Crisis-proof democracy

On failed predictions and the realities of Eastern Europe's transformations

Greskovits, Bela

Central European University, Warsaw, Poland

International Politics 34(2):p 193-211, June 1997.

Why has the chance of a democratic East gained so little credit from many analysts? Two explanations are developed; first, that the theoretical perspectives underlying pessimistic prophecies are questionable and, second, that unknown, new politico-economic combinations have been emerging under post-communism in the 1990s. The author analyses the structural, and institutional legacy of Communism, the transformational crisis, and the structural effects of transformation strategies as factors that are turning Eastern democracies into ‘crisis-proof’, enduring systems.