The three countries considered in part Ⅴ – Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria – were, as of the mid-1990s, regarded by many observers as hopelessly mired in lingering authoritarianism and consigned to a future dominated by ethnic nationalism, having failed to build upon starts made in 1989. In the case of Romania and Bulgaria, this was attributed to their Balkan location and history. Such judgments had to be revised rather quickly in that all three then managed to dispose of quasi-authoritarian governments by electoral means. Thus by the end of the decade they appeared ready to move from a transformation stage (i.e., still dealing with extraction from the past) to a more forward-looking consolidation stage in political development.