Fantasies of salvation
Subtitle: democracy, nationalism, and myth in post-communist Europe
By: Vladimir Tismaneanu.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Princeton, NJ
Language: eng
Number of pages: 216
Subjects: Ideology -- Europe, Eastern.; Ideology -- Former Soviet republics.; Post-communism -- Europe, Eastern.; Post-communism -- Former Soviet republics.; Europe, Eastern -- Politics and government -- 1989-; Former Soviet republics -- Politics and government.
Description: Eastern Europe has become an ideological battleground since the collapse of the Soviet Union, with liberals and authoritarians struggling to seize the ground lost by Marxism. In Fantasies of Salvation, Vladimir Tismaneanu traces the intellectual history of this struggle and warns that authoritarian nationalists pose a serious threat to democratic forces.

A leading observer of the often baffling world of post-Communist Europe, Tismaneanu shows that extreme nationalistic and authoritarian thought has been influential in Eastern Europe for much of this century, while liberalism has only shallow historical roots. Despite democratic successes in places such as the Czech Republic and Poland, he argues, it would be a mistake for the West to assume that liberalism will always triumph.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [169]-210) and index.