Resistance and Dissent in Central and Eastern Europe. An Emerging Historiography
Resistance and Dissent in Central and Eastern Europe. An Emerging Historiography

Summary/Abstract: This article offers both a genealogy of academic interest in resistance and dissent in the region, as well as an overview of current directions in research. Four kinds of sources are canvassed to paint as fulsome a picture as a short article permits. First, the original literature on dissent prior to the conclusion of the Cold War is reviewed, beginning with the seminal challenge to the “totalitarian” school presented by Gordon Skilling’s seminal article in World Politics. Second, key texts written in the two decades since the fall of communism on the impact of resistance and dissent are examined. Trajectories of initial research in the post-communist era are outlined, along with an assessment of how more recent texts of the “twenty years since the Fall” variety account for resistance and dissent. Finally, results of a short survey conducted by the author and sent to both established and emerging scholars in Europe and North America who are interested, have written on, and/or published on forms of resistance and dissent add a critical contemporary dimension to the analysis.

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