The shocking fall of communism in Eastern and Central
Europe in the late eighties was remarkable for both its
rapidity and its scope. The specifics of communism's demise
varied among nations, but similarities in both the causes and
the effects of these revolutions were quite similar. As well, all
of the nations involved shared the common goals of
implementing democratic systems of government and moving
to market economies. In each of these nations, the
communist regimes in power were forced to transfer that
power to radically different institutions than they were
accustomed to. Democracy had been spreading throughout
the world for the preceding two decades, but with a very
important difference. While previous political transitions had
seen similar circumstances, the actual events in question had
generally occurred individually. In Europe, on the other
hand, the shift from communism was taking place in a
different context altogether. The peoples involved were not......
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