Underwriting Democracy: Encouraging Free Enterpirse And Democratic Reform Among the Soviets and in Eastern Europe [Paperback]

George Soros (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2004

George Soros has done more for open societies than any other private citizen in the world. In Underwriting Democracy he describes his experiences helping to bring about democratic change in Eastern Europe—experiences that are especially relevant now that our country has begun to intervene (though in an entirely different way than Soros) to create functioning democracies. Throughout the 1980s George Soros worked to identify and fund the growing political movements that caused the downfall of Eastern Europe's Communist governments. He established foundations, first in his native Hungary, and then in eight other countries, and used them to finance everything from the installation of previously forbidden copying machines in public libraries to the creation of experimental schools, clubs, and workshops for the support of dissidents. This unprecedented, and brilliant, financial and logistical support helped to bring down the communist regimes in peaceful revolutions across the continent. These are thrilling stories about facing down—and getting past—the Communist party powers in order to change these nations from the inside out.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

During the 18th and 19th centuries, travelers visited Russia to explore that vast, unknown state; they also brought ideas and schemes for building a modern state. Perestroika has attracted a similar breed who bring money to make money, or who bring money to finance ideas to make money. Soros, a self-proclaimed "confirmed egoist" with "potent messianic fantasies," is one of these. In this book, he describes his "work directed at opening up closed societies." Soros says any hope of saving the Soviet Union is "irretrievably lost," but that a new equilibrium will soon emerge. His goal is to personally help guide Communist states through a gentle transition to sophisticated, open societies. Soros the messiah needs more humility and less ego to secure the goal he aims for. An optional purchase for general collections.
- John Yurechko, George town Univ., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The stream of anti-Bush books has turned into a torrent...Soros' contribution is almost stunning in itssimplicity.

Soros, who has made headlines for donating millions of dollars to stopthe reelection of George Bush, is a man who puts his money where hismouth is. With the publication of this book, he may find that hiswords are also a potent weapon for realizing his goal. The founder ofa fund-management group, Soros uses the metaphor of the economicbubble to show that the Bush administration's foreign policy is basedon assumptions that are not only incorrect and deceptive but also willeventually burst. Step-by-step, he exposes a foreign policy that hebelieves contradicts American principles and has no hope of obtainingits goals of supremacy. He pulls no punches: "I contend that the Bushadministration has deliberately exploited September 11 in order topursue policies that the American public would not have otherwisetolerated." Soros offers historical perspective, social theory, andhis own keen observational skills to make his points. This may be theone anti-Bush book that reaches an audience beyond the Democratic amencorner.Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs (April 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586482270
• ISBN-13: 978-1586482275
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,569,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

George Soros was born in Budapest, Hungary on August 12, 1930. He survived the occupation of Budapest and left communist Hungary in 1947 for England, where he graduated from the London School of Economics. While a student at LSE, Mr. Soros became familiar with the work of the philosopher Karl Popper, who had a profound influence on his thinking and later on his professional and philanthropic activities. The financier. In 1956 Mr. Soros moved to the United States, where he began to accumulate a large fortune through an international investment fund he founded and managed. Today he is Chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars George Soros Describes His Pro-Democracy Activities, July 1, 2004

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Underwriting Democracy: Encouraging Free Enterpirse And Democratic Reform Among the Soviets and in Eastern Europe (Paperback)

Underwriting Democracy is a reprint of the book that first appeared in 1991 as the former Soviet Union was spiraling into oblivion under Gorbachev. In the book, international speculator George Soros (best known for his successful run on the Pound a number of years ago) describes his activities in setting up foundations to encourage democracy in formerly communist countries, his attempts to advise on how to create new democracies in these countries and his philosophy for how thought and action can change the "normal" course of human events (which is to run to harmful extremes).

I have known a number of people who have funded foundations in formerly communist countries and the materials here ring true with what others have told me. There was usually an attempt to subvert the money for other purposes, a bureaucracy had to be avoided and there were many difficulties in putting funds to work in useful ways. Anyone thinking about encouraging governmental reform through nonprofit organizations can learn useful lessons from reading the first part of the book.

Throughout the book, Mr. Soros makes informed guesses about what will follow in each of the former communist countries. I was fascinated to see how well he understood the social and economic forces at the time . . . and how frequently he called the future quite accurately. Fortunately, his worst pessimism about what could happen in the former Soviet Union did not come to pass.

His attempts to help direct reform in the Soviet Union as an advisor come across as very optimistic, determined and naive. But sometimes Don Quixote can produce results where no one else can. He can at least feel good that he tried to help.

The least satisfactory part of the book is his explanation of the theory of reflexivity, which he describes in detail in part three. I think I followed the argument. It could have been stated much more simply and better explained with more government-related examples. The financial market examples are very clear.

At the end, I found myself wondering what nations could be doing today to encourage democracy in other areas where it has not done well. A number of helpful solutions are contained in a new book, Soft Power, which I encourage you to consider.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Advocating positive change, October 12, 2004

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Underwriting Democracy: Encouraging Free Enterpirse And Democratic Reform Among the Soviets and in Eastern Europe (Paperback)

How can democracy be encouraged among the Soviets and in Eastern Europe? Underwriting Democracy: Encouraging Free Enterprise And Democratic Reform Among The Soviets And In Eastern Europe is a start, advocating positive change and using George Soros' own efforts in eastern Europe to describe how such changes may be fostered. Chapters examine America's foundation network, links between philosophy and practical democratic applications, and how Soros' early foray led to his acclaimed Open Society initiatives.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars False Rhetoric, March 17, 2004

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Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Underwriting Democracy (Hardcover)

Soros argues here that he helped fund democracy in order to 'open up' the economies of the eastern bloc, including Russia. Nevertheless any study of Soros's multi-billion dollar Hedge fund style investments will show that he has not only funded democracy but he has invested heavily in these countries to earn a profit. Keeping democracy alive mostly is in self interest to the Soros pocket book, rather then any benevolent idea of helping the 'people' of Eastern Europe, who mostly remain poor and starving, subjected to terror and mafia style corruption that did not exist under totalitarian Communism. In the end the people of Eastern Europe traded the false-god of Communism for the equally false-god of investment banking and cowboy capitalism, with Soros at the forefront.

A dangerous text full of self obsession and slight of hand regarding Soros's personal investments in these societies, smacking of conflict of interest.

Seth J. Frantzman