Post-Communist Democratization Political Discourses across Thirteen Countries

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.

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 work in these countries, and generates insights into the prospects for different kinds of political development.

John Dryzek is Professor of Social and Political Theory in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. He has also taught at the Universities of Oregon and Melbourne. He is the author of a number of books on environmental politics and democracy, most recently Deliberative Democracy and Beyond (2000), and Democracy in Capitalist Times (1996).
Leslie Holmes is Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne. His recent books are Post-communism (1997) and The End of Communist Power (1993).