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Author: John Higley Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan ISBN: 9780312211790 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 301
Book Description
This provocative and stimulating book argues that the structures and processes of elite politics in postcommunist Eastern Europe are critical determinants of democracy and political stability in the region. The East European regime transition were initiated and carried through principally by eli res, especially Gorbachevite reformers in the communist establishments. Changing configurations of national elites are shaping the prospects for democracy in the countries of post-communist Eastern Europe. In several countries there are unchecked power struggles between elites, with regimes oscillating between democratic and authoritarian tendencies. In other countries, restrained elite competitions are being institutionalized and are leading to stable democratic regimes. These and other outcomes are analyzed for the region as a whole.
Author: John Higley Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan ISBN: 9780312211790 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 301
Book Description
This provocative and stimulating book argues that the structures and processes of elite politics in postcommunist Eastern Europe are critical determinants of democracy and political stability in the region. The East European regime transition were initiated and carried through principally by eli res, especially Gorbachevite reformers in the communist establishments. Changing configurations of national elites are shaping the prospects for democracy in the countries of post-communist Eastern Europe. In several countries there are unchecked power struggles between elites, with regimes oscillating between democratic and authoritarian tendencies. In other countries, restrained elite competitions are being institutionalized and are leading to stable democratic regimes. These and other outcomes are analyzed for the region as a whole.
Author: Terry D. Clark Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1315498723 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 192
Book Description
This book makes the case that several East Central European countries have emerged as fully consolidated democracies. As such, they may be integrated into the mainstream of political science research, and not consigned forever to a transitional category encompassing countries that are now fully democracies as well as some that are not democratic at all. The author outlines the steps of another transition - from post-communist studies to political science research. He demonstrates how institutionalist, or rational choice, theories can be applied to the analysis of political processes in the successfully democratized countries, and proposes a new research agenda for political scientists studying the region. The results of this work can enrich political science as well as our understanding of both democracy and the polities of contemporary Eastern Europe.
Author: Elena Semenova Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317935330 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 334
Book Description
Legislators are entrusted with key parliamentary functions and are important figures in the decision-making process. Their behaviour as political elites is as much responsible for the failures and successes of the new democracies as their institutional designs and constitutional reforms. This book provides a comparative examination of representative elites and their role in democratic development in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It argues that as the drivers of the transformation process in CEE, individual and collective parliamentary actors matter. The authors provide an in-depth analysis of representatives from eleven national parliaments and explore country-specific features of recruitment and representation. They draw on an integrated dataset of parliamentary elites for individual, party family, and parliamentary variables over the 20 years following the collapse of Communism and develop a common framework for the analysis of variations in democratisation and political professionalisation between parliaments and political parties/party families across CEE. This unique volume will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, elite research, post-communist politics, democratisation, legislative studies, and parliamentary representation.
Author: Heinrich Best Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 3663099229 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 245
Book Description
"Who rules in Eastern Europe?" became a fundamental question for western researchers and other observers after communist regimes were established in the region, and it gained further importance as state socialism expanded into Central Europe after the Second World War. A political order which, according to Leninist theory of the state and to subsequent Stalinist political practice, was primarily a highly centralised and repressive power organisation, directed, as if it were natural, researchers attention towards the highest echelon of office holders in party and state. Extreme centralisation of power in these regimes was consequently linked to an elitist approach to analysing them from a distant viewpoint. It is one of the many paradoxes of state socialism, that a social and political order which presumptuously claimed to be the final destination of historical development and to be based on deterministic laws of social evolution, which claimed an egalitarian nature and denied the significance of the individual, was per ceived through the idiosyncrasies, rivalries and personal traits of its rulers. The largest part of these societies remained in grey obscurity, onlyoccasion ally revealing bits of valid information about a social life distant from the centres of power. It is debatable whether this top-headedness of western re search into communist societies created a completely distorted picture of re ality, however, it certainly contributed to an overestimation of the stability of these regimes, an underestimation of their factual diversity and a misjudge ment of the extent of conflicts and cleavages dividing them.
