When a group of politicians enters office, there is no choice: the inherited commitments of past government must be accepted as givens. The legacy that they inherit is carried forward by institutional commitments grounded in laws, organizations and budgets that are more important than the...

The transformation of East European societies involves an escape from two sources of dissatisfaction: a non-market economy and an authoritarian regime. Since dissatisfaction with the past is the fixed and common reference point of post-Communist societies, indifference or confusion in societies...