Focusing on the profound transformation in Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain, this record analyzes complex cultural dimensions, such as lifestyles, habits, value markers, and identity. Written by a group of experts, it presents case studies from the former communist countries that are members of the European Union today and attempts to answer crucial questions about the constructions of a new identity in the region: Have the processes of democratization and opening the borders produced mentality changes and new value systems? Is there a convergence of values and cultures between the new and old EU-members? Have there been backlashes in the processes of reconstructing national identities? This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in European integration, issues of national identity, and the politics and culture of the post-Communist countries.

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1 - Eurosis–a critique of the EU discourse in Slovenia
  • EUtopia–the emergence and operational logic of the new Eurocentrism
  • EUdorado–the content of the new Eurocentrism: What is Europe and What does it look like?
  • Symbolism and ritual accompanying accession to Europe
  • Just Europe
  • What Europe is NOT
  • EUgoism–aspects of the new Eurocentrism
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• CHAPTER 2 - Globalisation and mode of habitation in Hungary
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• CHAPTER 3 - From Soviet to a Western-dominated political scene The geopolitical context of politics in Poland
  • Bibliography
• CHAPTER 4 - The Polish Christian Right and the idea of the West
  • Analyzing the meaning of the Occident
  • The darkness of the Occident and Polish conservatism before 1989
  • How Western Europe has become less Western
  • The postmodern, democratic civilization of death
  • Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• CHAPTER 5 - Homo Sovieticus surviving democracy? Post-socialist nostalgia in Bulgaria
  • Two exhibitions and a paradox
  • Nostalgia as a biographical phenomenon
  • Nostalgia as social critique
  • Nostalgia and “neostalgia”
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• CHAPTER 6 - From regime legitimation to plurality of history? Europeanization in a Slovak museum
  • Introduction
  • The Slovak National Uprising
  • Contested memories of the SNU
  • The Museum of the SNU
  • Europeanization
  • Democratic museum pedagogy?
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• CHAPTER 7 - Looking back, going forward Czech and Slovak dominant historical narratives of ‘the long 1990s’
  • The ‘return of history’ and the ‘long 1990s’
  • Historical consciousness
  • Historical culture
  • Historical narrative
  • The main plots of the primary narratives
  • Narrators–bearers of historical culture
  • The diaspora and the Communists
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• CHAPTER 8 - Nationalism in Romanian textbooks Change or continuity?
  • Nationalism and post-nationalism
  • History, education and politics
  • Identity, collective memory and myths
  • The history textbook in Romania: a historical overview
  • Representation of self in Romanian textbooks
  • Representation of the Other in Romanian textbooks
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Interview
  • Textbooks
• CHAPTER 9 - Estonian Transformation From an eastern outpost in the West to a western outpost in the East
  • Narrative of origins
  • Estonians’ self-image
  • The Estonian image of Russia
  • Paradigmatic change
  • Transformation of significant Others
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• CHAPTER 10 - Lithuanian national identity Dimensions of closeness and openness
  • Theoretical framework
  • Method
  • Markers of Lithuanian national identity
  • Markers of becoming a Lithuanian
  • Patterns of Lithuanian national identity
  • Lithuanian national identity: Closeness vis-à-vis openness
  • Conclusions
  • Bibliography
• CHAPTER 11 - Ethnic minority schools and politics in post-Soviet Latvia An “ethnic rebirth”
  • How should the Latvian educational policy be characterised?
  • The preservation of ethnic purity
  • Limited assimilation
  • A policy of “symbolic multiculturalism”
  • What distinguishes ethnic minority schools from other non-mainstream schools?
  • Ethnic roots versus Soviet cosmopolitanism
  • Endorsing a traditionalist discourse
  • Language rather than tradition
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Contributors