The Break-up of Communism in East Germany and Eastern Europe

The Break-up of Communism in East Germany and Eastern Europe PDF Author: Feiwel Kupferberg
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349270881
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
This book presents a novel understanding of the break-up of communist hegemony in East Germany and Eastern Europe. Based on comparative case studies, it argues that identity politics is a particular invention of communist rule, producing a political citizen. Focusing upon identity politics helps us better to understand the longterm stability of communist hegemony, its sudden collapse, the difficulties of transforming communist societies to liberal democracies and the unexpected revival of ethnic, nationalist and cultural conflicts in post-communist Eastern Europe.

The Break-up of Communism in East Germany and Eastern Europe

The Break-up of Communism in East Germany and Eastern Europe PDF Author: Feiwel Kupferberg
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349270881
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
This book presents a novel understanding of the break-up of communist hegemony in East Germany and Eastern Europe. Based on comparative case studies, it argues that identity politics is a particular invention of communist rule, producing a political citizen. Focusing upon identity politics helps us better to understand the longterm stability of communist hegemony, its sudden collapse, the difficulties of transforming communist societies to liberal democracies and the unexpected revival of ethnic, nationalist and cultural conflicts in post-communist Eastern Europe.

Revolution in Eastern Europe

Revolution in Eastern Europe PDF Author: Peter Cipkowski
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Analyzes the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, country by country, during 1989 and 1990. Includes photographs, time lines, maps, and cartoons.

Exit-Voice Dynamics and the Collapse of East Germany

Exit-Voice Dynamics and the Collapse of East Germany PDF Author: Steven Pfaff
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822387921
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
Winner of the Social Science History Association President’s Book Award East Germany was the first domino to fall when the Soviet bloc began to collapse in 1989. Its topple was so swift and unusual that it caught many area specialists and social scientists off guard; they failed to recognize the instability of the Communist regime, much less its fatal vulnerability to popular revolt. In this volume, Steven Pfaff identifies the central mechanisms that propelled the extraordinary and surprisingly bloodless revolution within the German Democratic Republic (GDR). By developing a theory of how exit-voice dynamics affect collective action, Pfaff illuminates the processes that spurred mass demonstrations in the GDR, led to a peaceful surrender of power by the hard-line Leninist elite, and hastened German reunification. While most social scientific explanations of collective action posit that the option for citizens to emigrate—or exit—suppresses the organized voice of collective public protest by providing a lower-cost alternative to resistance, Pfaff argues that a different dynamic unfolded in East Germany. The mass exit of many citizens provided a focal point for protesters, igniting the insurgent voice of the revolution. Pfaff mines state and party records, police reports, samizdat, Church documents, and dissident manifestoes for his in-depth analysis not only of the genesis of local protest but also of the broader patterns of exit and voice across the entire GDR. Throughout his inquiry, Pfaff compares the East German rebellion with events occurring during the same period in other communist states, particularly Czechoslovakia, China, Poland, and Hungary. He suggests that a trigger from outside the political system—such as exit—is necessary to initiate popular mobilization against regimes with tightly centralized power and coercive surveillance.

The Fall

The Fall PDF Author: Steven Saxonberg
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351544667
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 453

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Book Description
With a foreword by Seymour Lipset, Hoover Institution and George Mason University, USAThe Fall examines one of the twentieth century's great historical puzzles: why did the communist-led regimes in Eastern Europe collapse so quickly and why was the process of collapse so different from country to country? This major study explains why the impetus for change in Poland and Hungary came from the regimes themselves, while in Czechoslovakia and East Germany it was mass movements which led to the downfall of the regimes.

The Breakup of Communism

The Breakup of Communism PDF Author: Matthew A. Kraljic
Publisher: H. W. Wilson
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Contains reprints and excerpts on the current issues and trends in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe since the passing of communism.

Dissolution

Dissolution PDF Author: Charles S. Maier
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691007462
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
Against the backdrop of the sudden and unexpected fall of communism, Harvard history teacher Charles Maier traces the demise of East Germany". . . . an historian whose writing talks both to political scientists and to lay readers . . . combines probing historical examination with disciplined and informed political analysis".Richard H. Ullman, Princeton Universtiy.

Revolution in Eastern Europe

Revolution in Eastern Europe PDF Author: Peter Cipkowski
Publisher: Turtleback
ISBN: 9780613845571
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Analyzes the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, country by country, during 1989 and 1990. Includes photographs, time lines, maps, and cartoons.

The Hidden Hand

The Hidden Hand PDF Author: Jeffrey Gedmin
Publisher: A E I Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
An examination of the roots of the reunification of Germany, arguing that Erich Honecker's rigid communist regime was undermined by the conflict between Moscow and East Berlin. In the end, Gorbachev's objective - a radical renewal of socialism - turned out to be unattainable.

20 Years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall

20 Years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall PDF Author: Elisabeth Bakke
Publisher: BWV Verlag
ISBN: 3830527020
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
HauptbeschreibungOn 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall was opened, signalling the beginning of the end of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. By 1990, free elections had been held in most countries in the region. Forty - in some cases fifty - years of communism had come to an end. However, the 'revolutions' of 1989 were not uniform processes: the starting points were different, the trajectories were different - and outside Central Europe even the outcomes of the transitions from communism were different. The fall of communism also caused the Soviet empire to crumble, and the Soviet Union itself fell apart in December 1991 - as did Czechoslovakia in 1993, and Yugoslavia in a gradual process that was to last from 1991 to 2008. This book originated in a conference held in Oslo 11-13 November 2009, arranged by the E.ON Ruhrgas scholarship programme for political science, and commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 'revolutions' in Central and Eastern Europe. The 16 chapters take stock of developments after 1989, with special emphasis on the causes and effects of the transitions, including the processes of state unification and separation that followed in the wake of the 'revolutions'. The book is divided into four main parts: regime transitions from communism; state unification and separation; party system continuity and change since 1989 (in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland); and on the effects of German unification on external and internal German relations. The geographical scope thus varies from chapter to chapter, but the main emphasis is on Germany and its closest Central European neighbours.Elisabeth Bakke is Associate Professor at Department of Political Science, University of Oslo. Ingo Peters is Associate Professor at Department of Political and Social Sciences, Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universitnt Berlin."

Bloc Life

Bloc Life PDF Author: Peter Molloy
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473532051
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
There was life before the fall. 1989 was a year of astonishing and rapid change: the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and an end to an entire way of life for millions of people behind the Iron Curtain. Bloc Life collects first hand testimony of the people who lived in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania during the Cold War era, and reveals a rich tapestry of experience that goes beyond the headlines of spies and surveillance, secret police and political corruption. In fact, many of the people remember their lives under communism as 'perfectly ordinary' and even hanker for the 'security' that it offered. From political leaders, athletes and pop stars, to cooks, miners and cosmonauts, the stories collected in Bloc Life evoke the moods, preoccupations and experiences of a world that vanished almost overnight.