past, b ut many are sceptical about the free market economy. However, they sup port cooperation with other countries, In spite of Slovakia's generall y polarised situation, both the young unemployed and self-employed in Slovakia prove broadly comparable with their counterparts in Poland, H ungary and Bulgaria.