(Indiana University, USA)
pjkenney@indiana.edu

Ideas and the Generation of 1989

Early critics of the celebration of 1989′s transformation pointed out the lack of new ideas motivating the revolutionary changes. Unlike previous revolutions (such as 1968), these revolutionaries wanted simply to restore what had been taken away or denied, like liberalism, democracy, etc. Some (myself included) pushed back hard against this thesis, pointing to the remarkable pluralism of ideas in 1989 as an idea in itself. At the same time, we also noted that many ideas, especially those on the left, were present in 1989 before quickly disappearing. This talk is a reconsideration: was the absence of one big idea actually a defect in the revolution? The case of Viktor Orban will serve to suggest that in the absence of a dominant idea, room has been left open for a different kind go big idea instead.