Viella: Viella historical research

The chapters brought together in this volume build on the idea that in the 1970s-1980s the global language of human rights contributed to stimulating ideas of reform in the communist world. The protagonists were Mikhail Gorbachev and the Italian communists. The experience of the PCI was in many ways a peculiar case, but one that was linked to underground ideas of cultural change even in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Gorbachev's ascent signalled a fundamental shift, as he rejected the approach of reducing human rights to an ideological battleground and instead made it the centrepiece of a universalist relaunch. By exploring the encounter between reform communists and human rights, the authors reconstruct the metamorphosis and the end of communism within the context of the wider transformations taking place in European political cultures at the end of the Cold War.

This book was inspired by the picturesque Moravian town of Kroměříž, which has left an indelible mark on the history of parliamentarism in central Europe. This town saw the first attempt at nurturing the peaceful coexistence of nations within the Habsburg monarchy, based on the principles of constitutional monarchy. Central to the scholars' analyses are the themes of political and economic liberalism, the transformation from a rural peasant to an urban industrial society, and the formation of national identities and communities. These topics are all examined with an awareness of the diversity and complexity of the political, ethnic, religious and social composition of central Europe.