Mechanics of change: Social movements, transnational coalitions, and the transformation processes in Eastern Europe

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Abstract
This comparative analysis of the democratization processes in Eastern Europe assesses the role that independent social movements played in the transitions from authoritarian rule. It emphasizes factors which have not received their due weight in other work on East European regime change. Focusing on Hungary, East Germany, and Romania as three distinct types of transformation, the article establishes a comparative framework in which the two independent variables are the role of social movements active within the different states, and the role of the coalitions which they formed across state boundaries, and across the East‐West divide, in the years leading up to 1989. It argues that the capacity of social movements to form successful transnational coalitions was a determining factor in the outcomes of the 1989 revolutions. Since this factor relates to the completeness and degree of violence of the regime transitions, the role of these non‐state actors cannot be epiphenomenal, and has to be considered alongside economic, leadership, and military factors. The argument does not deny that causal explanations are problematic, but contends that the interaction between domestic and interstate explanations is one which needs to be addressed by theorists of international relations as well as by comparativists.

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