EN
Situation after the breakdown of the totalitarian political systems is characterized by the surge in nationalism and its exploitation in the political relations between the nations inhabiting former communist countries. In some areas of the post-communist territory, the political fracases have changed into hot ethnic conflicts. The author compares two post-communist regions: East Central Europe within latent ethnic conflict, and South-eastern Europe, where the demise of communism has been accompanied by three bloody ethnic wars. The paper is aiming to understand the reasons of such crucial difference in two neighbouring regions.