Imagining membership

the conception of Europe in the political thought of T. G. Masaryk and Václav Havel

Josette Baer

pp. 203-226

in: Studies in East European Thought 52 (3), 2000.

Abstract

A decade after the fall of Communism in Europe, the Czech Republic'smembership in the European Union is still a matter of a relatively shortwaiting period of 4 years. Not so the imagination of this membership andthe creation of a political concept created to promote this goal: thespecific Central European policy initiated by Thomas G. Masaryk andrevitalized by Václav Havel. Despite the deep differences in thepolitical thought and philosophical orientations of both Presidents, notto mention the historic rupture of 41 years of Totalitarianism, theirperceptions of Europe as an Imagined Community are identical.

Cited authors

Masaryk Tomáš Garrigue

Havel Vaclav