Thinking through transition : liberal democracy, authoritarian pasts, and intellectual history in East Central Europe after 1989

Thinking through Transition is the first concentrated effort to explore the most recent chapter of East Central European past from the perspective of intellectual history. Post-communism can be understood as a period of scarcity and preponderance of ideas, the dramatic eclipsing of the dissident legacy (as well as the older political traditions), and the rise of technocratic and post-political governance. This book, grounded in empirical research sensitive to local contexts, proposes instead a history of adaptations, entanglements, and unintended consequences. In order to enable and invite comparison, the volume is structured around major domains of political thought, some of them generic (liberalism, conservatism, the Left), others (populism and politics of history) deemed typical for post-socialism. However, as shown by the authors, the generic often turns out to be heavily dependent on its immediate setting, and the typical resonates with processes that are anything but vernacular. Towards an intellectual history of post-socialism / Michal Kopecek (ICH, Prague), Piotr Wcislik (CEU, Budapest) Liberalism : dissident illusions and disillusions Faces of post-dissident Hungarian liberalism : a study in agendas, concepts and ambiguities / Ferenc Laczó (Imre Kertész Kolleg, Jena) Totalitarianism and the limits of the political thought of Polish dissidents : late socialism and after / Piotr Wcislik (CEU, Budapest) Václav Havel, his idea of civil society and the Czech liberal tradition / Milan Znoj (Charles University, Prague) The (re-)emergence of constitutionalism in East-Central Europe / Paul Blokker (University of Trento) Conservatism : a counter-revolution? The conservative counter-revolution : post-dissident neoconservatives in post-communist transformation / Petr Roubal (ICH, Prague) Songs of innocence and songs of experience : Polish conservatism, 1979-2011 / Rafal Matyja (WSB-NLU, Nowy Sacz) The abortion of a "conservative" constitution-making : a discourse analysis of the 1994-1998 failed Hungarian constitution-making enterprise / Zoltán Gábor Szucs (Hungarian Academy of Science, Budapest) Populism : endemic pasts and global effects Populism and democratic malaise in post-communist Romania / Camil Alexandru Parvu (University of Bucharest) Configurations of populism in Hungary / András Bozóki (CEU, Budapest) The political lives of dead populists in post-socialist Slovakia / Juraj Buzalka (Comenius University, Bratislava) The Left : between communist legacy and neoliberal challenge Non-post-communist Left in Hungary after 1989 : diverging paths of Leftist criticism, civil activism and radicalizing constituency / Agnes Gagyi (Moholy-Nagy University of Arts, Budapest) The architecture of revival : left-wing ideas and politics in Poland after 2002 / Maciej Gdula (University of Warsaw) The formation of the Czech post-communist intellectual Left : twenty years of seeking an identity / Stanislav Holubec (Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena) Feminist criticism of the "new democracies" in Serbia and Croatia in the early 1990s / Zsófia Lóránd (CEU, Budapest) Politics of history : nations, wars, revolutions Remembering the end of communism in East-Central Europe / James Mark (University of Exeter), Muriel Blaive (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute, Vienna), Adam Hudek (Historical Institute SAV, Bratislava), Anna Saunder, Stanislaw Tyszka A fate for a nation : concepts of history and the nation in the Hungarian politics, 1989-2010 / Gábor Egry (Institute of Political History, Budapest) From "Husakism" to "Meciarism" : the national identity-building discourse of the Slovak left-wing intellectuals in the 1990s Slovakia / Stevo Đurašković (University of Zagreb) Post-communist europe : on the path to a regional regime of remembrance? / Zoltán Dujisin (CEU, Budapest). Table of Contents Introduction: Towards an Intellectual History of Post-Socialism Liberalism: Dissident Illusions and Disillusions Five Faces of Post-Dissident Hungarian Liberalism: A Study in Agendas, Concepts, and Ambiguities “Totalitarianism” and the Limits of Polish Dissident Political Thought: Late Socialism and After Václav Havel, His Idea of Civil Society, and the Czech Liberal Tradition The (Re-)Emergence of Constitutionalism in East Central Europe Conservativism: A Counter-Revolution? Anti-Communism of the Future: Czech Post-Dissident Neoconservatives in Post-Communist Transformation Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience: Polish Conservatism 1979–2011 The Abortion of a “Conservative” Constitution-Making: A Discourse Analysis of the 1994–1998 Failed Hungarian Constitution-making Enterprise Populism: Endemic Pasts and Global Effects Syndrome or Symptom: Populism and Democratic Malaise in Post-Communist Romania The Illusion of Inclusion: Configurations of Populism in Hungary The Political Lives of Dead Populists in Post-socialist Slovakia The Left: Between Communist Legacy and Neoliberal Challenge Non-Post-Communist Left in Hungary after 1989: Diverging Paths of Leftist Criticism, Civil Activism, and Radicalizing Constituency The Architecture of Revival: Left-wing Ideas and Politics in Poland after 2002 The Formation of the Czech Post-Communist Intellectual Left: Twenty Years of Seeking an Identity Feminist Criticism of the “New Democracies” in Serbia and Croatia in the First Half of the 1990s Politics of History: Nations, Wars, Revolutions 1989 After 1989: Remembering the End of Communism in East-Central Europe A Fate for a Nation: Concepts of History and the Nation in Hungarian Politics, 1989–2010 From “Husakism” to “Mečiarism”: The National Identity-Building Discourse of the Slovak Left-wing Intellectuals in 1990s Slovakia Post-Communist Europe: On the Path to a Regional Regime of Remembrance? List of Contributors Index Feminists faced the very same problem in post-1989 Eastern Europe too, including those in the successor states of the freshly dissolved Yugoslavia. Feminism in the successor states in the 1990s, especially in its first half of the decade during the war, has been a popular theme for research; there are many edited volumes and articles in journals, as well as some monographs and a few literary works written about the war both from women's and feminist perspectives. These works, as well as the sources themselves, are abundant both in English and in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian. Due to the focus on the war and feminist activism relating to the war, there is much that has been said about the body, rape, feminist activism, gender-violence, and gender-nationalism. It seems, however, that despite the vast material, we still need an in-depth analysis of the (dis)continuity with feminist activity in Yugoslavia in the two preceding decades on the one hand, and one focusing on democracy and an analysis of how these feminist discourses in the early 1990s grapple with the concept of democracy, on the other Scope and content: "The book intends to be the first collective monograph of the post-1989 history of political and social thought of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The project emerges from a deep conviction that the period of political transitions in the region, whether accomplished, aborted or abhorred, can and needs to be treated as a chapter in the intellectual history of political thought. Adopting the perspective of intellectual history, but inviting multidisciplinary expertise, the book aims to contribute to a more complex reflection on the post-socialist 'transition period' in East Central Europe and its historicization. While necessarily lacking comprehensiveness, it has a remarkable exploratory value for the future challenges in the field. The volume raises some of the most pressing problems of intellectual history of the period as addressed by the current scholarship, clustered into several major themes"--Provided by publisher