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Democracy after Communism

edited by Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner

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The last quarter of the twentieth century was marked by two dramatic political trends that altered many of the world's regimes: the global resurgence of democracy and the collapse of communism. Was the process that brought down communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union fundamentally different from the process that gave birth to new democracies in other regions of the world? Were the transitions away from communism mostly like or mostly unlike the transitions away from authoritarianism that took place elsewhere? Is the challenge of building and consolidating democracy under...

The last quarter of the twentieth century was marked by two dramatic political trends that altered many of the world's regimes: the global resurgence of democracy and the collapse of communism. Was the process that brought down communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union fundamentally different from the process that gave birth to new democracies in other regions of the world? Were the transitions away from communism mostly like or mostly unlike the transitions away from authoritarianism that took place elsewhere? Is the challenge of building and consolidating democracy under postcommunist conditions unique, or can one apply lessons learned from other new democracies? The essays collected in this volume explore these questions, while tracing how the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have fared in the decade following the fall of communism.

Contributors: Anders Åslund, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C.; Leszek Balcerowicz, Warsaw School of Economics; Archie Brown, Oxford University and St. Antony's College; Zbigniew Brzezinski, Johns Hopkins University, a former U.S. national security advisor; Valerie Bunce, Cornell University; Nadia Diuk, National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, D.C.; M. Steven Fish, University of California–Berkeley; Charles H. Fairbanks Jr., the Johns Hopkins University; Bronislaw Geremek, former foreign minister of Poland; John Higley, University of Texas at Austin; Judith Kullberg, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor; Mart Laar, prime minister of Estonia; Michael McFaul, Stanford University; Ghia Nodia, Tbilisi State University; Jan Pakulski, University of Tasmania in Australia; Richard Rose, University of Strathclyde in Glasgow; Jacques Rupnik, College of Europe in Bruges; Lilia Shevtsova, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C.; Aleksander Smolar, Stefan Batory Foundation in Warsaw and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris; G.M. Tamás formerly of Georgetown University; Vladimir Tismaneanu, University of Maryland at College Park; Grigory Yavlinsky, member of the Russian State Duma (parliament).

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Reviews

A thoughtful collection of essays on the hazards, practical and conceptual, of one of the monumental changes in world affairs in our time.

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Book Details

Publication Date
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Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
312
ISBN
9780801870767
Table of Contents

I. The Exit from Communism
Chapter 1. How Different Are Postcommunist Transitions
Chapter 2. Comparing East and South
Chapter 3. The Persistence of Postcommunist Elites
Chapter 4. Civil Society after

I. The Exit from Communism
Chapter 1. How Different Are Postcommunist Transitions
Chapter 2. Comparing East and South
Chapter 3. The Persistence of Postcommunist Elites
Chapter 4. Civil Society after Communism
Chapter 5. Understanding Postcommunist Transitions
Chapter 6. Estonia's Success Story
Chapter 7. The Postcommunist Wars
II. The East European Experience
Chapter 8. The Postcommunist Divide
Chapter 9. Europe Transformed
Chapter 10. Reassessing the Revolutions of 1989
Chapter 11. The Transformation of Central Europee
Chapter 12. Victory Defeated
Chapter 13. The International Context
Chapter 14. A Diverging Europe
Chapter 15. History and Memory: The Revolutions of 1989-91
III. The Post-Soviet Experience
Chapter 16. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Chapter 17. The Primacy of History and Culture
Chapter 18. The Impact of Nationalism
Chapter 19. From Democratization to "Guided Democracy"
Chapter 20. The Advantages of Radical Reform
Chapter 21. Disillusionment in the Caucasus and Central Asia
Chapter 22. Sovereignty and Uncertainty in Ukraine
Chapter 23. Russia's Hybrid Regime
Chapter 24. Putin's Path
Chapter 25. Going Backwards
Chapter 26. A Mixed Record, an Uncertain Future

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Larry Diamond

Larry Diamond is coeditor of the Journal of Democracy, codirector of the International Forum for Democratic Studies, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Featured Contributor

Marc F. Plattner

Marc F. Plattner is vice president for research and studies at the National Endowment for Democracy. Plattner and Diamond are coeditors of the Journal of Democracy.