Suchergebnisse

Pusic's Democracy and Dictatorship. Political Transition in Croatia and Southeastern Europe (1998) comprises five essays published by the author separately during the 1990s, covering the areas of the history of political ideas, descriptive theory of democracy, & the theory of democratic transition. They are written in an eclectic style mixing political essay with scientific dissertation, which impedes the reading & analysis of the whole work. Pusic also fails to clearly state her methodological approach; her methodology cannot be characterized as institutional analysis, analysis of the action of political actors, or policy analysis. The lack of a clearly defined methodological-analytic approach is the main cause of her failure to account for the diversity in transitions from communist to democratic regimes in the various countries of the former Soviet bloc. Pusic uses a variety of terms & notions that she does not define, & also has difficulties with differentiating institutional arrangements & political regimes. The description of transition processes in individual countries is inaccurate, & the interpretation of the radicalization & militarization of the Serbian movement in Croatia at the beginning of the 1990s is whimsical. The book cannot be recommended as a respectable contribution to the theory of transition. 10 References. Z. Dubiel

Slovakian political development following the collapse of communism is analyzed. The instigator of the democratic change in Slovakia was the organization Public against Violence (VPN), the equivalent to the Czech Citizens' Forum, in which Vladimir Mciar came to prominence very early on. Following his clash with the leadership of VPN in spring 1991, he emerged as a charismatic political leader. Relying on his populist party called Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), Meciar in 1992 won the Slovakian parliamentary elections & became Prime Minister. The HZDS's radicalization of the nationalist discourse & its striving for a total institutional transformation of the Czechoslovakian federation led to the so-called "velvet divorce" & Slovakian independence early in 1993. Meciar & the HZDS briefly lost power in 1994 due to a party rift, but made a triumphant comeback after the elections in autumn of the same year. The authors' thesis is that this is responsible for the fact that in Slovakia, national populism & the client-patrimonial type of government have prevailed over democratic constitutionalism. The authors claim that the causes for such a development can be found in the social repercussions of the forced postwar industrialization & in the powerful tradition of cultural & political nationalism. 1 Table. Adapted from the source document.

This research deals with the stages of development of the political order of Florence, focusing on the changes of the republican order. Starting from Machiavelli's Florentine Histories, which set forth a criticism of the first period of republican government until the establishment of the Medici seigniory, the author also analyses the other two stages of republican government in Florence. He thus puts together a periodization of three republican models of Florence during the Renaissance, which he refers to as the First, Second & Third Republics. The period of the First Republic stretches from 1250 to 1434, until the establishment of the first Medici seigniory. The period of the Second Republic, which lasted from 1498 to 1512, is assessed here as the period of a mature republic, which also witnessed a clear-cut defining of the theory of civil republicanism, primarily through the works of Machiavelli & Guicciardini. The Second Republic ended with the Medici restauration, when the republican government was once again suspended, & the republican institutions were abolished, although the state formally retained the designation of republic. After the fall of Rome in 1527, the Medici rule in Florence also collapsed, & the period of the Third Republic began; it lasted from 1527 to 1530. This short stretch of time saw a radicalization of the Florentine republicanism, but the social antagonism within the city-state was also radicalized. For this reason, the Third Republic did not manage to withstand the internal tensions & conflicts, & thus to face a deteriorated international state of affairs. The republican government collapsed again & made way for the second Medici restauration. The author describes & analyses in the text the republican institutions & their metamorphoses from the First Republic to the Third Republic, as well as the attempts to stabilize the republican government & realize Machiavelli's theory of the mixed form of government. The Florentine political order is therefore outlined as a development from communal democracy to civil republicanism with strong democratic elements, which, as a result of historical circumstances, was superseded by oligarchic forms of government. Adapted from the source document.