Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, and Comparative Politics: “Transitology" and The Need for New Theory
Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, and Comparative Politics: “Transitology" and The Need for New Theory

Summary/Abstract: A vigorous polemic has been conducted over the last decade concerning the usefulness of employing in Central and Eastern Europe the model of transitions to and consolidations of democracy fashioned out of the Southern European (Greece, Portugal, Spain) and Latin American experiences. Some scholars of these latter regions, have taken to calling themseives "transitologists" and "consolidologists" and have put forth sometimes exaggerated and self-important claims to have invented entirely new areas of the discipline. Actually, the study of the transitions to and consolidation of democracy, is a fascinating and important one, but, since its theory and empirical material are still weak and underdeveloped, it ought at this stage to be considered merely a new, significant, interesting, but perhaps also topical subject matter, like "liberation theology" or "bureaucratic-authoritarianism," rather than a major theoretical breakthrough. [...]

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