본고는 비교관점에서 1989년 동유럽혁명을 재고찰하고 있다. 즉 동유럽혁명에 관해 각국의 상이점과 유사점을 살펴보고 이를 통해 동유럽혁명의 유형화를 시도해 본 것이다. 혁명의 국내적 요인으로서 동유럽은 정권의 정당성 상실과 경제체제의 비능률이라는 일반적 요소를 공유하되, 구공산체제하 개혁의 유무, 당 엘리트의 응집력 정도 등에 따라 체제가 직면한 위기의 내용과 그 인식에서 차이를 보였음을 알 수 있다. 혁명의 외적 요인으로서 서방의 영향과 고르바초프 개혁을 들 수 있으며, 국내적 개혁의 시도가 있었고 서방과의 교류가 유리하였던 국가들은 고르바초프의 신사고를 적극 지지하였다. 이런 차이로 인해 고르바초프 개혁에 대한 태도에서 “동유럽4인방”과 폴란드헝가리의 유형으로 나누어졌다. 동유럽의 혁명 전개과정에서는 크게 시민사회의 재생을 보여 주었던 국가와 그렇지 못한 국가들로 분류되는데, 상대적으로 시민사회가 재활성화되어 있었던 폴란드와 헝가리의 경우 타협을 통해 점진적으로 진행된 “협상혁명”을 보여 주었으나, 시민사회적 요소가 약했던 국가들의 경우 시위 및 폭력혁명의 과정을 겪었다. 특히 루마니아의 유혈혁명의 경우는 시민사회의 부재가 잘 드러난 경우였다.혁명직후의 변화도 시민사회 활성화 정도와 밀접한 연관성을 보여 주는데, 구공산당의 약화나 영향력 유지, 체제변혁의 제한성 정도 등을 두고 중유럽형 또는 비세그라드4형과 발칸형으로 대별되곤 한다. 이처럼 구소련의 위성권이었던 동유럽은 보편성과 특수성을 동시에 보여 주고 있다. 이는 앞으로의 체제변혁에서도 마찬가지일 것이다.

This thesis reconsiders East European revolutions of 1989 from a comparative perspective and attempts to classify them according to the differences and similarities. As domestic causes of the revolutions, we can take the common phenomenon of lack of political legitimacy and ineffective economic system. However, the degree of crisis differed from country to country, according to whether there were efforts to reform the economic system and whether the party elite were united or not. As external causes, the West's influence and the Gorbachev factor are significant. Those countries that had attempted some economic reforms supported the perestroika and glasnost, like Poland and Hungary. However, Eastern Europe's so-called "Gang of Four" were against Gorbachev's policy or only reluctantly followed it. In the process of East European revolutions, the factor of civil society played an important role. Poland, Hungary, and in some respect Czechoslovakia, with relatively active civil society, showed the examples of gradual “negotiated revolution,” while those countries with lack of civil society went through a violent course. Again in the aftermath of the revolutions, the breadth and depth of change in each country depended on the degree of the civil society's activation. With respect to this change, the former East European countries are usually classified into two groups, i.e., the Visegrád Four and the rest. These differences and similarities may repeat in the East Central Europe's system transformation in the future, too.

This thesis reconsiders East European revolutions of 1989 from a comparative perspective and attempts to classify them according to the differences and similarities. As domestic causes of the revolutions, we can take the common phenomenon of lack of political legitimacy and ineffective economic system. However, the degree of crisis differed from country to country, according to whether there were efforts to reform the economic system and whether the party elite were united or not. As external causes, the West's influence and the Gorbachev factor are significant. Those countries that had attempted some economic reforms supported the perestroika and glasnost, like Poland and Hungary. However, Eastern Europe's so-called "Gang of Four" were against Gorbachev's policy or only reluctantly followed it. In the process of East European revolutions, the factor of civil society played an important role. Poland, Hungary, and in some respect Czechoslovakia, with relatively active civil society, showed the examples of gradual “negotiated revolution,” while those countries with lack of civil society went through a violent course. Again in the aftermath of the revolutions, the breadth and depth of change in each country depended on the degree of the civil society's activation. With respect to this change, the former East European countries are usually classified into two groups, i.e., the Visegrád Four and the rest. These differences and similarities may repeat in the East Central Europe's system transformation in the future, too.

Eastern Europe, Central Europe, revolution, system transformation, Gorbachev