This book presents a selection of recent research on the events and developments of 1989 in Eastern Europe. It offers a mix of detailed examinations of the events of 1989 in Eastern Europe, thoughtful and considered appraisals of developments, and ‘middle-range’ theoretical discussions of patterns of cause and effect. The authors range in their approaches from detailed examinations of government and ruling-party papers from the archives, some of it originally labelled top secret, to personal observations and oral history based on interviews with participants, to analysis of survey data and official statistics. In their chosen focus the essays range from explorations of the emerging crisis in the communist regimes that led to the events of 1989, reflections and insights into the events and changing mood during 1989 itself, and examinations of some of the consequences and legacies of 1989. This book was published as a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 effectively ended the division of Europe into East and West, and the features of our world that have resulted bear little resemblance to those of the forty years that preceded the Wall's fall. The rise of a new Europe prompts many questions, most of which remain to be answered. What does it all mean? Where is it going to lead? Are we witnessing the conclusion of an era without seeing anything to replace an old and admittedly dismal way of life? What will a market economy do to the social texture of various countries of Central Europe? Will it not make some rich while many will become poorer than ever? How can the rule of law be brought about?In this incisive and lucid book, Ralf Dahrendorf, one of Europe's most distinguished scholars, ponders these and other equally vexing questions. He regards what has happened in East Central Europe as a victory for neither of the social systems that once opposed each other across the Iron Curtain. Rather, he views these events as a vote for an open society over a closed society. The continuing conundrum, he argues, which will plague peoples everywhere, will be how to balance the need for economic growth with the desire for social justice while building authentic and enduring democratic institutions.Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, which includes a new introduction from the author, is a humane, skeptical, and anti-utopian work, a manifesto for a radical liberalism in which the social entitlements of citizenship are as important a condition of progress as the opportunities for choice. A fascinating study of change and geopolitics in the modern world, Reflections points the way towards a new politics for the twenty-first century. Ralf Dahrendorf, born in Hamburg, Germany in 1929, is a member of Britain's House of Lords. He was professor of sociology at Hamburg, Tobingen and Konstanz from 1957 to 1968, and in 1974 moved to Britain. He has been the director

In this book twelve outstanding authorities present their thoroughgoing assessments of the East European revolution of 1989—the definite collapse of communism as an ideology, a political movement, and a system of power in eight countries. All but two of the contributors focus on the revolution in an individual region or country—Poland, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Albania—and each of them addresses the theme of regime transition. In Eastern Europe, of course, the transition from communism to.... has been as complex and varied as the political geography of the notorious "fracture zone" itself, and individual authors thus concentrate on different sets of problems; they tell different kinds of stories. Pointing to the enormous difficulties of systematic transformation, they measure the dangers of nationality conflict and the potential for new authoritarianism. Ivo Banac has assembled a cast with impressive credentials. Without imposing an artificial unity on a chaotic subject, their book maps out the events of 1989-90 and sets the background for figuring out where the region may be headed.

Placing Eastern Europe in a global context, this provides new perspectives on the political, economic, and cultural transformations of the late twentieth century.

The year 1989 marked a turning point in world history, a watershed year of unprecedented drama and political significance. No matter how one looks at those events–as the fall of communism, the democratization of Eastern Europe, or the end of the cold war–it is important to understand how the world travelled the distance of time, space, and ideology to arrive at the Berlin Wall and tear it down. David Mason provides that understanding in a concise synthesis of history, politics, economics, sociology, literature, philosophy, and popular, as well as traditional, culture. He shows how all these elements combined to yield the year that effectively closed the twentieth century–and promised to launch the new century on a hopeful note. Starting with Poland's elections in June 1989, the countries of then-communist Eastern Europe one by one revolutionized their governments and their polities; Hungary opened its borders to the West, East Germany rushed through, Czechoslovakia elected Vaclav Havel president, Bulgaria changed both party and leadership, and Romania executed Ceausescu. Although Gorbachev enabled many of these changes, he did not cause them. The illumination of the complex symbiosis between dynamics in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union is one of the greatest contributions this book makes. With undercurrents emphasizing the power of ideas, the spirit of youth, and the multifaceted force of culture and ethnicity, Mason takes the reader far beyond the events of change and into their impetus and outcomes. He applies theories of social movements, democratization, and economic transition with an even hand, showing the interaction of their effects not only regionally but worldwide. The concluding chapter puts the revolutions in Eastern Europe into international perspective and highlights their impact on East-West relations, security alliances, and economic integration. Mason discusses the European Community, the United States and the Soviet Union, and the Third World in relation to the new East-Central European configuration. Using delightful and provocative cartoons from Eastern European and Soviet presses, interesting photos, valuable tables of data, and illuminating figures, Mason emphasizes important points about the role of nationalism, ethnicity, public opinion, and harsh economic reality in the revolutionary process.