Volume 37, Number 6 · April 12, 1990
Becoming What They Think We Are
By Felix G. Rohatyn
The ideals of the revolutions in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and even Bulgaria owe much to the American model, with its combination of political freedom and an economic system that seems to guarantee an ever-rising standard of living. It is important to recognize that it is a version of American political democracy, and not Japanese discipline or German efficiency, that the new leaders of these countries say they are striving for. Whether and how they will succeed is impossible to predict; their struggle will be long and may not always be peaceful. It is worth examining, however, whether the American system is all that they think it is, or whether they are seeing the light of a distant star which, some time ago, may have ceased to shine so brightly.
Feature, 4660 words
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