Focusing on the historical evolution of populism, this analysis delves into the rise of illiberal democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, exploring their implications for democratic and liberal principles. It examines the roots of contemporary political challenges by tracing the development of populism from late nineteenth-century Imperial Russia to modern figures like Viktor Orbán and Jaroslaw Kaczyński. This innovative approach seeks to clarify the complex factors influencing the region's political landscape and the ongoing debates surrounding it.
Across central and eastern Europe after World War II, the newly established
communist regimes promised a drastic social revolution that would transform
the world at great pace and pave the way to a socialist future. Although many
aspects of this utopian project are well known - such as fast-paced
industrialisation, collectivisation and urbanisation - the regimes even sought
to transform the ways in which their citizens interacted with each other and
the world around them. Using a unique analytical model based on an amalgam of
anthropology, sociology, history and extensive archival research, award-
winning scholar Roman Krakovsky here considers the Czechoslovakian attempt to
'reinvent the world' - 'time' and 'space' included - in this all-encompassing
way. Ranging from WWII to the fall of the Berlin Wall, his innovative analysis
variously considers the impact of Stakhanovism, the impossible-to-achieve
production targets intended to assert socialism's future potential; the
attempt to replace Sunday's Christian attributes with socialist ones; and the
profound changes brought about to the public and private spheres, including
the culture of informing and the ways this was circumvented. Across a wide
range of case studies Krakovsky demonstrates both the far-reaching extent of
the communist vision and the inherent flaws and contradictions that gradually
destabilised it. This in-depth perspective is vital reading for all scholars
of twentieth century history and politics.
