The Berlin Wall came down merely 20 years ago. It seems that lives of those living behind the wall would have improved astronomically. However, while they report to be substantially happier, many have deep reservations about democracy and capitalism as reported by the Pew Research Center.
Less than one third of Ukrainians approve of the change to multiparty democracy. In Russia, reports show they still mourn the loss of the Soviet Union and more than 50 percent claim there should be a Russian empire. Since 1991, statistics support the notion that there are fewer people now that support the shift to capitalism than there were in the past. Approximately 72 percent of Hungarians say their lives under the communists were better economically.
One reason for the lowered support is that the financial crisis hit some of these former soviet bloc countries especially hard. In the 1990s when they embraced capitalism everything was great stocks and money were flowing everywhere. But now that they have seen the downside of capitalism and the tough economic situation they aren't sure about whether democracy and capitalism is best for them.
No one likes the economic problems the world is facing but to say you'd rather have Communism is sure a big leap. These countries are still young when it comes to western ideals and systems. Like I said, they haven't really experienced or seen how the system works in good times and bad. They have just embraced the good things without wanting the bad things, which is surprising because the only good thing about communism is that there are never any homeless people because everyone is required to work.
Despite the lowering of approval for the change in political systems, the majority in every country but Ukraine approve of the shift to democracy. Majorities and pluralities in all countries but Hungary and Ukraine have welcomed capitalism and have seen declines in ethnic hostilities since communism ended.
It turns out that many of the countries that have seen lower satisfaction when it comes to democracy are those that are sitting at the bottom of the charts. Countries like Hungary, Ukraine, and Lithuania have not weathered the recession and financial problems quite as well as countries like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland.
These three countries have handled the problems quite well and are the most welcoming of democracy. What it seems to boil down to is how well your country is doing financially determines how supportive citizens in a country are of democracy and capitalism.
There is a strong link between the idea of capitalism and government. This means that what people think of government is what they think of the system. For example, Hungarians believe that their government cannot handle the crisis. Because of the recession and how it has affected the general population there has been growing dissatisfaction with the government and support for capitalism is now 46% compared with 80% in 1991.
Since the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe countries have embraced democracy. However, countries like Ukraine and Hungary have been hit especially hard by the financial crisis and support for democracy and capitalism is quickly falling in those countries.
Tags: capitalism, eastern europe, Economy, financial crisis, improving education, on campus degrees, online degrees, political science
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