Synopses & Reviews
This book argues that the foreign policy of any country is heavily influenced by national identity. This is especially the case in East-Central Europe where political institutions are weak, and social coherence remains subject to the vagaries of the concept of nationhood. Ilya Prizel's study examines the history and politics of Russia, Poland and Ukraine, and will be of interest to students of nationalism, as well as foreign policy and politics in East-Central Europe.
Review
"...ingenious...The combination of disciplined history and well-contructed comparison makes this an exceptional foreign policy study." Foreign Affairs
Table of Contents
Introduction: a statement of the arguments; 1. National identity and foreign policy: a dialectical relationship; 2. Polish identity 1795-1944: from romanticism to positivism to ethno-nationalism; 3. Poland after World War II: native conservatism and the return to Central Europe; 4. Polish foreign policy in perspective: a new encounter with positivism; 5. Russia's national identity and the accursed question: a strong state and a weak society; 6. Russian identity and the Soviet period; 7. Russia's foreign policy reconsidered; 8. Ukraine: the ambivalent identity of a submerged nation, 1654-1945; 9. Post-World War II Ukraine: birth pangs of a modern identity; 10. Foreign policy as a means of nation building.