Illiberal Europe

Eighteen years have passed since ten countries from Central & Eastern Europe joined the European Union and more than three decades since the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989. However, ignorance about what is popularly still called Eastern Europe remains as widespread as ever. Slovenia still gets mixed up with Slovakia, the Slavs remain a mystery in a Europe apparently dominated by Romanic and Germanic nations, and a country like the Czech Republic is labelled as Eastern European, even though one must travel west to get from Vienna to Prague.

First published in 2009 under the title What's so eastern about Eastern Europe?, this book is much more than a revised and updated version of the first edition. Its presentation of the political and cultural history of Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe, written in accessible language, is now complemented with recent developments in the region. The new edition delves into the reasons behind the illiberal turn in Poland, Hungary, and elsewhere, placing the alleged democratic backslide into the wider context of European populism.

Leon Marc offers a new and fresh perspective in explaining the roots of populism and social conservatism in the region. The book attributes these roots to a mixture of historical factors, economic conditions, the heavy burden of the Communist legacy, as well as a reaction to contemporary social developments in the West. Drawing on a wide range of literature, the book calls for more sensitivity to these underlying causes, a critical examination of true European values, and a coalition of defenders of Humanism and the Judeo-Christian tradition as key pillars of its identity, to save Europe and its liberal democracy.

This updated and expanded edition includes a brand-new chapter bringing this book up to date with recent events, including Covid-19 and the Ukrainian conflict.

'Comprehensively and concisely, Leon Marc's book presents readers with vital insights into the different dimensions of our common European history and culture' - Professor Dr Jaap W. de Zwaan, Director of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations

'A critical reading of European history and an eye-witness report of pre-1989 citizen protests in the Eastern bloc highlight overlooked narratives and the undervalued potential of the region' - The Vienna Review

'This spirited, erudite polemic against the ignorant stereotyping and arbitrary lumping together of the former communist-ruled countries in Europe under the label of "Eastern Europe" is most timely' - Royal Institute of International Affairs Journal

'It is the great merit of Leon Marc's book that he delves behind the brief and inglorious communist half-century to uncover the deep traditions of a region' - Dublin Review of Books