title: Writing a global history of 1989
abstract: The year 1989 was unquestionably a global event. Writing a global history of 1989 is a challenge that requires reconciling spatial intercontinental distance and the capacity of actors to gain awareness of the "planetarity" (Spivak 2003) of historical processes. This article is a programmatic essay that attempts to grasp such transnational and global dynamics, such as the "Gorbachev factor" and the shared historical experience of a "breach in time" by undertaking a multisited analysis.