ABSTRACT
This chapter explicates how the concept of the individual is used in the discursive practices of the post-socialist countries. It utilizes an account given by M.A. Gillespie to outline the 'historical' development of the concept of history as it is still understood in Central-East European countries. The chapter considers the G. W. F. Hegel's perception of history as a linear progression towards a universal resolution of 'society'. It also considers the Hegel's 'Euro-centric' understanding of 'progress' on a universal scale. The chapter deals with Hegel's treatment of the dialectical resolution of human history. The very concept of individualism, which has been questioned in the Western philosophical milieu by writers with different ideological affiliations, became the rising 'protagonist' in the vocabulary of a new post-socialist society. Hegel's project of a 'scientific understanding' of history must be located in the era in which he lived. The chapter suggests that Michel Foucault's project might be more helpful in understanding of this 'self-disciplining' by die Romanies.
