<p>Slovenia and Latvia are two examples of countries which have gone through a successful democratic transition. They were both under authoritarian rule and command economy up until their declarations of independence in the early 90s. Today they have a functional market economy and political pluralism. I have examined transition theories highlighted by Jonas Linde and Joakim Ekman and from these theories sought the explanations to what lies behind the successful transitions of these two countries.</p><p> </p><p>The transition in Slovenia was affected by liberalization from within the ruling communist party which then controlled much of the transition process. A relatively large civil society and the fact that Slovenia was not involved in the Balkan War also contributed to the short process. In the case of Lativa was the strong public support for independence an important factor. The communist party could be defeated in the parliament in 1990, giving the Popular Front of Latvia legitimacy to declare the country independent. A constitution was created based on the one Latvia had created in 1922 when the country was an independent state for the first time.</p><p> </p><p>In neither Slovenia nor Latvia was violent revolutionary action a significant force for political change. Despite Latvia’s economical problems after the collapse of the Soviet economy and the ethnic segregation a political consensus remained that the democratic system had to withstand. The strive for full market economy and independence was an important factor in Slovenia as well as in Latvia. In Slovenia however, the political liberalization occurred before the economic. The state remained in partial control of the economy for a few years in order to secure a successful transition.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-83).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-184).

Th.--Sci.--Bordeaux 1, 1980. N°: 651.

No description available.

Cette thèse retrace le processus de transformation des anciennes élites communistes roumaines et leurs trajectoires politiques entre 1989 et 2000. Dans cette perspective, elle identifie les mécanismes de conversion mis en œuvre, les modalités d’intégration dans le nouveau jeu politique, la construction de nouvelles identités politiques et le positionnement de ces élites par rapport aux thématiques qui ont structuré la vie politique après 1989, notamment le rapport à l’ancien régime et la réforme économique. Cette thèse est structurée en quatre parties. La première a pour but de saisir la spécificité du communisme roumain et de ses élites, tout comme de mener un questionnement sur le concept de nomenklatura, afin d’apporter des clarifications sur la nature du système de pouvoir en régime communiste. La deuxième partie examine les bouleversements de décembre 1989, accordant une attention particulière aux effets qu’ils génèrent sur la mobilité des élites politiques. Nous nous interrogeons sur la nature de la dissolution du régime communiste roumain, sur le degré de rupture et de continuité par rapport à ce régime. La troisième partie de la recherche examine le degré de reproduction de la nomenklatura dans les institutions politiques nationales entre 1990 et 2000 : les parlements, les gouvernements et les administrations présidentielles. Elle saisit également le regroupement politique des anciennes élites dans différentes formations partisanes et elle propose des typologies des partis issus de la nomenklatura suite à l’analyse de leur positionnement par rapport à la réforme économique et à la question de la gestion du passé. La quatrième partie dresse un tableau de la justice de transition dans la Roumanie postcommuniste, avec un accent particulier sur le rôle que les anciennes élites jouent dans l’adoption ou dans le rejet de différentes mesures de gestion du passé. / This thesis recounts the transformation of the former Romanian communist elites and their political trajectories between 1989 and 2000. It identifies the mechanisms of political conversion, the various ways in which the former nomenklatura adapts itself to the new political game, the building of the new political identities and the positioning of the former elites towards the themes that structured the Romanian political life after 1989: the attitude towards to the recent past and the economic reforms. This thesis is structured in four parts. The first one retraces the specificity of the Romanian communism and its elites. The second one examines the events of December 1989 in Romania, with a particular attention to their effects on the mobility of the political elites. We are questioning the nature of the extrication path from communism and the degree of the changing of social hierarchies determined by the demise of the communist regime. The third part of the thesis analyses the degree of the reproduction of the former nomenklatura in the national political institutions between 1990 and 2000: the parliaments, the governments and the presidential administrations. It redraws the political regrouping of the former elites in different political parties and determines the typologies of the political parties created by the former nomenklatura members, according to their position towards the economic reform and the attitude to the former communist regime. The fourth part analyses the Romanian post-communist transitional justice, with a particular accent on the role played by the former communist elites in the adoption or the rejection of different policies of dealing with the past.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis describes the synthesis and chemistry of triangular phosphido-bridged iridium clusters. The cluster [Ir3(μ-PPh2)3 (CO)6] was obtained analytically pure for the first time. In the solid state this 48 electron cluster exhibits one short iridium-iridium bond of 2.6702(3) Å and two long iridium-iridium bonds, 2.9913(3) Å on average. Two phosphido bridges rest closely within the plane of the metal triangle while the unique phosphido group, bridging the short metal-metal bond, is almost orthogonal to this plane. NMR data suggest that this structure is also adopted in solution below 183 K. At higher temperature however the phosphido bridges give rise to an average signal which is presumably due to a rapid flip-flop motion of these groups. Addition of one molar equivalent of dimethylacetylendicarboxylate to [Ir3(μ-PPh2)3(CO)6] results in formation of [Ir3(μ-PPh2)3(CO) 6(μ-DMAD)] which contains a diiridacyclobutene. Addition of excess alkyne leads to the CO-inserted [Ir3(μ-PPh2) 3(CO)5(μ-DMAD){κ2-MeO 2CCC(CO2Me)C(O)}] which photochemically decarbonylates, to give [Ir3(μ-PPh2)3(CO)5(μ-DMAD) 2]. The 50 electron cluster [Ir3(μ-PPh2) 3(CO)5(t-BuNC)2] also reacts with dimethylacetylendicarboxylate to yield the CO-inserted [Ir3(μ-PPh2)3(CO) 3(t-BuNC)2{κ2-MeO2CCC(CO 2Me)C(O)}2] in two isomeric forms. The new CO-insertion products represent stable iridacyclobutenones which are reluctant to undergo further insertion reactions involving carbon monoxide, tert-butylisocyanide or dimethylacetylenedicarboxylate. Addition of dimethylacetylendicarboxylate to cluster mixtures containing predominantly [Ir2Rh(μ-PPh2)3(CO) 5] and [Ir3(μ-PPh2)3(CO)6] results in selective reaction at the tri-iridium cluster which allowed for the isolation of the heterometallic cluster by chromatography. In contrast to the tri-iridium parent, [Ir2Rh(μ-PPh2)3(CO) 5] is much less reactive to dimethylacetylendicarboxylate and inert to CO. Similarly, the heterometallic [Ir2Rh(μ-PPh2) 3(CO)4(RNC)3] (R = tert-butyl; 1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl) are reluctant to undergo oxidative addition reactions with dimethylacetylendicarboxylate and iodomethane which readily afford addition products with the homometallic parent clusters. The kinetic difference is a consequence of electronic rather than steric factors in the clusters. / Graduate