Valerie Bunce

Aaron Binkenkorb Professor of International Studies, Professor of Government, and Chair of the Government Department, Cornell University

"The Diffusion of Democratizing Elections in Postcommunist Europe and Eurasia, 1996-2005"

Thursday, April 24, 2008
4:15 pm - C103 Hesburgh Center

Abstract

From 1996–2005, eight countries in the postcommunist region served as sites for elections that led to the defeat of dictators and the victory of the liberal opposition.  The wave of electoral change reflected three influences:  powerful and positive precedents in the neighborhood, similarities between "exporting" and "adopting" countries, and the spread of transnational networks supporting electoral change.  Central to this dynamic, however, was the electoral model of democratization—a model that was invented elsewhere, but that was highly amenable to implementation in the postcommunist region.

Biography

Valerie Bunce, professor of government at Cornell University, holds the Aaron Binenkorb Chair of International Studies.  She is the author of two books: Do New Leaders Make a Difference (Princeton University Press, 1981) and Subversive Institutions: The Design and the Destruction of Socialism and the State (Cambridge University Press, 1999).  A third book, coauthored with Sharon Wolchik and entitled Two Cheers for American Democracy Promotion: Democratization and Electoral Change in Postcommunist Europe and Eurasia, is close to completion. Her articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, World Politics, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, and International Organization.  She has served as the vice-president of the American Political Science Association and the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.