Author: Aliaksei Kazharski
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498599621
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227
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Book Description
This book examines the politics and international relations of Central Europe (the Visegrád Four) three decades after the fall of communism. Once bound together by a common geopolitical vision of "returning to the West," the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia now find themselves in a more ambiguous position. The 2015 European migration crisis exposed serious normative differences with Western Europe, leading to a collective V4 rebellion against the European Union's migration policies. At the same time, as this book demonstrates—despite this normative rift with Western Europe and despite the democratic backsliding in some of the V4 states—they remain deeply dependent on the West in both symbolic and material terms. Furthermore, ways in which individual Central European states position themselves vis-a-vis the West exhibit notable differences, informed by their specific political and cultural legacies. The author examines these in separate country chapters. This book also contains a chapter that analyzes the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on political discourses in the V4.
Author: Tomas Kavaliauskas
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004443584
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 286
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Book Description
Europe Thirty Years After 1989 explores what happened in the former socialist countries during the last thirty years and the reasons behind these events. The authors examine how values, memory, and identity have been transforming these countries since the year 1989.
Author: Piotr H. Kosicki
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9633862841
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296
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Book Description
The fall of communism in Europe is now the frame of reference for any mass mobilization, from the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement to Brexit. Even thirty years on, 1989 still figures as a guide and motivation for political change. It is now a platitude to call 1989 a "world event," but the chapters in this volume show how it actually became one. The authors of these nine essays consider how revolutionary events in Europe resonated years later and thousands of miles away: in China and South Africa, Chile and Afghanistan, Turkey and the USA. They trace the circulation of people, practices, and concepts that linked these countries, turning local developments into a global phenomenon. At the same time, they examine the many shifts that revolution underwent in transit. All nine chapters detail the process of mutation, adaptation, and appropriation through which foreign affairs found new meanings on the ground. They interrogate the uses and understandings of 1989 in particular national contexts, often many years after the fact. Taken together, this volume asks how the fall of communism in Europe became the basis for revolutionary action around the world, proposing a paradigm shift in global thinking about revolution and protest.
Author: André Liebich
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783030839949
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
"Prof. Liebich depicts not only the history of post-communist regimes in Central-East Europe, but also these states' internal agendas and transformative debates. This book lives that history through telling it once again, thus challenging accepted prejudices." (Adrian Liviu Ivan, Professor, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania) "East Central Europe is again on the news. After the fall of the Berlin Wall the region was hailed as a liberal champion; now it is scorned as an illiberal one. This seemingly puzzling metamorphosis is explained in a thoughtful and entertaining way by a leading historian of the region. I highly recommend Liebich's book to all those interested in European politics and history." (Jan Zielonka, Professor of European Politics, University of Oxford (UK), and Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of Venice, Cá Foscari (Italy)) "Moving from the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 to the present day, this book traces the trajectory of the six East Central European former satellites of the Soviet Union (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria) that have joined the European Union. It seeks in particular to explain these countries' disenchantment with the "return to Europe" in spite of their significant advances. The book proceeds country by country and then devotes chapters to some contemporary issues, such as minorities, migration, and the relations of these "new" members with the European Union as a whole. The book eschews theory and is intended for a general audience, including students at all levels in political science and history classes devoted to the EU and to contemporary Europe, and to an academic and practitioner audience interested in world affairs and the evolution of the European Union. The book strives to fill a persistent knowledge gap in the English-speaking world concerning East Central Europe, and to offer fresh insights about the region in the context of contemporary geopolitics." (André Liebich is Honorary Professor of International History and Politics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland).
Author: Jeffrey C. Goldfarb
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298
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Book Description
This first-hand account of the ongoing struggle for democracy in post-communist Europe is based on the author's 20 years spent in Central Europe. Based on his inside knowledge of people and events, he asks and answers probing questions about the future of Central Europe now that communism is dead. Are there any longer significant differences between left and right, is Marxism finished, is xenophobic nationalism re-emerging as a real danger - these are some of the questions asked. The book forecasts a humane political future for a region so often the site of political tragedy.
