Underwriting Democracy: Encouraging Free Enterprise and Democratic Reform among the Soviets and in Eastern Europe
George Soros has done more for open societies than any other private citizen in the world. In Underwriting Democracy he describes his experiences helping to bring about democratic change in Eastern Europe—experiences that are especially relevant now that our country has begun to intervene (though in an entirely different way than Soros) to create functioning democracies. Throughout the 1980s George Soros worked to identify and fund the growing political movements that caused the downfall of...
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Now back in print: George Soros on funding and supporting the kind of grassroots democratic movements that helped bring down oppressive governments throughout the Communist bloc Library Journal During the 18th and 19th centuries, travelers visited Russia to explore that vast, unknown state; they also brought ideas and schemes for building a modern state. Perestroika has attracted a similar breed who bring money to make money, or who bring money to finance ideas to make money. Soros, a self-proclaimed ``confirmed egoist'' with ``potent messianic fantasies,'' is one of these. In this book, he describes his ``work directed at opening up closed societies.'' Soros says any hope of saving the Soviet Union is ``irretrievably lost,'' but that a new equilibrium will soon emerge. His goal is to personally help guide Communist states through a gentle transition to sophisticated, open societies. Soros the messiah needs more humility and less ego to secure the goal he aims for. An optional purchase for general collections.-- John Yurechko, George town Univ., Washington, D.C.
PrefacePt. 1The revolution of 19891Cracking the communist structure32The collapse of the Soviet system343Europe as an open system624America at the crossroads84Pt. 2The unfolding crisis5The Shatalin plan996The outlook for Eastern Europe1187The foundation network1288A personal account139Pt. 3A theoretical framework9Philosophical foundations14710A reflexive theory of history16511Open and closed societies17512The boom-bust pattern222Conclusion245Index251
