Throughout Eastern Europe, the unexpected and irrevocable fall of communism that began in the late 1980s presented enormous challenges in the spheres of politics and society, as well as at the level of individual experience. Excitement, uncertainty, and fear predicated the shaping of a new order, the outcome of which was anything but predetermined. Recent studies have focused on the ambivalent impact of capitalism. Yet, at the time, parliamentary democracy had equally few traditions to return to, and membership in the European Union was a distant dream at best. Nowadays, as new threats arise, Europe’s current political crises prompt us to reconsider how liberal democracy in Eastern Europe came about in the first place. This book undertakes an analysis of the year 1990 in several countries throughout Europe to consider the role of uncertainty and change in shaping political nations.
Author(s): Joachim von Puttkamer, Włodzimierz Borodziej, Stanislav Holubec
Series: Routledge Histories Of Central And Eastern Europe Vol. 4
Publisher: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 285
Tags: Europe, Central: Politics And Government: 1989-, Europe, Eastern: Politics And Government: 1989-, Post-Communism: Europe, Central: History: 20th Century, Post-Communism: Europe, Eastern: History: 20th Century, Nineteen Ninety, A.D.
Cover......Page 1
Half Title......Page 2
Series Page......Page 3
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Table of Contents......Page 6
Illustrations......Page 8
Contributors......Page 9
Introduction......Page 12
1. Groping in the dark: expectations and predictions, 1988–1991......Page 21
2. Catalysts of the collapse and of the transition, 1989–1990......Page 32
Powder keg hypothesis......Page 33
History from the middle......Page 34
Concentric circles of collapse......Page 36
Revolution from below, reaction from above......Page 39
Legacy......Page 42
Introduction......Page 43
Subsistence and change......Page 45
Nationality issues: the Polish diaspora in the USSR......Page 48
The ‘blank spots’......Page 50
The death throes of socialist certainty......Page 52
Moscow’s attitude towards Poland’s internal changes......Page 54
Off-limits areas, the media, and borders......Page 57
The two-plus-four treaty: scraps of information......Page 58
In lieu of asummary......Page 59
Herbatka u Prymasa (Tea with the primate)......Page 61
The ‘war at the top’ (Wojna na górze)......Page 62
Drawing a ‘thick line’: the dismantlement of the power apparatus......Page 64
The reform of the judiciary......Page 72
Local self-government......Page 77
The seeds of populism......Page 80
The abortion debate......Page 86
Conclusion......Page 89
5. Czechoslovakia’s year of decision: from the socialist revolution of 1989 to the ‘real’ revolution of 1990......Page 91
Point A: November and December1989......Page 92
Transition I: January to June1990......Page 98
Transition II: June to November1990......Page 106
Point B: the end of 1990......Page 111
6. Talkin’ ’bout a revolution: on the social memory of 1989 in Hungary......Page 114
1989– Annus mirabilis?......Page 116
1989– Annus miserabilis......Page 121
Excursion: from goulash communism to the people of the puszta......Page 123
Conclusion......Page 126
Introduction......Page 128
Exiting from dictatorship......Page 129
Fledgling democracy in turmoil......Page 136
Between stability and stasis......Page 142
Conclusion......Page 149
Memories and symbolic changes......Page 153
Slovenian Spring: democracy and national emancipation......Page 154
Comparing uniqueness......Page 155
The tradition of workers’ self-management......Page 158
Pluralism......Page 161
Relations to Yugoslavia......Page 164
Economy......Page 170
Conclusion......Page 173
9. 1990: building democracy in Yugoslavia and the danger of war......Page 175
‘Overfederalization’ and institutional decay......Page 176
Ethnic stratification and neo-nationalism in the system of amultiparty democracy......Page 179
The experience of crisis and the fin-de-siècle mood......Page 182
Populism as apolitical strategy......Page 186
Conclusion: the road to war......Page 190
10. Transforming industry: on the corporate origins of post-socialist nostalgia in Poland......Page 193
Socialism for sale......Page 195
Longing for security, fearing waste......Page 200
Nostalgia for missed alternatives......Page 205
Conclusion......Page 211
11. German reunification and the dynamics of migration......Page 213
12. The party is over: the identities and biographies of Czechoslovak and East German (post) communists in the year 1990......Page 223
East German and Czechoslovak society......Page 224
The SED and the KSČ during the revolutions......Page 230
The 1990 elections......Page 233
Legitimization......Page 237
The disintegration of the KSČ and the expansion of the PDS into the West......Page 243
Personalities......Page 246
Conclusion......Page 253
13. Poland, the German question, and German unification, 1989–1991......Page 256
Mitterrand’s European solution......Page 270
Mistrust and anxiety......Page 272
Kohl’s consent......Page 275
Launching the political union......Page 277
Saving the European unification process......Page 281
Index......Page 282
