Monika Baar - Böcker

A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe is a two-volume project, authored by an international team of researchers, and offering the first-ever synthetic overview of the history of modern political thought in East Central Europe. Covering twenty national cultures and languages, the ensuing work goes beyond the conventional nation-centered narrative and offers a novel vision especially sensitive to the cross-cultural entanglement of discourses. Devising a regional perspective, the authors avoid projecting the Western European analytical and conceptual schemes on the whole continent, and develop instead new concepts, patterns of periodization and interpretative models. At the same time, they also reject the self-enclosing Eastern or Central European regionalist narratives and instead emphasize the multifarious dialogue of the region with the rest of the world. Along these lines, the two volumes are intended to make these cultures available for the global 'market of ideas' and also help rethinking some of the basic assumptions about the history of modern political thought, and modernity as such. The first volume deals with the period ranging from the Late Enlightenment to the First World War. It is structured along four broader chronological and thematic units: Enlightenment reformism, Romanticism and the national revivals, late nineteenth-century institutionalization of the national and state-building projects, and the new ideologies of the fin-de-siècle facing the rise of mass politics. Along these lines, the authors trace the continuities and ruptures of political discourses. They focus especially on the ways East Central European political thinkers sought to bridge the gap between the idealized Western type of modernity and their own societies challenged by overlapping national projects, social and cultural fragmentation, and the lack of institutional continuity.

A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe is a synthetic work, authored by an international team of researchers, covering twenty national cultures and 250 years. It goes beyond the conventional nation-centered narratives and presents a novel vision especially sensitive to the cross-cultural entanglement of political ideas and discourses. Its principal aim is to make these cultures available for the global 'market of ideas' and revisit some of the basic assumptions about the history of modern political thought, and modernity as such.The present volume is a sequel to Volume I: Negotiating Modernity in the 'Long Nineteenth Century'. It begins with the end of the Great War, depicting the colorful intellectual landscape of the interwar period and the increasing political and ideological radicalization culminating in the Second World War. Taking the war experience both as a breaking point but in many ways also a transmitter of previous intellectual traditions, it maps the intellectual paradigms and debates of the immediate postwar years, marked by a negotiation between the democratic and communist agendas, as well as the subsequent processes of political and cultural Stalinization. Subsequently, the post-Stalinist period is analyzed with a special focus on the various attempts of de-Stalinization and the rise of revisionist Marxism and other critical projects culminating in the carnivalesque but also extremely dramatic year of 1968. This volume is followed by Volume II: Negotiating Modernity in the 'Short Twentieth Century' and Beyond, Part II: 1968-2018.

A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe is a two-volume project, authored by an international team of researchers, and offering the first-ever synthetic overview of the history of modern political thought in East Central Europe. Covering twenty national cultures and languages, the ensuing work goes beyond the conventional nation-centered narrative and offers a novel vision especially sensitive to the cross-cultural entanglement of discourses. Devising a regional perspective, the authors avoid projecting the Western European analytical and conceptual schemes on the whole continent, and develop instead new concepts, patterns of periodization and interpretative models. At the same time, they also reject the self-enclosing Eastern or Central European regionalist narratives and instead emphasize the multifarious dialogue of the region with the rest of the world. Along these lines, the two volumes are intended to make these cultures available for the global 'market of ideas' and also help rethinking some of the basic assumptions about the history of modern political thought, and modernity as such. The first volume deals with the period ranging from the Late Enlightenment to the First World War. It is structured along four broader chronological and thematic units: Enlightenment reformism, Romanticism and the national revivals, late nineteenth-century institutionalization of the national and state-building projects, and the new ideologies of the fin-de-siècle facing the rise of mass politics. Along these lines, the authors trace the continuities and ruptures of political discourses. They focus especially on the ways East Central European political thinkers sought to bridge the gap between the idealized Western type of modernity and their own societies challenged by overlapping national projects, social and cultural fragmentation, and the lack of institutional continuity.

