Format:
1 Online-Ressource (ix, 314 pages)
,
digital, PDF file(s)
ISBN:
9780511491184
Content:
Before democracy becomes an institutionalised form of political authority, the rupture with authoritarian forms of power causes deep uncertainty about power and outcomes. This 2007 book connects the study of democratisation in eastern Europe and Russia to the emergence and crisis of communism. Wydra argues that the communist past is not simply a legacy but needs to be seen as a social organism in gestation, where critical events produce new expectations, memories and symbols that influence meanings of democracy. By examining a series of pivotal historical events, he shows that democratisation is not just a matter of institutional design, but rather a matter of consciousness and leadership under conditions of extreme and traumatic incivility. Rather than adopting the opposition between non-democratic and democratic, Wydra argues that the communist experience must be central to the study of the emergence and nature of democracy in (post-) communist countries
Content:
Communism and democracy-a problematisation -- pt. I. The experiential basis of communism and democracy -- Revolutions, transitions, and uncertainty -- The political symbolism of communism -- Experiencing democratic transformations -- pt. II. Critical events and their symbolisations -- The rise of Bolshevik power -- The emergence of the Cold War -- The articulation of dissidence -- The collapse of communism -- pt. III. Democracy as a process of meaning-formation -- The power of memory -- The future that failed -- Democracy as a civilising process
Note:
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015)
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9780521851695
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9780521184137
Additional Edition:
Print version ISBN 9780521851695
Language:
English
Subjects:
Political Science
Keywords:
Ostblock
;
Staatssozialismus
;
Systemtransformation
;
Demokratisierung
DOI:
10.1017/CBO9780511491184
URL:
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