THE ESSENCE OF POLITICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE IN THE COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN-EUROPE

Poland, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, every one of these Central European countries has undergone changes. These changes, at varying rates of development, have contributed to the remo val of the last vestiges of the second world war. A study of the rate of change is less rewarding than an examination of the nature and exte nt of the changes. Certain common denominators in the position of thes e countries may be noted : Abolition of the dominant, monopolistic rol e of the communist party, the collapse of the political regime in soci alist countries being an inevitable concomitant of this process. The r eorganization of governmental institutions, or by what process is a st ate administrative and hierarchical structure, having no answerability to society, transformed into a parliamentary democracy ? Elections : the Spring of 1990 was the period of free elections and the constituti on of parliamentary assemblies in the majority of Eastern European cou ntries. At the same time, one should distinguish between free election s and democratic elections. The appearance of juridical and ideologica l premises for the construction and reconstruction of civil society. P olitical and constitutional changes are vulnerable and easily reversed if not underpinned by reform of the economic system.