This volume compares different regional perspectives on the national and democracy-building aims of individual states. It confronts discourses about national states to regional perspectives on the past as well as the current political and social landscape. Why are we observing calls for national identity right now? What are the roots of this development? How can a Central European identity be shaped when national perspectives are prevalent? The book's first part analyses social and political processes that shaped nation-states in the Central European region and shows divergent trends of individual states when it comes to defining a regional approach of the Visegrád Group (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary = V4). The second part focuses on key personalities of the 20th century history of individual V4 countries in the light of their perception in the neighbouring states and how they shaped national states as well as identities after the end of World War II. Similar aims and approaches implemented by individual countries often led to anything but raising regional understanding. The book's third part reflects upon activities of various initiatives aiming to approach this challenge from the perspective of civil society, and Central Europe's young generation. The collection brings together leading historians of Central Europe from the V4 countries. It also offers external perspectives on historical developments in Central Europe from the perspective of the 21st century and on political cooperation as well as its roots. Lastly, it includes practitioners of Central European cooperation from both academia and civil society, and their reflection on their countries' political cooperation after 1989.

Dr. Michal Vít is a research fellow at the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy at Prague. Previously he was associated with the Institute for European Policy at Berlin and at International Institute of Political Science at Masaryk University in Brno. Dr. Magdalena M. Baran is a historian of ideas, philosopher, and columnist. She studied at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow and the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. She is on the editorial board of the quarterly Liberté! as well as a co-founder of the weekly Kultura Liberalna, and writes for, among others, Res Publica Nowa and Visegrad Insight.