The role of Christian Democracy in the collapse of the Communist Bloc Debates on the role of Christian Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe too often remain strongly tied to national historiographies. With the edited collection the contributing authors aim to reconstruct Christian Democracy’s role in the fall of Communism from a bird's-eye perspective by covering the entire region and by taking “third-way” options in the broader political imaginary of late-Cold War Europe into account. The book’s twelve chapters present the most recent insights on this topic and connect scholarship on the Iron Curtain’s collapse with scholarship on political Catholicism. 'Christian Democracy and the Fall of Communism' offers the reader a two-fold perspective. The first approach examines the efforts undertaken by Western European actors who wanted to foster or support Christian Democratic initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe. The second approach is devoted to the (re-)emergence of homegrown Christian Democratic formations in the 1980s and 1990s. One of the volume’s seminal contributions lies in its documentation of the decisive role that Christian Democracy played in supporting the political and anti-political forces that engineered the collapse of Communism from within between 1989 and 1991. Debates on the role of Christian Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe too often remain strongly tied to national historiographies. With the edited collection the contributing authors aim to reconstruct Christian Democracy’s role in the fall of Communism from a bird's-eye perspective by covering the entire region and by taking “third-way” options in the broader political imaginary of late-Cold War Europe into account. The book’s twelve chapters present the most recent insights on this topic and connect scholarship on the Iron Curtain’s collapse with scholarship on political Catholicism. Christian Democracy and the Fall of Communism offers the reader a two-fold perspective. The first approach examines the efforts undertaken by Western European actors who wanted to foster or support Christian Democratic initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe. The second approach is devoted to the (re-)emergence of homegrown Christian Democratic formations in the 1980s and 1990s. One of the volume’s seminal contributions lies in its documentation of the decisive role that Christian Democracy played in supporting the political and anti-political forces that engineered the collapse of Communism from within between 1989 and 1991. Foreword Renato Moro Acknowledgments Michael Gehler, Piotr H. Kosicki and Helmut Wohnout Introduction Michael Gehler SECTION 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 Schönner SECTION 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 Ceci SECTION 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 Łukasiewicz Conclusion: 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