Comparative Perspectives: South Africa, Poland, and China

Abstract

That the independence and power of the Hungarian constitutional court has been called a “happy surprise” of Hungary’s negotiated transition reflects the more general assessment that pact-making in Hungary was the exception that proved an unfortunate rule: the regime usually wins pacted transitions.¹ The attention, if not the emphasis, on opposition cau­tion and regime power in the democratization literature is warranted, and explanations of pact-making dynamics must account for these less happy outcomes as well.This chapter attempts to do so by examining the other possible combinations of opposition and regime negotiators: an opposition and regime both risk-averse, a risk-averse opposition facing risk-taking softliners, and a risk-taking opposition matched by risk-taking regime softliners.