Timothy Garton Ash: Is a Spectre still haunting Central Europe? – Interview und Vortrag

Karl-Peter Schwarz im Interview mit dem Britischen Historiker Timothy Garton Ash. Aufgenommen im Zuge der 14. Gottfried-von-Haberler Konferenz 2018 in Vaduz (FL)*

Englische Zusammenfassung seines Vortrags “Is a Spectre still haunting Central Europe?”

In central Europe we are witnessing a dramatic reaction against nearly 30 years of transformation, liberalisation, Europeanisation and globalisation. Populist parties in Hungary and Poland appeal to traditional notions of national community and sovereignty, yet also have economic policies more usually seen on the left. Some of their electorate comes from the left. They also claim to speak for democracy against liberalism.

What went wrong? How far does what is happening in central European politics now (including the Alternative für Deutschland) reflect unresolved traumas of four decades of Soviet communist rule? How far of an insufficiently addressed past, and how far of the cost of transformation? Was there any better way to dismantle the Marxist-Leninist legacy? Has the impact of the European Union amounted to ‘undemocratic liberalism’, as some critics suggest?

Drawing on four decades of writing about central Europe, Timothy Garton Ash will reflect on these and other questions.

*Timothy Garton Ash held his talk at the 14th International Gottfried von Haberler Conference which took place on May 25, 2018 in Vaduz, at University of Liechtenstein. Topic: “Karl Marx: Born 1818 and Still Going Strong?” – German: “Karl Marx: Mythos und Realität”. The event was organized and hosted by ECAEF – European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation.”