CBC Ideas Week: The Shock of the New—The Twentieth Century

Two world wars, the collapse of empires, the birth of new nations - the twentieth century was nothing less than a reset of the entire world order. After tremendous upheaval the political and social orders of the past were remade, replaced by new shapes and structures, new ideas that were supposed to be more equitable, more aspirational. The results are uneven, and our societies today are a work in progress. 

Five years in the twentieth century, five snapshots of great upheaval: Ideas explores the conflicting ideas that have shaped our world today. This CBC Ideas series, hosted by Nahlah Ayed, explores the remaking of social life, the civil rights movement, the AIDS crisis, new gender roles - and the corrupting effects of power.

The Year 1989: Uprisings and Downfalls

The Berlin Wall comes tumbling down, there are democratic uprisings in Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary, and a riot in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The National Commission on AIDS launches, and this thing called the 'world wide web' is proposed.

Panelists:

Sanjay Ruparelia is the Jarislowsky Democracy Chair at Toronto Metropolitan University. He studies the politics of democracy, equality and development in the postcolonial world.

Arne Kislenko is a professor of history at Toronto Metropolitan University. He studies 19th- and 20th-Century diplomatic history, U.S. foreign policy and modern southeast Asia.

Miglena Todorova is an associate professor in Social Justice Education at OISE, University of Toronto. She studies politics and social relations in former socialist countries and societies.