ABSTRACT
Twenty years have passed since the onset of the post-communist transition, yet many former Eastern Bloc countries are still struggling with their emerging complex identities. In the aftermath of state socialism and its homogenizing political and cultural pressures, countries in Eastern Europe have had to redefine their national identities. This process has been influenced by two major forces. On the one hand, these countries rediscovered or reconstructed national and cultural traditions that, in turn, influenced societal discourses on national identity. In many cases, this resulted in efforts to construct national narratives around ideas of unity and uniformity, where most of the discourse was focused on who is (or can be) part of the nation. National identity was rearticulated against the perceived identities of internal and external “Others,” such as minorities and historical adversaries. On the other hand, the forces of globalization, Westernization, and Europeanization also influenced the redefinition of national identities in Eastern Europe. These macro processes introduced such new concepts as diversity and multiculturalism into the discourses on national identity, resulting in additional conceptual complexity that was unfamiliar to many citizens in the region.
