ABOUT THIS BOOK

The tenth anniversary of the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe is the basis for this text which reflects upon the past ten years and what lies ahead for the future. An international group of academics and public intellectuals, including former dissidents and active politicians, engage in an exchange on the antecedents, causes, contexts, meanings and legacies of the 1989 revolutions. The contributors address various issues including liberal democracy and its enemies; modernity and discontent; economic reforms and their social impact; ethnicity; nationalism and religion; geopolitics; electoral systems and political power; European integration; and the demise of Yugoslavia.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Sorin Antohi is Associate Professor of History at the University of Bucharest, and at Central European University, Budapest; he is currently a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford.

Vladimir Tismaneanu is Professor of politics and Director of the Center for the Study of Post-communist Societies at University of Maryland (College Park).

REVIEWS

"This is a book that will serve many intellectual tastes and interests, and that will certainly prove thought provoking for anyone who reads it... I recommend it to anybody who wants to witness the analythical depth and span with which the meaning of 1989 can be approached."
-- Extremism & Democracy

"The list of contributors is impressive with not a single dull chapter…; the editors are to be congratulated for making available such a stimulating and timely, if not timeless, collection."
-- Slavic Review

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables ix Preface and Acknowledgements xi I Meanings of 1989: Present Significance of the Past 1 Between Past and Future, Agnes Heller 3 2 On Two Models of Exit from Communism: Central Europe and the Balkans, Jacques Rupnik 3 1989 as Rebirth, KarolSoltan 4 1989 and the Future of Democracy, Jeffrey C. Isaac 5 Habits of the Mind: Europe's Post-1989 Symbolic Geographies, SorinAntohi II Winners and Losers in the Great Transformation 6 Independence Reborn and the Demons of the Velvet Revolution, Adam Michnik 7 Between Idealism and Realism: Reflections on the Political Landscape of Postcommunism, Martin PalouS 8 Postsocialisms, Valerie Bunce 9 Fighting for the Public Sphere: Democratic Intellectuals under Postcommunism, Vladimir Tismaneanu HI Vulnerabilities of the New Democracies 10 Privatization as Transforming Persons, Katherine Verdery 11 Gendering Postsocialism: Reproduction as Politics in East Central Europe, Gail Kligman and Susan Gal 12 The Morals of Transition: Decline of Public Interest and Runaway Reforms in Eastern Europe, Kazimierz Z. Poznanski 13 Counterrevolution, Istvan Rev 14 The Handshake Tradition: A Decade of Consensus Politics Bears Liberal Fruit in Hungary—But What Next?, Miklos Haraszti 15 Politics and Freedom, Ivan Vejvoda IV The New Europe: Prospects for Cooperation and Conflict 16 Electocracies and the Hobbesian Fishbowl of Postcommunist Politics, Karen Dawisha 17 The Europe Agreements and Transition: Unique Returns from Integrating into the European Union, Bartlomiej Kaminski 18 Nationalism in Postcommunist Russia: From Resignation to Anger, Ilya Prize! 19 Chinese Bridges to Postsocialist Europe, Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom 20 Mickiewicz and the Question of Sacred Territory,Irena Grudzinska Gross V Past, Present, Future 21 Conclusions, Timothy Garton Ash Contributors Name Index