The Revolutions of 1989 and Defection in Warsaw Pact States

Data on Central and Eastern European anti-Communist revolutions are plagued by missing values, and a disproportional amount of scholarly attention has been given to nonviolent strategies adopted by revolutionaries during the collapse of Communism when compared to the behavior of state security and armed forces. This study turns attention to the latter through providing among the first comprehensive explanations of varying types of defection that arose during the Warsaw Pact state revolutions. It discovers that four states experienced varied forms of defection. Before concessions were granted to the opposition, Czechoslovakia experienced commander plus subordinate resistance, while Romania experienced subordinate resistance. In contrast, after regimes made concessions, Bulgaria experienced both commander and subordinate resistance as did East Germany. These results offer new implications for our understanding of civil-military relations during mass dissent.