This volume takes a fresh look at democracy in the context of post-communist Eastern Europe, the west European welfare states and the United States, asking such questions as: what patterns of participation characterize the new democracies in Eastern Europe?

About the Editors and Contributors, Acknowledgments, l. Introduction, 2. The Self-Organization of Society and Democratic Rule: Specifying the Relationship, 3. Institutions and Actors in a New Democracy: The Vanishing Legacy of Communist and Solidarity Types of Participation in Poland, 4. Local Democratization in the Czech Republic After 1989, 5. An Emerging Paradox: Civil Society from Above?, 6. The Social Democratic Party in Eastern Germany: Political Participation in the Former GDR After Unification, 7. The State, Associations and the Transition to Democracy: Early Corporatism in Sweden, 8. The Norwegian Voluntary Sector and Civil Society in Transition: Women as Catalysts for Deep-Seated Change, 9. Social Alliances and Coalitions: The Organizational Underpinnings of Democracy in Western Germany, 10. Democracy in America at the End of the Twentieth Century, 11. Conclusion: Contrasting Patterns of Participation and Democracy, Index