Europe’s Long 1989

Abstract

Speaker: Christopher Bickerton, Cambridge University Building on recent historiographical discussions around new ways of writing Europe’s immediate past, this article proposes the “long 1989” as a framework for thinking about the events of 1989. This refers to a decade of political, economic and socio-cultural change running from the mid-1980s through to the mid-1990s. In central and Eastern Europe, this takes us from the beginning of glasnost and perestroika in the Soviet Union to the establishment of multi-party systems and market economies across all the former Soviet block, entry into NATO’s Partnership for Peace program and applications to join the European Union. In Western Europe, the long 1989 refers to the dismantling of the political coalitions and socio-economic institutions erected after the Second World War, what Charles Maier called Western Europe’s system of “corporate pluralism”. Socio-culturally, the long 1989 refers to an implosion of collective identities, in the East and the West, particularly those tied to organized labour and established churches. This implosion gave rise to a new focus on individual rights, with important consequences for how European citizens experienced both democracy and freedom in Europe. Driving this decade of change was a delayed recalibration in the relations between capital and labour after the economic crisis of the 1970s. The article makes the case for the long 1989 as a discrete period of change in Europe. It lies between the political mobilisations of the late 1960 and 1970s and the economic crisis of the postwar mixed economies on the one hand, and the depoliticized individualism and economic deregulation of the 1990s and 2000s on the other. Examples drawn from across Europe explore these various facets of the long 1989. The article details the corresponding changes to Europe’s international order, emphasizing in particular the uncertainties characterizing Europe’s international relations during the long 1989. From our understanding of freedom to the structures of European security cooperation, the legacy of Europe’s long 1989 shapes contemporary European politics and society.