The end of communism in Europe was the event of a lifetime. Suddenly some 400 million people in twenty-eight countries had to choose their political and economic systems anew. Where should they begin? What was most important? What was possible? Which discipline was most relevant? What theory should be applied? A frequent point was that no book prescribed how to transit from socialism to capitalism, while hundreds elaborated on the opposite, no longer desired, direction. A popular joke compared the transition from communism to capitalism to making an aquarium out of fish soup.

The discussion became heated because so much was at stake. The fate of a large part of the world was up in the air. Could and should the former Soviet bloc be embraced by the Western world or shunned? What armed conflicts were plausible and could they be avoided? How much more economic and social hardship would people in these countries have to suffer? What ideology would win? All conceivable intellectual issues were at play.

Intellectuals of all disciplines and convictions, governments, and international organizations geared up to answer the many questions. While no clear goal was defined, a strong sense of direction prevailed. The popular battle cry was: “We want a ‘normal society’!” By “normal” people in the Soviet bloc meant an ordinary Western society – a democracy with a market economy, predominant private property, and the rule of law. Because all these countries had far to go, the final goal did not appear very relevant at the outset of the march, and any specification of the goal could be politically divisive.