Synopsis
Political transition is not only about the struggle for the future. The past is also present in the transition where politics and history are used in various symbolic, moral and juridical levels. This work deals with modern Hungarian history, and particularly with how this history has been exploited in the first post-communist years of the 1990s. Heino Nyyssonen focuses on one of the most significant events in Cold War Europe, the Hungarian "uprising" in 1956, and how the memory of this upsetting "event" has later influenced Hungarian political thought. The specific resurrection of the past through reburials, national days, memorials, and the changing of street names has occurred since the end of the 1980s, and through their analysis it becomes clear that the current politics is bound to the past in many ways. Nyyssonen follows the narrative of "1956" not only through the problems of history writing, but also in the everyday politics of the 1990s.
From the Publisher
Political transition in HungaryHeino Nyyssonen focuses on the 'uprising' of the Hungarians in 1956, and how the memory of it has later influenced on Hungarian political thought. "This is a pioneering work of major significance... Althought the book is about Hungary, its conclusions are of immediate relevance to post-communist systems generally in that they are all engaged in coming to terms with the legacy of communism." Professor George Schöpflin, University of London
