Eastern Europe: Political Crisis and Legitimation

Discussion of the issues of political legitimacy and of processes of legitimation in Western societies has been widespread over recent years and has given rise to considerable controversy. This book attempts to further that discussion within the context of the East European states and to open perspectives on processes of legitimation in communist states - an area in which analysis has only recently begun.

It examines the origins and course of the political crises that have developed in the countries of the northern tier of Eastern Europe (Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland) in the post-Stalin period and discusses the contemporary situation in those countries from the perspective of regime legitimation. Particular attention is paid to economic reform and the capacity of the communist economy to provide bases of support for the regime.

By combining detailed analysis of the contemporary political situation of Eastern Europe with a theoretical evaluation of the nature of the political system, this book provides an empirical and conceptual framework for the assessment of East European developments in the 1980s and for an evaluation of the likelihood of the occurrence of further political crises.

CONTENTS: Introduction; 1. Legitimation and Political Crises: East European Developments in the Post-Stalin Period (Paul G. Lewis, The Open University); 2. Legitimation in the German Democratic Republic (Martin McCauley, School of Slavonic and East European Studies); 3. Hungary: The Quest for Legitimacy (Bill Lomax, University of Nottingham); 4. Ideology and Power in the Czechoslovak Political System (Mark Wright, analyst of East European Affairs); 5. The Military and 'Normalisation' in Poland (Jacques Rupnik, Fondation Nationale des Science Politiques); 6. Political Crisis and East European Economic Reforms (Bruce McFarlane, University of Adelaide); 7. Afterword (Paul G. Lewis)