Download or read book Explanation of the Transition to Democracy in Eastern Europe in 1989 1991 The Role of Public Pressure in the Eastern European Transition to Democracy written by Dörte Ridder and published by . This book was released on 2014-10-02 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject History Europe - Other Countries - Newer History, European Unification, grade: 2,1, University of Sunderland (School of Arts, Design, Media and Culture), course: Experiencing 20th century Europe, 19 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: ...a prince must have the friendship of the common people; otherwise he will have no support in times of adversity. Niccolo Machiavelli The transition to democracy in Eastern Europe was a result of a multiplicity of factors in the fields of economy, politics, geostrategy and the military. Briefly, after the collapse of communism in 1989 and the early 1990s, many celebrated the victory of the people over a ruthless, dictatorial system. We now know that this more or less peaceful transition would not have occurred, at least, not at this time, if it had not been for the Soviet Union, deliberately opening its fist, which had held Eastern Europe for five decades. For this reason, the transitions in Eastern Europe can only be explained by taking the USSR into consideration. Nevertheless, public pressure from the bottom has always played an important role and every government has to take its power into account. Considering this political fact, the following essay will examine which factors led to the people's distrust and disapproval of the communist system. In the first part this essay will examine the field of economy. The second part will deal with the field of politics. The third and concluding part will summarize the results and answer the question, did the lack of public support make the demise of the system inevitable?
Download or read book Democratization in Eastern Europe written by Geoffrey Pridham and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-11 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In light of the sudden collape of communist systems in Eastern Europe in 1989-90, this book attempts to explain their democratization from a variety of theoretical perspectives.
Download or read book The Third Wave written by Samuel P. Huntington and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-09-06 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1974 and 1990 more than thirty countries in southern Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe shifted from authoritarian to democratic systems of government. This global democratic revolution is probably the most important political trend in the late twentieth century. In The Third Wave, Samuel P. Huntington analyzes the causes and nature of these democratic transitions, evaluates the prospects for stability of the new democracies, and explores the possibility of more countries becoming democratic. The recent transitions, he argues, are the third major wave of democratization in the modem world. Each of the two previous waves was followed by a reverse wave in which some countries shifted back to authoritarian government. Using concrete examples, empirical evidence, and insightful analysis, Huntington provides neither a theory nor a history of the third wave, but an explanation of why and how it occurred. Factors responsible for the democratic trend include the legitimacy dilemmas of authoritarian regimes; economic and social development; the changed role of the Catholic Church; the impact of the United States, the European Community, and the Soviet Union; and the "snowballing" phenomenon: change in one country stimulating change in others. Five key elite groups within and outside the nondemocratic regime played roles in shaping the various ways democratization occurred. Compromise was key to all democratizations, and elections and nonviolent tactics also were central. New democracies must deal with the "torturer problem" and the "praetorian problem" and attempt to develop democratic values and processes. Disillusionment with democracy, Huntington argues, is necessary to consolidating democracy. He concludes the book with an analysis of the political, economic, and cultural factors that will decide whether or not the third wave continues. Several "Guidelines for Democratizers" offer specific, practical suggestions for initiating and carrying out reform. Huntington's emphasis on practical application makes this book a valuable tool for anyone engaged in the democratization process. At this volatile time in history, Huntington's assessment of the processes of democratization is indispensable to understanding the future of democracy in the world.
Download or read book Transition to Democracy in Eastern Europe written by K. Beyme and published by Springer. This book was released on 1996-11-15 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first comprehensive study of the transition to democracy in Eastern Europe which includes the processes in party-formation, political culture-building, institution-building and economic transformation, and to differentiate between areas and countries. East and southeastern Europe are included as well as the Republics of the former Soviet Union. The theories of transformation to democracy developed in former transitions, such as 1919, 1945 and the 1970s are tested in the case of Eastern Europe. In many areas the picture developed by the author is not very optimistic. He feels that 'Anocracy', a mixture between democracy and authoritarian regimes, is likely to develop in many countries.
Download or read book The Concept of Democracy in the Political Transformations of Central and Eastern Europe written by Maximilian Spinner and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2007-08 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - Political Theory and the History of Ideas Journal, grade: A-, Central European University Budapest (Dep. of Political Science), 17 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Based on the Hungarian and Polish cases of negotiated transition to democracy in 1989/90 this essay looks into the philosophical concept of democracy pursued by the main protagonists.
