"While not all the pieces in this edited work directly challenge the common causal presumption that mnemonic narratives precede their political utilisation, the idea nevertheless constitutes a powerful thematic touchstone. In this paradigm elites become strategic creators of historical discourse, and not merely consumers of its organic unfolding. However, allowing that he above constitutes an accurate portrayal of what has been taking place throughout the erstwhile Warsaw Pact and Soviet Bloc states since the early to mid-2000s, the question of why Janus-faced polictics rose to prominence precisely when they did remains.
One can only hope that this fine work portends a rising tide of similar efforts that will consider seriously the complex dynamics behind the rise to promincence of historical politics in the postcommunist milieu."
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