Rick Fawn

This recasting of modern European history offers new insights into the Visegrad Group's significant role in changing political mind-sets and refashioning the continentRick Fawn has written the first book-length account of the Visegrad Group of states, which consists of the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Poland, and Hungary. Named after Hungary's Visegrád Castle, the group's significance includes changing international perceptions of Central Europe since the fall of communism and securing membership in NATO and the European Community. It plays an ongoing role today in regional solidarity and politics within the European Union and NATO. Castle on a Hill is built on years of uniquely obtained oral and written sources and on the author's sustained engagement in this region. Fawn examines Visegrad's origins and major accomplishments, and what makes it a unique regional organization. In addition to its positive contributions, Fawn identifies Visegrad's weaknesses, oversteps, and missteps, including its controversial propulsion to international fame for successfully derailing the European Union's plans to resettle non-Europeans during the 2015 "migrant crisis." This book also offers insights for the wider study of the phenomenon of regionalism in international relations. Castle on a Hill shows how the Visegrad Group has changed Central Europe, largely for the better, and it will appeal to scholars and policymakers interested in international politics, European history, and the study of regions and regionalism in international relations.

This recasting of modern European history offers new insights into the Visegrad Group's significant role in changing political mind-sets and refashioning the continentRick Fawn has written the first book-length account of the Visegrad Group of states, which consists of the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Poland, and Hungary. Named after Hungary's Visegrád Castle, the group's significance includes changing international perceptions of Central Europe since the fall of communism and securing membership in NATO and the European Community. It plays an ongoing role today in regional solidarity and politics within the European Union and NATO. Castle on a Hill is built on years of uniquely obtained oral and written sources and on the author's sustained engagement in this region. Fawn examines Visegrad's origins and major accomplishments, and what makes it a unique regional organization. In addition to its positive contributions, Fawn identifies Visegrad's weaknesses, oversteps, and missteps, including its controversial propulsion to international fame for successfully derailing the European Union's plans to resettle non-Europeans during the 2015 "migrant crisis." This book also offers insights for the wider study of the phenomenon of regionalism in international relations. Castle on a Hill shows how the Visegrad Group has changed Central Europe, largely for the better, and it will appeal to scholars and policymakers interested in international politics, European history, and the study of regions and regionalism in international relations.

Czechoslovakia has been at the center of some of the most difficult—and tragic—episodes of modern European history: its sacrifice to Nazi Germany at Munich; the Communist Coup of 1948; and the military crushing of the Prague Spring. It has also enacted momentous change almost magically, as in the peaceful overthrow of communism in 1989, and then the negotiated end to the country in 1992. Czechoslovak history has consequently produced enduring political metaphors for our times, such as the Velvet Revolution and Velvet Divorce. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Czech State has been thoroughly updated and greatly expanded. Featuring a chronology, introductory essay, appendix, bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries, this detailed, authoritative reference provides understandings of the Czechs as a people; the territory they inhabit; their social, cultural, political, and economic developments throughout history; and interactions with their neighbors and the wider world.

Russia's transition from communism holds great significance not only for itself but also for the wider world. This collection of essays examines the spectrum of Russia's transition since 1991 - considering not only the pattern of events but also what the changes have meant for Russians themselves.

Czechoslovakia has captured the nation's imagination throughout the twentieth century. The Allied betrayal of the country to Nazi Germany in 1938 was to demonstrate the appalling consequences of naive appeasement of aggression. The wholesale reform of Soviet communism in the Prague Spring of 1968 won western support, and sympathy when it was crushed by Warsaw Pact tanks. The fierce communist regime thereafter was brought down almost magically in 1989. Czechoslovakia added to the international political vocabulary the term, 'Velvet Revolution', and the velvet metaphor has characterised much of the country's path-breaking postcommunist transformation and its peaceful break-up in 1993. In separate chapters on history, politics, economics, foreign relations and the new Czech identity, this book not only applauds the successes of the Czech Republic since 1993, but also uncovers the frayed edges of the velvet nation.