The German Revolution of 1989 in Global Perspective

We are still living in the shadow of the Cold War, although nowadays it might be hard to imagine how deeply the Iron Curtain divided Berlin, Germany, Europe, and the entire world for several decades. A generation later, some political leaders propose new walls to keep the world and its challenges out of their own nation’s backyard. However, the revolution(s) of 1989 demonstrate that politics cannot escape globalization. This lecture deals with the German revolution of 1989 in global perspective. It will introduce world society theory as a framework for analyzing global change. By doing so, the lecture will demonstrate that revolutions are not “goofs” in history but are caused by a combination of specific events as well as long-term changes of structures and perceptions.

Speaker: Dr Andreas Leutzsch

Dr Andreas Leutzsch is a DAAD [German Academic Exchange Service] research fellow working on a project on global revolutions and conceptual history. Previously he worked as Assistant Professor at Bielefeld University (2007-2012) and as DAAD Visiting Associate Professor at HKU (2012-2017). He is author and (co-)editor of eight books and numerous articles on global and European History. The Social Science Research Centre Berlin (WZB) – a think-tank of the German parliament – honored his book on global history – “Geschichte der Globalisierung als globalisierte Geschichte [History of Globalisation as Globalised History]” –with the A.SK Award Social Science Fellowship.