Lecture format: on site
Venue: Alte Kapelle
Street address: Spitalgasse 2, Hof 2, Eingang 2.8, 1090 Wien
This event will feature a discussion of the Routledge Handbook of 1989 and the Great Transformation (2025) edited by RECET researchers Rosamund Johnston, Jannis Panagiotidis, Magdalena Baran-Szołtys, Anna Calori, Thuc Linh Nguyễn Vũ, Sheng Peng, Anastassiya Schacht, Philipp Ther. Discussants: Frank Bösch (ZZF Potsdam), Kateřina Lišková (Czech Academy of Sciences), Besnik Pula (Virginia Tech), Angela Romano (University of Bologna).
This cutting-edge collection of essays analyzes the pivotal year of 1989 and the transformation processes that resulted from a historical perspective. It takes the events of that momentous year as a pivot to explore longer-term processes of economic, social, political, and cultural transformation linked to the rise of neoliberalism and globalization since the 1970s and enduring until now.
Referencing the work of Karl Polanyi, the handbook advances four main arguments: that the “great transformation” presented here started earlier than 1989; that its legacies linger in spaces, practices, and objects; that in order to grasp the scale of what happened around 1989, it is important to bring Eastern and Central Europe into conversation with other global regions; and that the former Eastern Bloc served as an important node in a larger, global transformation. Insisting on the “Second World’s” place in the global history of the past five decades, this handbook challenges straightforward core-periphery dichotomies. The contributions to this volume provide different case studies—some national, some comparative, some international or global—each illustrating particular trends and developments.
The handbook is directed at students and scholars of contemporary history of East Central Europe, of global and economic history, and at scholars of sociology, anthropology, and political science interested in post-1989 transformation, neoliberalism, and globalization.
Find out more about the book and preview ist on Routledge's website.
Frank Bösch is a historian working on European history in a global perspective. He is the director of the Center for Contemporary History (ZZF) in Potsdam and Professor of European 20th Century History at the University of Potsdam.
Kateřina Lišková is a researcher at the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, where she heads a project investigating expertise in authoritarian societies called ExpertTURN.
Besnik Pula is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the International Studies Program. He specializes in international political economy, social theory, and the history of social science, and is recognized for his research on economic globalization in Central and Eastern Europe and the foundations of interpretive social science.
Angela Romano is Associate Professor in International History at the University of Bologna. As a 20th Century international historian, her main research interests span the Cold War, the variety of regional integration and cooperation processes, international economic relations and New Diplomatic History.
