Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Communism and democracy – a problematisation
- Part I The experiential basis of communism and democracy
- 2 Revolutions, transitions, and uncertainty
- 3 The political symbolism of communism
- 4 Experiencing democratic transformations
- Part II Critical events and their symbolisations
- Part III Democracy as a process of meaning-formation
- Index
4 - Experiencing democratic transformations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Communism and democracy – a problematisation
- Part I The experiential basis of communism and democracy
- 2 Revolutions, transitions, and uncertainty
- 3 The political symbolism of communism
- 4 Experiencing democratic transformations
- Part II Critical events and their symbolisations
- Part III Democracy as a process of meaning-formation
- Index
Summary
A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience.
John DeweyIt is rarely contested that the political process of Soviet-type governments was not democratic, as it was characterised by a power monopoly, a lack of accountability, fake constitutionalism, and the absence of meaningful elections. The normative imperative of establishing political democracy, however, has made analysts disregard the social foundations of democratisation. The formal distinction between a previous ‘non-democratic’ period under communism and an ensuing ‘democratic’ period after its demise illustrates the political conflict of the Cold War but explains little about the emergence of democracy. It would be shortsighted to assume that democracy ‘failed’ with the victory of the October Revolution in 1917 and ‘won’ with the collapse of communism in 1989 and 1991. Historically, any politically useful conception of democratic transformation requires connecting the meanings, representations, and expectations of people and elites under communism. Experience is thus not simply the dead hand of the past but a living and creative process of social reordering.
This chapter examines the epistemological basis of the mirrored opposition between communism and democracy. The determinism of consolidating liberal democracy has purged the subjectivity of actors and the formative influence of political symbolism on the emergence of democracy. Confined to a positivist focus on the functional, procedural, and legal-normative aspects of political systems, much social inquiry has pre-empted the political struggle over their foundations.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Communism and the Emergence of Democracy , pp. 83 - 108Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007