Post-Communist Democratization: Political Discourses Across Thirteen Countries (Theories of Institutional Design)
Cambridge University Press, 8/5/2010
EAN 9780521001380, ISBN10: 0521001382
Paperback, 314 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm
Language: English
Democracy is not just a matter of constitutions, parliaments, elections, parties and the rule of law. In order to see if or how democracy works, we must attend to what people make of it, and what they think they are doing as they engage with politics, or as politics engages them. This book examines the way democracy and democratization are thought about and lived by people in China, Russia and eleven other countries in the post-communist world. It shows how democratic politics (and sometimes authoritarian politics) work in these countries, and generates insights into the prospects for different kinds of political development. The authors explore the implications for what is probable and possible in terms of trajectories of political reform, and examine four roads to democratization: liberal, republican, participatory and statist. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, political theory and post-communist studies.
Part I. Introductory
1. The discourses of democratic transition
2. Methodology
Part II. Pre-Transition Countries
3. China
4. Yugoslavia
Part III. Halting Transitions
5. Belarus
6. Russia
7. Ukraine
Part IV. Transition Torn by War
8. Armenia
9. Georgia
10. Moldova
Part V. Late Developers
11. Slovakia
12. Romania
13. Bulgaria
Part VI. Trailblazers
14. Poland
15. Czechia
Part VII. Conclusions
16. Differences that matter - and those that do not.