Publisher's Synopsis
The collapse of Communism in 1989 produced a "negotiated revolution" in Poland and Hungary but was effected more directly by "people's power" elsewhere in Eastern Europe. The Polish case is crucial as its political and economic dilemmas were the most open, acute and long-established. It also produced the most advanced political and academic debate and analyses of Communism's crisis. This volume makes available the reflection of a wide spectrum of Polish "intelligentsia" opinion on the reasons for the collapse of Communism, the mechanism of power-transfer and democracy's prospects. It is a case-study of the 1988-1990 period in Poland which produced the most comprehensive "round table" and the gradual, peaceful and negotiated transfer of Communist power to the Solidarity counter-elite. This assessment of the initial transition stage towards democratization and marketization and its themes, concepts and data will be useful for further comparative discussion.