Download or read book Democratization and Change in Eastern Europe written by F. Stephen Larrabee and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The collapse of communism in eastern Europe in 1989 shattered the bipolar security order that characterized East-West politics for the previous 40 years, and has necessitated a rethinking of the foundations of European security. Eastern Europe's integration into a new security order will pose major policy challenges for the West--especially for the European Community (EC). Moreover, there are significant transition problems of the eastern European countries: (1) the postcommunist states in eastern Europe will have to undergo a dual transition--that is, they will have to change their political and economic systems at the same time; (2) the countries in Eastern Europe lack the advantage of strong democratic experience and traditions; (3) the enormous economic problems that the regimes in Eastern Europe face impose an important constraint on the ability of the new elites to successfully complete the democratic transitions recently initiated; (4) ethnic nationalism presents a threat to long-term stability in the region; (5) it is unclear whether the large heterogeneous movements that precipitated change in Eastern Europe can transform themselves into strong political parties able to carry out coherent reform programs; and (6) there is a public apathy and disillusionment that will inhibit the transition process. The success of the reform efforts in Eastern Europe will depend to a large extent on the response of the West, particularly the EC. Another key factor affecting Eastern Europe's future will be the role played by Germany. Immigration is likely to become an increasingly important security issue in Europe and the EC will have to work out a comprehensive immigration policy. In the final analysis, the migration problem is closely linked to the larger question of the success of reform in eastern Europe as a whole. The West's failure to support measures to help stabilize the reforms now under way could lead to instability and disorder in both parts of Europe.
Download or read book Transition to Democracy in Eastern Europe and Russia written by Barbara Wejnert and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2002-03-30 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the processes and components of transitions to democracy in Eastern Europe and Russia. Using examples of democratic changes in former Communist states, it provides a framework that looks at objectification of the roles of various mechanisms and components of transition.
Download or read book Democratic and Capitalist Transitions in Eastern Europe written by M. Dobry and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: here ofexchange, and borrowing in debates between these disciplines, all the more so, as we shall see a little further on, as the analysis of the Central and East European transformations has also contributed to introduce into political science and sociology theoretical systematizations first formulated in economics. In addition to this opening up to the objects and theories of economics, the pseudo-"dilemma" ofsimultaneity produced, by a kind of feedback, another series of effects on transitology and the related research domains. Contrary to most expectations and predictions in the wake ofthe 1989 upheavals - affirmations that the "dilemmas", "problems" or "challenges" of the transitions in Central and Eastern Europe ought to have been dealt with and resolved one after the other in sequence, in the manner of the more or less idealized trajectories of Great Britain or Spain (trajectories significantly enough promoted, far beyond the circles of scholars, as a "model" of transition), and above all, contrary to the assumption that superposing a radical economic transformation upon a transition to democracy would make the whole edifice thoroughly unworkable, unstable or dangerous - it must be stated clearly out that the two processes, in their "simultaneity", are not necessarily incompatible. This is one of the main findings stressed upon in several chapters of this book.
Download or read book Central and Eastern European Socio Political and Legal Transition Revisited written by Balázs Fekete and published by Central and Eastern European Forum for Legal, Political, and Social Theory Yearbook. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Yearbook of the Central and Eastern European Forum of Young Legal, Political and Social Theorists is devoted to the analysis of the consequences of Central and Eastern European transition in law, in politics and in the societies. The volume focuses on understanding the constantly evolving process of democratization.
Download or read book Taking Stock of Shock written by Kristen Ghodsee and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction: Transition from communism - qualified success or utter catastrophe? -- The plan for a J-curve transition -- Plan meets reality -- Modifying the framework -- Counter-narratives of catastrophe -- Where have all the people gone? -- The mortality crisis -- Collapse in fertility -- Outmigration crisis -- Disappointment with transition -- Public opinion of winners and losers -- Evaluations shift over time -- Towards a new social contract? -- Portraits of desperation -- Resistance is futile -- Return to the past -- The patriotism of despair -- Conclusion: Towards an inclusive prosperity.
