Explaining Political and Economic Change in Post-Communist Eastern Europe

This article presents a framework for the analysis of regime change in post-Communist Eastern Europe. It examines two competing approaches, the “legacies of the past” and the “imperatives of liberalization,” as alternative causal factors shaping the trajectories of regime change. The article argues that the debate between these two approaches has important implications for comparative research methodology and design; to the extent that past legacies dominate the path of post-Communist regime change, comparisons with other regions emerging from an authoritarian past will yield less insight. The authors claim, however, that the immediate context of norms, institutions, and international pressures shapes the particular way that legacies influence outcomes. Thus they conclude that cross-regional research is likely to be fruitful and should be pursued.