Peter C. Ordeshook is professor of political science at the California Institute of Technology and has published widely in the areas of political theory, international relations, and Russian politics.
This region’s five republics have just lived through a remarkable first decade of independence that raises questions about “preconditions”-based theories of democratization.
The history of twentieth-century European communist parties shows that extremists can be moderated by robust democratic institutions. Without them, however, the inclusion of extremist parties may undermine democracy.
