Post-Communist and Post-Soviet Parliaments: The Initial Decade(Library of Legislative Studies)

The sudden collapse of communism stimulated both the rapid emergence of fledgling democracies and scholarly attention to the post-communist transition. These newly democratized parliaments have been described as "parliaments in adolescence". This book identifies six parliaments which exemplify the wide range of developments in the new post-communist political systems, from the stable consolidated democracies to the less stable and more authoritarian states, within which their respective parliaments function. Finally the post-communist parliaments are compared with the presumptively more established west European parliaments. This book bridges the usual gap in research between the post-communist parliaments and more "normal" democratic parliaments to develop a common legislative research perspective on both new and established parliaments. This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Legislative Studies.

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION Post-Communist and Post-Soviet Legislatures: Beyond Transition Philip Norton and David M. Olson THE PARLIAMENTS: DEMOCRATIC POST-COMMUNIST PARLIAMENTS 1. The Parliament of the Czech Republic, 1993-2004 Lukas Linek and Zdenka Mansfeldova 2. From Minimal to Subordinate: A Final Verdict? The Hungarian Parliament, 1990–2002 Gabriella Ilonszki 3. Five Terms of the Polish Parliament, 1989–2005 Ewa Nalewajko and Wlodzimierz Wesolowski 4. Slovenia’s National Assembly, 1992–2004 Drago Zajc THE PARLIAMENTS: AUTHORITARIAN POST-SOVIET PARLIAMENTS 5. Development of the Moldovan Parliament One Decade After Independence: Slow Going William E. Crowther 6. The Russian Federal Assembly, 1994–2004 Thomas F. Remington POST-COMMUNIST AND POST-SOVIET PARLIAMENTS COMPARED 7. MPs in Post-Communist and Post-Soviet Nations: A Parliamentary Elite in the Making Gabriella Ilonszki and Michael Edinger 8. Post-Communist and Post-Soviet Parliaments: Divergent Paths from Transition David M. Olson and Philip Norton

About the Author :
Philip Norton [Lord Norton of Louth]: Professor of Government and Director of the Centre for Legislative Studies, University of Hull. David M. Olson: Professor Emeritus of Political Science, and Co-Director, Center for Legislative Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Co-Chair of Research Committee of Legislative Specialists, International Political Science Association