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The book deals with the analysis of key political actors in the ´new democracies´ from Central and Eastern Europe. It is focused on the character of elites - particularly political ones - and their role in the process of societal change. The argument is that elite configuration has strong impact on developmental dynamics of these societies.

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The book deals with the analysis of key political actors in the ´new democracies´ from Central and Eastern Europe. It is focused on character of elites, particularly political ones, and their role in the process of societal change. The author argues that elite configuration in terms of relationships between different elite factions as well as their cultural profile has strong impact on developmental dynamics of these societies. Although - at least in some countries from the region - political elites have managed to build the institutional foundations of systems of a market economy and a parliamentary democracy, with only small chances of any reverses taking place, they have been much less successful in establishing mechanisms for society´s self-organisation.

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Contents: Elites as social phenomenon - Political sphere and the political elite - Elites and social change - Character of the political elite and dynamics of the systemic transformation - Formation of post-communist political elite - Elites and integration into the European institutional setting - Elite profile and the type of socio-economic regulation.

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Matevz Tomsic is political sociologist and Professor at the School of Advanced Social Studies in Nova Gorica. He is also engaged at the Faculty of Information Studies in Novo mesto and at the Faculty of Media in Ljubljana. His research interests include character of elites, quality of governance, political culture, and democratisation. He was engaged in several international research projects on these topics.

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