1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End

Download or read book 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End written by Padraic Kenney and published by Bedford. This book was released on 2009-12-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A series of democratic transformations in the 1980s ended the cold war and ushered in the present era. This volume by Padraic Kenney uses six case studies from this period — Poland, the Philippines, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, and China — to explore common characteristics of global political change while highlighting the differing strategies and perspectives of the people who sought to free themselves from dictatorship. A general introduction to the volume examines key trends in the decades leading up to the changes, tracing the paths that dictatorships and opposition movements took in their fateful confrontations. The first chapter with documents surveys the central ideas of this age of democratic, nonviolent revolution, and sets a framework for considering the case studies in the chapters that follow.