COPING WITH THE RED-BROWN SPIRIT IN THE POSTCOMMUNIST COUNTRIES

History did not end with the fall of European communism. The alternati ve to old-fashioned Leninism is not only liberal democracy but also a new authoritarianism and state control. Instead of a new world order, the world has entered a period of great disorder, as unpredictable ''r ed-brown'' figures emerged-ex-communists with Nazi characteristics suc h as Vladimir Zhirinovsky in Russia and Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia. The widespread disillusionment over economic reform has been exploited by the ex-communists, who have returned to share power with democrats in most of Central Europe. So far only the Czech Republic has managed to avoid the leftist or populist backlash so pervasive in that region . There are powerful forces conditioning the new instability: civiliza tion, cultural and historical background, the legacy of a communist pa st, economic crisis and hardship, serious ethnic cleavages and conflic ts, and Russia's unclear intentions. Few of the postcommunist countrie s have made a genuine attempt to contend with their totalitarian past, as did Germany after World War II, and few have adopted an authentic market solution like other countries emerging from authoritarian rule, Taiwan and Chile. The West must help the struggling democracies go be yond a one-dimensional emphasis on the economy to focus on spiritual d ecommunization and lasting security, if necessary with coercive diplom acy (Bosnia) and with the calibrated enlargement of NATO-to cope with the poisonous red-brown spirit.