Communism and Europe

            The Downfall of Communism in Eastern and Central Europe.
             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 looking to affect a .
             narrow set of policy reforms; indeed, what was at stake was a .
             hyper-radical shift from the long-held communist ideology to a .
             western blueprint for governmental and economic policy .
             development. The problem inherent in this type of monumental .
             change is that, according to Ulrich K. Preuss, "In almost all the .
             East and Central European countries, the collapse of .
             authoritarian communist rule has released national, ethnic, .
             religious and cultural conflicts which can not be solved by .
             purely economic policies" (47). While tremendous changes are .
             evident in both the governmental and economic arenas in Europe, .
             these changes cannot be assumed to always be "mutually .
             reinforcing" (Preuss 47). Generally it has been theorized that .
             the most successful manner of addressing these many difficulties .
             is the drafting of a constitution. But what is clear is the .
             unsatisfactory ability of a constitution to remedy the problems .