Political transformations in the interwar period

Over the past two decades, there has been a marked increase in interest in the history of political thought in East Central Europe, particularly in terms of English-language scholarship published by historians working in and on the region. In addition to the growing body of research in this field, some of which we address below, a significant aspect of this scholarly activity has been the publication of source texts translated from various East Central European languages into English, often for the first time. The primary goal of these efforts has been to make original sources accessible to scholars working in and on other East Central European contexts, as well as to a broader global audience. Two initiatives in particular stand out for their importance. The first is the four-volume reader Discourses of Collective Identity in Central and Southeast Europe (1770–1945): Texts and Commentaries, a collection of the most representative source texts on the problem of nation-building and collective identity in East Central Europe from the Enlightenment to the end of the Second World War. Most recently, the impressive volume Texts and Contexts from the History of Feminism and Women’s Rights: East Central Europe, Second Half of the Twentieth Century was released, featuring over one hundred translated texts from multiple languages written by women. Beyond the focus on the region, these readers share a common format: each source is accompanied by a scholarly commentary comprised of a brief biography of the source text author and contextual information to enhance understanding. More than mere collections of translated texts, these volumes serve as extremely valuable entry points into the problems and layers of political thought in and about East Central Europe.