Central Europe is not over the hill: the long and slow transition from post-communism to consolidated democracy.When the American political scientist Samuel Huntington published a book called The Third Wave: Democratization de·moc·ra·tize tr.v. de·moc·ra·tized, de·moc·ra·tiz·ing, de·moc·ra·tiz·es To make democratic. de·moc in the Late Twentieth Century in 1991, democracy in post-communist Europe was on a victorious campaign. Communist regimeswere quickly crumbling in Poland, East Germany East Germany: see Germany. , Czechoslovakia, Hungary and other countries. Although many experts at the end of the eighties and beginning of the nineties refused to accept the possibility of a communist collapse in the USSR USSR: see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. , centrifugal centrifugal /cen·trif·u·gal/ (sen-trif´ah-gal) efferent (1). cen·trif·u·gal adj. 1. Moving or directed away from a center or axis. 2. tendencies have long undermined the foundation of Imperia Imperia (ēmpĕ`rēä), city (1991 pop. 40,708), capital of Imperia prov., Liguria, NW Italy, on the Ligurian Sea. Located on the Italian Riviera, it is a port and winter resort. The cathedral (1780–1832) dominates the modern city. . Francis Fukuyama Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama (born October 27, 1952, Chicago, Illinois) is an American philosopher, political economist and author. Early Life Francis Fukuyama was born October 27, 1952, in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. veiwed the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern and Central Europe Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. In addition, Northern, Southern and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe. to be the end of history as liberal democratic values overcame the utopian ideologies of communism and Nazism. Europe has without exception become a place where citizens can freely run for public office and express their electoral preferences according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. principals of general, equal, personal, and direct electoral law. In Eastern and Central Europe, we have applied the principles exhibited in consolidated Western democracies. Having done so, electoral turnout has oft en proved higher in these new democracies than in the West. But are regular elections, constitutional civic freedoms and political rights, respect towards newly adopted constitutions, creation of partisan systems and gradual integration into Euro-Atlantic structures necessarily a sign of consolidated democracies? Societies in post-communist Europe began their path to democracy from different starting lines starting line n. Sports The point or line at which a race begins. Noun 1. starting line - a line indicating the location of the start of a race or a game scratch line, scratch, start . They differed in geopolitical ge·o·pol·i·tics n. (used with a sing. verb) 1. The study of the relationship among politics and geography, demography, and economics, especially with respect to the foreign policy of a nation. 2. a. position, historical (in)experience with democracy, political culture and societal characteristics. The question is now: Were these liberal democratic projects fated to fail from the very beginning because they lacked national unity and legitimate state structures? In retrospect, this seems more than probable twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. later. It became gradually evident that the individuals who received mandates in the first free elections were not willing to gamble their post away in subsequent elections. As Vaclav Havel Noun 1. Vaclav Havel - Czech dramatist and statesman whose plays opposed totalitarianism and who served as president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and president of the Czech Republic since 1993 (born in 1936) Havel pointed out, democracy became a restrictive force for those who meant it seriously, but an advantageous force for pseudo-democrats. The free media began reporting surprisingly indiscriminately, candidates were blocked from registration, and sometimes, political competition was even intimidated. While these initial elections did happen in accordance with democratic procedures, they oft en occurred under unequal conditions. OSCE OSCE Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe OSCE Organisation Pour la Sécurité et la Coopération en Europe (French: Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) OSCE Objective Structured Clinical Examination monitors hesitated, in fact, to call them free and fair. The Indian-American political scientist Fareed Zakaria Fareed Zakaria (born January 20 1964, Mumbai, India) is a journalist, columnist, author, editor, commentator, and television host specializing in international relations and foreign affairs. He was named Editor of Newsweek International in October 2000. is currently writing an analysis about the succession of non-liberal democracies throughout the global political spectrum. In the introduction of his article for Foreign Affairs foreign affairs pl.n. Affairs concerning international relations and national interests in foreign countries. in November 1997, he pointed out the fears of Richard Holbrook, an American diplomat who negotiated the end of the Bosnian War. Holbrook feared that the free elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina gives information on election and election results in Bosnia and Herzegovina. An election is a process in which a vote is held to elect candidates to an office. were controlled by radical chauvinists responsible for the war in the first place. Despite his pessimism, Holbrook could not have imagined how close he was to the truth. In 1996, the political unrest from