Re-emergence of the Language of History in Post-socialist Slovakia: On the Concept of Historical Democratic Imagination After 1989
Re-emergence of the Language of History in Post-socialist Slovakia: On the Concept of Historical Democratic Imagination After 1989

Summary/Abstract: Shortly after the 1989 democratic revolution, it seemed history ended, but conceptualizing the language of history proved crucial for legitimacy. While some dismissed history as associated with the communist past, this article argues that liberal-democratic figures actively contributed to debates on history, historiography, and philosophy of history, constituting a key component of democracy-building. Post-socialist Slovakia's experience, grappling with rising nationalism leading to Czechoslovakia's dissolution in 1993, illuminates this. The article examines post-dissident intellectuals' attempts to provide a metanarrative through the "historical democratic imagination," analyzing its adaptation to the post-socialist context. Though not universally adopted, this imagination was a key element of "thinking post-socialist democracy" in Slovakia.

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