Post-communist system transformation: features, results and prospects
Abstract
This paper is devoted to the analysis of the initial positions, course and results of postcommunist transformations. Postcommunist transformations differed significantly from previous transitions in that, first, their starting point was not authoritarian but totalitarian systems; second, 80% of the postcommunist countries are newly formed states. Therefore, the process of democratization under post-communism was determined by the creation of a market economy and civil society, and in the newly formed states it had a binary character, in which socio-political transformation was combined with creation of a national sovereign statehood. The influence of initial conditions of transformation processes on the results is analyzed. The author believes that the results of transformations, all post-communist countries can be divided into five groups: 1) countries in which the democratic regime has been consolidated; 2) countries in which a democratic regime has been established, but there are problems with its consolidation; 3) countries with hybrid regimes, in which trends of democratization and authoritarianism are constantly alternating; 4) countries with a consolidated authoritarian regime; 5) countries with neo-totalitarian regimes.
The main conclusions of this paper are that despite the different results of different countries, the process of post-communist transformations can be considered complete in the sense that the restoration of communist regimes has become impossible. Over the course of three decades, new, but not communist, models of social relations were established in post-communist countries. The end of post-communism does not mean that there can be no systemic change in the former communist countries in the near future. However, these will be other transitions that will have different starting and ending positions. Although the consequences of the communist era will still affect the development of these countries for a long time, it is not them, but the latest socio-economic, domestic and foreign policy factors that will play a leading role in determining further trajectories of social development.
Downloads
References
Åslund, A. 2002. Bilding Capitalism. The Transformations of the Former Soviet Bloc. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, xxii, 508 p. (In English).
Beyme, K. von. 1999 Osteuropaforschung nach dem Systemwechsel. Osteuropa. № 3, s. 285-304 (In German).
Brzezinski, Z. 2004. The Choice: Global Dominion or Global Leadership. Basic Books, 256 p. (In English).
Bukharin, N. I. et al. 1991. Pol'sha. Voprosy i otvety: spravochnik [Poland. Questions and Answers: Reference Book]. Moscow: Politizdat, 191 s. (In Russian).
Charter of Paris for a New Europe. 1990. URL: https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/0/6/39516.pdf (Date of the application 30.10.2020). (In English).
Сonstitution of the Republic of Bulgaria. 1991. URL: https://parliament.bg/en/const (Date of the application 15.11.2020). (In English).
Dahl, R.1985. A Preface to Economic Democracy. Berkeley – Los Angeles: University of California Press, 184 p. (In English).
Freedom in the World. 1991. Political Rights & Civil Liberties 1990-1991: Freedom House Survey Team. Lanham ( MD): University Press of America, 479 р. (In English).
Havrylyshyn, O. 2006. Divergent Parts in Post-Communist Transformation. Capitalism for All or Capitalism for the Few? London: Palgrave Macmillan, xiv, 314 р. (In English).
Hazin, V. P. et al. 2004. Novitnya istoriya krayin Yevropy ta Latynsʹkoyi Ameryky (1945-2002 roky) [Recent History of Europe and Latin America (1945-2002)]. Kyiv: Lybid, 624 s. (In Ukrainian).
Huntington, S. P. 1993. The Third Wave. Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, xvii, 366 p. (In English).
Huntington, S. P. 1996. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon&Shuster, 368 p.(Inn English).
Kukuruz, O. 2008. Parlament•sʹka bilʹshistʹ ta opozytsiya v Seymi Respubliky Polʹshcha [Parliamentary Majority and Opposition in the Sejm of the Republic of Poland]. Political Management, № 6 (33), s. 79-89. (In Ukrainian).
Maćków, J. 2005. Totalitarismus und danach: Einführung in den Kommunismus und die postkommunistische Systemtransformation. Baden-Baden : Nomos, 168 s. (In German).
McFaul, M. 2002. The Fourth Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship : Noncooperative Transitions in the Postcommunist World. World Politics. Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 212–244. (In English).
Milova, M. 2005. Na shlyakhu do parlament•sʹkoyi demokratiyi: bolharsʹkyy variant: monohrafiya [On the Way to Parliamentary Democracy: Bulgarian Version: monograph]. Odesa: Astroprint, 328 s. (In Ukrainian).
Nations in Transit 2015. URL: https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/FH_NIT2015_06.06.15_FINAL.pdf (Date of application 20.11. 020) (In English).
Nations in Transit 2020. URL: https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/05062020_FH_NIT2020_vfinal.pdf. (Date of the application 18.11.2020). (In English).
Nørgaard, O. 2000. Economic Institution and Democratic Reform. A Comparative Analysis of Post-Communist Countries. Cheltenham (UK) – Northhampton (MA, USA): Edward Elgar Published Limited, 251 p.(In English).
O’Donnell, G. & Schmitter, P. C. 1986. Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 81 p. (In English).
Przeworski, A. 1991. Democracy and the Market. Political and Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Cambridge (US): Cambridge University Press,xii, 210 p. (In English).
Romanyuk, O. I. 2011. Vid totalitaryzmu do demokratiyi ta natsionalʹnoyi derzhavnosti: systemnyy analiz postkomunistychnykh transformatsiy [From Totalitarianism to Democracy and National Statehood: a Systematic Analysis of Post-Communist Transformations]. Kharkiv: KhSAC, 378 s. (In Ukrainian).
Rustow, D. 1970. Transitions to Democracy: Toward a Dynamic Model. Comparative Politics.. Vol. 2, No 3, pp. 337-363. (In English).
Tkach, D. I. 2004. Suchasna Uhorshchyna v konteksti suspilʹnykh transformatsiy: monohrafiya [Modern Hungary in the Context of Social Transformations: a monograph]. Kyiv: MAUP, 480 s. (In Ukrainian).
Żyro, T. 2004. Wstęp do politologii. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 308 s. (In Polish).
