January 2014, Volume 25, Issue 1
A year after the election that ended the rule of president Mikheil Saakashvili’s National Movement, Georgia has seen further remarkable developments that raise key questions for struggling postcommunist democracies and, indeed, democracies everywhere.
January 2013, Volume 24, Issue 1
In October 2012, Georgia’s government lost power in an election, and peacefully stepped aside. But can a country with Georgia’s troubled history capitalize on this surprising achievement?
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
The central problems now blocking democracy in Georgia and other parts of the former USSR are: 1) the use of power in order to gain wealth; 2) the absence of the rule of law; and 3) the passivity of citizens.
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Western pressure can be decisive, but it is not always easy to forecast when and how it will be applied.
January 2007, Volume 18, Issue 1
The recent "color revolutions" in the former Soviet Union should lead us to reassess the idea of revolution and also to consider the weaknesses of the concept of "democratic transition.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
Events last November confouned expectations set by the failure of democratization in Russia and other ex-Soviet republics, and should prompt new reflections on how fragile openings to democacy may be sustained and widened.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
In the southern reaches of what was once the USSR, democracy seems far off. Can that change?
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
The analogy with feudalism helps us understand the baffling changes that unexpectedly appeared during the transition away from communist rule.
April 1999, Volume 10, Issue 2
Read the full essay here.
October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4
Read the full essay here.
April 1994, Volume 5, Issue 2
Read the full essay here.
"Provides a wealth of information and some fresh thinking on the role of the military and civil-military relations in many parts of the world. The intellectual quality of most contributions is high and they are concise and well-written."—Dirk Berg-Schlosser, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics
Is the challenge of building and consolidating democracy under postcommunist conditions unique, or can one apply lessons learned from other new democracies? The essays collected in this volume explore these questions, while tracing how the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have fared in the decade following the fall of communism.
