January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
In East-Central Europe, neither physical proximity nor memories of Soviet domination have united countries in their response to the war in Ukraine. What matters most is who stands to benefit.
April 2020, Volume 31, Issue 2
A grim narrative of the years since 1989 has buoyed Eastern and Central Europe’s populist parties in their rise to power. To win back voters, liberals must tell a more compelling story of the postcommunist era—and offer a stronger vision of the years to come.
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
Xi reads Tiananmen as a cautionary tale, and he has sought to centralize power and reverse years of ideological atrophy. By controlling the past, he is trying to determine how the Chinese will view their present and future.
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
Europe has seen a proliferation of laws governing historical memory, but they sometimes threaten to inflame social tensions and undermine liberal values.
July 2015, Volume 26, Issue 3
Rwanda under Paul Kagame has been hailed for its visionary leadership, economic progress, and reforms in education, health, and agriculture. Yet the regime’s autocratic rule, human-rights abuses, persecution of the Hutu majority, and growing inequality point to an ominous future.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
The impulse to have crimes against humanity investigated and punished, like the impulse behind “truth and reconciliation” commissions, is understandable. But legalism cannot supersede the hard and messy work of politics.
January 2014, Volume 25, Issue 1
Communism is gone, but while it was alive and in power it bred profound moral pathologies that still haunt the region.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
If Iraq is to become the free and self-governing country that an overwhelming majority of its citizens want it to be, a "useable past" made accessible by historical memory will be vital.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
The 15 states of the former Soviet fall into three broad categories, largely defined by fault lines of history and culture.
July 2001, Volume 12, Issue 3
There has been surprisingly little celebration of the tenth anniversary of the revolutions that brought down communism. The exaggerated hopes of the time have given way to disillusionment, but the real achievements of many of the postcommunist countries should not be discounted.
April 1994, Volume 5, Issue 2
Read the full essay here.
January 1994, Volume 5, Issue 1
Read the full essay here.
January 1994, Volume 5, Issue 1
Read the full essay here.
January 1993, Volume 4, Issue 1
Read the full essay here.
April 1992, Volume 3, Issue 2
Read the full essay here.
April 1992, Volume 3, Issue 2
A review of The End of History and the Last Man, by Francis Fukuyama.
How does a Russian autocrat celebrate Victory Day while losing a war? Expect lies, myths, and propaganda.
