• Introduction; Part I. Systemic Change: Adaption and Transformation: 1. From vanguard to rearguard: the rise and decline of a ruling party, 1957–80; 2. Economic reforms: from plan to market; 3. Social change: from latent pluralism to civil society; Part II. Elite Politics: the Insurgents and the Incumbents: 4. Opposition ideas, personalities and strategies; 5. Party elites in transition: the successor generation; Part III. From Postcommunism to Democracy: 6. Political succession in the HSWP: issues, personalities and strategies, 1984–9; 7. Negotiated revolution: from the opposition roundtable to the national roundtable; 8. The road to power: political mobilization, party formation, and free elections in Hungary, 1989–90; 9. Democracy in Hungary: toward a new model?

'Tökés has written a fine book. It is splendidly argued, meticulously documented, and written with a wry sense of humor. The book is a major achievement. It clearly stands as the standard English-language account of democratic transition in Hungary. It is a must for Eastern European specialists as well as those interested in postcommunism and democratization in the late twentieth century.' Comparative Politics