Democracy and Myth in Russia and Eastern Europe

Alexander Wöll teaches Slavonic Studies at the University of Regensburg, where he is working as Assistant Professor. He is the author of Doubles. Mirror-writing, stone monument and usurpation (1999) and Jakub Deml. Life and Work. A Study in Middle European Literature (2006).Harald Wydra teaches Politics at the University of Cambridge, where he is a Fellow of St Catharine’s College. He is the author of Continuities in Poland’s Permanent Transition (2001) and Communism and the Emergence of Democracy (2006).

• 1. Introduction: Democracy and Myth in Russia and Eastern Europe Harald Wydra 2. Mythology and the Trickster: Interpreting Communism Agnes Horvath 3. The Non-Being of Communism and Myths of Democratisation Arpad Szakolczai 4. The Power of Second Reality: Communist Myths and Representations of Democracy Harald Wydra 5. ‘Mazepa’ as a Symbolic Figure of Ukrainian Autonomy Thomas Grob 6. Misoteutonic Myths: Lopping Noses in Hussite Nationalism and Love’s Sweet Cure Robert Pynsent 7. The Myth of the Dialogue of Myths: Russia and Europe Walter Koschmal 8. Myths and Democratic Attitudes in Poland and Russia: An Intermedial Comparison Alexander Wöll 9. Contested Traditions? The Democratic Uses of Three National Holidays in Contemporary Hungary Heino Nyyssönen 10. The Paradox of Infra-Liberalism: Towards a Genealogy of ‘Managed Democracy’ in Putin’s Russia Sergei Prozorov 11. Myth and Democratic Identity in Putin’s Russia Richard Sakwa