Karatnycky, Adrian

Lueb, Patrick

Motyl, A.

Schnetzer, A.

English

U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons

Naval War College ReviewVolume 56Number 4 Autumn Article 202003Nations in Transit 2001–2002: Civil Society,Democracy and Markets inEast Central Europeand the Newly Independent StatesPatrick LuebAdrian KaratnyckyA. MotylA. SchnetzerFollow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-reviewThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contactrepository.inquiries@usnwc.edu.Recommended CitationLueb, Patrick; Karatnycky, Adrian; Motyl, A.; and Schnetzer, A. (2003) "Nations in Transit 2001–2002: Civil Society, Democracy andMarkets inEast Central Europe and the Newly Independent States," Naval War College Review: Vol. 56 : No. 4 , Article 20.Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol56/iss4/20presumed familiarity with much of thesubject matter that makes this work amore appropriate developmental readfor the interested professional—forwhom it is a must.If there is a weakness to the book, it isthat the terms “brown-,” “green-,” and“blue-water” are not properly associ-ated with their respective naval equiva-lents of “inland waterways,” “coastaldefense,” and “power-projection”fleets until the last quarter of the book,and even then the distinguishing fea-tures are not defined but implied. Tocomplicate matters, there is the earlierfleeting introduction of an additional“marginal seas” naval warfare environ-ment that is never again mentioned.The distinctions are important, espe-cially when the authors conclude thatthe physical configuration of these vari-ous environments—their geography—will continue to present challengesto navies and naval operations. Opti-mistically, they also conclude that farfrom rendering navies obsolete in themodern battle space, technologicalimprovements and force structuredevelopments derived from a soundunderstanding of geographical con-siderations will ensure their contin-ued relevance.A greater disappointment for a book ongeography is the selection of maps.They are barely adequate even for thebasic overview they are intended toprovide—a number of important placenames mentioned cannot be found.More to the point, especially consider-ing the key factor of “distance,” thechoice of the common Mercator projec-tion, with all its inherent north-southdistortions, is unfortunate. In manycases the scale is not given, and in thelittorals the bottom depth contours arenot identified. Conic projections couldhave illustrated many points far moreeffectively.That said, this book deserves to be readby naval professionals. Its conclusionthat geography will continue to havemuch the same influence it always hashad on navies would be startling only ifit were otherwise. However, in arrivingat that conclusion, Lindberg and Toddprovide many useful reminders that na-vies do not exist just to impact one an-other but are part of a larger spatialcontext of global dimensions.RICHARD H. GIMBLETTResearch Fellow, Dalhousie UniversityCentre for Foreign Policy StudiesKaratnycky, Adrian, A. Motyl, and A. Schnetzer,eds. Nations in Transit 2001–2002: Civil Society,Democracy and Markets in East Central Europeand the Newly Independent States. Somerset, N.J.:Transaction, 2002. 445pp. $39.95Nations in Transit 2001–2002 is a com-prehensive fact book that examines thetrends of liberalization in East CentralEurope and the newly independentstates of the former Soviet Union. Theeditors claim the book is unique, as the“only . . . comparative study of post-Communist political and economictransition in Central and EasternEurope and Eurasia.” This sixth editioncovers the period from November 2000through December 2001; however, thereader will frequently find informationfrom the 1990s.The book covers twenty-seven nations,attempting to assess each by its level ofdemocratization, rule of law, and eco-nomic liberalization. Each of thesebroad categories contains elements thatB O O K R E V I E W S 1 7 11Lueb et al.: Nations in Transit 2001–2002: Civil Society, Democracy and MarketPublished by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2003provide a structure for the analysis ofeach nation; this analysis is conducted byone principal author, who in many casesis a native of the country in question.The political process element in thedemocratization category has an expla-nation of the major political parties,their leadership, political agendas, andmajorities in the government. Democ-ratization also discusses civil society,focusing primarily on the functioningof nongovernmental organizations.Independent media are also covered,containing information on names, affil-iation, content, and audience. This ele-ment also includes data on Internetaccessibility. The final elements in thedemocratization category are gover-nance and public administration. Thesecover the executive-branch workings ofthe nation, including information onpolitical parties, national and sub-national governments, and elections.The rule-of-law category has two ele-ments. The first is a constitutional, leg-islative, and judicial framework thatdetails constitutional and judicial is-sues, to include the court system andhuman rights. The second is corrup-tion, addressing both the amount ofcorruption and initiatives to correctthis problem. Economic liberalizationand social indicators are the last cate-gory, which includes economic issues,both domestic and international, tax re-form, and employment issues.The book does have one potential flaw.The authors and editors have includeda rating system grading each element ona scale of one to seven, with one beingthe maximum score. The grades of eachelement are averaged and recorded totwo decimal places to obtain a ratingfor the category. The movement of eachnation along the scales is then tracked,and nations are compared with one an-other. In the description of this ratingmethodology, the reader may believethat there is a scientific basis for thisscheme. In carefully reading the text,however, one finds that this basis is notfully explained. In fact, lacking any spe-cific information, the conclusion onereaches is that this scale is subjective innature, which detracts from the editors’claim of a comparative assessment ofthese nations. If there is no true objec-tive measure, providing an example of anation that rates a one in a particularelement might mean more. That way,the reader has some basis to understandmore clearly what a rating of 4.25 in,for example, independent media means.Overall, this single weakness does notdiminish the worth of Nations in Tran-sit 2001–2002. The great value of thisbook is that it provides extensiveknowledge and current, as well as his-torical, data on a variety of political,social, and economic issues in EastCentral Europe and the former SovietUnion. Even with all this data, the textis easy to read. This is accomplishedwith the incorporation of informationfrom the 1990s, which provides a criti-cal strength of this work; the readerneed not be an expert on East CentralEurope or the newly independent statesto use it.PATRICK LUEBLieutenant Commander, U.S. NavyNaval War College1 7 2 N A V A L W A R C O L L E G E R E V I E W2Naval War College Review, Vol. 56 [2003], No. 4, Art. 20https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol56/iss4/20

Nations in Transit 2001–2002: Civil Society, Democracy and Markets inEast Central Europe and the Newly Independent States

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Nations in Transit 2001–2002: Civil Society, Democracy and Markets inEast Central Europe and the Newly Independent States

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