Author: Valerie J. Bunce Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1107378168 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 387
Book Description
From 1998 to 2005, six elections took place in postcommunist Europe that had the surprising outcome of empowering the opposition and defeating authoritarian incumbents or their designated successors. Valerie J. Bunce and Sharon L. Wolchik compare these unexpected electoral breakthroughs. They draw three conclusions. First, the opposition was victorious because of the hard and creative work of a transnational network composed of local opposition and civil society groups, members of the international democracy assistance community and graduates of successful electoral challenges to authoritarian rule in other countries. Second, the remarkable run of these upset elections reflected the ability of this network to diffuse an ensemble of innovative electoral strategies across state boundaries. Finally, elections can serve as a powerful mechanism for democratic change. This is especially the case when civil society is strong, the transfer of political power is through constitutional means, and opposition leaders win with small mandates.
Author: Stephen White Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1351789171 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 863
Book Description
This title was first published in 2001. This series brings together the most significant journal articles to appear in the field of comparative politics since the 1970s. The aim is to render accessible to teachers, researchers and students, an extensive range of essays as a basis for understanding established terrain and new ground.
Author: Richard D. Anderson Jr. Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 0691230943 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 215
Book Description
Why did the wave of democracy that swept the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe starting more than a decade ago develop in ways unexpected by observers who relied on existing theories of democracy? In Postcommunism and the Theory of Democracy, four distinguished scholars conduct the first major assessment of democratization theory in light of the experience of postcommunist states. Richard Anderson, Steven Fish, Stephen Hanson, and Philip Roeder not only apply theory to practice, but using a wealth of empirical evidence, draw together the elements of existing theory into new syntheses. The authors each highlight a development in postcommunist societies that reveals an anomaly or lacuna in existing theory. They explain why authoritarian leaders abandon authoritarianism, why democratization sometimes reverses course, how subjects become citizens by beginning to take sides in politics, how rulers become politicians by beginning to seek popular support, and not least, how democracy becomes consolidated. Rather than converging on a single approach, each author shows how either a rationalist, institutionalist, discursive, or Weberian approach sheds light on this transformation. They conclude that the experience of postcommunist democracy demands a rethinking of existing theory. To that end, they offer rich new insights to scholars, advanced students, policymakers, and anyone interested in postcommunist states or in comparative democratization.
Author: John D Nagle Publisher: SAGE ISBN: 9780761956792 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 340
Book Description
This wide-ranging overview of the processes of democratization in post-Communist Europe, places the transitions in East-Central Europe within a broad European and global context. The authors begin with a introduction to the concept and theories of democracy and then examine the emerging politics of the new democracies to set the post-Communist transitions in longer-term comparative perspective with earlier and existing processes of democratization in Southern Europe, Latin America, and East and Southeast Asia. Finally the politics of EU accession are introduced to place the transitions within the wider context of European integration. Concluding with a summary of recent critiques of modern democ
Author: Richard Rose Publisher: JHU Press ISBN: 9780801860386 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 294
Book Description
The collapse of Communism has created the opportunity for democracy to spread from Prague to the Baltic and Black Seas. But the alternatives—dictatorship or totalitarian rule—are more in keeping with the traditions of Central Europe. And for many post-Communist societies, democracy has come to be associated with inflation, unemployment, crime, and corruption. Is it still true, then, as Winston Churchill suggested a half-century ago, that people will accept democracy with all its faults—because it is better than anything else? To find out, political scientists Richard Rose, William Mishler, and Christian Haerpfer examine evidence from post-Communist societies in eastern Europe. Drawing on data from public opinion and exit polls, election results, and interviews, the authors present testable hypotheses regarding regime change, consolidation, and prospects for stabilization. The authors point out that the abrupt transition to democracy in post-Communist countries is normal; gradual evolution in the Anglo-American way is the exception to the rule. While most recent books on democratization focus on Latin America and, to some extent, Asia, the present volume offers a unique look at the process currently under way in nine eastern European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, and Ukraine. Despite the many problems these post-Communist societies are experiencing in making the transition to a more open and democratic polity, the authors conclude that a little democracy is better than no democracy at all.
Author: John Higley
Author: John Higley
Author: Terry D. Clark
Author: Janina Frentzel-Zagórska
Author: Elena Semenova
Author: Heinrich Best
Author: Valerie J. Bunce
Author: Stephen White
Author: Richard D. Anderson Jr.
Author: John D Nagle
Author: Richard Rose