The Burdens of Freedom: Eastern Europe since 1989

by Padraic Kenney, Nicholas Guyatt

Overview

From Estonia to Macedonia, this book is a history of 15 countries as they negotiate their transition from communism. For some, the story ends happily, with triumphant entry into the European Union in 2004.Others are caught in limbo, destroyed by nationalist politics, war and genocide, or crippled by corrupt political practices.

The Burdens of Freedom considers the effects of revolutionary change, the resurgence of nationalism and the painful examination of the past. It looks at the process of building stable democratic states, and their integration with international structures. Most of the countries have established admission to the EU as a national objective; but many of them have also been active participants in the American-led occupation of Iraq. Domestically, each has seen a divide emerge between winners and losers. All are moving forward simultaneously to democracy, unity and prosperity, but also to national division and economic disparity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781842776629
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/01/2020
Series:	Global History of the Present
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Padraic Kenney divides his time between Wroclaw, Poland and the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he is professor of history. He is the author of several books on Eastern European history and politics, including A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe, 1989 (2002).
Padraic Kenney divides his time between Wroclaw, Poland and the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he is professor of history. He is the author of several books on Eastern European history and politics, including A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe, 1989 (2002).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Maps;
Introduction: The Shock of the New
1. Different Paths on an Open Road: Economic and Social Change
2. In Praise of Ethnic Cleansing? National Struggles
3. Peeling the Past: Nostalgia and Punishment
4. Portraits in Hubris: Democratic Politics
5. A New Europe: The East in the West
Conclusion: The Edge of History
Notes; Index

Editorial Reviews

The Burdens of Freedom makes sense of the paradoxical development of a vast and diverse region: its arduous economic transitions, its accommodation of painful pasts, and despite intervening disillusion and setbacks, its emerging civic stamina.” —Charles S. Maier, Harvard University

“An exceedingly useful book a sensible and perspicacious assessment of the complex and often just plain confusing developments after 1989.” —Michael Geyer, University of Chicago

From the Publisher