It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…

(Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)

Charles Dickens’s opening words from his epic novel aptly sums up the contradictory and ambiguous mood prevalent today in much of Eastern Europe. On the one hand, the collapse of communist rule created a ‘spring of hope’, which promised to the peoples of this much-abused region a new era of democracy, prosperity and national independence. On the other, it has led to growing worries about the future, as the pains of market-oriented economic reform and resurgent nationalism have generated fears about the emergence of various forms of authoritarian nationalism in at least some of these post-communist countries. Without doubt, the mood of optimism and hope which characterized the heady days of the autumn of 1989 have been replaced by a more sober realization of the difficulties involved in making the transition to political democracy and a social market economy. As Dominique Moisi (1991:7) has noted, ‘The euphoria of 1989, with its rejoicing over European unity, seems light-years away. Today in the West, Europessimism is back in fashion where Eastern Europe is concerned.’