From Estonia to Macedonia, this book is a history of 15 countries as they negotiate their transition from communism. For some, the story ends happily, with triumphant entry into the European Union in 2004.Others are caught in limbo, destroyed by nationalist politics, war and genocide, or crippled by corrupt political practices. The Burdens of Freedom considers the effects of revolutionary change, the resurgence of nationalism and the painful examination of the past. It looks at the process of building stable democratic states, and their integration with international structures. Most of the countries have established admission to the EU as a national objective; but many of them have also been active participants in the American-led occupation of Iraq. Domestically, each has seen a divide emerge between winners and losers. All are moving forward simultaneously to democracy, unity and prosperity, but also to national division and economic disparity.

What is it that political prisoners do? What part does the imprisoned activist play in the conflict between regimes and their opponents around the world? Why, in short, are there political prisoners? The answers to these questions may seem obvious, as political incarceration today seems to offer the clearest evidence of a repressive regime, and of a determined political opposition. Yet surely there are more effective alternatives, for both states and their opponents, than incarceration. Imprisoned opponents, like those of the African National Congress in South Africa, or of Solidarity in Poland, or of the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland -just to mention a few examples from the last quarter-century-may eventually claim or share power, while those who are executed or exiled will not pose the same threat. From the opposition's point of view, in turn, imprisonment, even though it deprives the movement of a valued contributor, is often a badge of honor, and central to the story of contestation with the regime. So does prison contribute to the struggle, or is it a hindrance? Remarkably, the political prisoner has never received attention as a historical actor, our perceptions of them awash in cliches and archetypes. We think immediately of Nelson Mandela, or perhaps Vaclav Havel: good men, engaged in a moral struggle against bad regimes. But can that really be an acceptable definition, when Adolph Hitler too was a political prisoner? Can we understand what political prisoners are and what they do if we do not include those whose goals or ethics are different from our own? Dance in Chains-the title inspired by a song composed by a socialist on death row in a Warsaw prison 120 years ago-draws upon research in Poland, Ireland, South Africa and includes over a dozen different regimes over the last 150 years. These cases are not primarily comparative, but serve as pillars holding up a global investigation of the phenomenon. In each case, generation after generation of political opponents has gone to prison since at least the turn of the twentieth century. Yet they also vary widely, as regimes ranging from communist to fascist to colonial to democratic has imprisoned an equally wide range of opponents. Taken together, they yield a sufficiently wide spectrum to allow the reader to understand one of the central characters of modern political history.

"Marvelously written, this book gives a strong sense of what it must have felt like to participate in various anticommunist movements in the mid- and late 1980s in Eastern Europe. The stories are well told, with great authority and a deep understanding of many of the complexities actors had to face."--Akos Rona-Tas, University of California San Diego

"This is a pathbreaking, indispensable book for grasping the complexities of both the pre-1989 and post-revolutionary situation in central Europe. Truly pioneering in both scope and depth, it offers a comprehensive, unconventional, and gripping perspective on the motivations of political mobilization and anti-authoritarian activism. I read it with immense interest and pleasure."--Vladimir Tismaneanu, University of Maryland, author of "Fantasies of Salvation"

"Padraic Kenney is the first scholar to draw a historical map of the secret reunification of Europe 'from below' that occurred well before the 1989 revolutions brought the results of that job to the surface. This job was accomplished by activists from both communist Central Europe and the West, all of them 'dissidents' at the time in their own societies. Thanks to Kenney's sensitivity to the decidedly 'American' ideas of the founding fathers of the post-1989 new democracies and thanks also to his knowledge of the field, which is unsurpassed by any European researcher, "A Carnival of Revolution" is a key contribution to the saga of the Central European civil rights movements."--Miklos Haraszti, author of "Velvet Prison," founding member of Hungary's Democratic Opposition in the 1970s and 1980s, member of the Hungarian Parliament from 1990-1994

"With a profound first-handknowledge of participants, encompassing linguistic competence, and engaging prose, Padraic Kenney recreates the simultaneously serious and playful currents of East Europe's overthrow of repressive state socialism. What an invaluable guide to the elusive exhilaration that motivated the actors and captivated all of us who followed the transformation with such hope! We can appreciate neither the ebullience of 1989 nor the disappointment with the quotidian reality that followed without understanding Kenney's 'carnival.'"--Charles S. Maier, Harvard University

Transnational Moments of Change offers a broad introduction to the methodology and practice of transnational history. To demonstrate the value of this approach, the work focuses on Europe since World War II, a period whose study particularly benefits from a transnational vantage point. Twelve distinguished contributors from around the globe offer a range of transnational approaches to three continent-wide moments of change. The work begins with a look at the close of World War Two, when liberation from Nazi occupation offered the opportunity for social and political experiment. Next, essays explore the late 1960s as generational change and political dissatisfaction rocked urban centers from Paris to Prague. Finally, the book turns to the fall of communism, a moment of revolutionary change that not only spread rapidly from country to country, but even affected and interacted with protest movements in Western Europe and elsewhere. Together, the essays provide both a new perspective on postwar Europe and a range of models for the historian interested in using the transnational approach.

From Estonia to Macedonia, this book is a history of 15 countries as they negotiate their transition from communism. For some, the story ends happily, with triumphant entry into the European Union in 2004.Others are caught in limbo, destroyed by nationalist politics, war and genocide, or crippled by corrupt political practices. The Burdens of Freedom considers the effects of revolutionary change, the resurgence of nationalism and the painful examination of the past. It looks at the process of building stable democratic states, and their integration with international structures. Most of the countries have established admission to the EU as a national objective; but many of them have also been active participants in the American-led occupation of Iraq. Domestically, each has seen a divide emerge between winners and losers. All are moving forward simultaneously to democracy, unity and prosperity, but also to national division and economic disparity.

Frames of Protest brings together important empirical research and theoretical essays by leading sociologists, political scientists, and media specialists that focus on social movement frames and framing practices. Frames are new ways of understanding political and social relations that emphasize injustice and the need for change. As such, they are crucial for the development of social movements and protest. Frames of Protest is the only book to focus exclusively on this major research perspective in social movement and protest studies. Thirteen chapters encompass the major themes in the framing perspective to offer a state-of-the-art review. Three chapters present evidence for the determining influence of framing in social movement mobilization. Next, framing activities by the state and the mass media are analyzed. Then, two research reports examine the effect of political opportunities on framing-in Poland under the Communists and in New York City's ethnic politics. Several chapters by leading theorists present a lively debate about the relationship of ideologies to collective action frames. The book closes with a hands-on discussion about analyzing textual materials and interview transcripts to do frame analysis that lends itself to longitudinal and cross-case comparisons.