Question

What was the effect of 1989 on Central and Eastern Europe?

Answer 1

The year of miracles in Central and Eastern Europe, when communist regimes seemingly overthrew as dominoes – it's easy to focus on the Western perspective: the end of the Iron Curtain. Images of the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 and of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators blocking the streets of cities like Warsaw, Prague and Budapest that year have since been celebrated in the West as icons of the region's downfall of communism. But often missed by those who haven't lived through it is the economic chaos that preceded the revolutions – and the winding political and social directions that many Eastern Bloc countries have taken in their search of democratic and economic stability

Among the older generations of the country, memories of the rising pains of the 1990s remain, coloring not only their memories of the post-communist transition but also their views of Western institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, which ostensibly sought to promote the transformation of the Eastern Bloc but left many Eastern Europeans feeling unable to dictate the terms of their duties In the 1990's, economies across the world fell into recession. Efforts to privatize and open economies have contributed to a increase in unemployment and a growing inequality.

Most political frontiers in Eastern Europe represent ethnic boundaries. Every area had once looked like nation-states. Romania is set aside for Romanians in theory, Hungary for Hungarians etc. Because of the ethnic groups within their boundaries, none are true nation-states, but the countries retained their shared heritage during the Communist period. Cultural movements have put together people in most Eastern European countries to openly embrace the drive to unite and hold onto a history that is as old as Europe itself.

Eastern Europe has moved away from the old Soviet Union toward democratic states, free market economies, private ownership and the EU.
Countries with stable regimes and economic potential have been admitted into the EU, and economies have grown. Many countries that did not meet the degree of economic growth or democratic changes were not admitted into the EU. The transition from former Soviet republics to capitalist regimes, including unemployment, inflation, corruption and crime, and poverty, has not been without difficulties.