Conclusion: Elections, Parties, and Representation

Abstract

The broad context of political change in post-communist countries was unique. In Western Europe, the process of democratisation was lengthy, organic, and largely evolutionary. It was effectively a process of gradual extension of the franchise and the opening up of the system to new election contenders. Underlying economic and social changes, arising from the spread of industrialisation and urbanisation, were undoubtedly both cause and consequence of this political process. But there was no notion of an advance blueprint guiding the direction of change and there was no single point at which the achievement of ‘democracy’ was proclaimed. The concept of representative democracy evolved as a part of the process itself. But at some ill-defined point in this evolution political parties emerged as the central actors of the democratic drama. In the communist states the starting point was quite different, both in context and in the dramatis personae. A single-party monopoly directed society on the basis of its claim to command the precepts of scientific socialism in order to construct an egalitarian society free from exploitation and alienation. Under communist party auspices economic development was substantial, if skewed to the industrial sector. Urbanisation was extensive. Levels of education were high. The franchise was universal, and efficient mechanisms of electoral administration were in place. The dysfunctions of the political-economic system, however, were acute, and attempts to reform the system gathered pace, triggering three different sorts of regime change.