Lecture format: on site
Room: 2R-EG-07 (lecture hall of the Institute for Eastern European History).
Street address: Spitalgasse 2, Campus of the University of Vienna, Hof 3.
The economic transformation of the Republic of Ireland into a ‘Celtic tiger’ and that of Poland into a market economy are primarily associated with the 1990s. However, (more recent) studies (e.g. Florian Peters) show that these developments already began in the 1980s, so that it is sometimes possible to speak of the “long 1980s” - even if the political changes in East-Central Europe in 1989 and their influence on developments in this region cannot be completely ignored.
It was precisely during this period of transformation in the long 1980s that disputes over reproductive rights took place in both countries, some of which were fuelled by the economic and political changes. This can be seen most clearly in the Polish example where the 1980s began with a change in the power structure between politics, church and society, and ended ultimately with the fall of communist rule. However, similar political changes can also be found in Ireland at a deeper look. Common in both cases is that the changes in the area of tension between politics, church and society manifested themselves primarily in the area of reproductive rights making those changes traceable. It is striking that opposing developments took place in both countries in this area, but also in the above-mentioned area of tension. This concerned the role of the Catholic Church and the political elites: While an emancipation of the latter from the former can be observed in Ireland, a politicisation of religion occurred in Poland in the 1980s and early 1990s. Moreover, this was accompanied by discourses on the countries’ national identity. These discourses and changes in the relationships between the groups of actors (politics, church, society) thus had a massive impact on social negotiation processes regarding reproductive rights in both countries. As in the case of the tension between politics and the church, there were also opposing developments here: The referendums of the early 1990s led to a liberalisation of numerous rules and regulations in the Republic of Ireland, with these legal changes following the liberal trends in (urban) society. Those referenda in the 1990s laid the foundation for the liberalisation of marriage law and abortions following the referendums in 2015 and 2018. In Poland, on the other hand, there was a partial retraditionalisation and a rollback of liberal solutions right at the beginning of the transformation process, which was partly an effect of the economic transformation process, but also to political changes leading to (ongoing) conflicts. The lecture shows this simultaneity of economic, (sexual) political and cultural transformations as well as their counter-currents in both countries.
Michael Zok is Research Assistant at German Historical Institute Warsaw. From 2020 to 2024, he worked on a research project funded by the German Research Foundation at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw. His research interests are European History, particular Eastern Central Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries as well as comparative history.
