The international dimensions of democratization in Slovakia and Croatia.

International influences were instrumental in the shaping of democratic outcomes in post-communist countries. The cases of Slovakia and Croatia demonstrate that international actors can play a transformative role during crucial moments in a country’s trajectory (or ‘critical junctures’) by de-legitimizing support for the authoritarian alternatives, shaping choices and resources available to elites, and building consensus on the democratic course at the elite and societal levels. Slovak and Croatian politics show the impact of external factors on the September 1998 and January 2000 parliamentary elections, respectively, that ended the legacy of a previous critical juncture and began a new path-dependent process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]