Is There a Future for Liberalism in Eastern Europe?

Taking as his starting point the methodological precepts of the American liberal political scientist Adam Przeworski about the importance of the action-theory analysis of the transformational dynamics of postauthoritarian societies, the author looks into the prospects of liberal reforms in Eastern Europe. The central thesis of the article is that the reforms\u27 success depends on the balance of power between liberal and national-populist elites, who vie for public support. The outcome of that struggle will depend on the way in which the competing elites will act in response to five essential contextual factors: the need for economic and social security, the expectations of social justice, the dynamics of the integration with the West , the articulation of the national identity within the national state, and possibly the existence of national minorities (i.e. the threat of inter-ethnic conflicts)

The Heavy Burden of History: Political Uses of the Past in the Yugoslav Successor States

Political interpretations of the past serve different purposes: they are the source of collective identities that distinguish “us” and “them”, they mobilize support for political leaders as well as negative emotions against political adversaries. In the post-Yugoslav states political uses of history by political elites played an important role in their nationalist policies which ultimately produced violent conflicts and war. This outcome has been rather exceptional in comparison to the dynamics of nationalism in other two dissolving post-communist federations. The author examines several explanations of this exceptionalism and argues that the strength of nationalism and intensity of nationalist conflicts among the ex-Yugoslav nations can be explained by the unfavourable historical conditions of nation- and state-building and by different elite strategies. A comparison of nationalist discourses and political strategies of Serb, Croatian and Slovene political elites reveals significant differences which led to different outcomes

Croatia: one year later

A year after Croatia’s accession to the European Union on July 1, 2013, we asked an academic and a journalist to write their accounts of the much anticipated ‘return to Europe’. Nenad Zakošek and Ines Sabalić argue that while the government has proven to be inefficient, ordinary Croats have started to enjoy the benefits of membership