Nations in Transit - 1997: Civil Society, Democracy and Markets in East Central Europe and Newly Independent States

Nations in Transit #1997

by Alexander J. Motyl

In Nations in Transit 1997, Freedom House asked leading regional specialists and in-house experts to answer a checklist of 46 indicators for twenty-five post-Communist countries in seven key areas: political processes, civil society, independent media, rule of law, governance and public administration, privatization and economic reform. The survey, organized in an easily accessible question-and-answer format, was reviewed by an oversight board of leading scholars from Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, and Columbia University. The results are incisive, authoritative and comprehensive country-by-country reports which asses the progress of ex-Communist countries in ridding themselves of repressive political systems and inefficient statistic economies. As an added dimension, Freedom House - which for nearly 25 years has rated political rights and civil liberties around the world in its benchmark Annual Survey of Freedom - developed a rating system which allows for a comparative analysis of countries in terms of democratic and market reforms. Nations in Transit 1997 is an invaluable resource and reference tool for governmental and non-governmental institutions, schools or universities, and anyone interested in better understanding the political, economic and legal structures and institutions that comprise the infrastructure on which the transition to open societies and open markets depends.

418 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Alexander J. Motyl (Олександр Мотиль) is professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark, as well as a writer and painter. He served as associate director of the Harriman Institute at Columbia University from 1992 to 1998. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia, and the USSR, he is the author of several political science books and articles.

Nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2008 and 2013, he is the author of six novels, Whiskey Priest, Who Killed Andrei Warhol, Flippancy, The Jew Who Was Ukrainian, My Orchidia, and The Taste of Snow.

He has done performances of his fiction and poetry at the Cornelia Street Café and the Bowery Poetry Club. Motyl’s artwork has been exhibited in solo and group shows in NYC, Philadelphia, and Toronto and is on display on the Internet gallery, www.artsicle.com. He teaches at Rutgers University-Newark and lives in NYC.