The Legacy of Division: East and West after 1989

by Ferenc Lacz (Editor), Luka Lisjak Gabrijelcic (Editor)

Overview

This volume examines the legacy of the East-West divide since the implosion of the communist regimes in Europe. The ideals of 1989 have largely been frustrated by the crises and turmoil of the past decade. The liberal consensus was first challenged as early as the mid-2000s. In Eastern Europe, grievances were directed against the prevailing narratives of transition and ever sharper ethnic-racial antipathies surfaced in opposition to a supposedly postnational and multicultural West. In Western Europe, voices regretting the European Union's supposedly careless and premature expansion eastward began to appear on both sides of the left-right and liberal-conservative divides. The possibility of convergence between Europe's two halves has been reconceived as a threat to the European project.

In a series of original essays and conversations, thirty-three contributors from the fields of European and global history, politics and culture address questions fundamental to our understanding of Europe today: How have perceptions and misperceptions between the two halves of the continent changed over the last three decades? Can one speak of a new East-West split? If so, what characterizes it and why has it reemerged? The contributions demonstrate a great variety of approaches, perspectives, emphases, and arguments in addressing the daunting dilemma of Europe's assumed East-West divide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789633863749
Publisher:	Central European University Press, an imprint of Central European University Press
Publication date:	04/30/2020
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.02(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ferenc Laczó is an assistant professor in European History at Maastricht University. Luka Lisjak Gabrijelcic is a Slovene historian, political analyst and translator.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction The legacy of division: East and West after 1989 Ferenc Laczó Luka Lisjak Gabrijelcic 1

Staring through the mocking glass: Three misperceptions of the East-West divide since 1989 Dorothee Bohle Béla Greskovits 11

Back to Cold War and beyond Richard Sakwa 20

The price of unity: The transformation of Germany and East Central Europe after 1989 Philipp Ther 30

Thirty years on: Germany's unfinished unity Claus Leggewie 48

This mess of troubled times Karl Schlögel 59

The mythology of the East-West divide Jan Zielonka 70

Anxious Europe Florian Bieber 76

'But this is the world we live in': Corruption, everyday managing, and civic mobilization in post-socialist Romania Jill Massino 84

The end of the liberal world as we know it? Two walls in 1989 James Wang 97

Wests, East-Wests, and divides Niall Chithelen 104

The Great Substitution Holly Case 111

The struggle over 1989; The rise and contestation of eastern European populism Bogdan Iacob James Mark Tobias Rupprecht 123

Beyond anti-democratic temptation Marius Stan Vladimir Tismaneanu 134

Dissidence - doubt - creativity: Revisiting 1983 Joachim von Puttkamer 144

Gendering dissent: Human rights, gender history and the road to 1989 Robert Brier 154

Creating feminism in the shadow of male heroes: That other story of 1989 Zsófia Lóránd 177

Legacies of 1989 for dissent today Barbara J. Falk 187

Of hopes and ends: Czech transformations after 1989 Ondrej Slacálek 209

Just because the map says so, doesn't mean it's true: Thirty years after 1989, from an island perspective Owen Hatherley 219

The East in you never leaves Julia Sonnevend 227

Freedom of movement: A European dialectic Jannis Panagiotidis 232

'The Romanians are coming': Emerging divisions and enduring misperceptions in contemporary Europe Diana Georgescu 241

The two faces of European disillusionment: An end to myths about the West and the East Jarostaw Kuisz 254

Go East! Aleida Assmann 264

'The future was next to you': An interview with Ivan Krastev on '89 and the end of liberal hegemony 275

'The distorting mirror': A conversation between Igor Pomerantsev Peter Pomerantsev 291

Bibliography 298

List of Contributors 317

Index 317

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This volume is a brave attempt to tackle the complexity of problems facing Europe today. The annus mirabilis of 1989 has not delivered the promised miracle to everybody. The incomplete convergence of Europe's two halves has resulted in a lack of institutional transparency and in inequality of opportunity and material insecurity for too many. These analyses help us to respond to the increasing threat to the liberal democratic order and the European project."—Andrea Pető

"The days when 1989 was simply seen as the triumph of liberal democracy and western capitalism are long gone. This timely collection of essays is extremely useful for understanding today's Europe, whose new fault lines often reflect the legacies of division as well as contemporary transnational and global connections."—Kiran Klaus Patel

Editorial Reviews

"The overthrow of communism was peaceful in the majority of Central and Eastern European countries. Most citizens of East Central Europe viewed membership in the European Community as a prized goal that will aid rapid improvement in their standards of living, seamless inclusion in the European Market, and a democratic political system. While some economic successes cannot be denied, transformation was slow and unequal. After the global financial crisis of 2008, economic liberalism became burdened with statism, paternalism and oligarchic rule; and the crony model of capitalism or elements of authoritarianism ("illiberal democracy") reappeared. Therefore, largely, the conclusion drawn by most of the contributors for The Legacy of Division is that new curtains have appeared, but these are made of much lighter materials than the old Iron Curtain."—Susan Glanz, Hungarian Cultural Studies

"Some books answer questions, and some books inspire readers to ask more questions. The Legacy of Division belongs to the latter group. In an essayistic way, it invites a broad audience to consider questions of the present and the past. Readers might include scholars, students, and journalists, but thanks to the essayistic style, any member of the broader public interested in understanding the varied nature and legacies of the East-West divisions will find the book engaging. The future is open, and our thinking about it is richer thanks to The Legacy of Division."
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=999140—Petra Guasti, Hungarian Historical Review

"This rich and insightful collection of twenty-eight essays, originally published in Eurozine online in 2019, reflects on the fate of eastern Europe thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is an impressive but depressing compilation that captures the angst experienced by many of the region's inhabitants—and by a majority of outside observers."

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/slavic-review/article/legacy-of-division-east-and-west-after-1989-ed-ferenc-laczo-and-luka-lisjak-gabrijelcic-budapest-central-european-university-press-2020-x-337-pp-appendix-notes-bibliography-index-illustrations-2999-paper/2BCE120EC29C4772AD793957CED9B7DE—Peter Rutland, Slavic Review

"This volume is a brave attempt to tackle the complexity of problems facing Europe today. The annus mirabilis of 1989 has not delivered the promised miracle to everybody. The incomplete convergence of Europe's two halves has resulted in a lack of institutional transparency and in inequality of opportunity and material insecurity for too many. These analyses help us to respond to the increasing threat to the liberal democratic order and the European project."—Andrea Peto

"The days when 1989 was simply seen as the triumph of liberal democracy and western capitalism are long gone. This timely collection of essays is extremely useful for understanding today's Europe, whose new fault lines often reflect the legacies of division as well as contemporary transnational and global connections."—Kiran Klaus Patel

From the Publisher