THE COMPARATIVE REVOLUTION AND THE TRANSITION IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERNEUROPE

The Latin American, South European and, later, the Central and East Eu ropean democratic transitions have led to a 'revolution' in comparativ e politics. Instead of the polar notions of democracy and dictatorship , different types of 'transitions' have emerged and democracy has appe ared also as a function of the world-system. The paper suggests that t here are four scenarios for Central and East European democratic trans itions in their international context: (1) Sleeping Beauty (easy weste rnization); (2) Deepfreeze (return to the past); (3) Latin Americaniza tion (falling back to the Third World); and (4) Fair Weather (Central Europe joins the European integration).