The French Revolution wanted to overthrow tyranny. And we are now celebrating the 20th anniversary of an event of not less historical importance: overthrowing the tyranny of communist dictatorship. We are gathering in Bucharest, the only place where the dramatic change did not go through without violence and bloodshed. But that was the exception, as for the region as a whole it was a fundamental change executed peacefully. What happened twenty years ago was a velvet revolution. Because even if without bloodshed, it was a revolution and therefore it is a legitimate question to ask what was realized of the revolutionary motto “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité”?
The above motto does not, of course, cover all the fundamental values. Two closely associated ones are clearly missing: growth and material welfare. Other analysts of the post-socialist transition have examined their realization (see, e.g., EBRD 2008 and 2009.) Permit me to leave these extremely important issues to other studies and focus my attention on the three fundamental values in the title of my paper.
Even these three issues have been closely examined by several valuable studies. As limitations on length do not allow me to go into details, thus the purpose of my talk is rather to construct an overarching framework for our forthcoming discussions.