Democracy and Its Alternatives: Understanding Post-communist Societies - Hardcover

Rose, Richard; Etc.; Mishler, William; Haerpfer, Christian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801860377 ISBN 13: 9780801860379

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998

Synopsis

The collapse of Communism has created the opportunity for democracy to spread from Prague to the Baltic and Black Seas. But the alternatives--dictatorship or totalitarian rule--are more in keeping with the traditions of Central Europe. And for many post-Communist societies, democracy has come to be associated with inflation, unemployment, crime, and corruption. Is it still true, then, as Winston Churchill suggested a half-century ago, that people will accept democracy with all its faults--because it is better than anything else?

To find out, political scientists Richard Rose, William Mishler, and Christian Haerpfer examine evidence from post-Communist societies in eastern Europe. Drawing on data from public opinion and exit polls, election results, and interviews, the authors present testable hypotheses regarding regime change, consolidation, and prospects for stabilization. The authors point out that the abrupt transition to democracy in post-Communist countries is normal; gradual evolution in the Anglo-American way is the exception to the rule.

While most recent books on democratization focus on Latin America and, to some extent, Asia, the present volume offers a unique look at the process currently under way in nine eastern European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, and Ukraine. Despite the many problems these post-Communist societies are experiencing in making the transition to a more open and democratic polity, the authors conclude that a little democracy is better than no democracy at all.

About this title

Review:

"No challenge is more important to the democratic stability after the transition than building public support for democracy, and no recent study better illuminates the determinants of that support than this engaging, pathbreaking, and methodologically innovative book. Employing the same probing questions across nine countries in post- Communist Europe, Rose, Mishler, and Haerpfer challenge much conventional wisdom. Political learning, they show, occurs through a lifelong process of trial and error, and the political performance of a new democracy may be even more important than economic performance in leading people to support democracy, not necessarily as an ideal system but (in Churchill's sense) as better than any conceivable alternative. This is not just a book for specialists in public opinion or post-communist states. It should be read by anyone concerned with the fate of the new democracies of the 'third wave'." -- Larry Diamond, Hoover Institution

From the Back Cover:

The collapse of communism has created the opportunity for democracy to spread from Prague to the Baltic and the Black seas. But the alternatives – dictatorship or totalitarian rule – are more in keeping with the traditions of Central and Eastern Europe.

Will people put up with new democracies which are associated with inflation, unemployment, crime and corruption? Or will they return to some form of authoritarian regime? Half a century ago, Winston Churchill predicted that people will accept democracy with all its faults – because it is better than anything else that has ever been tried. To find out if Churchill was right, this book analyses a unique source of evidence about public opinion, the New Democracies Barometer, covering the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus and Ukraine.

The authors find that there is widespread popular support for democracy compared to communism, dictatorship and military rule. People who have been denied democratic freedoms value new political rights more highly. Economic concerns are second in importance. If democracy fails, it will be because political elites have abused their power, not because the public does not want democracy.

Looking at post–communist Europe makes us think again about democracy in countries where it is taken for granted. The abrupt transition to democracy in post–communist countries is normal; gradual evolution in the Anglo–American style is the exception to the rule. Complaints in Western countries about democracy being less than ideal reflect confidence that there is no alternative. Post–communist citizens do not have this luxury: they must make the most of what they have.

This important book makes an important contribution to current debates about democratization and democratic theory and to the growing literature on the social and political changes taking place in post–communist societies. It will be of particular interest to students and scholars in politics and sociology.

About this edition

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0801860377
• ISBN 13: 9780801860379
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272