Regime Policy Before 1988

I devote Part II to the similarities of the Eastern European countries. There I emphasize the general structural conditions for the collapse. None of these factors, however, can account for the differences in the process of collapse. I argue despite these structural conditions, the East European regimes still might have been able to remain in power if they had acted differently. Part III explains the differences in the process of collapse. In the present chapter, I concentrate on regime policy before 1988. Chapter 7 considers the debates about the civil society during this period. I also look at the general atmosphere in the East European societies. In chapter 8 I analyze in more detail the development of social movements and revolts under the Soviet-type system. I divide the regime and society into different chapters, because to a large extent there are different theoretical discourses around these two topics. So in these chapters I develop the partial model, which I use in chapters 9 and 10 to explain the actual handing-over of power to the opposition in the four countries. Since the relations between the Party-state and society are important, I combine these two aspects in the final two chapters. I divide these two chapters according to theme. In chapter 9 I examine Poland and Hungary, where institutional compromises took place. I have decided to save the revolutionary countries (East Germany and Czechoslovakia) for the grand finale in chapter 10. Finally, in chapter 11 I give a summary of the entire model that I develop throughout this study.