Central And Eastern Europe (international Government Politics Series) [Paperback]

John Dornberg explores the drama of the disintegration of Communist Eastern Europe and the painful emergence of new regimes. The author, a professional journalist who has served as bureau chief forNewsweekin Bonn, Vienna, and Moscow, brings an exciting dimension and an insider's perspective to the unfamiliar political systems and complex foreign relations of these nations. This outstanding and timely study covers Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Albania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the five Yugoslav successor states.JOHN DORNBERG is a foreign correspondent, magazine writer, and author who has been writing about Germany, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union for more than 30 years. A former bureau chief and correspondent of Newsweek in Bonn, Vienna, Moscow, and Munich, he has been freelancing from his base in Munich since 1973. Dornberg is the author of 11 books, including the highly acclaimed Eastern Europe: A Communist Kaleidoscope, The Two Germanys, and The Soviet Union Today. He is also the author of Central and Eastern Europe from Oryx Press.

CONTENTS
List of Maps v
Preface vii
Part 1: The Region 1
CHAPTER 1: Miracles and Nightmares 3
The Miracle of 1989 3
The Nightmare of the 1990s 5
The Communist System in Eastern Europe
Economic Changes After 1989 9
Revival of the Ex-Communists 12
Ethnic Violence and Nationalism 13
CHAPTER 2: A Jigsaw Puzzle Map 16
CHAPTER 3: The Peoples: An Ethnic Pressure Cooker 20
Communism and Nationalism 22
Nationalism in the Soviet Union 23
The Breakups of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia 25
Other Ethnic Conflics in the Region 27
Common Outcasts: The Jews and the Gypsies 29
Religious Conflicts 33
National Pride and Symbols 34
Border Changes 35
CHAPTER 4: The Living Past 37
Greek and Roman Times 37
Common Influences and Experiences 40
The Slavs 41
The Bulgars and Magyars 42
Medieval Empires of Eastern Europe 43
CHAPTER 5: 1918-1993: Seventy-Fivl“(