Choices of political institutions have been subject to increasing examination in recent years. The literature on these choices generally argues that they are driven primarily by politicians’ power interests, with impartial values playing at most a subservient role. Yet there are circumstances in which that may not be the case, in which values do come more to the fore. This article examines two propositions: that a principal legacy of significant democratic dissident activity is that it enhances the direct role of impartial values in initial choices of political institutions; and that the values involved have a specifically dissident hue. It begins by exploring theoretically the reasons for expecting these patterns. It then examines the propositions empirically through analysis of institutional choice in East-Central Europe in 1989 and 1990. The third section expands the analysis, first by using Linz and Stepan’s typology of nondemocratic regimes to consider the circumstances under which the posited mechanisms may operate, and then by tentatively exploring evidence from a broad range of cases. The article concludes that the circumstances in which dissident values matter significantly in institutional choices are rare but nevertheless generalizable. The analysis therefore provides a valuable addition to our understanding of institutional choice processes as well as of dissident legacies.
Kenneth Benoit , "Models of Electoral System Change,"Electoral Studies23:3(2004): 363-89, at 373-74.
2.
Carles Boix , "Setting the Rules of the Game: The Choice of Electoral Systems in Advanced Democracies,"American Political Science Review93:3(1999): 609-24; Josep M.Colomer, "It’s Parties That Choose Electoral Systems (or, Duverger’s Laws Upside Down,"Political Studies53:1( 2005): 1-21.
3.
Ran Hirschl , "The Political Origins of Judicial Empowerment through Constitutionalization: Lessons from Four Constitutional Revolutions ," Law and Social Inquiry25:1(2000): 91-149, at 138.
4.
Alan Renwick, The Politics of Electoral Reform: Changing the Rules of Democracy ( Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
5.
Timothy Frye , "A Politics of Institutional Choice: Post-communist Presidencies," Comparative Political Studies30:5(1997): 523-52, at 532.
6.
Barbara Geddes, "Initiation of New Democratic Institutions in Eastern Europe and Latin America," in Arend Lijphart and Carlos H. Waisman, eds., Institutional Design in New Democracies: Eastern Europe and Latin America (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996), 15-41, at 18. See also, e.g., Gerald M. Easter, "Preference for Presidentialism: Postcommunist Regime Change in Russia and the NIS," World Politics 49:2(1997): 184-211, at 210; Kenneth Benoit and John W. Schiemann, "Institutional Choice in New Democracies: Bargaining over Hungary’s 1989 Electoral Law," Journal of Theoretical Politics 13:2(2001): 153-82, at 158; Josep M. Colomer, Strategic Transitions: Game Theory and Democratization (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), 2; and Matthew Soberg Shugart, "The Inverse Relationship between Party Strength and Executive Strength: A Theory of Politicians’ Constitutional Choices," British Journal of Political Science 28:1(1998): 1-29, at 11-12 and 19.
7.
Jon Elster, Claus Offe, and Ulrich K. Preuss , Institutional Design in Post-communist Societies: Rebuilding the Ship at Sea (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 79.
8.
Sarah Birch, Frances Millard, Marina Popescu, and Kieran Williams , Embodying Democracy: Electoral System Design in Post-communist Europe (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 18.
9.
George Tsebelis, Nested Games: Rational Choice in Comparative Politics ( Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), 104.
10.
Hassen Ebrahim, The Soul of a Nation: Constitution-Making in South Africa ( Cape Town, South Africa: Oxford University Press, 1998), 84-86; and Amanda Gouws and Paul Mitchell, "South Africa: One-Party Dominance Despite Perfect Proportionality," in Michael Gallagher and Paul Mitchell, eds., The Politics of Electoral Systems ( Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2005), 353-73, at 358.
11.
Margaret Levi , "A Model, a Method, and a Map: Rational Choice in Comparative and Historical Analysis," in Mark Irving Lichbach and Alan S. Zuckerman , eds., Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 19-41, at 24.
12.
András Bozóki and Miklós Sükösd, " Civil Society and Populism in the Eastern European Democratic Transitions ," Praxis International13:3(1993): 224-41, at 227.
