The Future of Eastern Europe

By the spring of 1990, the future of the individual countries in Eastern Europe was still open for debate. While Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary seemed to be transitioning toward Western-styled democracies, Romania and Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania were following a different course. The former had experienced violent uprisings, and in the latter the Communists seemed to be more successful in holding onto their power. In this intelligence briefing from the Central Intelligence Agency, attempted to predict the possible futures for East European countries. Mirroring the current political realities, the future appeared mixed, with new authoritarian regimes as likely as new liberal democracies.