Miroslav Goreta's Books

Habits of the Balkan Heart

Social Character and the Fall of Communism

By: Stjepan Gabriel Meštrović,Slaven Letica,Miroslav Goreta

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Habits of the Balkan Heart

Social Character and the Fall of Communism

By: Stjepan Gabriel Meštrović,Slaven Letica,Miroslav Goreta

Almost as soon as Communism fell in Eastern Europe in 1989, Western politicians and intellectuals concluded that the West had "won" the Cold War and that liberal democracy had triumphed over authoritarianism in the world. Euphoria spread with the expectation of a New World Order. Within months, the giddy optimism began to fade, especially in the face of what soon became a brutal war in former Yugoslavia. Why did Serbia choose to replicate many of Germany's methods and aims from World Wars I and II, including ethnic cleansing (read "genocide") and a campaign to establish a Greater Serbia? Sociologist Stjepan Mestrovic, writing with Slaven Letica and Miroslav Goreta, argues that the social and political character of the Dinaric herdsmen--which dominates Serbian culture and politics, even though it is found in all Balkan nations--accounts for the form Communism took there, the fall of Communism, and the savagery and brutality of the post-Communist war. With carefully reasoned analysis, the authors show how sociological theories of social character--propounded by such thinkers as de Tocqueville, Veblen, and Bellah--can shed light on the conflicts in the Balkans, which, according to conventional wisdom, were not supposed to occur when Communism fell. They demonstrate that ancient, traditional ethnic, social, and nationalistic tendencies--"habits of the heart"--of the various people of the Balkans have taken precedence over pressures for democracy in the political and cultural vacuum left by the end of Communism in the region. Unfortunately, the difficulties in the Balkans will persist for a long time to come, and similar conflicts could break out in the former Soviet Union. This thought-provoking book has much new to say about the causes of such ethnic and class conflicts in the region, and the feasibility of policies for dealing with these sores. If democracy is to be achieved in post-Communist East Europe, the authors argue, it must be based on the "good" habits of the heart that coexist there with "bad" or authoritarian social character.

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Page Count

204

Publisher

Texas A&M University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0890965935

ISBN 13

9780890965931

Habits of the Balkan Heart

Social Character and the Fall of Communism

By: Stjepan Gabriel Meštrović,Slaven Letica,Miroslav Goreta

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Habits of the Balkan Heart

Social Character and the Fall of Communism

By: Stjepan Gabriel Meštrović,Slaven Letica,Miroslav Goreta

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Page Count

204

Publisher

Texas A&M University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0890965935

ISBN 13

9780890965931

The Road from Paradise

Prospects for Democracy in Eastern Europe

By: Stjepan Gabriel Me_trovi_

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The Road from Paradise

Prospects for Democracy in Eastern Europe

By: Stjepan Gabriel Me_trovi_

The 1989 fall of communism in Eastern Europe occurred in a period when Western intellectuals were involved in a confusing discourse on a number of other dramatic endings: the end of modernity, the end of the century, even the possible end of sociology. Against this backdrop, the authors focus on continuities based on the "habits of the heart" of those who threw off communism in Eastern Europe, contrasting them with Western modes of thought. Their cultural explanation draws on theories of Tocqueville, Durkheim, and others to examine positive as well as negative aspects of the nations that survived communism. While focusing on the Balkans, they also make cautious prognoses for the rest of Eastern Europe.

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Page Count

232

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813118271

ISBN 13

9780813118277

Book's by Miroslav Goreta

Habits of the Balkan Heart

Habits of the Balkan Heart

Habits of the Balkan Heart

Habits of the Balkan Heart

The Road from Paradise

The Road from Paradise

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