Unfinished Europe

Transition from Communism to Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID10073553
AuthorsIván T Berend (University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author), Bojan Bugarič (0000-0002-2730-8043, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Year2015
Volume50
Issue4
Pages768-785
Publication date2015-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0022009415596845
OpenAlexW2339879843
LanguageEN
Citations received14

The Berlin Wall collapsed a quarter of a century ago. This anniversary led to publication of studies about the success of Central and East European transformation. Some of them maintain that the region became ‘normal,' and nearer to their Western neighbors. In reality, the region still belongs to the periphery of Europe with a mostly dual economy and low level of income. Modern sectors and the entire banking industry are subsidiaries of Western multinationals. The political system is often authoritarian. Democratic forms often cover non-democratic contents. Corruption, tax evasion and other symptoms of peripheral political behavior are quite common. Transformation is so far not accomplished and will certainly require two or three generations to achieve

Authoritarianism · Communism · Democracy · Development economics · Economic system · Economics · Economy · Language change · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Law · Post-Communist Economic and Political Transition