Events
France
To leave communism, to change time
France - 04/11/2009
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Foundation for Political Innovation, in partnership with the Robert Schuman Foundation, organizes under the direction of Stéphane Courtois, an international conference on the theme: "To leave communism, to change time," on the 4, 5, 6 November 2009, at the Horticulture Auditorium (84, rue de Grenelle, Paris 7e)
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Foundation for Political Innovation, in partnership with the Robert Schuman Foundation, organizes under the direction of Stéphane Courtois, an international conference on the theme: "To leave communism, to change time," on the 4, 5, 6 November 2009, at the Horticulture Auditorium (84, rue de Grenelle, Paris 7e).
In 1989, to everyone's surprise, the Berlin Wall fell. In the euphoria of the moment, many thought that democracy and a free market economy were going to bring people together who had been deprived of these ideas, and that democracy and a free market economy would finally prevail.
Twenty years later, many things have changed: Germany reunited, the ex- "People's Republics" and the Baltic states joined the European Union, thus benefiting a return to rule of law. After essential, yet painful economic changes, the standard of living in these states is slowly catching up to that of other Europeans.
However, we are far from the official recognition and condemnation of the criminal nature of communist regimes. Does the extreme electoral weakness of the communist parties provide any indication of the place and the role of this ideology in our collective memories, national and European, in our political systems and our intellectual debates? That proposed question will illuminate these three days dedicated to reflection on what remains of communism.
Programme
Inscription
In 1989, to everyone's surprise, the Berlin Wall fell. In the euphoria of the moment, many thought that democracy and a free market economy were going to bring people together who had been deprived of these ideas, and that democracy and a free market economy would finally prevail.
Twenty years later, many things have changed: Germany reunited, the ex- "People's Republics" and the Baltic states joined the European Union, thus benefiting a return to rule of law. After essential, yet painful economic changes, the standard of living in these states is slowly catching up to that of other Europeans.
However, we are far from the official recognition and condemnation of the criminal nature of communist regimes. Does the extreme electoral weakness of the communist parties provide any indication of the place and the role of this ideology in our collective memories, national and European, in our political systems and our intellectual debates? That proposed question will illuminate these three days dedicated to reflection on what remains of communism.
Programme
Inscription
