Abstract:
The collapse of communism in Hungary, as in other Eastern European countries and the former Soviet Union itself, has not led smoothly to a democratic government in its place. The transition from a government which is, in most ways, an extension of a political party apparatus, to a government in which communication should be open and policymaking decentralized, is profound. This case focuses on these issues through the prism of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. By detailing a series of difficulties faced as that ministry sought to reconstitute itself, the case implicitly raises the question as to what is the most practical means to that end.