ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the difficulties of early post-socialism cannot be limited to the first year of the post-socialist era – 1990 – a more extensive chronology is required. In order to understand the first year of the post-socialist era, one has to return to the point at which Bulgaria and Romania exited from dictatorship. The intensity of the protests in Sofia and the strife within the General National Assembly came to a head at the end of the same month with an assault on the former Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) building. By the end of 1992, Romania and Bulgaria had already experienced two free elections and both states were ruled based on newly promulgated constitutions. The two systems had most of the trappings of electoral democracy. In 1989, and throughout 1990, expectations within society were geared towards democratic transformation.
