Theories of Non-Democratic Regimes and Eastern Europe 1944–1989

The article tries to evaluate the Europeanization research agenda from the point of view of a politics-sphere A basic precondition for understanding the character of the political systems in East-European countries after the Second World War is to define the key concepts, especially different types of non-democratic regimes. In other words, we must know what “totalitarianism”, and “authoritarianism” means, and how we should approach studying these species. According to empirical and analytical methods, we consider them both as ways of governing, as types of political systems and not something else (e.g. ideology, a way of thinking, etc.). Eastern Europe after 1944, with some exceptions, was not totalitarian and is better described as quasi-totalitarian or authoritarian. However by the term “quasi-totalitarianism” we do not mean a subtype of “post-totalitarianism” (as Juan J. Linz does), but as a separate category of non-democratic regime. Of course it is necessary to take into account the differences existing among particular countries as well as differences “inside” these countries, meaning their unique historical development. This is evident in the case study portion of this article which describes the political system of Poland 1944–1989.