ABSTRACT
While some have been claiming that Western Europe is moving towards1 or is already in a postnationalist era,2 for many the salient negative feature of post-communism in Central and East Europe (hereafter CEE)3 is nationalism and ethnic politics, which in some cases has become highly aggressive (e.g. racism-related violence). Although there are many other negative social and political aspects of post-communism-the position of women, for instance, has deteriorated in several countries4-the nationalism/racism issue is potentially the most serious; clearly, it has already actually been the most dangerous in parts of the former Yugoslavia and former Soviet Union (hereafter FSU). In this chapter, the primary focus is on the various manifestations of nationalism and ethnic politics in CEE. One major objective is to explore the variety of its forms in post-communist Europe (here meaning those countries of Europe that were formerly under communist control5), as part of an examination of exclusionary and inclusionary phenomena in the region. There will also be a very brief consideration of less obvious forms of exclusion and inclusion.
