People power in the Soviet Bloc Flashcards
What played an important role in ending the CW?
Popular pressure or people power in EE
What broke he communist regimes’ monopoly of power and dismantled the Soviet Bloc?
Growing disillusionment in the satellite states during the 1980s, which culminated in in widespread protests and demonstrations
What does the people power interpretation focus on?
The impact of events from below rather than the influence of high politics and the role of particular national leaders
What does the people power interpretation assert?
That the mobilisation of popular discontent across EE effectively ended the CW by removing the satellite regimes
Why did the 1980s witness growing popular discontent in EE?
Due to the failure of central economic planning, continued repression and the moral bankruptcy of communis
Give examples of when, before 1989, the popular opposition secured concessions from the communist regimes
The gains made by Solidarity and the Catholic Church in Poland in 1980-81, and the state of the reform process in Hungary in 1988
What does people power offer?
A central explanation for the transformation of EE in 1989
How did change occur in EE?
Rapidly and peacefully (except in Romania)
What does the nature of change in EE point to?
A mass rejections of the satellite regimes and an almost complete loss of popular legitimacy
Which historian sees the people power argument as important part of the explanation for the end of the CW?
Joseph Smith