ABSTRACT
While it would be foolish to altogether discard the insights contained in such assessments, the arguments presented in this essay will nonetheless challenge this reigning consensus. To this end, I propose shifting the focus of analysis back
to crucial normative-philosophical questions on power and violence raised by civic movements ten years ago. This allows me to refrain from a conventional reading of 1989 as a particular historical "moment" or series of political "events" involving Eastern Europe's "transition to democracy." Instead, I highlight the significance of 1989 as an ethicopolitical imperative to think and act in the spirit of human dignity against the violent dynamics of arbitrary, oppressive power. In the words of Czech President Vaclav Havel, this imperative demands that "the world of politics should be widely humanized and its intellectual and spiritual dimension be cultivated. Politics, in my view, should be more than just the art of the possible, and power should not be an end in itself."4
