On the general conditions for democracy / Seymour Martin Lipset -- Neo-corporatism and the consolidation of neo-democracy / Philippe C. Schmitter -- Changing values and changing societies : the impact of mass belief systems on political change / Ronald Inglehart -- East European exceptionalism as a challenge to democratization / Claus Offe -- Incommensurability? On the comparison of Eastern and Southern regime changes / Harald Waldrauch -- Post-communist Russia : democratic transitions and transition theories / Andrei Melville -- Integrative strategies for the study of regime change / James Mahoney and Richard Snyder -- The Polish round-table : a game theory analysis / Joseph M. Colomer -- The East German transition games / Kurt-Henning Tvedt -- Coalition games as stabilizing or destabilizing factors during the Great Depression / Ekkart Zimmermann -- The Russian transition : an integrative approach / Natalja Altermark -- Is there an optimal model for democracy? / Miroslav Novak -- Advanced totalitarianism : the most obvious contradiction to democracy? / Klaus-Dietmar Hanke -- Anticipations of the failure of communism / Seymour Martin Lipset and Gyorgy Benche -- Challenges to democratic theory / Stein Ugelvik Larsen