The notion of countries being on the “path to democracy” remains valid unless and until they come up with a systemic alternative to democracy.
About the Author
Ghia Nodia is professor of political science at Ilia State University and director of the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy, and Development in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Democracy.
A grim narrative of the years since 1989 has buoyed Eastern and Central Europe’s populist parties in their rise to power. To win back voters, liberals must tell a more…
A review of After the Fall: The Pursuit of Democracy in Central Europe, by Jeffery Goldfarb and Reinventing Politics: Eastern Europe from Stalin to Havel, by Vladimir Tismaneanu.
Once again, a reformist electoral victory has been followed by political setbacks. The key to understanding this paradoxical pattern lies in the unique theocratic constitutional structure of the Islamic Republic.
