Description
Book SynopsisFor the last thirty years the year 1989 has symbolized a European annus mirabilis, standing for such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the impending collapse of the Soviet Union. Cultural and political transformations in Western Europe due to the rise of the migrant crisis are now echoed in East-Central Europe. In Europe Thirty Years After 1989, the authors jointly explore the recent history of former socialist countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech republic, the Baltic States, and Russia. Thirty years ago some of these countries stood as a paradigmatic example of peaceful and liberal patriotism, but during the past thirty years some countries have experienced transformations in their values, memory and identity. A shift towards illiberal democracy has occurred, although not without the overlapping trends in Western and Southern Europe. This book is for those who wish to join and learn from the search for an interpretation and answer(s) to the question: what happened to the legacy of 1989 over the past thirty years, and why did these changes and transformations occur?
Table of Contents Acknowledgements Contributors Introduction Part 1: Values, Memory, Identity 1 East-Central Europe Searching for (European) Values: how to be More Than the “proud periphery”? Ladislav Cabada 2 Thirty Years in Search of Identity in Central Europe Tomas Kavaliauskas 3 Conservative Assertiveness in Central and Eastern Europe: case Studies from Poland and Hungary Nicolas Hayoz and Magdalena Solska 4 Croatia after 1989: memories of Socialism in Post-Socialist Times Josip Zanki and Nevena Škrbić Alempijević 5 Types of Social Memory and the Subordination of Identities of Ethnic Minorities in Latvia Deniss Hanovs and Vladislav Volkov Part 2: In Search of European Home and Hospitality 6 The Ideal of Absolute Hospitality and the Reality of Anti-Migrant Fences Rūta Bagdanavičiūtė 7 “A Home for Our Children” The Bulgarian (dis)Illusion with Democratic Society Thirty Years Later Valentina Gueorguieva, Galina Goncharova, Slavka Karakusheva Part 3: The Role of Intellectuals and Dissidents 8 Envisioning Europe from the East: À la recherche du temps perdu with Václav Havel and Lennart Meri Maria Mälksoo 9 The Rise of the Public Relations Man and the Decline of the Soviet “Intelligentsia” after 1989 Gintautas Mažeikis 10 From Ideology of Culture to Cultural Critique: Kultūros barai journal and the Changing Roles of Lithuanian Intellectuals (1989–2019) Almantas Samalavičius Part 4: Political Travelogues 11 From the Baltic Way to the #CatalanReferendum: achieving Statehood through Peaceful Protest: Two European Models Face to Face with 30 Years between Them Jordi Arrufat Agramunt Index
