Regio Minorities, Politics, Society English Edition (Regio Minorities, Politics, Society English Edition), Issue: 1 / 2003, Pages: 337, On
Success Stories: Lessons of Democratization in Central Europe «Success Stories: Lessons of Democratization in Central Europe» by András Bozóki Source: Regio Minorities, Politics, Society English Edition (Regio Minorities, Politics, Society English Edition), issue: 1 / 2003, pages: 337, on www.ceeol.com. TRANSITION ANDRÁS BOZÓKI Success Stories: Lessons of Democratization in Central Europe he rise and fall of Communist regimes form one of the dominant Tpolitical stories of the twentieth century. It started with the putsch-like revolution in Russia in 1917 and ended up with reform-like ne- gotiated revolutions in East Central Europe in 1989. These transitions had a worldwide effect: the end of the Soviet Union and the end of the more than forty years period of the Cold War in 1991. These changes have been in- terpreted as the sweeping victory of the idea of democracy and the “third wave” of democratization.1 More than a decade after the historic democratic turn, all countries in Central Europe are constantly rated as “free” ones by the Freedom House.2 It seems that, in the Balkans, the problems of definition of national political community meant to be the greatest obstacle to democratization. But when it was solved, most of those countries quickly moved closer to the fully free category. In the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yugoslavia, just as in the post-Soviet republics mentioned above, this movement toward freedom will probably take more time. In 1999, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland became members of the NATO, in 2002 Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia were invited by NATO as well, and joined NATO in 2004.
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