Ethnicity, Nationalism and the European Cold War

This book questions the prevalent assumption that ethnicity and nationalist politics had nothing to do with the Cold War and that, far from being 'frozen' until the fall of communism, they remained central to the conflict in Europe. Leading scholars bring their understanding of particular regions to bear on the wider issue of why ethnic explanations were written out of the discourse and whether this was a failure on the part of Western observers. This in turn has led to an overly simple understanding of power flowing downwards, from superpower to nation state and from state to society. Engaging with key thinkers such as Gaddis, Moynihan and Adam Roberts this collection ultimately allows such speculation to be replaced by historical research and bridges the gap between 'high politics' and ethnic concerns.

Robert Knight is Senior Lecturer in International History at Loughborough University, UK.

Introduction Robert Knight (Loughborough University, UK) 1. Western Perspectives on Ethnic Politics Robert Knight (Loughborough University, UK) 2. Re-thinking Ethnicity and the Origins of the Cold War: at the Austrian-Hungarian Borderlands Mark Pittaway (Open University, UK) 3. Identity, Sovereignty and the Cold War at the Italo-Yugoslav Border: Between Empire, Nationhood and Class Sabina Mihelj (Loughborough University, UK) 4. Minority conflict between Hungary and Romania Martin Mevius (Utrecht University, Netherlands) 5. Insecurity and Control: Bulgaria and its Turkish Minority Vasil Paraskevov (Konstantin Preslavsky University, Bulgaria) 6. South Tyrol: Ethnic winners in the Cold War? Günther Pallaver (University of Innsbruck, Austria) 7. Sorbian Ethnic Interests, the GDR State and the Cold War Peter Barker (Open University, UK) Acknowledgements Abbreviations Index