Stein Ugelvik Larson is professor of comparative politics at the University of Bergen in Norway.

• Preface, by Stein Ugelvik Larsen 1. On the general conditions for democracy, by Seymour Martin Lipset 2. Neo-corporatism and the consolidation of Neo-democracy, by Philippe C. Schmitter 3. Changing values and changing societies: The impact of mass belief systems on political change, by Ronald Inglehart 4. East European exceptionalism as a challenge to democratization, by Claus Offe 5. Incommensurability? On the comparison of Eastern and Southern regime changes, by Harald Waldrauch 6. Post-Communist Russia: Democratic transitions and transition theories, by Andrei Melville 7. Integrative strategies for the study of regime change, by James Mahoney and Richard Snyder 8. The Polish Round Table: A game theory analysis, by Josep M. Colomer 9. The East German transition games, by Kurt-Henning Tvedt 10. Coalition games as stabilizing or destabilizing factors during the Great Depression, by Ekkart Zimmerman 11. The Russian Transition: An Integrative Approach, by Natalja Altermark 12. Is there an optimal model for democracy?, by Miroslav Novak 13. Advanced totalitarianism: The most obvious contradiction to democracy?, by Klaus-Dietmar Henke 14. Anticipations of the failure of communism, by Seymour Martin Lipset and Gyorgy Benche 15. Challenges to democratic theory, by Stein Ugelvik Larsen Presentation of Authors Index