1989 as a Political World Event: Democracy, Europe and the New International System in the Age of Globalization

Description

This book is not about the events of 1989, but about 1989 as a world event. Starting with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet bloc it examines the historical significance and the world brought about by 1989. When the Cold War ended in Europe it ushered in a world in which the international agenda is set outside Europe, in America or Asia. The book critically examines and moves beyond some of the conveniently simple paradigms proposed in the nineties, by leading political scientists such as Fukuyama and Huntington, to show how the events of 1989 meant different things to different parties. This was an anti-utopian revolution, a symbol of the possibility of non-violent transitions to democracy, which raised the hopes of world-wide democratic changes. Contributors show how 1989 can be seen as the founding moment of a globalized world, but equal attention should be given to the dispersion of its meanings and the exhaustion of some of its main trends associated with the post-1989 era. Europe was reunited, yet it is in crisis. Twenty years on, global markets have brought about a global financial crisis. The fall of the Berlin Wall was celebrated as the advent of free movement in a world without borders. Now however, we can see that new borders, walls, fences have since been built. With an introductory essay by Vaclav Havel, 1989 as a Political World Event will be of interest to scholars of European Politics and International Relations. Cover......Page 1 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 Table of Contents......Page 8 List of figures......Page 10 List of tables......Page 11 Notes on contributors......Page 12 Preface......Page 17 1 On the unpredictability of history......Page 18 PART I The meanings and legacies of 1989......Page 22 2 The world after 1989 and the exhaustion of three cycles......Page 24 3 Writing 1989: a world narrative?......Page 42 4 1989: a philosophy of immediacy......Page 51 PART II Re-inventing democracy and its discontents......Page 60 5 Democracy and dissatisfaction......Page 62 6 From the revolutions of 1989 to democracy fatigue in Eastern Europe......Page 73 7 The difficult new era for international democracy support......Page 89 8 Civil society: from myth to reality......Page 96 9 ‘Tropical democracy’......Page 118 10 The Arab four seasons: when an excess of religion leads to political secularization......Page 128 PART III Varieties of capitalism in the age of globalization......Page 144 11 Institutional change and market transitions after socialism......Page 146 12 The political economy of post-1989 capitalism in East-Central Europe......Page 169 13 1989 and the advent of an authoritarian state capitalism in China......Page 186 PART IV Between global governance and new power rivalries......Page 200 14 American visions of the world after 1989......Page 202 15 Russia and the quest for lost power......Page 213 16 China and the end of socialism in Europe: a godsend for the Beijing Communists......Page 229 17 The UN and the changing meaning of an international community......Page 240 Index......Page 259