The 1989 Revolutions in Retrospect

Reminding us of the failure of academia to predict the East European revolutions, and the challenges presented by the latter to the theories of revolution, the essay claims that in order to understand why the exit from communism comprised so many varied modes, one should take a path-dependence' diachronic and synchronic comparative perspective. Based on this dual approach and a set of variables, the essay advances a typology of East European revolutions and argues that the issues regarding the type of political regime, the development of civil society and its way of interacting with the state are of paramount importance for comprehending how the negotiated revolutions' in Central Europe came about. Finally, the significance of the Central European civil society strategy under late communism for the era of globalisation is addressed.