Blackwell Reference Online

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The main task of all European countries in transition is to move away from their centrally planned system and to adopt a market economy. All countries analyzed in this chapter started this process between 1988 and 1992, but each country has its own starting point. According to Dahrendorf (1991) the transformation process in European countries in transition can be analyzed by three different factors: politics, economy and society, which leads to political, economic and social transformation. Since these factors occur at varying speeds, each country has undergone its own transition process. Espe-cially in the larger countries, differences in the transition speed may also vary within the same country. In contrast to political transformation, economic and social transformation are much slower processes and last for decades. Privatization is but one element of the transition. “Free” markets have only recently been introduced to varying degrees in the European countries in transition ( OECD 1998 : 99). Because of the common interest of the international community, considerable research in all three transformation processes has been conducted. A wide range of texts on elections and party formation in connection with the political transformation can be found. However, a tendency toward not wanting to express one's opinion can be observed. There is no doubt that the political development ... log in or subscribe to read full text