In Search of Civil Society : Independent Peace Movements in the Soviet Bloc

In a time of massive social transformation in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, worldwide attention has been focused on the growth of independent peace movements in this region. In Search of Civil Society is the first comprehensive analysis of the progressive social movements that are proving vital to the expansion of grassroots civil societies. The volume presents case studies of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and the Soviet Union. Written by some of the best-informed scholars in Eastern European studies, many of them dissidents and activists, these essays analyze the current status of civil societies. The contributors tackle a host of related issues and concerns: dissent, non-violence, intra- and anti-systemic opposition, post-Stalinism, conscientious objection, and human rights. Moving beyond the arena of politics, the volume also examines the various ways peace movements are affecting cultural and moral life in these societies. Through a combination of first-hand information and scholarly interpretations, these changes are examined in view of the movement of Communist society towards pluralism.

In a time of massive social transformation in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, worldwide attention has been focused on the growth of independent peace movements in this region. In Search of Civil Society is the first comprehensive analysis of the progressive social movements that are proving vital to the expansion of grassroots civil societies. The volume presents case studies of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and the Soviet Union. Written by some of the best-informed scholars in Eastern European studies, many of them dissidents and activists, these essays analyze the current status of civil societies. The contributors tackle a host of related issues and concerns: dissent, non-violence, intra- and anti-systemic opposition, post-Stalinism, conscientious objection, and human rights. Moving beyond the arena of politics, the volume also examines the various ways peace movements are affecting cultural and moral life in these societies. Through a combination of first-hand information and scholarly interpretations, these changes are examined in view of the movement of Communist society towards pluralism.