The Break-up of Communism in East Germany and Eastern Europe

by Feiwel Kupferberg

Overview

This book presents a novel understanding of the break-up of communist hegemony in East Germany and Eastern Europe. Based on comparative case studies, it argues that identity politics is a particular invention of communist rule, producing a political citizen. Focusing upon identity politics helps us better to understand the longterm stability of communist hegemony, its sudden collapse, the difficulties of transforming communist societies to liberal democracies and the unexpected revival of ethnic, nationalist and cultural conflicts in post-communist Eastern Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349270903
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/01/1999
Edition description:	1st ed. 1999
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

FEIWEL KUPFERBERG is Associate Professor of Sociology at Aalborg University. He has been Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, guest Lecturer at Moscow University, Visiting Scholar at the Berlin Institute of Social Studies, and Visiting Scholar at Max Planck Institute of Human Development, Berlin. He is the author of The Paternalistic Spirit, and Creative Chaos in Project Work.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction Rethinking the East European Revolutions The Collapse of Communism From Information Control to Creative Chaos A Hotbed of Hatred Coping with Ethnic Conflicts in Eastern Europe In the Company of Bulgarians East Germany as a ‘Model Case' for Transformation Theory Managing an Unmasterable Past Transformation, Modernity and the East German ‘Sonderweg' Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

Presents a new understanding of the break-up of communist hegemony in East Germany and Eastern Europe, based on comparative case studies. Defines identity politics as a paternalistic type of rule which encourages a highly apolitical type of individualism strongly tied to personal careers, family and friendship ties, and the need for privacy, and argues that identity politics is a particular invention of communist rule. This socio-psychological legacy is the main obstacle to successful transformation to liberal democracy. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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