With the implosion of communism in 1989 and the disintegration of the
Soviet Union in 1991, large swathes of central and eastern Europe found
themselves devoid of an internal market, an economic sponsor, or a
military umbrella.
The countries of central Europe - from Slovenia to Hungary - and the
Baltic dismissed the communist phase of their past as a "historical
accident" and vigorously proceeded to seek integration with Western
Europe, notably Germany, much as they have done until the rise of
Fascism in the 1930s.
The polities of eastern Europe bitterly divided into the "nostalgics"
or "reactionary" versus the "European", or "progressive". The first lot
- including Russia, Ukraine and Belarus - sought to resurrect an
economic incarnation of the former USSR. The latter - notably Poland -
reclassified themselves as "central Europeans" and emulated the likes
of the Czech republic and Hungary in a desperate bid to curry favor
with the European Union and the United States.
The Pew report reveals that the concerns of the denizens of central and
east Europe are varied but closely aligned with the global agenda. In
this sense, the iron curtain has, indeed, lifted and total integration
has been achieved despite massive economic disparities.
Pages:
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47