Totalitarianism, civilian society and transitions

Abstract

This article discusses political transitions in eastern Europe, like citizens' revolutions with their combinations of rapid colapse. Civilian mobilization and the dissolution of the empire from the centre. The modernization of these societies was not enough to explain the transitions which, ir order for us to understand them, have to be considered from the point of view of the reactions of civilian society to totalitarianism. The communist regime was characterized by a process of «legitimization from above» which left no place for civilian society. Now it was civilian society that turned out to be the main figure and the main source of surprise in the transition in eastern Europe, where intellectual dissidence played a special role. In the transitions which took place in the east, what was in question was the completeness and the viability of civilian society both on a short - and long-term basis. The main problem in consolidating civilian society in a number of different interests is the absence of a competitive market. There can be no democracy without a market but civilian society can function without one. The art of association, cultivated by dissidence, can be particularly useful to this end.