Revolution Through Negotiation

This dissertation focuses on the Hungarian Roundtable Negotiations, and tries to reveal the historical process and the domestic and international causes of Hungary’s democratic transition during 1989-1990. Hungary’s democratic transition played a critical role in the so-called "Domino Effect" of Eastern European countries’political transitions while the roundtable negotiations between the communist authorities and the opposition parties played an equally critical role in nearly every country’s transition process. Hungary also achieved a peaceful democratic transition through this "negotiated revolution"This dissertation is mainly based on the archival documents and other related historical materials, trying to reveal the different circumstances and strategies of the political forces in the different periods of the political transition. And also tries to reveal the impacts of the domestic and international contexts on the strategic choices of the different political forces, and the further effects of the interactions of these political forces’strategic choices.The full text is divided into three parts, namely the introduction, the main body and the epilogue. And the main body is divided into five chapters. The first chapter introduces the historical background of Hungary’s political transition, including the general ruling history of the communist party, the reform ideas and social movements emerged during the second part of the 1980s, the internal differentiation of the communist leadership, and the reform initiatives made by the authorities. The second chapter mainly analyses the preparatory phase of the Roundtable Negotiations, including the establishment and operation of the Opposition Roundtable, the strategic adjustment of the communist authorities, and the preparatory negotiations for the formal negotiations. The third chapter focuses on the process of the National Roundtable Negotiations and the development after their concluding, including the negotiation structure and the thematic settings, the specific negotiation process on some critical issues, the final agreement reached by the different political forces, the referendum on some contentious issues after the concluding of the negotiations, and the results of the parliamentary elections. The fourth and fifth chapters respectively focus on the negotiation process of the Party Law and the Electoral Law, which are both indispensable for the democratic transition. The epilogue analyses the domestic and international contexts of Hungary’s political transition, revealing the main causes of this peaceful democratic transition.