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It has long been assumed that inattention to matters of consumption contributed to the collapse of the centrally planned economies of the Soviet bloc. In Poland, the party-state followed a productivist model which occasionally paid lip-service to the consumer but which ultimately focused on the dictates of production. Yet, by 1981, there existed an organized consumer movement (Federacja Konsumentów) which emerged amidst the broader challenges to the state associated with Solidarity. In the transition to democracy, a form of consumer agency developed in Poland concerned less with the relative benefits of capitalism or communism in supplying consumer wants and desires, and more with a less overtly ideological notion of rights and protection promoted at the global level. This article demonstrates that Polish consumers and their expert representatives, both within and beyond the state, were capable of exercising an agency more complex than the negative one of frustration and recourse to alternative forms of provisioning usually associated with a command economy.

Political scientists have long associated accountability with strong political parties, and have also frequently noted the weakness of parties in new democracies. This article disaggregates the strong party ideal into two components - legislative discipline and programmatic platforms - and suggests that the former in the absence of the latter can undermine accountability. We describe levels of discipline in parties in various new democracies. Then we provide a taxonomy of political party origins, according to how origins affect the proclivity of parties toward both programmatic policy and legislative discipline.

One important legacy of republicanism is the ideal of good citizenship; a related legacy of republicanism is the equation of citizenship and masculinity. These legacies are at once strange and familiar: today, masculinity and citizenship are often conceptualized as discrete and distinctive identities, and some critics, most notably feminists, suggest that in modern democraciesgoodcitizenship and masculinity may even be contradictory ideals. The source of these conceptual paradoxes is the transformation of gender and civic discourse in the early modern period, particularly the "long eighteenth century." Understanding the implications of these changes helps us better grasp both the relationship of gender and citizenship today, and how a more effectively engaged and meaningfully egalitarian form of democratic citizenship, for men and women, might be realized.

A reprint of an article by former US Ambassador to the UN Jeane J. Kirkpatrick that first appeared in the Summer 1981 volume of "World Affairs" examines differences between the Western "liberal democratic tradition" & Marxist-Leninist conceptions of human life & politics. The practical consequences of these antithetical approaches are said to be best illustrated by how they relate to their own constituencies & the rest of the world. The repercussions for contemporary international affairs of basic distinctions between the liberal & the Marxist-Leninist approaches are discussed. Special attention is given to the liberal democratic tradition's emphasis on liberty, individual rights, consent, & representation; reaffirmation of the fundamental principles of liberal economics, politics, & culture that was evidenced by the election of Ronald Reagan; & the Reagan administration's focus on restoring the American economy & rebuilding American military strength. It is noted that Pres. Reagan is less optimistic about the evolution of Soviet society but less pessimistic about the evolution of American society than his predecessors. The future prospects of American-Soviet relations are discussed. J. Lindroth

The autumn of the oligarch: punished by Russia, exiled by the West, fought against by the democratic movement, Belarus's president Lukaschenko has no place to go. An interview with a member of the opposition, Anatolij Lebedko, regarding the regime's fight for survival, the danger of a social explosion, & the hope for free elections. Adapted from the source document.

Abstract.  This article examines the institutional arrangements between Social Democratic parties and trade unions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. First, the authors show how these relations have weakened at a varying pace. Party–union ties are now quite distant in Denmark, but remain relatively close in Norway and, especially, Sweden. Second, the authors explore this variation using a simple model of political exchange. The finding is that the intensity of the relationship is correlated with the resources that each side can derive from the other, which in turn reflects national differences. Yet it is also clear that the degree of change is related to the formative phase of the institutional arrangement itself: the weaker the ties were from the beginning, the more easily they unravel in response to environmental changes.