First Published in 1995

The outcome of the political transition in Eastern Europe depends not only on the politics pursued but on the understanding of politics in the countries involved. A key aspect of such understanding is the notion of citizenship, an ancient term of striking contemporary relevance not only in Eastern Europe but in the West as well.

What then are the dynamics of citizenship in Europe’s new democracies and how do emerging solutions to the question of citizenship there respond to the concerns that the issue of citizenship has raised and continues to raise elsewhere?

These questions prompted the project which has led to this volume. Conceived in 1991, it focussed on Poland, Hungary and, what was then Czecho-Slovakia, as countries already grappling with the issue of post-communist citizenship.