The revolutions of 1989 toppled communist regimes throughout Central Europe and brought democratic forces to the brink of power in the Soviet Union, Bulgaria and Roumania. Economic decay and reform in the Soviet Union fostered the actual upheavals. The main force for change, however, came from the mass public itself. One result has been the formation of a voluntary third sector of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The extraordinary effervescence of NGO’s of all types is the single most distinctive aspect of the revolutions of 1989. NGOs already affect public decision making, channel enrgies and resources, and bring local, national, and even international expertise and resources to bear on heretofore neglected needs. Their further flowering will depend on the creation of solid legal protection, the establishment of a viable private sector in the economy, and on the further development of habits of independence and initiative throughout the societies.
