ABSTRACT
The beginning of the 1990s enters history as the end of communism, but also as a period of an intense ethnic and national reawakening, often with dramatic consequences. The bankruptcy of state socialism seems to have given an almost undisputed credibility to liberal-democracy, to the point of its most famous adherent Francis Fukuyama's claim of 'the end of history'. As a consequence of a last point, there is a burgeoning literature which argues about the relevance of comparison between post-communist transitions and other transitions to democracy, mainly in Southern Europe and Latin America. Post-communist transition is a particular type of democratisation, more than 'a transitional stage', rather a condition 'showing its own dynamic'. This chapter argues that democratisation itself contributed to this salience of identity-based politics, which at the same time can pose significant obstacles to further democratization.
