A balance of the democratic transformation in Central-Eastern Europe - DOI: 10.9732/P.0034-7191.2011v103p41

Resumo

21 years after communism it is a time todraw up a balance-sheet on the democratic transformationsin Central-Eastern Europe (Poland, Slovakia,Czech Republic and Hungary). As the article proves,those do not represent a linear change from one pointof history – communist totalitarism – to another, anunproblematic liberal democracy. On the contrary, theeconomy of the Visegrád Fours is very fragile, whichbecame by the global financial crisis. Those have mostclear and most decisive is the constant influence of theEuropean Union to the democratization efforts in thecountries of the region. Finally, the paper argues thatthe process of democratic consolidation has gone quitefar in the Visegrád Countries and they are almost atthe same level as the other post-transition countries ofSouthern-Europe and Latin-America. One thing is forsure: the former ‘socialist’ countries have passed thepoint from where they could return to the old system.