In societies divided on ethnic and religious lines, problems of democracy are magnified particularly where groups are mobilized into parties. With the principle of majority rule, minorities should be less willing to endorse democratic institutions where their parties persistently lose elections. While such problems should also hamper transitions to democracy, several diverse Eastern European states have formed democracies even under these conditions. In this book, Sherrill Stroschein argues that sustained protest and contention by ethnic Hungarians in Romania and Slovakia brought concessions...
In societies divided on ethnic and religious lines, problems of democracy are magnified particularly where groups are mobilized into parties. With the...