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Introduction: Building a Democratic Eastern Europe
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17985 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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5 / 1990 |
444 Words |
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Despite the many revolutionary changes that have taken place in their countries, the peoples of Eastern Europe know that democracy cannot be built in a day. They are aware of the formidable political economic obstacles that confront them as they seek to open up their long-closed societies. But after 40 years of communism, they are determined to make democracy the guiding principle of their countries, however difficult or long the process. That is the consensus of the contributors to this month's report, "Building a Democratic Eastern Europe."
Herbert J. Ellison, professor of Russian and East European studies at the University of Washington, says that the era of monopoly communist power in the region has ended, yielding almost everywhere to political pluralism and market economic collapse and competing national claims for autonomy and territory. "It is a highly unstable situation," says Elision but one filled with "a new freedom and hope of renewal."
Mikhail Gorbachev remains the central figure in Eastern Europe, argues foreign affairs specialist John. H. Farrar. By encouraging members of the Warsaw Pact to adopt perestroika and glasnost, Gorbachev signaled Soviet forbearance and the unlikelihood of intervention, whetting Eastern European appetites for freedom, which grew far more rapidly than the Soviet president or anyone else anticipated.
What Eastern Europe needs from the West, suggest G.P. Lauter, professor of business administration at George Washington University, is not only generous amounts of aid and investment but technical assistance and practical knowledge. So far, there has been an extraordinary response from Western countries; however, warns Lauter, the West must be prepared for a "rather disorganized" and sometimes delayed restructuring of central and Eastern economies.
A major reason for the uneven progress, reports Janusz Bugajski of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is that communists still hold considerable power at the local levels of government. The "ouster of communist officials from all-important levels of authority," he says, will probably not be completed for several years.
What will the continent of Europe look like in the year 2000? Terry McNeil, professor of political science at Hull University in Great Britain, suggests that "one democratic Europe" is possible if (1) there is a new security arrangement built around the European community rather than NATO; (2) Western Europe
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