The noted socialist politologist reviews the course and data of the elections in 1990 and the consequences drawn from them. He stresses the significance of the changes of power relations that took place during the year and tries to pinpoint the political mistakes and conditions that reduced the number of voters of the individual parties, and especially of the left wing parties.

On the basis of a wide range of opinions expressed on modernisation in the past decade, the author presents the modernisation theory as a paradigm competing with the ideology of state socialism. He criticises the modernisation theory arguing that it was formulated according to the interests of the highly advanced region only and as such, it is nothing else but the programme of transition from state socialism to state capitalism. The author states that this theory is unable to provide a perspective today and for this reason, his final conclusion is that turning to the postmodern theories can be more fruitful also for the East European region.

The well-known historian analyses the nature of the political turns of 1956 and 1989 and concludes that there is a sharp controversion between their character.