Varieties of Transition: The East European and East German Experience (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)

In recent years the countries of eastern Europe have been undergoing a process of rapid political transformation. This process has brought with it common problems experienced on different levels: economic crisis, growing social insecurity and injustice, ethnic conflicts and civil strife. In addition, post-communist societies have encountered political, legal and social difficulties in coming to terms with their own past.In this new book, Claus Offe provides a lucid and insightful account of this complex process of tranformation. In a wide-ranging disucssion he analyses the problems brought about by the creation of new political and economic orders in the countries of central and eastern Europe, and argues that the way forward is to build and consolidate a new democratic polity, a new economy, and a new conception of nationhood capable of absorbing ethnic conflict.