The waning spectre of neo-nationalism in East-Central Europe

Abstract

The nationalistic tide emerging in the vogue for systemic changes in East-Central Europe (ECE) challenged the thesis that we were soon about to enter a post-national age. The revival of nationalism, however, has its limits, at least for those countries in ECE which are striving for membership in the European Union. The growing importance of regional integrations generally diminish the traditional sovereignty of national politics in many respects. In a much debated essay, Samuel Huntington rightly stated that we have entered a new age in which ‘the great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations’. The nation-state should be a mere historical phenomenon with a transitory character. ‘Westerners tend to think of nation states as the principal actors of global affairs. They have been, however, for only a few centuries’ — he states. After the end of the Cold War, the clash of civilizations (in Toynbee’s sense) will dominate global politics. ‘For the relevant future, there will be no universal civilization, but instead a world of different civilizations, each of which will have to learn to coexist with the others.’¹