Writing a History of Europe since 1989

Organised by

• Department of History
• Democracy in the 21st Century

Histories of Europe abound but most end in 1989 or thereabouts. Or some time before. Occasionally histories of Europe venture into the terrain of the 1990s, with the odd one touching upon the early 21st century but in the manner of a postscript or afterword. Historians will of course raise doubts about the possibility of contemporary history tout court but if we accept that a history of Europe since 1989 is a viable venture in theory, how can it be written in practice? This talk will address these questions amongst others.

If we want to avoid reducing the history of 1989 to a history of the development of EU institutions, which is a common occurrence, how else might we periodise and organise the three decades since the collapse of the Berlin Wall? Histories are not just one fact after another; they involve choices about how to organise our understanding of the past, most notably the identification of themes and points of change and continuity. What are the stories we can tell about Europe since 1989? Stories about Europe’s political and economic development are easier to conceive but what about other transformations – socially and in terms of moral values and outlooks? There is also the problem of perspective. From whose perspective is the history written? Different national perspectives abound but so do the contrasting perspectives of different generations. Finally, any history of Europe since 1989 needs to address the question of whether ‘Europe’ as such exists. To what exactly does a history of Europe since 1989 refer?