POLSC 135 1st Edition Lecture 24 Outline of Last Lecture Democratic Transitions Outline 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 1989 These 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 II III November 1989 the communist government all restrictions on travel to West Germany Thus protests from below forced the East government to open up the Berlin Wall and allow free elections Bottom Up Transitions Crowds and protests have been important in other transitions to democracy 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 IV can be excluded from it Non rivalrous If someone consumes the good there is still just as much for everyone else to consume 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 Lecture