Central Europe's Velvet Power

Central Europe used to be a place of tragedy, according to Czech novelist Milan Kundera, a leading dissident voice during the communist era. Throughout its troubled history, the region, fatefully wedged between Germany and Russia, suffered deep wounds to its psyche at the hand of great powers: oppression by enemies, betrayal by friends. Its battered societies were so busy trying to survive, Kundera mused, that they did not have the leisure to look inward and focus on themselves. But since the so-called Visegrad Four—the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia—shook off the Soviet yoke and topped a decade of successful political and economic reform by rejoining the West in its most exclusive clubs, the European Union and NATO, they have begun to pursue their own objectives, and they have distinguished themselves as actors on the world stage. In the realm of foreign policy, this means that they have been busy settling scores with former imperial overlords, courting mentors and protectors, learning how to articulate and defend their interests, and building their reputations by crafting new foreign policy brands. They have all stepped up their game and, in the case of Poland, transitioned to the premier league of European politics.