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The ‘Revolutions of ‘89’ in Eastern Europe and the USSR have variously been understood as: processes of regime change and democratisation; a new model of revolutionary change; a historical counterpart to the Great Revolutions of 1789, 1848 and 1917; an episode of imperial collapse; the implosion of economically irrational systems; the triumph of Western ideologies of liberal democracy and liberalism; and as a historical moment when lost traditions of critical civil and intellectual engagement were rekindled. This multi-disciplinary module explores the collapse of communism from 1989 in a global, comparative and historical context and from a variety of perspectives. As well as considering the immediate events, institutions and processes surrounding the demise of state socialism, it introduces a range of historical and comparative reference points which can be used to understand the ‘Revolutions of ‘89’ – and considers how the 1989 revolutions themselves can be used as a prism to explore contemporary processes of change and to understand the contingent and potentially fragile nature of all economic and political systems. Its distinct thematic focus allows students to develop a genuinely multi-disciplinary perspective by bringing together and critically contrasting insights gained in the study of economics, history, political science and economic and political ideas undertaken earlier in the HPE programme.