Compare and contrast the processes of democratisation in [country X] Essay

Compare and contrast the processes of democratisation in [country X] and [country Y] - Essay Example emocratization was initiated in both the countries soon after and the cessation of Latvia from the Soviet Union and the voluntary change in the Bulgarian monopolistic Communist party’s ideology. Now, after almost twenty years of the democratic process, both the countries are part of the European Union, a fact indicative of their progress and success in making social and political changes. The current paper aims to analyze the process of democratization in the two countries, Latvia and Bulgaria, and to compare and contrast them on their achievements towards the same. The theoretical frameworks employed by scholars in studying the process of democratization largely fall into two categories. The first approach, called the functionalist approach, proposes that the process of democracy is brought about as a result of economic or cultural development or ushered in simply by the changing times and modernization. Another approach, called the genetic view, that is employed in studying the process of democratization is to assess the involvement of political thinkers and leaders who have contributed in bringing about a change in political thought and practice. (Vanhanen and Pridham, 1994). The present paper aims to combine both the functional as well as the genetic approach in studying and comparing the process of democratization in two Eastern European nations – Latvia and Bulgaria. In order to compare and contrast the process of democratization in the Latvia and Bulgaria, it is necessary to study the historical factors that were responsible for the process to set in as well as understand the structural changes, the social and political struggles and changes that led to the evolution of a democratic electoral system in the two countries. Democratization in the Eastern European nations was influenced by both external and internal factors. (Vanhanen and Pridham, 1994). The external factors like the reforms already started in the Soviet Union by Gorbachev and the