Annus Mirabilis? The Lessons and Legacies of 1989

press release: CREECA's weekly lecture series takes place in Room 210 of Ingraham Hall.

Barbara J. Falk, associate prof. of defense studies, Canadian Forces College/Royal Military College of Canada

When: 4:00 pm

Where: 206 Ingraham Hall

After the fall of communism, regardless of debates on the nature of systemic change, most agreed on the importance of non-violence. In this lecture, Falk argues that the year 1989 represented a revolution in the very idea of revolution—self-limiting, non-violent, and yet far reaching in impact. However, Cold War triumphalist narratives and Western liberal misreadings have together misrepresented the lessons and legacies of 1989, generating a “recipe-based” approach to regime change. Yet today, multipolar great power politics, the soft power decline of the United States and liberal democracy more generally, an international legal regime that disincentivizes unpopular authoritarians to step away from power, and the moral hazard associated with the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect have made non-violent or “1989-type” revolutions far less likely.