POLITICAL TRANSITION PROCESSES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN-EUROPE

Using the example of central and eastern Europe, I propose that negotiation patterns are crucial in understanding political transition processes and that changes in the modes of conflict resolution help us analyze progress toward the consolidation of democratic rule. I argue that the period of extrication from authoritarian regimes is characterized by a switch from command and imposition to bargaining and compromise. Progress toward consolidation of democratic rule is achieved once bargaining and compromise decline in favor of competition and cooperation as the dominant mode of conflict resolution. While the countries in central and eastern Europe have reached the competitive stage, further consolidation has been hampered by unresolved issues of power distribution and by conflictual elite attitudes. Both factors have frustrated cooperative modes of conflict resolution.