European Perspectives on Transition - (European Conceptual History) by Pablo Sánchez León & Agustín Cosovschi (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The concept of transition occupies an awkward place within scholarship on contemporary European history. Seemingly unable to decipher the complex factors shaping the processes of democratization, it risks appearing redundant as a framework for understanding recent and on-going political developments. In European Perspectives on Transition, Pablo Sánchez León and Agustín Cosovschi prove otherwise, offering a pioneering and much-needed conceptual history of transition from a comparative perspective. Bringing together eight case studies on transitional discourse, ranging from the so-called Third Wave of Southern Europe in the 1970s to the regime changes in Central and Eastern Europe, this volume models a vital new way for studying temporality and transition within Europe.

Review Quotes

"[This] is a very welcome collection. Very little has been published on the concept of transition, as opposed to the practices conventionally associated with it, and the contributors to this volume provide a thorough historical treatment. The reader gets a critical analysis of this particular concept, and also a powerful example of how to study temporality in contemporary European history." - Jonathan White, London School of Economics

"This [book] makes a valuable and timely contribution in addressing a pressing matter of concern: how to fill the space left empty (in both intellectual and policy terms) by the bankruptcy of the transitology approach to democratization which has risen to prominence globally during last half-century? In particular, what intellectual historians can do about it?" - Piotr Wciślik, Instytut Badań Literackich PAN

About the Author

Agustín Cosovschi is a postodoctoral scientific researcher at the École française d'Athènes. Dealing primarily with the political and intellectual history of the Cold War in Southeast Europe from a global and transnational perspective, he has published articles in French, English, and Spanish in journals such as The International History Review, Cold War History, Comparative Southeast European Studies, and Balkanologie. Additionally, he has published two monographs; Les sciences sociales face a la crise (2022, Paris, Karthala), on the transformation of social sciences during the crisis and breakup of Yugoslavia, and the co-authored Nueva historia del comunismo en Europa del Este (Siglo XXI, Buenos Aires and Madrid, 2024).