The Politics of Leadership

Abstract

In the 1990s, the postcommunist states of Eastern Europe have faced the conflicting imperatives of, on the one hand, creating a checks-andbalances system that would limit executive power (which had become immense under ommunism), and, on the other, ensuring sufficiently strong leadership to govern politically or ethnically divided societies, disaffected social groups reeling from shock therapy, and fragmented party systems. This dilemma can be conceptualised in terms of the perpetual tension between the imperatives of democracy and efficiency.