The revolutions of 1989 revisited
Full text file (PDF, 65 kB)
Abstract
In order to live up to its promise to become a community of shared values, the European Union should pay more attention to the legacy of the 1989 revolutions in Central Europe. The experience of the peoples of Central Europe showed that radical political change can be achieved by peaceful means. Thus the "conservative" revolutions in Central Europe challenged the exclusive paradigm of revolutionary change derived from the French Revolution. In contrast to 1789, the events of 1989 demonstrated that new beginnings are possible without a radical break with the past.
(Web Special, pp. 1–12)
Full text file (PDF, 65 kB)