13.
Ibid., 228. Cf. Alan Renwick, "Anti-political or Just Anti-communist? Varieties of Dissidence in East-Central Europe and Their Implications for the Development of Political Society," East European Politics and Societies 20:2(2006): 286-318.
14.
Geddes, "Initiation of New Democratic Institutions,"18.
15.
See especially Paul Blokker’s contribution to this special issue for discussion of the enduring legacies of dissidence upon conceptions of democracy in East-Central Europe: "Dissidence, Republicanism, and Democratic Change," East European Politics and Societies 25: 219-43.
16.
Alan Renwick , "Modelling Multiple Goals: Electoral System Preferences in Hungary in 1989,"Europe-Asia Studies57:7(2005): 995 -1019.
17.
Magyar Közvéleménykutató Intézet, "A közvélemény 1989-ben," in Sándor Kurtán , Péter Sándor, and László Vass, eds., Magyarország politikai évkönyve 1990 ( Budapest, Hungary: Aula-OMIKK, 1990 ), 433-64, at 463-4.
18.
Benoit and Schiemann, "Institutional Choice in New Democracies,"176.
19.
Péter Tölgyessy, "Közjogi reformunk,"Világosság30:7(1989): 516-25.
20.
Transcript of the EKA meeting, 10 July 1989, in András Bozóki, Márta Elbert, Melinda Kalmár, Béla Révész, Erzsébet Ripp, and Zoltán Ripp, eds., A rendszerváltás forgatókönyve: Kerekasztaltárgyalások 1989-ben (8 volumes; vol. 1-4: Budapest, Hungary: Magvető, 1999; vol. 5-8: Budapest, Hungary: Új Mandátum, 2000), vol. 2, 359.
21.
"Hogyan keressünk kiutat a válságból?: A Beszélő javaslatai," in Fanny Havas, ed., Beszélő: Összkiadás, 1981-1989 (Budapest, Hungary: AB-Beszélő , 1992), vol. 1, 233-38, at 236; originally published in Beszélő no. 5-6 (1982).
22.
"Társadalmi szerződés: A politikai kibontakozás feltételei," in ibid., vol. 2, 749-91, at 758, 761; originally published as Beszélő no. 20 (1987).
23.
Transcript of the EKA meeting, 10 July 1989, in Bozóki et al., A rendszerváltás forgatókönyve, vol. 2, 377-78.
24.
Transcript of the EKA meeting, 29 Aug. 1989, in ibid., vol. 3, 571.
25.
Transcript of the EKA meeting, 6 July 1989, in ibid., vol. 2, 292-3.
26.
Cf. János Áder, "Kinek az érdeke? A magyar választási rendszer jellemzése," in Sándor Kurtán, Péter Sándor, and László Vass, eds., Magyarország politikai évkönyve 1991 (Budapest, Hungary: Ökonómia Alapítvány, 1991), 68-74, at 68.
27.
Transcript of the EKA meeting, 10 July 1989, in Bozóki et al., A rendszerváltás forgatókönyve, vol. 2, 365; transcript of the EKA meeting, 25 July 1989, in ibid., vol. 2, 536, 540.
28.
Transcript of the EKA meeting, 6 July 1989, in ibid., vol. 2, 294; transcript of the EKA meeting, 27 July 1989, ibid., vol. 2, 588; transcript of the EKA meeting, 17 Aug. 1989, in ibid., vol. 3, 223-4.
29.
"Az MDF Alapítólevele," reprinted in Sándor Kurtán, Péter Sándor, and László Vass, eds., Magyarország politikai évkönyve 1988 (Budapest, Hungary: R-Forma , 1989), 742-44, at 742.
30.
Vladimír Hanzel, Zrychlený tep dějin: Reálné drama o deseti jednáních: Autentické záznamy jednání představitelů státní moci s delegacemi hnutí Občanské fórum a Verejnosť proti násiliu v listopadu a prosinci 1989 (Prague: OK Centrum, 1991).
31.
