Postcommunist Elites and Democracy in Eastern Europe

John Higley is Professor of Government and Sociology at the University of Texas.

Jan Pakulski is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Tasmania.

Wlodzimierz Wesolowski is Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Changing configurations of national elites are shaping the prospects for democracy in the countries of postcommunist Eastern Europe. In several countries (Serbia, Bulgaria, Russia) there are unchecked power struggles between elites, with regimes oscillating between democratic and authoritarian tendencies. In other countries (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic) restrained elite competitions are being institutionalized and are leading to stable democratic regimes. These and other outcomes are analyzed for the region as a whole.

Acknowledgements - Notes on the Contributors - Introduction: Elite Change and Democratic Regimes in Eastern Europe; J.Higley, J.Pakulski & W.Wesolowski - The Russian Political Elites, 1991-1995. Recruitment and Renewal; D.Lane & C.Ross - Elite Cohesion and Division: Transition in Gorbachev's Russia; D.Lane - Elite Conceptions of Russia's Present and Future; L.V.Babayeva - Elites, Institutions, and Political Change in East Central Europe: Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia; T.A.Baylis - Czech and Slovak Political and Parliamentary Elites; L.Brokl & Z.Mansfeldova - Elite Transformation and Democratic Consolidation in Germany after 1945 and 1989; U.Hoffmann-Lange - Elite Circulation and Consolidation of Democracy in Poland; J.Wasilewski - A Self-Portrait of the Polish Political Elite; I.Pankow - The Hungarian Economic Elite in the First Half of the 1990s; G.Lengyel - Bulgaria: A Quasi-Elite; S.E.Nikolov - Electoral Politics in Eastern Europe: Social and Ideological Influences on Partisanship in Post-Communist Societies; S.Whitefield & G.Evans - The Relationship Between Elites and the Working Class: On Coupling, Uncoupling, Democracy and (In)equality; E.Etzioni-Halevy - Elites and Decommunization in Eastern Europe; C.G.Enriquez - Index