POLSC 135 1st Edition Lecture 24Outline of Last Lecture: Democratic TransitionsOutline of Current Lecture: Democratic Transitions (cont.)Current Lecture:I. Transitions to Democracy- Russia- Michael Gorbachev’s liberalization policies to respond to economic crisis – March 1985: - Perestroika or economic restructuring - Glasnost or political openness - Consequences of Gorbachev’s policies: To encourage eastern European countries to do the same. - East Germany refused to follow under Communist hardliners - The polish government dominated by softliners Communists convened a conference known as the Roundtable Talks in August 1988, with the main opposition group, Solidarity, to help reach a compromise on how to deal with economic and political problems. - These talks resulted in the legalization of an independent Solidarity and nationwide elections in 1989 that produced the first non-Communist prime minister in Eastern Europe in 40 years. - The changes in Poland encouraged liberalizers elsewhere in Europe, such as Czechoslovakia Velvet Revolution in 1989- Hungary also organized the triangular table talks started to make cautious moves to ease censorship and legalize an independent trade union in 1989. - East Germany: changing situation in 1989: - Hungary opened its borders with Austria - This broke the Iron Curtain for the first time. - Some 13,000 East Germans fled to West Germany- Protests in the streets of Berlin and Leipzip in October 1989These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. It is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- November 1989: the communist government all restrictions on travel to WestGermany - Thus, protests from below forced the East government to open up the Berlin Wall and allow free elections. II. Bottom-Up Transitions - Crowds and protests have been important in other transitions to democracy. III. Collective Action Theory- Collective action theory focuses on forms of mass action or “collective action” such as the protests in East Germany - Typically, collective action concerns the pursuit of “public goods” by groups of individuals - A public good has two characteristics: - Non-excludable: If the good is provided, everyone gets to enjoy it. Nobody can be excluded from it. - Non-rivalrous: If someone consumes the good, there is still just as much for everyone else to consume IV. Collective Action Problem- Free Rider problem: the difficulty that groups have in providing public goods that all members of the group desire - The decision to not participate in political action is very appealing: - If pro-democracy rally fails, you will not have paid any costs or run the risk of incurring the dictatorship’s wrath - If the pro-democracy rally succeeds, you can “free-ride” on the participation of others. - The collective action problem refers to the fact that individual members of a group often have little incentive to contribute to the provision of a public good that will benefit all members of the group. End