Christian Democracy and the Fall of Communism

Michael Gehler is Head of the Institute of History and Jean Monnet Chair for Modern and Contemporary History of Germany and Europe and European Integration at the University of Hildesheim and Professor at Andrássy University Budapest. Piotr H. Kosicki is associate professor of history at the University of Maryland. Helmut Wohnout is department head in the Austrian Federal Chancellery, and since 1993, director of the Karl von Vogelsang Institute Vienna.

Christian Democracy and the Fall of Communism provides a thoroughly researched and original contribution to the scholarship on the West-East implications in the context of the 1989 historic milestone in general and in terms of Christian Democracy in particular. Individual contributions to this volume are solidly evidence based, in terms of both primary and secondary sources. Their specific viewpoints implicitly complete each other into a sort of a harmonized whole. The resulting picture documents convincingly the role and implication of Christian Democracy in the fall of communism and beyond as a sort of Pyrrhic victory as to its long-term impact on the fate of Christian Democracy in both parts of Europe. This volume might serve as a cogent and coherent methodological lesson on the applicability of Western European political concepts to Central and Eastern Europe.Miloslav Bednář, H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews. June, 2021URL:http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56446

• Foreword Renato MoroAcknowledgments Michael Gehler, Piotr H. Kosicki and Helmut WohnoutIntroduction Michael GehlerSECTION I: CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY IN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM: INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND THE GROUNDWORK FOR 1989 1 The Failure of a Third Way: The World Confederation of Labor and the Globalization of Solidarność during the 1980s Kim Christiaens 2 The CSCE Vienna Follow-up Meeting and Alois Mock, 1986–1989 Andrea Brait and Michael Gehler 3 “Helping Hands” across the Fence: The Stance of the European Democrat Union toward Developments behind the Iron Curtain Michael Gehler and Johannes SchönnerSECTION II: FROM WEST TO EAST: CROSS-IRON CURTAIN MOVEMENT-BUILDING EFFORTS 4 The Community of Taizé and the Revolutions in Europe in 1989 Thomas Gronier 5 “To restore dignity to the people in the communist dictatorships”: ÖVP Contacts with the Political Opposition in Central and Eastern Europe until 1989–1990 Helmut Wohnout 6 Finding Partners in the East: Helmut Kohl and the Fledgling Center-Right in Central and Eastern Europe Alexander Brakel 7 The Italian Christian Democratic Party Confronts the Revolutions of 1989 Giovanni Mario CeciSECTION III: MADE BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN: HOMEGROWN CATHOLIC POLITICS AND THE RISE AND FALL OF CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY IN EASTERN EUROPE 8 The Christian Democrat Who Wasn’t: Tadeusz Mazowiecki and the End of Catholic Politics in Poland Piotr H. Kosicki 9 Hungary: A Decisive Transition – But a Revolution? Anton Pelinka 10 Among the Hussites, Communists, and Neo-liberals: Christian Democratic Political Actors in Communist Czechoslovakia and the Democratic Transition Ladislav Cabada 11 The Restoration of Christian Democracy in Lithuania, 1989–1990: Continuities and Ruptures Artūras Svarauskas 12 Abandoned Patterns: 1989 and the Discontinuation of Cold War Cooperation among Emigré Central and Eastern European Christian Democrats Sławomir ŁukasiewiczConclusion: Beyond 1989: The Disappointed Hopes of Christian Democracy in Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe Piotr H. Kosicki List of Abbreviations Bibliography List of Contributors Index of Persons Colophon