Unfinished democracy: Political transformation in post-communist Southeastern Europe

Problems of Post-Communism

Volumn 44, Issue 6, 1997, Pages 3-12

  Engelbrekt, Kjell ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0031280377     PISSN: 10758216     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10758216.1997.11655756     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. The region considered in the article is interchangeably called Southeastern Europe and the Balkans, even though some may consider this controversial. It encompasses Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, and Federal Yugoslavia. Bosnian democratization will not be discussed, partly because the issue raises certain definitional and methodological problems, and partly because it was treated by Paul Shoup (Problems of Post-Communism 44, no. 1 [January-February 1997]: 3-15).
2. See contributions by Patrick Moore, Fabian Schmidt, Ivan Krastev, and Stefan Troebst in Transition 3, no. 4 (March 7, 1997).
3. Most widely used definitions of democracy emphasize the importance of power dispersion. One might argue that the issue of power cohesion is almost as important. For a historical overview of the latter, see Ted Gurr et al., "The Transformation of the Western State, Anocracy, and State Power since 1800," in On Measuring Democracy, ed. Alex Inkeles (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1991), pp. 69-104.
4. William H. Riker, Liberalism Against Populism: A Confrontation Between the Theory of Democracy and the Theory of Social Choice (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, 1982), p. 242, Riker's approach is similar but not identical to the so-called democratic method proposed in Joseph A. Schumpeter's classic Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950), p. 269.
5. William H. Riker, Liberalism Against Populism: A Confrontation Between the Theory of Democracy and the Theory of Social Choice (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, 1982), p. 242, Riker's approach is similar but not identical to the so-called democratic method proposed in Joseph A. Schumpeter's classic Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950), p. 269.
6. Richard Gunther, Hans-Jürgen Puhle, and P. Nikiforos Diamandouros "Introduction," in The Politics of Democratic Consolidation: Southern Europe in Comparative Perspective, ed. Gunther, Puhle, and Diamandouros (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), p. 20.
7. See Kenneth E. Basom, "Prospects for Democracy in Serbia and Croatia," East European Quarterly 29, no. 4 (January 1996): 509-28.
8. Ernest Gellner, Conditions of Liberty: Civil Society and Its Rivals (New York: Penguin, 1994), p. 5. For a discussion of alternative definitions and the concept's multifaceted history, see John Keane, Democracy and Civil Society: On the Predicaments of European Socialism, the Prospects for Democracy, and the Problems of Controlling Social and Political Power (London: Verso, 1988).
9. Ernest Gellner, Conditions of Liberty: Civil Society and Its Rivals (New York: Penguin, 1994), p. 5. For a discussion of alternative definitions and the concept's multifaceted history, see John Keane, Democracy and Civil Society: On the Predicaments of European Socialism, the Prospects for Democracy, and the Problems of Controlling Social and Political Power (London: Verso, 1988).
10. James F. Brown, Hopes and Shadows: Eastern Europe After Communism (Durham: Duke University Press, 1994), pp. 26-29.
11. See Klemens Bücher, "Separatismus in Transnistrien. Die 'PMR' zwischen Russland und Moldova" (Separation in Transdniester: The Trans-Dniester Republic of Moldova (TDR) between Russia and Moldova), Osteuropa 46, no. 9 (September 1996).
12. The most blatant example under Belgrade's authority is of course Kosovo, which is about 90 percent ethnic Albanian. The Serbian authorities have not only refused to allow the Albanian majority to play a role in the area's political and economic life, but have tried to suppress every sign of unsanctioned organized activity. Croatia was facing the prospect of ruling a similarly hostile Krajina inhabited by Serbs, although the brutal purge of the region in 1995 effectively "solved" that problem. Only a small minority of Serbs currently appear willing to return to Croatian-dominated Krajina.
13. It is probably the combination of both elements that finally persuaded the Council of Europe to accept Croatia as its fortieth member in November 1996, and not the country's doubtful progress on specific human rights issues.
14. Unfinished Peace: Report of the International Commission on the Balkans (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1996), p. 150.
15. Jean-Yves Potel, "Singulière sorte du communisme dans les Balkans" (A Single Type of Communism in the Balkans), Le monde diplomatique (March 1997).
16. This clearly cannot be assessed in the same way as declining attendance in Western societies, where disinterest does not necessarily have direct bearing on the degree of satisfaction with the current state of affairs. Against the backdrop of the appalling economic and social situation of much of the population of ex-communist Southeastern Europe, voter apathy may instead have to be interpreted as a strong vote of no confidence in the political establishment, if not in the democratic system overall.
17. Gunther et al., The Politics of Democratic Consolidation, pp. xix-xx.