1989: A Twenty-Year Balance Sheet of that Annus Mirabilis

Author(s):

• Markovits, Andrei S.

Subject Area: Political Science

Series Name: Michigan Paper Series

Publication Date: 9/17/2009

Description: Lecture given for the "Conversations on Europe" series. Were a Martian to have gazed down to earth in 1989, he would have found one Soviet Union, one Yugoslavia, one Czechoslovakia, and two Germanies. From this Martian's massively macro vantage point, a single textbook on how these countries (excepting West Germany) were governed and what politics in them was like, would have sufficed for a relatively good understanding of their quotidian reality. To be sure, neither the macro vantage point, nor the textbook would have offered a reliable meso, let alone micro, analysis of what really made these countries tick and how deeply different they were from each other under the macro layer of a stagnant Leninism. Still, things would have looked quite uniform to this Martian, his understanding of the situation quite clear. Were this same Martian to look down to earth again, he would be stunned by the sheer visual differences in these twenty years. In fact, he would not recognize anything -- unless he was a great student of the history of the region. Then, he could detect themes that looked eerily familiar to him and that would help him as a fine compass in a world that -- unlike its 1989 predecessor -- looks complicated, complex, even confusing to outsiders and insiders alike. To add further to the tectonic shift that has re-arranged the region and confused our Martian, there are two completely new supra-national players that emerged and that were literally unthinkable twenty years ago: The European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Had any faculty member of this distinguished institution predicted that Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia will not only be fully independent countries but also members of the European Union and NATO, a reconsideration of her or his tenure might have been in order.

Author Bio: Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Karl W. Deutsch Collegiate Professor of Comparative Politics and German Studies Andrei (Andy) Markovits is the author and editor of many books, scholarly articles, conference papers, book reviews, and newspaper contributions in English and several foreign languages on topics as varied as German and Austrian politics, anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, social democracy, social movements, the European right, and the European left. Markovits has also worked extensively on comparative sports culture in Europe and North America. He has written widely on global soccer with special emphasis on Germany, Austria, and the United States. Markovits’ latest book, UNCOUTH NATION: WHY EUROPE DISLIKES AMERICA (Princeton University Press, 2007), was also published in Italian, Korean, and German. The German version titled AMERIKA, DICH HASST SICH'S BESSER. ANTIAMERIKANISMUS UND ANTISEMITISMUS IN EUROPA (Konkret-Literatur Verlag, 2004) is currently in its third edition. During 2008-09, Markovits was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford where he commenced a project entitled "The New Discourse of Dogs" which analyzes how humans have come to reshape their relationships towards dogs (and animals in general) since the early 1970s. As of July 1, 2009, Markovits holds the title of Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. In 2007, Markovits received two prestigious excellence in teaching awards: the TRONSTEIN AWARD from the Department of Political Science, and the GOLDEN APPLE AWARD from Students Honoring Outstanding University Teaching (SHOUT). Upon receiving the Golden Apple, Markovits delivered his "ideal last lecture" on April 11, 2007 under the title "Sports Cultures on Two Continents: Metaphors for My Life." Additionally, Professor Markovits holds an honorary doctorate -- Dr. phil. honoris causa -- from the Leuphana University of Lueneburg in Germany.

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