Why did the postwar consensus of the 1950s break down?

IIN THE EARLY 1960S, politics and society in prosperous western Europe remained relatively stable. East Bloc governments, bolstered by modest economic growth and state-enforced political conformity and committed to providing generous welfare benefits for their citizens, maintained control. As the 1960s progressed, a youthful counterculture emerged in the West to critique the status quo. In the East Bloc, Khrushchev’s limited reforms also inspired rebellions.

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Student Rebellion in ParisThese rock-throwing students in the Latin Quarter of Paris are trying to force education reforms and even topple de Gaulle’s government. In May 1968, in a famous example of the protest movements that swept the world in the late 1960s, Parisian rioters clashed repeatedly with France’s tough riot police in bloody street fighting. De Gaulle remained in power, but a major reform of French education did follow. (Bruno Barbey/Magnum Photos)