no abstract

Thirty Years after the Collapse. Does the «Short Century» still make Sense?

 
Historical views and memories of the collapse of Communism in 1989-1991 have significantly changed in recent times. The myth of the «reunification of Europe» still central to the official language of the European Union seems unsatisfactory as illiberal patterns and forces emerge in an increasingly fragmented political landscape. This article maintains that such developments may represent the epiphany of long-term phenomena poorly understood. The significance of 1989 as liberation would be better served by recovering the complexity of the past. At the same time, as our perspective becomes global, the notion of a «short century» makes hardly sense any longer.
 

Keywords:  Europe, Communism, Collapse, Cold war, Globalization.

Parole chiave: Europa, Comunismo, Crollo, Guerra fredda, Globalizzazione.

Economic Estimates by the CIA and the Unpredictable End of the USSR

 
In this article, we will analyze the debate that took place around the assessments that the CIA gave of the economic situation in the Soviet Union, a clearly decisive key to understanding the overall health of the main political-military opponent of the United States. The article will include the discussions that flared up in the American political establishment starting in 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the initial disorientation due to the loss of the historical adversary of the Cold War. Moreover, the positions taken by sovietologists in these discussions will be evaluated, as well as the role played in these debates by the analysis developed by Soviet economists in the 1980s. We will lastly consider the official response provided by the CIA (a response that, coming only in 2001, was actually rather slow to arrive), aimed essentially at confirming the correctness of its analyses and reiterating that its duties did not include that of predicting the collapse of the Soviet Union.
 

Keywords:  Santo Soviet economy, CIA estimates, Collapse of the USSR.

Parole chiave: Santo Economia sovietica, Stime della Cia, Crollo dell’Urss.

From the Global Shock to the Continental Union: Recent Trends in the Historiography on Europe and European Cooperation

 
This article examines recent developments in the historiography on European cooperation, focusing especially on the years between the «shock of the global» in the 1970s and the birth of the European Union in 1992. After examining methodological and interpretative innovations in the field of European integration history at large, the article takes a closer look at the construction of the European Union along with two issues: the transformation of socio-political equilibria in the context of late twentieth-century globalisation; and its interaction with the end of the Cold War and German reunification.
 

Keywords:  European Union, Neoliberalism, Cold war, Globalisation, Maastricht Treaty.

Parole chiave: Unione europea, Neoliberalismo, Guerra fredda, Globalizzazione, Trattato di Maastricht.

Rethinking 1989: the Collapse of the Soviet Empire, the Birth of the New Europe, and its Limits

 
The year 1989 marked the end of an era. Historiographies and public discourse have often celebrated the Cold War’s peaceful conclusion, the reform of the Soviet system, and the end of communism in Eastern Europe as the triumph of democracy over authoritarianism. However, thirty years later, 1989 is not the same. The peoples’ revolutions, the autumn of nations, the authoritarian and imperial crisis of the USSR, the return of Eastern Europe to the West, and the acceleration of the Euro-Atlantic integration process reflected different values and narratives within each country. The same democratic principles that inspired the transformations of 1989 are now contested by populist and authoritarian relapses that threaten the common European project while making the memory of 1989 still divisive.
 

Keywords:  1989, USSR, New Europe, Democratization, Populism.

Parole chiave: 1989, Urss, Nuova Europa, Democratizzazione, Populismo.

On the Borderland. Regions, Minorities, and Transnational Relations in Ukraine, 1989-1991

 
The upheavals of 1989 in the countries of Eastern Europe had significant repercussions within the Soviet Ukraine, situated on the border with States that were leaving communism. Once again Ukraine proved to be a “borderland” (this literal meaning of the place-name Ukrajina), a territory that had been a crossroads of peoples, cultures, languages, religions throughout its history. The analysis of this historical turning point is pivotal to understanding the dynamics that were to affect the Ukrainian State after independence. As the communist regimes of the neighboring countries collapsed, the complex “borderland” reality of Ukraine emerged, underscoring the contradictions of nationalist rhetoric, revealing the inability of the national leadership to face a completely new situation and prefiguring the scenarios that were to open up in the new, independent “Ukraine”.
 

Keywords:  Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Nationalism, Regionalism.

Parole chiave: Europa orientale, Ucraina, Nazionalismo, Regionalismo.

Jacques Delors and Europe: towards the Politicization of Economic Issues (1985-1995)?

 
During the Delors mandate as president of the European Commission, the reality of the integration process made the role of institutions much more complex. The development of several and interdependent common policies, the completion of the internal market and the European monetary union perspective reinforced the political nature of institutions which acted increasingly in the field of international relations. To Delors, this dynamic implied an institutional leap breaking with the functionalist path followed at the time of the Single Act. The Maastricht Treaty’s institutional structure of pillars became contradictory with the unitary character implied by the politicisation of the activity of institutions.
 

