Demokratisering i Östeuropa : En flerfallstudie med fokus på Estland och Moldavien

The transition from having been under another country’s control to becoming a democratic country can, many times, pose difficulties, which has proven itself to be quite common. Estonia and Moldova’s processes towards a democratic regime are two examples of countries with varied success in the final transition phase. When the USSR (Soviet union) fell and collapsed in 1991 Estonia was well on their way from having a communistic ruling to a democratic one due to the fact that their democratic work had already begun a few years prior to 1991. After the collapse Estonia continued with their democratic work and in 2004 the country became a EU member state. Moldova, compared to Estonia, had grave difficulties early on with their democratic work. The country was separated in 1992 and, as a result, the government did not have control over the entire country. Due to this the state of law did not extend over the entire country, which made it difficult for the government to continue with their democratic work. To succeed with consolidation there has to exist positive attitudes and a desire to follow the democratic rules, which did exist in Estonia however, in Moldova, it was lacking. The purpose of this investigation is to discover the causes behind the two countries’ success with democracy, or the lack off, as well as, from a consolidation perspective, investigating into why Estonia and not Moldova was able to establish a stable democracy. The results show that the five consolidation aspects, which were analyzed in this investigation, carry the responsibilities behind the success of the countries’ democratic processes and also, the reason for why democracy thrived in Estonia and not in Moldova. The consolidation viewpoint show that the Moldovan republic had a difficult time succeeding with democracy due to the country’s separation as well as their nationality crisis. The viewpoint also shows how Estonia early on had its people’s positive attitudes supporting them, which made it easier to implement different economical, political and social reforms.