Lech Wa⌈ȩsa: Democrat or dictator?

Brief Reviews a new chapter in the history of liberalism. The rediscovery of civil society in Eastern Europe provided a new premise for the search to reconstitute traditional political choices in democratic polities as well. The debate on civic values and the emphasis on individual rights, as developed in Eastern Europe, has become part of the Western search for new forms of activism and grassroots initiatives. On the other hand, the current outbursts of nationalist intolerance make it unclear whether the great emancipator-y promise of 1989 was more than a liberal dream. Ackerman’s best chapter deals with the fallacies of “corrective justice” in postcommunist societies. He insists that the issue is to constitutionalize the revolutions rather than legislating patterns of vindictive behavior. For instance, he dismisses the need to preserve the secret police archives, saying that their poisonous potential means they should be destroyed. Hope Dies Last: The Autobiogmphy of Alexander DubCek. By Alexander DuMek. New York: Kodansha International, 1993. 354 pp. $27.50. Who was the man who unleashed in January 1968, to the surprise of the whole world, a reformist movement in Czechoslovakia, the one that prefigured, in many respects, Gorbachev’s perestroika? The life and career of Alexander DulZek, vividly remembered in this book, stand witness that communism was a much more complicated affair than is often argued. The personality who emerges is a decent, open-minded, modest individual placed by history into a tragic quandary: when he signed the infamous agreements in Moscow and accepted the Soviet military presence on Czechoslovak territory, DuMek’s political life was finished, His resurrection after November 1989 and election as chairman of the Czechoslovak Parliament was a pathetic afterlife. In this respect, Dutiek was a man who lived too long, his moment was 1968, and not even the Velvet Revolution could facilitate his rebirth. Dul3ek’s autobiography also offers invaluable insights into the secret proceedings of the communist elites, their factious struggles, and his slow but radical conversion from Bolshevism to a moderate version of socialist commitment akin to Western social democracy. The conflict between the Soviet and the Czechoslovak leaders was one of world views. DubZek and many of his colleagues realized that the Soviet model of barracks socialism was doomed to failure. His memoir relates his agonizing attempt to reconcile socialism and democracy under the most unpropitious circumstances. Lech Wa@saz Democrat or Dictator? By Jaroslaw Kurski. Boulder, Colo.: West-view Press, 1993. 170 pp. $39.95 ($14.95, paper). Kurskionce worked as Walgsa’s spokesman and is now a journalist with Gazeta Wprcza. He gives a colorful and often mordant portrayal of the man whose name was long synonymous with the independent union Solidarity. Kurski provides exciting details about Walesa’s egocentrism, his insatiable lust for glory, and his maneuvering skills. No less significant, Lech Walpa reveals the behind-the-scenes conflicts that led to the break between Walesa and his 144 I Orbis

Brief Reviews former intellectual advisors in 1990, the fmt year of noncommunist government in Poland. Wa&z+astands revealed as an astute, proverbially unpredictable, extremely versatile, and often chameleonic politician, whose main loyalty is not to friends or allies, but to his own legend and power. Kurski argues that the Polish president’s game-studied ambiguity-can be summed up in one sentence: “I am for and even against.” All true, to be sure, but what about Walgsa’s formidable power to restore his image in spite of palpable defeats and his outstanding political instinct? This side of Walesa gets too little attention. Written with verve, and punctuated by countless anecdotes, Kurski’s book was understandably a best seller in Poland. For Western readers, it gives evidence to assess the man who became a prince without having read Machiavelli. Post-Communist Politks: Democratic Pmspects in Russia and Fiastem Europe. By Michael McFaul. Washington, DC.: The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1993. 132 .pp. $14.95. What are the prospects for stable democracy in Russia? McFaul offers a focused and cogent analysis of this key question in Russia and what can be learned about its “democratic prospects” by comparing it to Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. He argues persuasively for three main factors shaping the transitions: (1) “the nature of the ancien regime” (how economically and socially liberal was it.7did it have a nascent civil society?); (2) “the mode of transition” (was the transition revolutionary or evolutionary? how polarized was it? how fast did it occur?); and (3) the nature, timing, and sequence of elections, as well as the degree of political party formation and involvement. Not surprisingly, Russia emerges from this analysis facing some very daunting challenges. McFaul’s insightful discussion of the electoral politics of transitions strongly suggests that Russia hold free and open elections as soon as possible. Delay only encourages polarization and stunts political party development, thus increasing the potential for instability. It is in his discussion of the third group of factors that McFaul most significantly contributes to current scholarship and debate. Unfortunately, the author includes only East-Central European countries in his research. The inclusion of countries that are more similar to Russia (in terms of McFaul’s factors) and thus facing similar obstacles to democracy building, would have made his comparisons more useful, Stacy VanDeveer

THE MIDDLE EAST by Daniel Pipes The Arab Minority in Israel, 1967-1991: Political Aspects. By Jacob M. Landau. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.237 pp. $35.00. Landau published i%e Arabs in had: A Political Study in 1969;as the similar but distinct title of the 1993 book suggests, he has now written an entirely new but closely related report. Once again, Landau’s judicious tone Winter 1994 I 145