The Making of Dissidents: Hungary's Democratic Opposition and Its Western Friends, 1973-1998 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780822967637)

Before Hungary's transition from communism to democracy, local dissidents and like-minded intellectuals, activists, and academics from the West influenced each other and inspired the fight for human rights and civil liberties in Eastern Europe. Hungarian dissidents provided Westerners with a new purpose and legitimized their public interventions in a bipolar world order. The Making of Dissidents demonstrates how Hungary's Western friends shaped public perceptions and institutionalized their advocacy long before the peaceful revolutions of 1989. But liberalism failed to take root in Hungary, and Victoria Harms explores how many former dissidents retreated and Westerners shifted their attention elsewhere during the 1990s, paving the way for nationalism and democratic backsliding.

Author: Victoria Harms
ISBN-10: 0822967634
ISBN-13: 9780822967637
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Language: English
Published: 11/04/2025
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback