2015

Abstract:Thisarticle is an academic study of recent constitutional history, the purpose of which is to identify the main reasons that led, immediately after the fall of the communist regimes, to the adoption of a specific type of system of government in the former communist states of Central and Southeastern Europe, which are currently members of the European Union and NATO (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary).

In the first part, I will outline the main explanatory theories regarding the political factors that led to the rapid adoption of new constitutional arrangements in the former communist states. I will focus primarily on the balance of power between the opposition and the ruling party in the early 1990s, as well as the role played by parliaments and presidents, respectively, in the process of adopting new constitutional rules for the new democratic regimes.

In the second and third sections, I will present the main reasons that led most countries in this region of Europe to adopt a semi-presidential system and, in the case of other countries, a parliamentary system as their form of government.

The final section of the article is devoted to the conclusions drawn from the research, with an emphasis on the common elements in the process of constitutionalizing political and institutional life in the former communist states of Central and Southeastern Europe.

Keywords: Central and Southeastern Europe, systems of government, parliamentary systems, semi-presidential systems, constitutional design