Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe: Volume 1: Institutional Engineering
Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe: Volume 1: Institutional Engineering

Author: Jan Zielonka

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 506

ISBN-13: 0199241678

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This is the first volume in a series of books on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. The series focuses on three major aspects of democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe: institutional engineering, transnational pressures and civil society. This first volume analyses constraints on and opportunities of institutional engineering in Eastern Europe: to what extent and how elites in Eastern Europe have been able to shape, if not manipulate, the politics of democraticconsolidation through institutional means.The aim is to contrast a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the last ten years. The volume tries to avoid complex debates about definitions, methods and the uses and misuses of comparative research. Instead it tries to establish what has really happened in the region, and which of the existing theories have proved helpful in explaining these developments.The volume starts with a presentation of conceptual and comparative frameworks, followed by in-depth empirical analyses of the thirteen individual countries undergoing democratic consolidation. The first conceptual and comparative part contains three chapters. The first chapter explains what institutional engineering is about and describes our experiences with institutional engineering in former transitions to democracy. It also focuses on the import and export of institutional designs. Thesecond chapter analyses the utility of constitutions in the process of democratic consolidation. The third chapter compares constitutional designs and problems of implementation in Southern and Eastern Europe. The empirical case studies deal with the following countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Poland. And the conclusions evaluate the enormous impact of institutions on politics in Eastern Europe and show how central constitutional designs are to the institutional engineering in the societies undergoing transitions to democracy.

The Consolidation of Democracy in East-Central Europe
The Consolidation of Democracy in East-Central Europe

Author: Karen Dawisha

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1997-06-13

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 9780521599382

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Edited by two of the world's leading analysts of post-communist politics, this book brings together distinguished specialists on the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The authors analyse the patterns of post-communist democratization in these countries, paying particular attention to the process of party formation, electoral politics, the growth of civil society, and the impact of economic reform on the emergence of interest groups. Karen Dawisha and Bruce Parrott provide theoretical and comparative chapters on post-communist political development across the region. This book will provide students and scholars with detailed analysis by leading authorities, plus the latest research data on recent political and economic developments in each country.

The Sources of Democratic Consolidation
The Sources of Democratic Consolidation

Author: Gerard Alexander

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2018-10-18

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1501720481

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Why did precarious and collapsed democracies in Europe develop into highly stable democracies? Gerard Alexander offers a rational choice theory of democratic consolidation in a survey of the breakdowns of and transitions to democratic institutions. Through an analysis of developments in Spain, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, Alexander explores how key political sectors established the long-term commitment to democracy that distinguishes consolidated democracies. Alexander makes a highly accessible rationalist argument about the conditions under which such commitments emerge, arguing that powerful sectors abandon options for overthrowing democratic rules only when they predict low risks in democracy. The author's argument parallels established claims about the predictability essential to the development of modern capitalism. The Sources of Democratic Consolidation outlines Alexander's claim that a political precondition, rather than an economic or social precondition, exists for consolidated democracies. Drawing on interviews and archival research, the author links his argument to evidence from the five largest countries in Western Europe from the 1870s to the 1980s and also discusses the implications for the prospects for democratic consolidation in other regions. Political pacts, power-sharing, and institutional designs, he says, may help stabilize uncertain democracies, but they cannot create consolidation.

Rebellious Civil Society
Rebellious Civil Society

Author: Grzegorz Ekiert

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2001-08-03

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9780472088300

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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.

Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe
Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe

Author: John Higley

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 9780521424226

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A distinguished group of scholars examine recent transitions to democracy and the prospects for democratic stability in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay. They also assess the role of elites in the longer-established democratic regimes in Columbia, Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico and Venezuela. The authors conclude that in independent states with long records of political instability and authoritarian rule, democratic consolidation requires the achievement of elite 'consensual unity' - that is, agreement among all politically important elites on the worth of existing democratic institutions and respect for democratic rules-of-the-game, coupled with increased 'structural integration' among those elites. Two processes by which consensual unity can be established are explored - elite settlement, the negotiating of compromises on basic disagreements, and elite convergence, a more subtle series of tactical decisions by rival elites which have cumulative effect, over perhaps a generation.

Central and East European Politics
Central and East European Politics

Author: Sharon L. Wolchik

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0742567346

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"A useful text and reference book. These essays are at their best in serving both area study and political sociology."--Slavic Review --

Democratic and Capitalist Transitions in Eastern Europe
Democratic and Capitalist Transitions in Eastern Europe

Author: M. Dobry

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2000-06-30

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 9780792363316

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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.

Rethinking 'democratic Backsliding' in Central and Eastern Europe
Rethinking 'democratic Backsliding' in Central and Eastern Europe

Author: Licia Cianetti

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-19

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9780367210007

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This book seeks to inject fresh thinking into the debate on democratic deterioration in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), viewing 'democratic backsliding' through the prism of a range of cases beyond Hungary and Poland, to redress the imbalance in current scholarship. Over the past decade a consensus has emerged that democracy in CEE is sharply deteriorating, perhaps even 'backsliding' into new forms of authoritarianism. Debate has, however, so far focused disproportionately on the two most dramatic and surprising cases: Hungary and Poland. This book reflects on the 'backsliding' debate through the experience of CEE countries such as the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Estonia; as well as neighbouring post-communist regions such as the Western Balkans and former Soviet Union (cases such as Moldova and Ukraine), whose patterns of failing or partial democratisation may be newly instructive for analysing the development of CEE. Contributors present less frequently considered perspectives on 'democratic backsliding' in the CEE region, such as the role of oligarchisation and wealth concentration; the potential of ethnographical approaches to democracy evaluation; the trade-offs between democratic quality and democratic stability; and the long-term interplay between social movements, state-building, and democratisation. This book was originally published as a special issue of East European Politics. equently considered perspectives on 'democratic backsliding' in the CEE region, such as the role of oligarchisation and wealth concentration; the potential of ethnographical approaches to democracy evaluation; the trade-offs between democratic quality and democratic stability; and the long-term interplay between social movements, state-building, and democratisation. This book was originally published as a special issue of East European Politics.

Democracy and Political Culture in Eastern Europe
Democracy and Political Culture in Eastern Europe

Author: Hans-Dieter Klingemann

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-11-22

Total Pages: 647

ISBN-13: 1134170416

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What is the relationship between democracy and political culture in countries undergoing major systemic change? Have subjective political orientations of citizens been important in shaping the development of democracy in central and eastern Europe after the fall of communism? These core questions are tackled by an impressive range of twenty political scientists, sixteen of which are based in the central and eastern European countries covered in this essential new book. Their analyses draw on a unique set of data collected and processed by the contributors to this volume within the framework of the World Values Survey project. This data enables these authors to establish similarities and differences in support of democracy between a large number of countries with different cultural and structural conditions as well as historical legacies. The macro-level findings of the book tend to support the proposition that support of democracy declines the further east one goes. In contrast, micro-level relationships have been found to be astonishingly similar. For example, support of democracy is always positively related to higher levels of education – no matter where an individual citizen happens to live. This new book builds a clear understanding of what makes democracies strong and resistant to autocratic temptation.