Identities, Nations and Politics after Communism
Edited by Roger E. Kanet
Routledge – 2008 – 182 pages
This book focuses on questions of identity that have confronted the countries of Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of the communist system that had previously provided them with an identity.
This development both facilitated and necessitated a reassessment of the now independent nations’ history, orientation, symbols and identity. In some cases, new states were created without a clear national identity, while in others the nation was regaining statehood, but not always within borders that had an historical association with the nation concerned. The multiethnic character of the space of the former Soviet Union and its erstwhile "satellites," and the long historical legacy of complex relations, boundary changes, population migration, and economic and social changes presented different challenges to the various nations and states concerned.
The essays in this volume attempt to elucidate and understand the issues of ethnic and national identity and their relationship to the emerging statehood in various regions of the post-communist world. This study makes clear that some nation-states were far better prepared to handle these issues than others, and that the longer-term impact of the communist experience has varied.
This book was previously published as a special issue of Nationalities Papers
1 Identities and Nations in the Post-Communist World
Roger E. Kanet, University of Miami, USA
2. Are You Hungarian or Bulgarian: National and Ethnic identity in Central and Eastern Europe?
Alina Curticapean, University of Tampere, Finland
3. The Caucasian Connection: Identity Tensions in the Ballets of Aram Khachaturian
Harlow Robinson, Northeastern University, USA
4. Representing the Empire – the Meaning of Siberia for Russian Imperial Identity
Claudia Weiss, Helmut-Schmidt-Universität der Bundeswehr, Germany
5. (Re)Presenting Identity: National Archipelagos in Kazan
Aurora Álvarez Veinguer, University of Granada, Spain
6. (Re-)Construction of Collective Identities After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Russian-Speakers in Estonia
Triin Vihalemm, University of Tartu, Estonia
7. National Identity, Europeanization and Euroscepticism
Søren Riishø, University of Southern Denmark
8. National Identity and National Interests in Polish Eastern Policy, 1989– 2004
Krzysztof Fedorowicz, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
9. The Nature of Russia’s Identity: ‘Russia and the West’ in Post-Soviet Culture
Rosalind Marsh, University of Bath, UK
Roger E. Kanet is Professor of International Studies at the University of Miami, Coral Gables. He has published widely on communist and postcommunist Europe. His most recent publications include From Superpower to Besieged Global Power: Restoring World Order after the Failure of the Bush Doctrine (Georgia, 2008); Russia, Re-Emerging Great Power (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007); The New Security Environment. The Impact on Russia, Central and Eastern Europe (Ashgate, 2005); Resolving Regional Conflicts (Illinois, 1998); Post-Communist States in the World Community (Macmillan/St. Martin’s, 1998); and The Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (Macmillan/St. Martin’s, 1997). Kanet has served as Dean of the School of International Studies at the University of Miami and earlier as Associate Vice-Chancellor and Director of International Programs and Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.