Eastern Europe and the "End of History"

Abstract

This paper represents an answer to Hermann Tertsch’s book The Revenge of History. The German author, starting from the Yugoslav conflict, formulates a veritable theory of the history, through which he shows that the Western world is suffering today the consequences of the failure of previous decisions. Thus, the dismembering of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia or the interethnic conflicts in Transylvania could be regarded as the direct effect of the Paris treaty system. Cabrera, professor of law philosophy at the University of Seville, fights against these ideas, considering that “to think that the time when revenge of history is coming or, which is the same thing, to admit that we have been defeated by history can be paradoxically equal with inaugurating the end of history, with believing in our triumph against history, because both positions are marginalizing the complete man to an element transforming the reality”. The Revenge of History is the mirror image of Fukuyama’s historical optimism.