A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe is a synthetic work, authored by an international team of researchers, covering twenty national cultures and 250 years. It goes beyond the conventional nation-centered narratives and presents a novel vision especially sensitive to the cross-cultural entanglement of political ideas and discourses. Its principal aim is to make these cultures available for the global 'market of ideas' and revisit some of the basic assumptions about the history of modern political thought, and modernity as such.The present volume is the final part of the project, following Volume I: Negotiating Modernity in the 'Long Nineteenth Century', and Volume II, Part I: Negotiating Modernity in the 'Short Twentieth Century' (1918-1968) (OUP, 2018). Its starting point is the defeat of the vision of 'socialism with a human face' in 1968 and the political discourses produced by the various 'consolidation' or 'normalization' regimes. It continues with mapping the exile communities' and domestic dissidents' critical engagement with the local democratic and anti-democratic traditions as well as with global trends. Rather than achieving the coveted 'end of history', however, the liberal democratic order created in East Central Europe after 1989 became increasingly contested from left and right alike. Thus, instead of a comfortable conclusion pointing to the European integration of most of these countries, the book closes with a reflection on the fragility of democracy in this part of the world and beyond.

Peripheral cultures have been largely absent from the European canon of historiography. Seeking to redress the balance, Monika Baár discusses the achievements of five East-Central European historians in the nineteenth century: Joachim Lelewel (Polish); Simonas Daukantas (Lithuanian); Franti&sek Palacký (Czech); Mihály Horváth (Hungarian) and Mihail Kogălniceanu (Romanian). Comparing their efforts to promote a unified vision of national culture in their respective countries, Baár illuminates the complexities of historical writing in the region in the nineteenth century.Drawing on previously untranslated documents, Baár reconstructs the scholars' shared intellectual background and their nationalistic aims, arguing that historians on the European periphery made significant contributions to historical writing, and had far more in common with their Western and Central European contemporaries than has been previously assumed.

Peripheral cultures have been largely absent from the European canon of historiography. Seeking to redress the balance, Monika Baár discusses the achievements of five East-Central European historians in the nineteenth century: Joachim Lelewel (Polish); Simonas Daukantas (Lithuanian); Frantisek Palacký (Czech); Mihály Horváth (Hungarian) and Mihail Kogalniceanu (Romanian). Comparing their efforts to promote a unified vision of national culture in their respective countries, Baár illuminates the complexities of historical writing in the region in the nineteenth century.Drawing on previously untranslated documents, Baár reconstructs the scholars' shared intellectual background and their nationalistic aims, arguing that historians on the European periphery made significant contributions to historical writing, and had far more in common with their Western and Central European contemporaries than has been previously assumed.

Examining the ways in which societies treat their most vulnerable members has long been regarded as revealing of the bedrock beliefs and values that guide the social order. However, academic research about the post-war welfare state is often focused on mainstream arrangements or on one social group. With its focus on different marginalized groups: migrants and people with disabilities, this volume offers novel perspectives on the national and international dimensions of the post-war welfare state in Western Europe and North America.

Examining the ways in which societies treat their most vulnerable members has long been regarded as revealing of the bedrock beliefs and values that guide the social order. However, academic research about the post-war welfare state is often focused on mainstream arrangements or on one social group. With its focus on different marginalized groups: migrants and people with disabilities, this volume offers novel perspectives on the national and international dimensions of the post-war welfare state in Western Europe and North America.

This book uses a variety of case studies to examine how disability can be used as an analytical lens, and provide new perspectives on historical research.Approximately 15-20% of the world's population is estimated to be disabled. Writing the History of Disability examines 13 case studies, ranging from the activism of Italian First World War veterans, to the social history of Tuberculosis in North America, and the history of disability in sport. Each chapter encourages wider historical engagement with the social and cultural impacts of disability, and demonstrates how the history of disability can interact with existing theoretical frameworks.This book demonstrates the potential for disability as an analytical concept, both in its own right, and as a new approach to the study of history. Illuminating the intersections between disability and class, race, gender, and sexuality, this volume examines disability alongside a range of historical methodologies, and invites students to include disability in their analytical toolkit, and create more inclusive histories.

This book uses a variety of case studies to examine how disability can be used as an analytical lens, and provide new perspectives on historical research.Approximately 15-20% of the world's population is estimated to be disabled. Writing the History of Disability examines 13 case studies, ranging from the activism of Italian First World War veterans, to the social history of Tuberculosis in North America, and the history of disability in sport. Each chapter encourages wider historical engagement with the social and cultural impacts of disability, and demonstrates how the history of disability can interact with existing theoretical frameworks.This book demonstrates the potential for disability as an analytical concept, both in its own right, and as a new approach to the study of history. Illuminating the intersections between disability and class, race, gender, and sexuality, this volume examines disability alongside a range of historical methodologies, and invites students to include disability in their analytical toolkit, and create more inclusive histories.