The rise to power across Eastern Europe of a new revolutionary class of dissidents in 1989 and 1990--this time a class of anti-communist dissidents--has been one of the most dramatic changes in contemporary politics. Throughout Eastern Europe, thousands marched for freedom and bulldozers leveled statues of communist heroes, leaving Vladimer Lenin lying face down in the streets of a new era. Political parties headed by opponents of communist rule came to power through free elections in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia; the communist regime of the German Democratic Republic was ousted by anti-communist dissidents, preparing the way for unification with West Germany; and non-communist political parties appeared for the first time since the Second World War in Bulgaria and Romania.
Partly because of a desire for a peaceful transition and partly because many of the anti-communist dissidents believed they were fighting against impossible odds, many compromises were made with the ex-communists in government administration and bureaucracy. Compromises with the ex-communists were even initially made in East Germany, although the reunification process appears to be forcing a fundamental change in the composition of government bureaucracy. In Bulgaria, not only were compromises made with the former Bulgarian Communist Party, but it appears that the party has succeeded in re-entrenching itself at the helm of Bulgaria's government.
This research will chart the process of change that has been occurring in East Germany and Bulgaria since the "revolution of 1989" in Eastern Europe. The political and economic conditions that sparked political upheaval in these nations will be discussed, along with the forces in each country that are working against these changes. Finally, the prospects for establishing democratic orders and healthy economies in East Germany and Bulgaria will be analyzed.
Since, as noted earlier, the changes occurrin...