Article(print)1998

The Use and Abuse of History in Eastern Europe: A Challenge for the 90s

In: Constellations: an international journal of critical and democratic theory, Volume 4, Issue 3, p. 376-386

Mostov, Julie

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Abstract

Discusses uses & abuses of history in theoretical & political development, focusing on how particular approaches can obstruct the development of tolerance, gender equity, & democracy. A tension exists in Eastern Europe between the desire for economic & political reform & the creation of a romanticized past. Analyzing how history is used to legitimate political projects, it is argued that originary myths about the nation conflict with the cultivation of liberal values & institutions, resulting in the withdrawal of protection from individuals & groups who are not part of the organic community. Citizenship based on the exercise of deliberate judgment is rejected, because opposition is easily equated with disloyalty. Serbia provides a telling contemporary example. E. Munson

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