Rereading The Intellectuals on the Road to Class Power

These essays were originally presented at a symposium of the same title that took place at the annual meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Slavic Studies in Toronto on November 20, 2003. The charge to the participants was to “to reread the book and make short presentations on it, its significance, the validity of its analysis in hindsight, its historical contribution to our understanding of late communism, its influence on others.” The symposium was timed to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of writing of the book in 1973–1974 as well as the twenty-fifth anniversary of its publication in English in 1979.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43655/1/11186_2005_Article_3293.pd

“A very orderly retreat”: Democratic transition in East Germany, 1989-90

East Germany's 1989-90 democratisation is among the best known of East European transitions, but does not lend itself to comparative analysis, due to the singular way in which political reform and democratic consolidation were subsumed by Germany's unification process. Yet aspects of East Germany's democratisation have proved amenable to comparative approaches. This article reviews the comparative literature that refers to East Germany, and finds a schism between those who designate East Germany's transition “regime collapse” and others who contend that it exemplifies “transition through extrication”. It inquires into the merits of each position and finds in favour of the latter. Drawing on primary and secondary literature, as well as archival and interview sources, it portrays a communist elite that was, to a large extent, prepared to adapt to changing circumstances and capable of learning from “reference states” such as Poland. Although East Germany was the Soviet state in which the positions of existing elites were most threatened by democratic transition, here too a surprising number succeeded in maintaining their position while filing across the bridge to market society. A concluding section outlines the alchemy through which their bureaucratic power was transmuted into property and influence in the “new Germany”

"Between Maastricht and Sarajevo: European Identities, Narratives, Myths"

European identity emerges from narrative. The multiple narratives of Historical Europe include Cold War Europe, a hegemonic narrative, or myth. The end of the Cold War has lessened the political authority of this narrative, increasingly opening it to revisionist interpretations and releasing previously repressed competitors to contend in a more pluralistic, multivocal European environment. The legitimate heir of Cold War Europe is Europe-Maastricht, an integrative identity that beckons into the future with a Europtimistic vision. Based on instrumental rationality and development, it promises peace and prosperity. It is, however, challenged by an increasingly powerful Europe-Sarajevo, a disintegrative identity that emphasizes deeper historical ethnic and cultural roots and threatens the dominant political and economic construction of Europe during the last half century