FEDERALISM IN EASTERN-EUROPE - PART OF THE SOLUTION OR PART OF THE PROBLEM

Recent changes in eastern Europe have spawned recommendations on political structures, with considerable attention given to federalism as a means of promoting democracy in multi-ethnic societies. This article explores (1) the concept of federalism; (2) the role played by federalism in the fragmentation that has occurred in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union; and (3) some general problems of prescriptive social science. An important distinction in the concept of federalism-structure versus process-must be carefully drawn and considered before a prescriptive recommendation can be meaningful. Moreover, events in eastern Europe suggest that federal structures, when not accompanied by federal processes, have contributed to the fragmentation of these countries.