Description: In 1989, Soviet control over Eastern Europe ended when the communist regimes of the Warsaw Pact collapsed. These momentous and largely bloodless events set the stage for the end of the Cold War and ushered in a new era in international politics. Why didcommunism collapse relatively peacefully in Eastern Europe? Whydid these changes occur in 1989, after more than four decades of communist rule? Why did this upheaval happen almost imultaneouslyin most of the Warsaw Pact?

In Comrades No More, Renee de Neversexamines how internal and external factors interacted in thecollapse of East European communism. She argues that Gorbachev'sreforms in the Soviet Union were necessary to start the process ofpolitical change in Eastern Europe, but domestic factors in eachcommunist state determined when and how each country abandonedcommunism. A "demonstration effect" emerged as Hungary and Polandintroduced reforms and showed that Moscow would not intervene toprevent political and economic changes.

De Nevers analyzes theprocess of change in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, the GermanDemocratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. She traces thepattern of reform in each country and shows how these patternsinfluenced their postcommunist political evolution.

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