The Break-up of Communism in East Germany and East Europe (Hardcover)

This text presents an understanding of the break-up of communist hegemony in East Germany and Eastern Europe. Based on comparative case studies, it argues that identity politics is a particular invention of communist rule, producing a political citizen. The author asserts that the focus upon identity politics can help us better to understand the long term stability of communist hegemony, its sudden collapse, the difficulties of transforming communist societies to liberal democracies and the unexpected revival of ethnic, nationalist and cultural conflicts in post-communist Eastern Europe.