Lidové noviny, 17 Apr. 1990: 8; 30 June 1990: 4.
32.
František Šamalík, "Čtvrtá moc," Lidové noviny, 28 Feb. 1990: 6; Zdeněk Jičínský, "K základním problemům nové čs. ústavy," Lidové noviny, 14 June 1990: 10; and Rudolf Zukal, "O vládnutí," Lidové noviny, 9 July 1990: 8.
33.
Jon Elster , "Transition, Constitution-Making and Separation in Czechoslovakia," Archives Européenes de Sociologie36:1( 1995): 105-34, at 113.
34.
Vladimir V. Kusin, "Vaclav Havel’s First Term," RFE Report on Eastern Europe 1:29 (1990): 11-13, at 12; Jiri Pehe, "The Civic Forum before the Election Campaign Begins," RFE Report on Eastern Europe 1:14(1990), 5-9; and Birch et al., Embodying Democracy, 69.
35.
Minutes of the Diet of Civic Forum’s Coordinating Center , 17 Feb. 1990, mimeo, 6-7.
36.
Minutes of the Diet of Civic Forum’s Coordinating Center , 3 Feb. 1990, mimeo, 19.
37.
Minutes of the Civic Forum Diet, 6 Jan. 1990, mimeo, 7.
38.
Petr Kopecký , "The Czech Republic: From the Burden of the Old Federal Constitution to the Constitutional Horse Trading among Political Parties," in Jan Zielonka, ed., Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe, vol. 1, Institutional Engineering Jan Zielonka ( Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2001), 319-46, at 324.
39.
Václav Havel, "New Year’s Address [1990]," in Havel, Open Letters: Selected Writings 1965-1990, ed. Paul Wilson (New York, NY: Vintage , 1992), 390-96, at 395-96.
40.
Zdeněk Jičínský, Československý parlament v polistopadovém vývoji (Praha : NADAS-AFGH, 1993), 99.
41.
Aviezer Tucker , "Vaclav Havel’s Heideggerianism,"Telos85 (1990): 63-78, at 76.
42.
Lidová demokracie, 14 Feb. 1990: 3.
43.
Minutes of the Civic Forum Diet, 6 Jan. 1990, mimeo, 8.
44.
Adam Michnik , Takie czasy . . . Rzecz o kompromisie ( London: Aneks, 1985), 139.
45.
"The Difficult Art of Compromise: Public Discussion in a Warsaw Church,"Uncensored Poland News Bulletin21 (1986): 31; first published in Tygodnik Mazowsze184 (15 Oct. 1986).
46.
Interview with Lech Walęsa, Konfrontacje 9 (1988): 7. See also Anne Applebaum, "Poles Apart round the Table," The Spectator, 11 Feb. 1989: 13-14; John T. Ishiyama, "Transitional Electoral Systems in Post-communist Eastern Europe," Political Science Quarterly 112:1(1997): 95-115, at 109-10; and Piotr Stasiński, "Hard Bargains at the Round Table," Uncaptive Minds 2:2(1989): 1-4, at 2.
47.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Working Group on Political Reforms, 18 Feb. 1989, in Krzysztof Dubiński, ed., Okrągły Stół (Warszawa: Krajowa Agencja Promocyjna, 1999), 278; Minutes of the Working Meeting, Magdalenka, 7 Mar. 1989, in ibid., 372.
48.
Minutes of the Working Meeting, Magdalenka, 2 Mar. 1989, in ibid., 333-34; Roundtable Agreement, in ibid., 556.
49.
Minutes of the Working Meeting, Magdalenka, 2 Mar. 1989, in ibid., 334.
50.
Elzbieta Matynia , "Furnishing Democracy at the End of the Century: The Polish Round Table and Others," East European Politics and Societies15:2 (2001): 454-71, at 466.
51.
"Information from General Czesław Kiszczak for the Politburo Meeting, 14 March 1989," in Dubiński, Okrągły Stół, 396; Minutes of the Working Meeting, Magdalenka, 29 Mar. 1989, in ibid., 418; Minutes of the Meeting of Roundtable Working Group Co-Chairs, URM Palace, 8 Mar. 1989, in ibid., 377.
