1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End
1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End

Author: Padraic Kenney

Publisher: Bedford

Published: 2009-12-08

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780312487669

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A series of democratic transformations in the 1980s ended the cold war and ushered in the present era. This volume by Padraic Kenney uses six case studies from this period — Poland, the Philippines, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, and China — to explore common characteristics of global political change while highlighting the differing strategies and perspectives of the people who sought to free themselves from dictatorship. A general introduction to the volume examines key trends in the decades leading up to the changes, tracing the paths that dictatorships and opposition movements took in their fateful confrontations. The first chapter with documents surveys the central ideas of this age of democratic, nonviolent revolution, and sets a framework for considering the case studies in the chapters that follow.

Empowering Revolution
Empowering Revolution

Author: Gregory F. Domber

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2014-10-06

Total Pages: 413

ISBN-13: 1469618524

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As the most populous country in Eastern Europe as well as the birthplace of the largest anticommunist dissident movement, Poland is crucial in understanding the end of the Cold War. During the 1980s, both the United States and the Soviet Union vied for influence over Poland's politically tumultuous steps toward democratic revolution. In this groundbreaking history, Gregory F. Domber examines American policy toward Poland and its promotion of moderate voices within the opposition, while simultaneously addressing the Soviet and European influences on Poland's revolution in 1989. With a cast including Reagan, Gorbachev, and Pope John Paul II, Domber charts American support of anticommunist opposition groups--particularly Solidarity, the underground movement led by future president Lech Wa&322;&281;sa--and highlights the transnational network of Polish emigres and trade unionists that kept the opposition alive. Utilizing archival research and interviews with Polish and American government officials and opposition leaders, Domber argues that the United States empowered a specific segment of the Polish opposition and illustrates how Soviet leaders unwittingly fostered radical, pro-democratic change through their policies. The result is fresh insight into the global impact of the Polish pro-democracy movement.

End of History and the Last Man
End of History and the Last Man

Author: Francis Fukuyama

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2006-03-01

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 1416531785

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Ever since its first publication in 1992, The End of History and the Last Man has provoked controversy and debate. Francis Fukuyama's prescient analysis of religious fundamentalism, politics, scientific progress, ethical codes, and war is as essential for a world fighting fundamentalist terrorists as it was for the end of the Cold War. Now updated with a new afterword, The End of History and the Last Man is a modern classic.

Visions of the End of the Cold War in Europe, 1945-1990
Visions of the End of the Cold War in Europe, 1945-1990

Author: Frédéric Bozo

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 0857452886

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Exploring the visions of the end of the Cold War that have been put forth since its inception until its actual ending, this volume brings to the fore the reflections, programmes, and strategies that were intended to call into question the bipolar system and replace it with alternative approaches or concepts. These visions were associated not only with prominent individuals, organized groups and civil societies, but were also connected to specific historical processes or events. They ranged from actual, thoroughly conceived programmes, to more blurred, utopian aspirations -- or simply the belief that the Cold War had already, in effect, come to an end. Such visions reveal much about the contexts in which they were developed and shed light on crucial moments and phases of the Cold War.

The Cold War: a Very Short Introduction
The Cold War: a Very Short Introduction

Author: Robert J. McMahon

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2021-02-25

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0198859546

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Vividly written and based on up-to-date scholarship, this title provides an interpretive overview of the international history of the Cold War.

The Revolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989

Author: Wolfgang Mueller

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 724

ISBN-13:

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Only a few people foresaw the sudden and momentous events of 1989: within months the seemingly unshakable communist regimes of Eastern Europe were washed away and with them the postwar international order. This book gives an overview over the national revolutions and external reactions. It contains chapters on the revolutions in all major countries of the former communist bloc as well as on the responses of all major international players. The first part examines the revolutionary events - from above and from below - in Eastern Europe as well as China and their backgrounds. The second part deals with Soviet and Western perceptions and responses. The third part focuses on the aftermath of the revolutions, on societal transformations, the acceptance of the new Central European democracies to NATO and the EU, and on the memory of 1989.

Eastern Europe in Revolution
Eastern Europe in Revolution

Author: Ivo Banac

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2019-01-24

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 150173332X

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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.

Revolutions: a Very Short Introduction
Revolutions: a Very Short Introduction

Author: Jack A. Goldstone

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 0197666302

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"In the 20th and 21st century revolutions have become more urban, often less violent, but also more frequent and more transformative of the international order. Whether it is the revolutions against Communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR; the "color revolutions" across Asia, Europe and North Africa; or the religious revolutions in Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria; today's revolutions are quite different from those of the past. Modern theories of revolution have therefore replaced the older class-based theories with more varied, dynamic, and contingent models of social and political change. This new edition updates the history of revolutions, from Classical Greece and Rome to the Revolution of Dignity in the Ukraine, with attention to the changing types and outcomes of revolutionary struggles. It also presents the latest advances in the theory of revolutions, including the issues of revolutionary waves, revolutionary leadership, international influences, and the likelihood of revolutions to come. This volume provides a brief but comprehensive introduction to the nature of revolutions and their role in global history"--

The Oxford Handbook of the Cold War
The Oxford Handbook of the Cold War

Author: Richard H. Immerman

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2013-01-31

Total Pages: 680

ISBN-13: 0191643629

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The Oxford Handbook of the Cold War offers a broad reassessment of the period war based on new conceptual frameworks developed in the field of international history. Nearing the 25th anniversary of its end, the cold war now emerges as a distinct period in twentieth-century history, yet one which should be evaluated within the broader context of global political, economic, social, and cultural developments. The editors have brought together leading scholars in cold war history to offer a new assessment of the state of the field and identify fundamental questions for future research. The individual chapters in this volume evaluate both the extent and the limits of the cold war's reach in world history. They call into question orthodox ways of ordering the chronology of the cold war and also present new insights into the global dimension of the conflict. Even though each essay offers a unique perspective, together they show the interconnectedness between cold war and national and transnational developments, including long-standing conflicts that preceded the cold war and persisted after its end, or global transformations in areas such as human rights or economic and cultural globalization. Because of its broad mandate, the volume is structured not along conventional chronological lines, but thematically, offering essays on conceptual frameworks, regional perspectives, cold war instruments and cold war challenges. The result is a rich and diverse accounting of the ways in which the cold war should be positioned within the broader context of world history.