New Perspectives on Socialism and Human Rights in East Central Europe since 1945
Richardson-Little, N; Dietz, H; Mark, JA
Date: 22 November 2019
Article
Journal
East Central Europe
Publisher
Brill Academic Publishers
Publisher DOI
Abstract
In recent years, the study of human rights history has expanded beyond Western-centered
narratives, though the role of Eastern European state socialism and socialists both on human rights
concepts and politics is still underrated. This introductory essay synthesizes recent research of the
role of Eastern Bloc socialist states in ...
In recent years, the study of human rights history has expanded beyond Western-centered
narratives, though the role of Eastern European state socialism and socialists both on human rights
concepts and politics is still underrated. This introductory essay synthesizes recent research of the
role of Eastern Bloc socialist states in shaping the emergence of the post-war human rights system
and the implications of this new research on the history of the Helsinki Accords as well as the
collapse of state socialism in 1989/91. Ultimately, state socialist actors were not merely human
rights antagonists, but contributed to shaping the international arena and human rights politics,
motivated both strategically as well as ideologically. And the Eastern Bloc was not merely a region
that passively absorbed the idea of human rights from the West, but a site where human rights
ideas where articulated and internationalized as well as contested.
History
Collections of Former Colleges
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