The Political Science of Democratic Transition in Eastern Europe

Abstract

Political science is presented with an unprecedented case of democratic transition in Eastern Europe with a set of societies that are said to have been atomized by party state organs and without the other formal preconditions for transition to liberal democracy. The article surveys current writings and theories on transition to see whether they fit the East European cases. The stress in the literature on the primacy of endogenous factors, the role of entrepreneurial capitalism and the leading role of elites in facilitating a transition to democracy is of little value in the Eastern European context where exogenous factors, the absence of capitalism and the role of the masses were crucial in the downfall of communism. The prospects for the survival of democracy are discussed in the light of the way the new regimes were inaugurated.