The rise and fall of civil society in East-Central Europe

This chapter explores the general status of the contemporary liberal democratic framework in Western democracies. It applies the same approach to the case of Slovakia, as an example of a country that suddenly implemented the liberal democratic rule of government immediately after the fall of its communist regime in 1989. Any meaningful collective European identity that would promote peace and prosperity will have to be framed within the liberal democratic concept of justice, tolerance, and freedom. To many people, these might seem as too abstract and dry to form a solid and lasting common identity. Liberalism, to remain in principle moderate and benevolent, must establish arrangements by which those that would like to constrain and dominate others that can be contained. Liberalism reckons with citizens who are independently minded and feel responsible for their fate. The greatest threat to liberalism comes not from outside enemies but the apathy of its citizens.