Download or read book Marketing Democracy written by David Stewart Mason and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2000 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using a rich set of data from public opinion surveys conducted in the European post-communist states, this book explores popular attitudes on social, economic, and political justice focusing ultimately on OwhatOs fair?O
Download or read book Bitter Harvest written by Suava Zbierski-Salameh and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-04-11 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bitter Harvest, a historical ethnographic study, examines the property changes prompted by the early post-socialist neoliberal reforms designed to build capitalism in Poland. Historically, the book traces the halting but steady emergence of privatization and liberalization, even under socialism, and how these anticipated the reforms of the post-socialist period. Contrary to the view that the 1989 post-socialist policy represented a radical departure from former state socialist policies via the importation of Western “shock therapy” reforms, including the key economic institution of private property, this book dispenses with the sharp divide between the “socialist past” and “capitalist present” and argues the lasting importance of these historical antecedents in shaping both post-socialist policy and responses to it. Ethnographically, the book provides a detailed account of the different yet interdependent ways the post-socialist reform program influenced existing agricultural property forms—small farmers, production cooperatives, and state farms—leading in each case to unexpected economic results and political contestation of the policy objectives. This historical and ethnographic study of multiple forms of ownership poses a challenge to the common conception of a homogenized socialism based on state property. It also refutes the reductionist representation of the reality after socialism as the creation of Western-style, private property–based economic systems, unaffected by the unique Eastern European sociopolitical context. Instead, looking at Poland’s property changes through the eyes and experiences of diverse agricultural owners, this book employs the notion of conjoint property to unpack the complexity of ownership under socialism and theorize its evolution into an incomplete exclusive ownership after socialism. This new conceptual framework of property changes in early transition helps us to understand current developments in Eastern Europe as it integrates with the European Union and intersects with global capitalism. It further sheds light on the limits of the universality of the Western notion of private property.
Download or read book Democratization written by Christian Welzel and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 515 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democratization is the most comprehensive volume on this critical field of contemporary politics, with insightful coverage of the key theories, actors, dynamics, and developments. This authoritative guide brings together leading experts from diverse international backgrounds, including some of the best known names in the field, making it an invaluable resource to students of democratization. This second edition reflects the dramatic changes in today's political world, with empirical coverage of developments on every continent. It considers the role of new technologies, including a dedicated chapter on social media and democratization, as well as the resilience of authoritarian tendencies in many parts of the world. The book is accompanied by a range of online resources designed to support both students and lecturers. For students: - Revise key terms and test your knowledge of terminology from the book with our digital flashcard glossary. - Expand your knowledge of key developments in world affairs with additional case studies. - Take your learning further with links to reliable web content and relevant OUP journals. For registered adopters of the textbook: - Guide class debate with suggested seminar questions and activities. - Adapt PowerPoint(R) slides as a basis for lecture presentations, or use as handouts in class.
Download or read book Rebellious Civil Society written by Grzegorz Ekiert and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2010-08-04 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Poland is the only country in which popular protest and mass opposition, epitomized by the Solidarity movement, played a significant role in bringing down the communist regime. This book, the first comprehensive study of the politics of protest in postcommunist Central Europe, shows that organized protests not only continued under the new regime but also had a powerful impact on Poland's democratic consolidation. Following the collapse of communism in 1989, the countries of Eastern Europe embarked on the gargantuan project of restructuring their social, political, economic, and cultural institutions. The social cost of these transformations was high, and citizens expressed their discontent in various ways. Protest actions became common events, particularly in Poland. In order to explain why protest in Poland was so intense and so particularized, Grzegorz Ekiert and Jan Kubik place the situation within a broad political, economic, and social context and test it against major theories of protest politics. They conclude that in transitional polities where conventional political institutions such as parties or interest groups are underdeveloped, organized collective protest becomes a legitimate and moderately effective strategy for conducting state-society dialogue. The authors offer an original and rich description of protest movements in Poland after the fall of communism as a basis for developing and testing their ideas. They highlight the organized and moderate character of the protests and argue that the protests were not intended to reverse the change of 1989 but to protest specific policies of the government. This book contributes to the literature on democratic consolidation, on the institutionalization of state-society relationship, and on protest and social movements. It will be of interest to political scientists, sociologists, historians, and policy advisors. Grzegorz Ekiert is Professor of Government, Harvard University. Jan Kubik is Associate Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University.
Download or read book The American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies written by Patt Leonard and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-02-27 with total page 1645 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This bibliography, first published in 1957, provides citations to North American academic literature on Europe, Central Europe, the Balkans, the Baltic States and the former Soviet Union. Organised by discipline, it covers the arts, humanities, social sciences, life sciences and technology.
Download or read book Democratization in the South written by Robin Luckham and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: List of tables and figures.
Download or read book The Collapse of Communist Power in Poland written by Jacqueline Hayden and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-03-23 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on extensive original research, including interviews with key participants, this book investigates the sudden and unforeseen collapse of communist power in Poland in 1989. It sets out the sequence of events, and examines the strategies of the various political groupings prior to the partially free election of June 1989. This volume argues that the specific negotiating strategies adopted by the communist party representatives in the Round Table discussions before the elections was a key factor in communism’s collapse. The book shows that on many occasions, PZPR decision-makers ignored expert advice, and many Round Table bargains went against the party’s best interests. Using in-depth interviews with major party players, including General Jaruzelski, General Kiszczak and Mieczyslaw Rakowski, as well as Solidarity advisors such as Adam Michnik, the text provides a unique source of first-hand accounts of Poland’s revolutionary drama.
