Commentaries by Jiří Pehe

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  Dec. 17, 2011

  Václav Havel’s Life in Truth

  PRAGUE – Long before Czechoslovakia’s communist regime collapsed in 1989, Václav Havel was one of the most remarkable figures in Czech histo…

• Nov. 10, 2005

  Populism’s Short March in Central Europe

  A specter is haunting the European Union’s new members in Central Europe ­– the specter of populist nationalism. The Law and Justice Party (…

• Jun. 19, 2005

  New and True Europeans

  The fiasco of the European Union’s summit in Brussels has brought into sharp relief differences in attitudes between most new member countri…

• Sep. 22, 2004

  Post-EU Depression

  The government of Poland collapsed first, followed by the Czech government. Then the Hungarian prime minister resigned. The government of Sl…

• Apr. 30, 2004

  How United Is "New Europe?"

  Seen from the point of view of the European Union's longtime member states, the eight postcommunist countries that - together with Cyprus an…

• Jan. 21, 2004

  The New Face of Fascism

  Extreme-right and post-fascist parties, whose rising popularity caused alarm across Western Europe a few years ago, seem to be fading from t…

• Aug. 25, 2003

  Slouching Towards Europe

  When communism in Eastern Europe collapsed, the region's new democratic leaders agreed that joining the European Union--fast--must be their …

• Feb. 19, 2003

  France's Threat to European Unity

  At the end of the EU summit in Brussels on Monday--a meeting held to bridge the growing schism over the Union's policy on Iraq--French Presi…

• Jan. 30, 2003

  Vaclav Havel: The Dissident in Power

  The life of Vaclav Havel, who is stepping down as president of the Czech Republic, could serve as inspiration for one of Havel's own absurdi…

• Jan. 21, 2002

  Central Europe's Fractious Right

  Is Eastern Europe's political pendulum about to run down? Across Central Europe since 1989, elections have oscillated between right and left…