the early nineties returned to Bosnia: three nationalist parties Nationalist Party or Kuomintang or Guomindang Political party that governed all or part of mainland China from 1928 to 1949 and subsequently ruled Taiwan. , which were decidedly opposed to the political scene, received 86 percent of the mandates with a high electoral turnout. The general election of 1996 actually gave political legitimacy back to those individuals who, having received the reputation as gangsters and war criminals, were directly responsible for the war. As analysts from the International Crisis Group wrote, it was a major mistake to organize elections so soon after the war. As Zakaria pointed out, democracy and liberalism were at odds with each other in the newly democratized states. The nineties saw the rise of Vladimir Meciar in Slovakia, Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia, and Franjo Tudjman in Croatia. Democracy had definitely lost the battle in states like Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Armenia, etc. Adrian Karatnycky stated correctly that all the states in Western and Central Europe were liberal democracies at the beginning of the 21st century, which compares with half the states of Eastern Europe Eastern Europe The countries of eastern Europe, especially those that were allied with the USSR in the Warsaw Pact, which was established in 1955 and dissolved in 1991. and Central Asia and none from the former Soviet bloc (if we exclude the Baltics). Even so, Central Europe still has a ways to go. Hungarian politics have moved from the parliament to the streets, and the iron fist iron fist n. Rigorous or despotic control: ruled the nation with an iron fist. i of Robert Fico Robert Fico (15 september, 1964 in Topoľčany) is the current Prime Minister of Slovakia (since July 4, 2006). His relatively new left-wing party Direction – Social Democracy governs Slovakia. Meanwhile, in the Czech Republic Czech Republic, Czech Česká Republika (2005 est. pop. 10,241,000), republic, 29,677 sq mi (78,864 sq km), central Europe. It is bordered by Slovakia on the east, Austria on the south, Germany on the west, and Poland on the north. , Bohumil Dolezial of The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times notes that with their beers in hand, the Czech voters consume the populism populism Political program or movement that champions the common person, usually by favourable contrast with an elite. Populism usually combines elements of the left and right, opposing large business and financial interests but also frequently being hostile to established of "Friedmanian" Vaclav Klaus. All this seven years after Milton Friedman--in an interview with Gwartney and Lawson in 2002--reflected, "a decade earlier I had three words of advice for societies seeking to transform their socialist economies--privatize, privatize pri·va·tize tr.v. pri·va·tized, pri·va·tiz·ing, pri·va·tiz·es To change (an industry or business, for example) from governmental or public ownership or control to private enterprise: "The strike ... , privatize. But I was wrong. It turns out that the rule of law is probably more basic then privatization privatization: see nationalization. privatization Transfer of government services or assets to the private sector. State-owned assets may be sold to private owners, or statutory restrictions on competition between privately and publicly owned ." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FOR FURTHER READING: Fukuyama, Francis. The End of History and the Last Man. (Harper Perennial Harper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. In Fall of 2005, Harper Perennial rebranded with a new logo (an Olive) and a distinct editorial direction , 1993). Huntington, Samuel P Huntington, Samuel P(hillips) (born April 18, 1927, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. political scientist. After receiving a doctorate from Harvard University, he spent most of his career teaching at Harvard, specializing in defense and international affairs. . The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. (Oxford University Press, 1991). Larry Diamond Larry Diamond is a professor, lecturer, adviser, and author on foreign policy, foreign aid, and democracy. In early 2004, he was a senior adviser on governance to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. . The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World. (Macmillan, 2008). Zakaria, Fareed. "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy  This article is written like a personal reflection or and may require .Please [ improve this article] by rewriting this article in an . ." (Foreign Affairs 76.6, Nov/Dec. 1997). Martin Riegl is an editor of Pritomnost, the Czech counterpart of The New Presence.
The Beginnings of Democracy in Hungary
5.1988 J. Kadar is removed from the Communist party
leadership.
3.1989 Negotiations begin between the Hungarian Socialist
Peoples' Party and the democratic opposition.
6.1989 Roundtable talks about political and economic
reforms begin.
8.1989 Three opposition candidates move forward into the
second round of elections.
3-4. 1990 The Hungarian Democratic Forum wins the first free
parliamentary elections.
1994 The post-communist Hungarian Socialist Party,
which executed harsh economic reforms, wins
parliamentary elections.
The right wing FIDESZ (Hungarian Civic Union) led
1998 by V. Orban wins the parliamentary elections due
to the unpopular economic policy of the leftist
government.
The Beginnings of Democracy in Slovakia
20. 11. 1989 The group Public Against Violence (VPN) is
established.
5. 3. 1991 V. Meciar and M. Knazko found the platform For
Democratic Slovakia (ZDS).
23. 4. 1991 V. Meciar is impeached from the premiership.
