POLITICAL ELITES AND REGIME CHANGE IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE- THEORETICAL APPROACHES

WITHIN A REGIME CHANGE, AMONG THE ELEMENTS TO BE ANALYZED FOR ACKNOWLEDGING HOW IT IS CONDUCTED THE ROAD FROM COMMUNISM TO DEMOCRACY, A PARTICULAR ATTENTION IS TO BE GIVEN TO THE POLITICAL ELITES, TOGETHER WITH THE INSTITUTIONAL AND IDEOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS. FOR THE ELITE PLAYING IN THIS SITUATION THE ROLE OF DEMOCRATIZATION AGENT, TRANSFORMATION CAN TAKE SEVERAL MEANINGS: REPLACEMENT OF THE FORMER ELITE WITH A NEW ONE, PRESERVATION OF SOME MEMBERS IN KEY POSITIONS AS WELL AS ADAPTATION TO THE NEW CONTEXT AND CONTINUITY. THIS STUDY IS TRYING TO DECRYPT WHAT ARE THE POLITICAL ELITES AND TO WHAT EXTENT POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEARCHERS CAN INTRODUCE THE CONCEPT OF (POST)COMMUNIST ELITE FOLLOWING THE EVENTS FROM 1989 – 1990 IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE. A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE CONCERNING THE REPRODUCTION AND CIRCULATION OF ELITES, WITH AN EMPHASIS OVER THE ROMANIAN CASE WILL BE ENVISAGED.

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