ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book focuses on the complexity of the processes underway for more than a decade in the postcommunist states. It argues that the transition can be seen as the re-engagement of formerly communist states with Europe. This is so not simply in the geographical, economic and military senses, for which the dismantling of the Berlin Wall is an admirable physical symbol. It is also, and perhaps more importantly, the case in relation to the re-engagement with European social and cultural identity. The social relationships established under communism highlight the historical detour from European development. The history of the European Union as an institutional mechanism of democracy shows that it not only allows but creates breathing space to traditional values and institutions. Only democracy fosters pluralism and coexistence between modernised and more traditional sectors of society.
