Elite Transformation in Central and Eastern Europe

Changing configurations of national elites are shaping the prospects for democracy in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. There are three broad possibilities: (1) increasingly unchecked and violent power struggles between elites, with regimes oscillating between democratic and authoritarian forms; (2) restrained elite competitions in accordance with democratic game rules and tacit accommodations, with regimes gradually becoming stable democracies; (3) takeovers by ultra-nationalist elites through coups or plebiscitary victories, with regimes becoming state-corporatist in form and quasi-fascist in operation. Crucial questions are the extent and nature of elite unity and differentiation. This article identifies elite configurations and the most likely regime outcomes in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. © AusJPS 1995.