Developments in East European PoliticsStephen White, Judy Batt, Paul G. Lewis Duke University Press, 1993 - 304 pages Formerly a part of the Soviet empire, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are now in the process of a complex transition from authoritarianism to more open systems based on political democracy and the market. Developments in East European Politics takes as its starting point the dramatic developments of the late 1980s and early 1990s and the factors that have helped to shape the region as a whole, focusing in detail on the changing politics of Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and the successor republics in the former Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. At the core of the book is a set of comparative chapters considering developments in voting behaviour, the emerging party systems, political leadership and participation, economic reform and social policy in Eastern Europe. The volume concludes with an assessment of the political science of post-communist Eastern Europe, a consideration of its place in the wider world and a presentation of selected voices of the people of Eastern Europe themselves. Written by leading specialists from both sides of the Atlantic, this introductory but authoritative text provides an up-to-date and unrivalled guide to the forces that are reshaping half a continent. |