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Democracy At Dawn Notes from Poland and Points East by Frederick Quinn |
"The book should take its place alongside such modern classics as Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon and Robert Kaplan's Balkan Ghosts."—A. E. Dick Howard, University of Virginia
"During our first evening in Moscow we meet with Sergei Kovalev, Russia's Human Rights commissioner, formerly a leading human rights dissident activist, who is later nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. . . . Someone who has seen the intransigence of Russian bureaucracy, and the constantly broken promises of officialdom, he flails in all directions simultaneously. 'You western visitors are sometimes so polite it exceeds the limits,' he tells us. . . . Amberg replies, 'But we are guests of your government.' 'You are not guests, you are an official international mission; tell them what you will be doing,' Kovalev responds. 'Otherwise they will show you prisoners in tuxedos. . . . '"From the sweeping changes of democratic reform to the bloody conflict of the Chechen Republic, 1993–95 was a tumultuous time for Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics. During that two-year period, Frederick Quinn traveled the former Soviet empire as head of the rule of law programs of the Warsaw Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). His primary task was to help the new nations of the region write new constitutions and rebuild their judicial systems. Keenly aware of the uniqueness of the history he saw unfolding, Quinn took notes of his experiences. The result is Democracy at Dawn—a personal, firsthand account of hope and nascent political and social freedom in a part of the world filled with contrasts: drab cities and lively people, traditional governments and dedicated reformers.
Quinn's account puts a human face on the struggles of these changing societies, allowing the reader to eavesdrop on conversations with everyone from government officials to sidewalk vendors practicing embryonic entrepreneurship. He describes the confusion among nations' leading scholars and politicians, as governmental and judicial habits held over from communist regimes, lack of equipment and supplies, shortages of food and services, and, in the case of the Chechen Republic, a devastating civil war all conspire against the formation of pluralistic democracies.
Quinn also recalls in fascinating detail his encounters with the new leaders of the region, such as Georgia's Edouard Shevardnadze and the dissident Czech playwright/politician Vaclav Havel.
At the core of this powerful memoir is Quinn's admiration for the many people he encountered, from working men and women to the functionaries at the highest levels of government, who share a desire for democracy and constitutionality—alien concepts that they nevertheless desperately want to realize. And, despite daunting obstacles faced by the former communist-bloc countries, Quinn asserts that the case for democracy may be more hopeful than it might at first appear. Public discussion about new forms of government is widespread; intense media scrutiny is helping to contain ambitions of authoritarian leaders; nongovernmental civic organizations are growing; and the international community has taken increased interest in holding the new states to treaty commitments involving human rights, free elections, and the creation of independent judiciaries.
FREDERICK QUINN is a legal historian, career Foreign Service officer, and writer who received his Ph.D. in history from UCLA in 1970. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Number Five: Eastern European Studies
Democracy at Dawn
0-89096-786-5
$29.95
LC 97-29954. 6x9. 272 pp. 15 b&w photos. Index.
Eastern Europe. Contemporary Affairs.
Publication Date: December 1997.
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