This book is an attempt to tackle the problem of democratization in East-Central Europe from a variety of theoretical perspectives. Its contributors look at the process of change within a comparative framework, discussing the emergence of multi-party and new electoral systems, comparing democratic transition in other parts of the world with that of Eastern Europe and analysing that region's relationship with the Soviet Union. Democratization in Eastern Europe will be indespensable to upper-level students of East European Politics, and will also be useful for those with more comparative and theoretical interests.
The book presents an informed and wide-ranging examination of issues surrounding the development and future prospects of civil society in Eastern Europe. The contributions, mostly by leading East European scholars, relate the key concept of civil society to the processes that led to the collapse of communism and which bear on prospects for the establishment of a democratic order throughout the region. The development of the concept is related to questions like those surrounding economic policy and reform and the women's movement.
The author discusses the traditional system of management of the economy as it existed in the early 1950s in the USSR and goes on to deal with the reforms of the 1960s and of the 1980s, country by country. He shows that the focus of the reforms is on finding a proper combination of planning and the market mechanism, and their success will be judged
Integrating the international pressures emanating from the Washington Consensus with an analysis of domestic interest representation, this book explores the political consequences of privatization and the progress of democracy in Eastern Europe. Chris Hasselmann investigates whether the issue of pension reform offers a natural controlled experiment with which to explore both issues throughout the region and the former Soviet Union. The volume will prove of value to those with an interest in public policy and governance issues, the politics of Eastern Europe and political theory more generally.
This text presents an introduction to the struggle between democracy and dictatorship in Eastern Europe since 1900. It is broken down into three different parts focusing on those time periods when experiments with democracy threatened to change the established order - the inter-war period, the democratic or semi democratic interlude in the wake of World War II until 1949 and the current experience with the new democracies. In discussing the struggle between democracy and dictatorship, the authors argue that the experience of Eastern Europe reveals the challenges which threaten democracy and the conditions necessary for the survival of democratic government.