Civil Society and Democratic Transition in East Central Europe
Author(s)
Bernhard, Michael
Abstract
With the collapse of communist regimes across the former Soviet bloc, reforms of one sort or another are now taking place throughout the eastern half of Europe. Progress towards democracy in the region seems unambiguously underway only in the area of East Central Europe — the former German Democratic Republic, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. In discussions of this democratization, the reemergence of civil society is often noted as a significant development. The first purpose of this account is to clarify the meaning of the term “civil society.” Its second and central purpose is to try to understand the relationship of civil society to democratization in the East Central European context and on a general theoretical level.
