Reflections on the Revolution - Hardcover

Dahrendorf, Ralf

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0812918835 ISBN 13: 9780812918830

Publisher: Crown, 1990

Synopsis

"The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 effectively ended the division of Europe into East and West, and the features of our world that have resulted bear little resemblance to those of the forty years that preceded the Wall's fall. The rise of a new Europe prompts many questions, most of which remain to be answered. What does it all mean? Where is it going to lead? Are we witnessing the conclusion of an era without seeing anything to replace an old and admittedly dismal way of life? What will a market economy do to the social texture of various countries of Central Europe? Will it not make some rich while many will become poorer than ever? How can the rule of law be brought about?" "In this incisive and lucid book, Ralf Dahrendorf, one of Europe's most distinguished scholars, ponders these and other equally vexing questions. He regards what has happened in East Central Europe as a victory for neither of the social systems that once opposed each other across the Iron Curtain. Rather, he views these events as a vote for an open society over a closed society. The continuing conundrum, he argues, which will plague peoples everywhere, will be how to balance the need for economic growth with the desire for social justice while building authentic and enduring democratic institutions." Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, which includes a new introduction and postscript from the author, is a humane, skeptical, and anti-utopian work, a manifesto for a radical liberalism in which the social entitlements of citizenship are as important a condition of progress as the opportunities for choice. A study of change and geopolitics in the modern world, Reflections points the way towards a new politics for the twenty-first century.

About this title

Reviews

Dahrendorf, a native of West Germany, former director of the London School of Economics, and currently warden of St. Anthony's College, Oxford, is a sociologist whose interest is constitutional politics. The recent changes in Eastern Europe have left him an open field for speculation. This letter, consciously modeled after Edmund Burke's writings and making frequent references to The Federalist Papers and to Karl Popper and other political philosphers, discusses the theory of the "open society," the current decline of socialism, the politics and economics along the road to freedom, and Germany's place in the new Europe. He stresses the importance of allowing an open society to flourish and warns against blindly replacing one social institution for another. Both erudite and persuasive, this is suitable primarily for academic collections.
- Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0812918835
• ISBN 13: 9780812918830
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 163