1989 as a Global Moment

The introduction to the session will deal with recent developments in the interpretation of globalization and apply some of the categories and research strategies proposed for the analysis of global moments and the changes of world orders to the situation of 1989, which has been so far not object of a coherent interpretation by global historians while it can be expected that the anniversary of the dramatic changes of 1989 in 2009 will produce not only more detailed insights inspired by new archival work but also open space for more comprehensive interpretations. At the same time the introduction will inform about different trends in European and non-European historiographies dealing with 1989