Abstract
While most scholars would agree with the present focus on processes of
democratization in the post-communist world, they do not necessarily
agree that democratic consolidation should be the reigning paradigm in
the discipline. Criticism is largely directed at the utility of approaches
and theories employed by some students of democratic consolidation.
Among the concerns most often expressed are that the complexity of
the transition process in post-communist systems requires that they be
treated as a separate class of states.1 In essence, the post-communist
transitions are so unique that they defy comparison with democratiza
tion projects in other regions of the globe.2