Call for papers
The world in 1989
New sources and interpretations of trans-national and regional interdependency across Europe,
Asia, Africa and the Americas
Organisers
Transregional Center for Democratic Studies, New School for Social Research -
www.newschool.edu/tcds/
World History Network - www.worldhistorynetwork.org/
Research Network 1989 - www.cee-socialscience.net/1989/
The fall of the Berlin Wall, the conflict at Tiananmen and the break up of the Soviet empire were
events of global significance in 1989. Yet, 1989 may equally well be remembered as the year that
signalled the end of apartheid and the flowering of pro-democracy movements in Europe, Asia,
Africa and America.
In anticipation of the twentieth anniversary in 2009, we invite contributions examining trans-
national interdependencies as well as interconnections within and among regions in the period
centred on 1989. We are interested in the full variety of world regions: Central and Eastern Europe,
Eurasia, Western Europe, Eastern Asia, Southern Asia, Southern Africa, the Middle East, Western
and Central Africa, Latin America, Australia and North America.
We ask the following pointed questions to garner interested responses but also divergent
opinions:
A) How were the pro-democracy movements of 1989 connected? Can we show a networked
interdependence or was their appearance coincidental, driven by global change? Did the
movements learn from each other and, if so, by what technological, social and cultural means?
B) The Soviet empire vanished. Looking not just at the USSR, but also the outer empire and the
global political network of clients, supporters and (alienated) allies: Can we show that movements
significantly contributed to the break up of the empire or did it collapse, possibly driven by
external political, economic or technological change, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world?
C) The CCP state survived. What were the implications of the confrontation at Tiananmen for other
events in 1989? What will be the lasting regional and global impact of the divergent trajectories of
China, Russia and central and eastern Europe? What was the mix of global and local factors in the
movements of Africa and Latin America?
D) Struggles of class, gender and ethnicity. If we look at 1989 through this lens: What can we say
about the meaning of democracy for the actors, particularly in relation to notions of communism
and socialism? How were pro-democracy movements based in gender, class and ethnicity? What
was the outcome of 1989 in terms of the global realignment of inequalities and difference?
Proposed format
Anticipated number of authors: 10-15, plus discussants
Deadline for expressions of interest: 30 November 2007
Draft version of 6-7,000 words ready for circulation among workshop participants: 30 April
2008
Workshop (East Coast, USA): Late April 2008
Revisions to be completed by 30 August 2008
Book Publication: 2009
Organising Committee (in reverse alphabetical order)
Elzbieta Matynia is Professor of Liberal Studies and Sociology at the New School, New York. She is
also Director of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies - http://www.newschool.edu/
tcds/, which studies democracy and diversity in CEE, South Africa and Latin America. Elzbieta is
the author of Furnishing Democracy at the end of the Century: Negotiating Transition at the Polish
Roundtable & Others (2001). Her current research is on nationalism and ethnic conflict; new
democracies in East and Central Europe; and women and democratic transition.
Patrick Manning is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of World History at the University of Pittsburgh.
Patrick is the author of a comparison of 1789 and 1989, with work in progress on democratization
movements, 1989-1992, particularly in western and central Africa. He was trained as a specialist
in the economic history of Africa. Patrick is President of the World History Network, a nonprofit
corporation fostering research in world history - http://www.worldhistorynetwork.org
Padraic Kenney is Professor of History at Indiana University and President of the Polish Studies
Association in the United States. He is the author of A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989
(2002) and The Burdens of Freedom : Eastern Europe Since 1989 (2006). Currently, he is in the
process of preparing an edited collection of sources and documents on 1989 around the world.
Chris Armbruster is the Executive Director of the Research Network 1989 - http://www.cee-
socialscience.net/1989/. Chris was born in the American Sector of Berlin and while researching
the fall of the Soviet empire and the revolutions of 1989 he spent much time in Poland, Hungary
and Siberia. He is an alumnus of the Civic Education Project and the European University Institute.
His sociological work is dedicated to exploring explanations and interpretations of 1989: http://
ssrn.com/author=434782
Contact
For more information about this event, please contact Elzbieta Matynia, Director, Transregional
Center for Democratic Studies - [log in to unmask]; Patrick Manning, President, World History
Network - [log in to unmask]; or, Chris Armbruster, Executive Director, Research Network 1989 -
[log in to unmask]
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