Transitions+to+democracy

=Transitions= What is the transition?
 * Political, to democratic governance (decision-makers are elected)
 * Economic, from centrally planned to market coordinated (capitalist)

Cases

 * W. Germany 1945
 * Italy 1945
 * Spain 1975
 * Hungary 1989
 * Poland 1989
 * Ukraine 2004

The area studies debate
Should we try to generalize? Area studies (national expertise) versus comparative political ‘science’

What constitutes a ‘successful’ transition?

 * Institutionalization of party competition?
 * Civil society?
 * Policies?

What ensures successful transition?

 * International pressures, including occupation, defeat, int’l observers, contagion (contagion clearly important in the collapse of communism, less likely to be important in the establishment of successful democracy)
 * Institutions, especially election system, nature of executive? Success or failure of the ‘founding election’ –for example in setting up a coherent party system (as happened in W. Germany, Hungary) or in failing to do so (Poland, where Solidarity dominated and extreme fragmentation in parliament resulted—29 parties in the 1991 election—before introduction of 5% threshold in 1993 elections)
 * Cultural variables? Values and norms regarding role of state, individual, etc. Collective versus individualist orientation?
 * Religion? Are particular forms of religion more or less conducive to democratization?
 * Education? How well educated is the populace? What kind of education?
 * Economy? Affluence? Economic cycle?
 * Attitude towards old elites: are they incorporated, excluded, tried?

=Nationalism & ethnicity=

Identity and its significance in politics

 * Nations as groups of people
 * Ethnicity and its relationship to nationality
 * Changing ethnic composition of Europe

Cases

 * War in former Yugoslavia
 * Northern Ireland
 * Basque Country

Immigration (later in the semester)

Benign aspects of nationalism and ethnicity