Democratic Breakthroughs and Revolutions in Five Post-Communist ...

3divided into four themes, the new regimes ability to deal with the legacies of the past,divisions in the democratic opposition, return of the ancien regime and progress indemocratization.Democratic Breakthroughs and RevolutionsTen factors have been important to the success of democratic breakthroughsand revolutions in post-communist states. These include a competitive (i.e. semi)authoritarian state facilitating space for the democratic opposition, ‘return to Europe’civic nationalism that assists in civil society’s mobilization, a preceding politicalcrisis that weakened the regime’s legitimacy, a pro-democratic capitol city, unpopularruling elites, a charismatic candidate, a united opposition, mobilized youth,regionalism and foreign intervention (Russia or the EU). The latter two can be bothhindrances and supportive factors, depending on the country in question and theforeign actor. This discussion of ten factors builds on McFaul who listed seven factorsthat include a semi-authoritarian regime, an unpopular leader and regime, a unitedopposition, a perception of a falsified election, some degree of independent media,ability of the opposition to mobilize and divisions in the security forces. 2Competitive-Authoritarian RegimeThe replacement of authoritarian regimes in Slovakia (1998) and Croatia(1999-2000), and democratic revolutions in Serbia (2000), Georgia (2003), andUkraine (2004) occurred in five countries that can be classified as ‘competitiveauthoritarian’ in which hybrid regimes combined elements of both authoritarianismand democracy. 3 Slovakia and Croatia exhibited some similarities to Serbia, Georgiaand Ukraine in which civil society mobilised to get out the vote and reduce election