ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the significance of the consensus that led to the peaceful revolutions of East-Central Europe, the importance of human agency in the process of transformation, and the relevance of ways of life formed under the rejected system. It details the conceptual frameworks that are competing for the front seat in the process of transformation: "organic" versus "at one stroke." The chapter shows how the competing frameworks apply to the competing models of privatization, that is, "spontaneous" versus regulated, and discusses the problems and social tensions that arise under each model. It extends the conceptual frameworks to competing models of property rights, and rights of access to privatization, that is, employment-based versus citizenship-based rights, and suggests that support for each model depends on the strength of the group that is the primary beneficiary of those rights. The success of the democratic transformation, then, is closely linked with the success of economic reform and the construction of an efficient economy.
