Europeanization and Democratization - CIRES

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power straight away – there were not even initial democratic openings after the
breakdown of communism. The new elites then opted for an absolutist patrimonial
state: the nadir of options from both a democratic and a fiscal point of view.
Situated in between, Russia, the Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, respectively,
have experienced a mix of these two extremes. A significant mobilization occurred
in many of the countries in 1989-1991 but then it ebbed away. With the exception
of Moldova, one societal fraction was able to get a solid grip on the reins of power
after the initial mobilization. Often, this group undermined the liberal component
of liberal democracy even though they did not abandon it altogether. The
consequence has been an insidious state of limbo which, in turn, explains the
stipulated character of the emerging tax state.
VII. Conclusions
Having completed this theoretical and empirical journey through space and time,
what may we conclude The point of departure of this paper was the empirical gap
separating electoral and liberal democracy in the post-Soviet setting. I then went on
to trace the historical record of the liberal component of democracy to the Western
European past. This exercise led me to the proposition – derived from fiscal
sociology – that the liberal state is a consequence of a quid-pro-quo between the
rulers and the ruled; an exchange of rights for revenue. Interestingly, this ‘grand
bargain’ only really locked in where the fiscal incentives went hand-in-hand with
significant societal constraints.
But are these historical mechanisms likely to work in the world of today, one
might ask Seemingly so, is my answer. In the post-Soviet realm, there is a positive
empirical relationship between the sustainability of liberal democracy and the
effectiveness of taxation – and it becomes very strong when removing the
command-economy of Belarus from the picture. Furthermore, the political elites in
the fifteen countries faced very dissimilar constraints during and after the upheaval