Transnational Philanthropy and Nationalism: The Early Years of Central European University

Abstract

This article focuses on the early Central European University as a transnational institution with branches in Prague and Budapest. The CEU was the most visible institutionalization of the philanthropic networks of George Soros in Central and Eastern Europe.

The failure of the Prague CEU (1991 - 1995) is interpreted as the result of the specific constellation of local politics, which used nationalist strategies to define and legitimize Czech domestic and foreign policy at that time.

Keywords

• Transnationalism
• philanthropic foundations
• Central and Eastern Europe
• post-communist transformation