1989: ‘Ideological lie’ exposed in democracy’s paradoxical moment
No empire in history has disintegrated as quickly or as bloodlessly as the Soviet one, in the remarkable year that saw the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989…. Read more »
Search Results for: Krastev
Democracy under threat in post-Wall Europe: Spirit of 1989 fighting back
The west’s mistake after 1989 was not that we celebrated what happened in central Europe – and subsequently in the Baltic republics and the former Soviet Union – as a… Read more »
The other ‘God That Failed’? The triumph and tragedy of 1989
“Always prepared!” For decades, it was a catchphrase of the Pioneers, an outdoorsy youth group that was a hallmark of communist indoctrination efforts targeting schoolchildren throughout the U.S.S.R. and its… Read more »
How to re-ignite democracy: Recovering the promise of 1989
After communism fell, the promises of western liberalism to transform central and eastern Europe were never fully realized – and now we are seeing the backlash, argue Ivan Krastev and Stephen… Read more »
Post Wall, Post Square: 1989 – The Light that Failed?
Like 1776, 1789 and 1917, the year 1989 was one of those rare moments that mark a decisive turning point in human history. So, at least, it seemed at the… Read more »
Targeted: How social media is breaking democracy
Russian government-backed cyber aggression is heightening concerns from the west following a spate of high-profile incidents, prompting threats of countermeasures from the likes of Nato, the EU and UK, the… Read more »
The ‘authoritarian dynamic’ behind the rise of populism
Trust in democratic institutions to resolve conflicts fairly is at odds with the populist notion of democracy as the expression of the unified will of the one true people. Populist… Read more »
CEE illiberalism a corrective to damaging ‘victorious West’ myth?
For countries emerging from communism, the post-1989 imperative to ‘be like the West’ has generated discontent and even a ‘return of the repressed’, as the region feels old nationalist stirrings… Read more »
Fresh options for democratic renewal?
The recent European parliamentary elections offered some optimistic liberals a chance to gloat, Ishaan Tharoor writes for The Washington Post: “The so-called populist wave, I think it was contained,” declared… Read more »
Anti-hypocrisy rhetoric weaponized to attack postwar liberal order
The only way for the European Union to survive as a liberal actor in an increasingly illiberal environment is by transforming itself from a missionary who wants to shape the… Read more »