A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe
Volume II: Negotiating Modernity in the 'Short Twentieth Century' and Beyond, Part II: 1968-2018
Balázs Trencsényi author Michal Kopecek author Maria Falina author Monika Baar author Luka Lisjak Gabrijelčič author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:1st Nov '18
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe is a synthetic work, authored by an international team of researchers, covering twenty national cultures and 250 years. It goes beyond the conventional nation-centered narratives and presents a novel vision especially sensitive to the cross-cultural entanglement of political ideas and discourses. Its principal aim is to make these cultures available for the global 'market of ideas' and revisit some of the basic assumptions about the history of modern political thought, and modernity as such. The present volume is the final part of the project, following Volume I: Negotiating Modernity in the 'Long Nineteenth Century', and Volume II, Part I: Negotiating Modernity in the 'Short Twentieth Century' (1918-1968) (OUP, 2018). Its starting point is the defeat of the vision of 'socialism with a human face' in 1968 and the political discourses produced by the various 'consolidation' or 'normalization' regimes. It continues with mapping the exile communities' and domestic dissidents' critical engagement with the local democratic and anti-democratic traditions as well as with global trends. Rather than achieving the coveted 'end of history', however, the liberal democratic order created in East Central Europe after 1989 became increasingly contested from left and right alike. Thus, instead of a comfortable conclusion pointing to the European integration of most of these countries, the book closes with a reflection on the fragility of democracy in this part of the world and beyond.
[the reader] will receive something like a universal formula encompassing the history of the region's political thought from the eighteenth century until the present ... The merit of this book is that it has introduced -- hopefully for good -- a whole series of previously-missing links into international academic discourse ... it is really worthwhile to read this weighty work. * Maciej Górny, Acta Poloniae Historica *
The History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe is a brilliant book. It combines the intellectual history of Central East Europe with the regions political, sociological, and legal past for the first time. It is based on a very deep knowledge of the individual development of the various nations of East Central Europe and brings them together in a new, original, and innovative synthesis. * Martin Schulze Wessel, Professor of Eastern European History, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich *
An ambitious collective endeavor by leading scholars of the post-1989 generation to revisit the key issues and rediscover the leading figures shaping the main currents of political thought in twentieth-century East-Central Europe. Its major contribution lies precisely in the transnational approach to the subject, providing a complex historical narrative and original insights into the political cultures of the region and their lasting relevance. Required reading for those who want to understand the intellectual background to the main political trends coming from East Central Europe today. * Jacques Rupnik, Director of Research, Sciences Po, Paris *
Together these volumes constitute an extremely valuable and up-to-date treatment of political thought in East Central Europe, a region that now plays an outsized role in the broader zeitgeist. Covering the crucial period from 1968 to the present, this last volume comes at an auspicious time. It is a must-read not only for field specialists, but for any thinking individual seeking to understand our contemporary moment. * Holly Case, Associate Professor of History, Brown University *
ISBN: 9780198829607
Dimensions: 241mm x 164mm x 29mm
Weight: 752g
402 pages