May 1991 ZDS becomes a political party.
June 1992 Parliamentary elections take place.
11. 3. 1994 Meciar's government receives a vote of no confidence.
0ct. 1994 The Movement For Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) wins
a parliamentary victory.
Dec. 1994 HZDS, Association of Slovak Workers, and the Slovak
Nationalist Party form a coalition.
1994-1998 The government's foreign policy shifts from the
tenants of liberal democracy towards diplomacy
with Russia.
May 1997 Protestors boycott a referendum for NATO membership.
EU Commissioner for external political relations,
29. 5. 1997 Hans van den Broek, visits Slovakia and threatens
to end EU accession talks if the government does
not improve its democratic development by the end
of the year.
5ept.1998 The unified democratic opposition wins, and
democracy returns to Slovakia.
Democracy Score:
Freedom House Index from Nations in Transit 2808 far
Past-Communist Countries (2008)
Consolidated Semi-Consolidated
Democracies Democracies
Czech Republic [1] Bulgaria [1,5]
Estonia [1] Croatia [2]
Lithuania [1] Macedonia [3]
Latvia [1,5] Romania [2]
Hungary [1] Serbia [2,5]
Slovakia [1]
Slovenia [1]
Poland [1]
Nan-Consolidated Nan-Democratic
Democracies Regimes
Albania [3] Armenia [4,5]
Montenegro [3] Azerbaijan [5,5]
Georgia [4] Belarus [6,5]
Moldova [3,5] Kazakhstan [5,5]
Ukraine [2,5] Russia [5,5]
Note: The ratings are based on a score from 1-7, with 1 being
the highest level of democratic progress. The scores reflect
the average ratings for Electoral Process, Civil Society,
Independent Media, National Democratic Governance, Local
Democratic Governance, Judicial Framework and Independence,
and Corruption.
The Beginnings of Democracy in Poland
6. 2. 1989 Roundtable discussions about political and
economic reforms begin.
7. 4. 1989 Changes in the constitution and electoral
laws are approved.
4. 6. 1989 A semi-free election is held for the Sejm,
and the Solidarity Party receives a
landslide victory.
19. 7. 1989 W. Jaruzelski is elected president on the
basis of an agreement with the Democratic
opposition.
12. 1990 Jaruzelski resigns and L. Walesa is elected
president in direct elections.
27. 10. 1991 The first free elections occur.
9.1993 The post-communist Democratic Left Alliance
and Polish People's Party win in early
elections.
L. Walesa is defeated in the presidential
1995 elections by a member of the post-communist
Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). A. Kwasniewski
becomes the new president.
25. 5. 1997 A referendum approves a new constitution.
The Beginnings of Democracy in the Czech Republic (1989)
Oct. 28 Demonstrations take place on the main square
in Prague, Wenceslas Square.
Nov. 10, 11, 14 On the 10, 11, and 14 of Novemer a number of
ecological demonstrations take place in Teplice.
Nov. 12 Thousands of Czechs pilgrimage to Rome for the
sanctification of Agnes of Bohemia.
Nov. 19 Independent individuals and enterprises form
the Civic Forum (Obcanske forum) in Prague in
a theatre club.
Nov. 20 Most of Prague's universities go on strike.
The national governments and the federal
government of the CSSR approve police
intervention on Narodni trida and refuse to
negotiate with the demonstrators.
Nov. 27 A long expected two-hour general strike takes
place between 12.00 and 14.00.
Ladislav Adamec promises to form a new
government by the 3 December. A day later, the
Nov. 28 Federal assembly unanimously approves the
removal of constitutional Articles 4, 6 and 16
which relate to the leading role of the KSC in
society and education in accordance with
Marxism-Leninism.
Dec. 3 Ladislav Adamec introduces his new government;
it is comprised of fifteen communists, one
liberal, one socialist and three independents.
Dec. 7 Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec resigns alongside
the new federal government due to public
pressure. Marian Calfa is authorized to form
of a new government.
The communist president, Gustav Husak appoints
the first not entirely communist government
Dec. 10 since the communist takeover in February 1948.
The government is comprised of ten members of
the KSC, seven independents, two social
democrats and two liberals.
Dec. 28 The government adopts a co-optation law, which
temporarily allows the Federal Assembly and
National Councils to name new MPs without
elections.
March 28 The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic officially
ceases to exist and dissolves into two states:
the Czech and Slovak Federative
Republics.
8. 6 & 9. 6. 1990 The Czech National Council holds elections.
5. 6 & 6. 6 1992 The Czech National Council holds elections.
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