From Liberalism to Conservatism: The Federation of Young Democrats in Post-Communist Hungary
From Liberalism to Conservatism: The Federation of Young Democrats in Post-Communist Hungary

Summary/Abstract: Nineteen eighty-nine brought the long-awaited collapse of communist regimes in East Central Europe. Interpreting these events as the triumph of liberalism, many analysts anticipated that the transition to liberal democracy and the reaffirmation of old ideas of democracy, pluralism, and citizenship were the principal issues on the agenda. The region's commitment to the values of liberal democracy was clearly expressed by many important participants in the democratic opposition and transition, such as Vaclav Havel, Adam Michnik, Janos Kis, many of whom later became leading politicians in their respective countries. At the same time, others, like Stephen Holmes or George Schopflin, called attention to the numerous impediments to a truly liberal transformation, deriving from certain specific features of postcommunist societies (distorted economic structures on the one hand, but even more significant historical or cultural traditions, deep-footed social cleavages on the other). [...]

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