Author: Ferenc Laczó
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9633863759
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
This volume examines the legacy of the East–West divide since the implosion of the communist regimes in Europe. The ideals of 1989 have largely been frustrated by the crises and turmoil of the past decade. The liberal consensus was first challenged as early as the mid-2000s. In Eastern Europe, grievances were directed against the prevailing narratives of transition and ever sharper ethnic-racial antipathies surfaced in opposition to a supposedly postnational and multicultural West. In Western Europe, voices regretting the European Union's supposedly careless and premature expansion eastward began to appear on both sides of the left–right and liberal–conservative divides. The possibility of convergence between Europe's two halves has been reconceived as a threat to the European project. In a series of original essays and conversations, thirty-three contributors from the fields of European and global history, politics and culture address questions fundamental to our understanding of Europe today: How have perceptions and misperceptions between the two halves of the continent changed over the last three decades? Can one speak of a new East–West split? If so, what characterizes it and why has it reemerged? The contributions demonstrate a great variety of approaches, perspectives, emphases, and arguments in addressing the daunting dilemma of Europe's assumed East–West divide.
Author: György Konrád
Publisher: Mariner Books
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
From the first of these essays to the last, we see how the initial euphoria at the end of Communist rule is tempered by the difficulties of reform. "Konrad is that rarity in political discourse-a fresh voice" (New Yorker). Translated by Michael Henry Heim. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book "
Author: Elisabeth Bakke
Publisher: Intersentia
ISBN: 9781780680392
Category : Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany, 1961-1989
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was opened, signalling the beginning of the end of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. By 1990, free elections had been held in most countries in the region. Forty - and in some cases fifty - years of communism had come to an end. However, the 'revolutions' of 1989 were not uniform processes: the starting points were different, the trajectories were different, and, outside Central Europe, even the outcomes of the transitions from communism were different. The fall of communism also caused the Soviet empire to crumble, and the Soviet Union itself fell apart in December 1991, as did Czechoslovakia in 1993, and Yugoslavia in a gradual process that was to last from 1991 to 2008. This book originated at an Oslo conference held in November 2009, which was arranged by the E.ON Ruhrgas scholarship program for political science and commemorated the 20th anniversary of the 'revolutions' in Central and Eastern Europe. The book's contributions take stock of the developments after 1989, with special emphasis on the causes and effects of the transitions, including the processes of State unification and separation that followed in the wake of the 'revolutions.' It is divided into four main parts: a) regime transitions from communism; b) State unification and separation; c) party system continuity and change since 1989 (in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland); d) the effects of German unification on external and internal German relations. The geographical scope thus varies from chapter to chapter, but the main emphasis is on Germany and its closest Central European neighbors.
Author: Sharon L. Wolchik
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0742567346
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 433
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Book Description
"A useful text and reference book. These essays are at their best in serving both area study and political sociology."--Slavic Review --
Author: Ostap Kushnir
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793650756
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 423
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Book Description
This edited collection addresses the dynamics of the post-Communist transition in Central Eastern Europe. Its contributors present a detailed analysis of the events unfolding during the last three decades in the region, focusing in particular on identity-building processes and reforms in Belarus, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. The contributors outline reasons why some of these states accomplished a decisive break with the Communist past and became members of European and transatlantic structures, while some opted for pseudo-transition and fostered hybrid political regimes, jeopardizing their genuine integration with the West. A group of states which decided to preserve their Communist legacy is also explained. The collection describes and scrutinizes the formation of geopolitical affiliations and the evolution of discourses of belonging. It also traces the fluctuating dynamics of national decision-making and institution-building, as many of the post-Communist states reconsider and re-elaborate their initial ideas and visions of Europe today. Finally, the collection brings to light the rapidly changing perceptions of the region by the major global actors—the European Union, People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, and others.
