Relevantnost tranzicijskoga modela u postkomunističkom kontekstu
Relevance of the Transitional Model in the Postcommunist Context

Summary/Abstract: The starting point of this article is the assumption that the transitional model did not succeed as a coherent theory and that it is not able to give a sufficient explanation of democratic transitions, especially in postcommunist societies. Analyzing the transitional model's relevance in the postcommunist context, the author questions its basic assumptions and identifies key differences between southern and postcommunist transitions. Whereas the transitional model ignores structural prerequisites and sociocultural factors, it is lacking in specific causes and the nature of changes. Stressing the role of actors and the normative-institutional definition of democracy, the meaning and the content of democracy are reduced to the political level. At the same time, the extent and depth of changes, which in postcommunist societies significantly surpass the level of political change, are neglected. Through the comparison between southern and postcommunist transitions, it is visible that there are far more differences mutually hard to compare than similarities, whose comparison could be useful. The conclusion is that the transition process in postcommunist societies is indigenous and significantly more different than in southern transitions and that the theoretical framework of the transitional model has proven itself too narrow for its explanation, which requires a different and much broader theoretical approach.

• Details
• Contents