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The Rapid Fall Of Communism In Europe In The 1980S

      The shocking fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe in
the late eighties was remarkable for both its rapidity and its scope.
The specifics of communism's demise varied among nations, but
similarities in both the causes and the effects of these revolutions
were quite similar.   As well, all of the nations involved shared the
common goals of implementing democratic systems of government and
moving to market economies. In each of these nations, the communist
regimes in power were forced to transfer that power to radically
different institutions than they were accustomed to.   Democracy had
been spreading throughout the world for the preceding two decades, but
with a very important difference.   While previous political
transitions had seen similar circumstances, the actual events in
question had generally occurred individually.   In Europe, on the other
hand, the shift from communism was taking place in a different context
altogether.   The peoples involved were not looking to affect a narrow
set of policy reforms; indeed, what was at stake was a hyper-radical
shift from the long-held communist ideology to a western blueprint
for governmental and economic policy development.   The problem
inherent in this type of monumental change is that, according to
Ulrich K. Preuss, "In almost all the East and Central European
countries, the collapse of authoritarian communist rule has released
national, ethnic, religious and cultural conflicts which cannot be
solved by purely economic policies" (47).   While tremendous changes
are evident in both the governmental and economic arenas in Europe,
these changes cannot be assumed to always be "mutually reinforcing"
(Preuss 47).   Generally it has been theorized that the most successful
manner of addressing these many difficulties is the drafting of a
constitution.   But what is clear is the unsatisfactory ability of a
constitution to remedy the problems of nationalism and...