Bringing Down Dictators: The Diffusion of Democratic Change in Communist and Postcommunist Europe and Eurasia

What explains the cross-national diffusion of democratic change? A comparative analysis of two waves of such changes in postcommunist Europe and Eurasia from 1988-2005 suggests that three factors are critical. One is an expansion of opportunities for change; another is the appeal of positive precedents, especially when parallels can be drawn between the “sender” and the “receiving” country; and a third is the rise of transnational groups supporting political change. For subversive innovations, all three factors seem to be necessary—which is one reason why each of the waves of democratic change came to an end

Minority Politics in Ethnofederal States: Cooperation, Autonomy or Secession?

Leaders of minority communities in multinational states have taken one of three positions when interacting with their central governments. They have accepted the institutional status quo; they have pressed for moderate changes, such as increased cultural and political autonomy; or they have demanded a state of their own. What explains this variation? The purpose of this paper is to develop an answer by comparing political dynamics from 1989-2003 in nine regions located within three postcommunist ethnofederations: Georgia (Southern Ossetia, Abkhazia and Adjaria), Russia (Chechnya, Dagestan and Tatarstan) and Serbia-Montenegro (Kosovo, Montenegro and Vojvodina). Two conclusions are drawn. First, while many familiar economic, cultural and historical factors fail to explain differences across country and over time, two short-term political factors seem to be influential. One is variations in international support for minority leaders and their political agenda. The other is variations in the outcome of regional struggles for power once communism and the state unravel. As a result, in postcommunist ethnofederal states, increasing political competition creates a dilemma for new states in transition to democracy. While competition at the center seems to encourage democratization, competition in the regions threatens the state

The Persistent Problem: Inequality, Difference, and the Challenge of Development

This report highlights the complex, multidimensional nature of inequality in the era of globalization. It documents that despite the impressive strides by nations like China and India, absolute inequality between the richest and poorest countries is greater than ever before in history. It demonstrates that the rise of China and India creates a new dimension to the persistent problem of inequality

Defining and Domesticating the Electoral Model: A Comparison of Slovakia and Serbia

How do political innovations move from one country to another, and how do they change as they make their cross-national journey? This paper addresses these under-studied questions in the literature on diffusion by comparing two applications of the electoral model of democratization—an approach to elections in semi-authoritarian settings that uses, for example, energetic campaigns and voter registration and turnout drives in order to defeat authoritarian incumbents or their anointed successors. The first case is Slovakia in 1998, and the second is Serbia in 2000. Several factors encouraged the cross-national spread of the electoral approach to democratization— the appeal of positive political precedents in the “neighborhood;” the modular character of the electoral model; and the formation of an activist transnational community supporting democratization through electoral change. While in both countries dictators were defeated, in Serbia massive protests were required to force Milosevic to respect the verdict of the voters. This contrast—between elections and elections combined with mass protest—speaks to the rather unusual combination in Serbia of a highly repressive political environment, yet a long history of popular mobilization

The Changing Terrain of Eastern European Studies

For three weeks in June, 2011, Columbia University hosted "America Engages Eurasia: Studies, Teaching, and Resources," a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute. This Institute examined the evolution of "academic" engagement with Eurasia: the historic personalities, institutions, organizations, and research resources that collectively constituted the foundation of Eurasian studies in America. These components were considered within the broad framework of the geopolitical relations of America and Eurasia over more than 150 years, with the goal of establishing a more broadly applicable paradigm of area studies development in the United States (for Middle Eastern, East Asian, African, Latin American studies, etc.), suggesting avenues of comparative research. This presentation was delivered on June 23, 2011, by Valerie Bunce, Aaron Binenkorb Professor of International Studies, Cornell