Between Past and Future: Elites, Democracy and the State in Post-Communist Countries

Anton Steen

Contents. Tables. Figures. Preface. 1. From totalitarianism to democracy: The role of the elites. 2. Data and Methods. Part One: Continuity and change. 3. Recirculation or renewal of elites? 4. The social biography of the new elites. 5. Elite personality and the democratic mind. 6. The problem of the past: Punish or forget? Part Two: Elite networks. 7. Contacts between institutions. 8. Core elite persons. 9. Kinship relations. Conclusions to Part Two. 10. The elites and the political parties. Part Three: Elite and mass cleavages. 11. Trust between elites. 12. Opening the ‘steam boiler’: Social and ethnic cleavages. Conclusions to Part Three: Social cleavages and elite integration. Part Four: The elites and the people: The problem of legitimacy. 13. Political support. 14. The problem of representation. Conclusions to Part Four. Part Five: Values and policy priorities. 15. Basic Values: Equality and state interference. 16. Ideological polarization or unification? 17. Policy priorities and policy instruments. Conclusions to Part Five. 18. Policy outcomes: Is the state withering away. 19. The elite network state. Appendix Tables. References.