Raymond Taras has taught political science at universities in England, Canada, and the United States and has served as a national fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His publications include Ideology in a Socialist State: Poland 1956-83, The Road to Disillusion: From Critical Marxism to Postcommunism in Eastern Europe , and Nations and Politics in the Soviet Successor States .

• Introduction: Approaches to Democratization -- Historic Discontinuities: Dynasties, Republics, Partitions -- The Functioning of the Communist Regime -- Crises of the Communist System -- Coalition Formation and Crisis Resolution -- Democratic Structures of the Third Republic -- Socioeconomic Development, Foreign Policy, and the International Political Economy