A kelet-európai rendszerváltozások külpolitikai háttere
The International Background of the Changes of Regime in Eastern Europe

Summary/Abstract: As is true of most great turning points in world history, the changes of regime in East-Central and Southeastern Europe in 1989-1990 were brought about by the concatenation and interplay of several internal and external factors. Fundamental among these was the realignment of international power relations. The Soviet-American rivalry, ongoing since the end of World War II, culminated in victory for the United States. In his essay, Ignác Romsics analyses the different phases and aspects of this struggle focusing in the 1980’s, that is the era of Ronald Reagan and Michael Gorbachev. He concludes that by 1989 the Brezhnev Doctrine was replaced by the so-called Sinatra Doctrine (“I did it my way”). It meant that in contrast to 1956, 1968 and even indirectly 1981, Communist elites in the Soviet bloc henceforth could no longer rely on the armed assistance of the Soviet Union. The future of the Eastern European Communist regimes now depended exclusively on their strength, their acceptance by society and their ability. And this sealed their fate. Within some months all of the Communist regimes having established after World War II with Soviet military and political help, collapsed and new, democratically elected parliaments and governments were formed.

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