52.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Working Group on Political Reforms, 18 Feb. 1989, in ibid., 278.
53.
The role of values in directly shaping institutional choices in Poland after 1989-especially in 1990 and 1991-deserves further attention but lies beyond the scope of this article.
54.
Juan J.Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-communist Europe ( Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), 55.
55.
Ibid., 38-54.
56.
Ibid., 57.
57.
E.g., Carl J. Friedrich, "The Evolving Theory and Practice of Totalitarian Regimes," in Carl J. Friedrich, Michael Curtis, and Benjamin R. Barber, Totalitarianism in Perspective: Three Views (London: Pall Mall Press, 1969), 123-64, at 126.
58.
Linz and Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation, 54.
59.
Ibid., 46.
60.
Ibid., 247.
61.
Ibid., 43-46.
62.
Ibid., 333-43.
63.
Ibid., 244.
64.
E.g., Barbara J. Falk, The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe: Citizen Intellectuals and Philosopher Kings (Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press, 2003); Aviezer Tucker, The Philosophy and Politics of Czech Dissidence from Patočka to Havel (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000). See Barbara J. Falk in this issue, "Resistance and Dissent in Central and Eastern Europe: An Emerging Historiography," East European Politics and Societies 25: 318-60.
65.
Richard Gunther , Giacomo Sani, and Goldie Shabad, Spain after Franco: The Making of a Competitive Party System (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), 43-44.
66.
Javier Martínez-Lara , Building Democracy in Brazil: The Politics of Constitutional Change, 1985-95 (Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan, 1996), 145.
67.
Charles Guy Gillespie, Negotiating Democracy: Politicians and Generals in Uruguay (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 184.
68.
Joseph Wong , "Dynamic Democratization in Taiwan,"Journal of Contemporary China10 ( 2001): 339-62, at 357, emphasis removed.
69.
Shaheen Mozaffar , "Electoral Systems and Conflict Management in Africa: A Twenty-Eight-State Comparison," in Timothy D. Sisk and Andrew Reynolds, eds., Elections and Conflict Management in Africa ( Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press , 1998), 81-98, at 84.
70.
Leo Kohn , The Constitution of the Irish Free State ( London: George Allen & Unwin, 1932), 81.
71.
Andrew McLaren Carstairs, A Short History of Electoral Systems in Western Europe (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1980), 203.
72.
Cornelius O.’Leary, IrishElections 1918-77: Parties, Voters and Proportional Representation ( Dublin, Ireland: Gill and Macmillan, 1979), 14.
73.
Carstairs, A Short History of Electoral Systems in Western Europe, 9.
74.
André Blais, Agnieszka Dobrzynska, and Indridi H. Indridason, "To Adopt or Not to Adopt Proportional Representation: The Politics of Institutional Choice,"British Journal of Political Science35:1(2005): 182-90, at 183.
75.
Dankwart A. Rustow, "Some Observations on Proportional Representation,"Journal of Politics12:1(1950): 107-27, at 121.
76.
Ibid.
77.
Ferdinand A. Hermens, Democracy or Anarchy: A Study of Proportional Representation ( Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1941).
78.
Robert G.Neumann, "The Struggle for Electoral Reform in France," American Political Science Review45:3(1951): 741-55, at 741.
79.
Philip M. Williams, Crisis and Compromise: Politics in the Fourth Republic ( London: Longman, 1964), 308.
80.
Michel Debré, La Mort de l’état républicain (Paris : Gallimard, 1947), 193-98.
81.
Charles de Gaulle, War Memoirs, vol. 3, Salvation, 1944-1946 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1959), 261; and Jean-Louis Debré, Les Idées Constitutionnelles du Général de Gaulle (Paris: Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence, 1974), 70.
82.
Daniel Bell, The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties ( Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1960), 402.
83.
Otto Kirchheimer, "The Transformation of the West European Party Systems," in Joseph LaPalombara and Myron Weiner, eds., Political Parties and Political Development (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1966), 177-200, at 190.
