Arien Mack, Editor
Discusses the iconographic transformations that accompanied Poland's transition to democracy. Teleology of change; Utopia of civic society; Myth of unity; Conflict between reality and the society's illusions about democracy.
Discusses the issue of anti-Semitism in Poland and its role in the 1990 presidential elections in that country. Activities of various anti-Semitic groups; Existence of an anti-Semitic current within the Solidarity Party in 1980 to 1981; Growth of marginal public manifestations of anti-Semitism in the months leading up to the elections; Political discourse on the issue.
Focuses on the issue of nationalism in the former Yugoslavia. Entry of the Balkan states into a phase of destabilization; Phases of a revolution; Multiplicity of associations that taint the concept of nationalism; Political conditions in postcommunist countries.
Focuses on the growth of nationalism among the previously oppressed groups of the Eastern and Central European countries, which experienced transitions to democracy following the collapse of communism in 1989. Collapse of the social system in these countries; Indifference of nationalism to class; Secondary social status of the people of the so-called socialist states.
Focuses on the concept of nationalism as a totalitarian ideology in the Central European setting. Growing importance of questions of national identity and national language in today's Central Europe; Substance of nationalism; Defense against nationalism.
Focuses on the series of revolutions in 1989 that brought down communism in Eastern and Central Europe and the Soviet Union. Increase invirulent nationalism; Internal conflicts; Integration of West Europe; Historical complexities of nationalist emotions in Eastern and Central Europe; Speculations on the political future of these regions.
Focuses on the growth of nationalism in Romania following the series of revolutions that swept the Eastern European region in 1989. Rejection of the Stalinist socioeconomic model; National conflicts; Tendency to replace military action by political action; Political conditions in Romania; Historical conditioning of Romanian nationalism.
Focuses on the ethnicity of the Romanies of Eastern Europe. Estimated number of Romanies living in the region; Increase of prejudice and conflict against Romanies; Roots of prejudice; Consequences of the Eastern European transition from communist to market economies; Diversity and conflicting images of West Europe.
Focuses on the reemergence of Ukraine as a sovereign nation following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 and the country's celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1990 to 1991. Glasnost and perestroika; Founding of an ecological movement; Proclamation of Ukrainian as the language of the state; Religious revival; Intense interest in the Cossacks among historians and history readers.
[reprinted in 70th Anniversary issue, 71:3]
Discusses the challenges to democratic theory that emerged from the unique and unprecedented nature of the East Central European process of political transformation that started with the collapse of communism in 1989. Transition to democracy; Theoretical dilemmas faced by those analyzing the revolutionary transformation in Eastern Europe; Growth of capitalism.
Comments on Claus Offe's article "Capitalism by Democratic Design? Democratic Theory Facing the Triple Transition in East Central Europe," which appeared in the Winter 1991 issue of the Social Research journal. Differentiates between the social scientist's and the historian's assessment of actual political developments; Macro theories for the political change in Eastern Europe.