Keywords:  Jacques Delors, European institutions, Common policies, EMU (European Monetary Union).

Mots clés: Jacques Delors, Institutions européennes, Politiques communes, Union monétaire européenne.

Parole chiave: Jacques Delors, Istituzioni europee, Politiche comuni, Unione monetaria europea.

 
The Delors Commission (1985-1995) developed an extremely broad social policy agenda, but it is often overlooked that this ambition has acquired a greener colour over the years, especially after 1989 under the influence of the Italian commissioner Carlo Ripa di Meana. This paper will first emphasize the importance of Delors’ social agenda in the classic sense, i.e. predominantly the amelioration of working conditions and redistribution. The second part will then explore the heightened salience of green issues in the Commission’s social policy, while the third part will explore the fierce contest resulting from this growing emphasis on environmental protection, through a major case study, the 1989 car emissions directive.
 

Keywords:  Car emissions, Jacques Delors, European Commission, Social policy. Mots clés: Emission automobile, Delors, Commission européenne, Politique sociale.

Parole chiave: Emissioni di gas automobilistici, Jacques Delors, Commissione Europea, Politiche sociali.

 
This article takes stock of the scholarly debate over the reasons that brought European trade unions to support the Treaty reforms from the Single European Act to the Treaty of Maastricht. It focuses on the central role played by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and its major components between 1985 to 1992. On the basis of trade union records and European archives, it argues that the support given by the ETUC to the Treaty reforms defended by the European Commission led by Jacques Delors implied a partial victory for European trade unionism in the context of severe national defeats and a permanent blockade of Social Europe led by Great Britain. As a result, the ETUC became a more cohesive, legitimate and capable organization than before 1985, gaining historical influence in the process of European integration in the context of the Fall of the Wall and the rise of Neo-liberalism.
 

Keywords:  ETUC, Treaty negotiations, Social Europe, Trade Unions, Social Chapter.

Parole chiave: Confederazione europea dei sindacati, Negoziati per il trattato, Europa sociale, Sindacati, Capitolo sociale.

Social Democracy and Capitalism: from Capital-Labour Parity to Re-commodification

 
For 150 years, social democracy has confronted capitalism over how democracy and markets should interact. Its characteristics and hegemony (strong between the 1930s and 1980s, and waning since then) should therefore be contextualized as a main element in a «long 20th century» rather than as a by-product of the duel between the USSR and market democracies. Correspondingly, the rising tide of democratic socialism can be explained by its preferability to crisis-ridden «capitalist commodification», while its retreat is chronologically difficult to explain with the USSR’s demise. In this respect, electoral data suggest that first the excessive role given to wages in stagflation and, consequently, the role jointly ascribed by EU rules and «Blairism» to export-led globalization, should be considered central features of the socialdemocratic ebb.
 

Keywords:  Social democracy, Stagflation, Globalization, Ordoliberalism.

Parole chiave: Socialdemocrazia, Stagflazione, Globalizzazione, Ordoliberismo.

1989 as a Watershed in European Labour History? A Reflection Between Historiography and Social Sciences

 
This contribution focuses on the categories and the epistemic horizon adopted for interpreting the changes of labour, both in historiography and the social sciences after 1989. The review of a wide body of scholarship intends to cast light on the interaction existing between the research topic and its interpretation. The article focuses on how labour changes have been looked at in the European context, and it includes analyses relating to both the Eastern European and the North American areas, of use in order to better understand the changes and the pervasiveness of certain categories in the post-1989 period. The influence of global studies and global history on post-1989 labour history is also taken into account.
 

Keywords:  1989, Labour history, Social sciences, Europe.

Parole chiave: 1989, Storia del lavoro, Scienze sociali, Europa.

«The Cold War is now behind us and we must take this into Account.» The Italian Christian Democratic Party and the Building of a New International Order after the Collapse of the Berlin Wall

 
This article examines how the Italian Christian Democrats dealt with the new international order after the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Based on a wide array of sources (documents of the DC and of DC leaders; party press; the DC’s conferences on foreign policy; American, British and French archive materials), the article offers three levels of analysis. The first introduces the overall position adopted by the Italian Christian Democrats with regard to the new international order, a position that can be described as a policy of discontinuity within continuity. The second level takes into consideration the pillars of the new foreign policy agenda of the DC after 1989: Europe and European integration; a strong relationship with the USA; NATO; the OSCE. The third level of analysis deals with the CDs’ attitudes and positions towards German unification.
 

Keywords:  Italian Christian Democratic Party, Post-Cold War new international order, NATO, Europe and European integration, German unification.

Parole chiave: Democrazia cristiana, Nuovo ordine internazionale post-guerra fredda, NATO, Europa e integrazione europea, Unificazione tedesca.