Ex-nomenklatura and Ex-dissidents in the Post-communist Parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland

Abstract

The article examines the post-communist Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Polish parliamentary elitesand their relations with the Soviet regime. Two dimensions of these relations are highlighted: retrospectively,negative political experience in the former political regime (membership in the CommunistParty and the nomenklatura) and positive credentials of being involved in the dissident movement. Thestudy is guided by hypotheses underlying revolutionary nature of post-communist transition and stressingachievements of the electoral politics, market reforms and liberal mass media. Research shows differentshares of ex-communist activists and ex-dissidents, as well as their asynchronous changes in the postcommunistparliamentary elites. Variations are related to different meta-histories of the nomenklaturas, thecommunist parties and dissident movement in the country cases and recent experiences of democratization.