Zedillo, Salinas' successor, gave his final informe , in effect his farewell address, on September 1, in which his clear message was that the liberal economic policy Mexico has been following contributed importantly to Mexico's democratic transition. One additional group of examples can be offered. The Czech Republic and Poland moved rapidly to adopt a competitive market system after Soviet dominance. Indeed, there was much criticism at the time that shock therapy for the two economies would lead to serious hardships. Romania, the Ukraine, and other former Soviet republics were slow to adopt competitive markets.
Democracy is considerably more robust in the first two countries than in the others.
This can be attributed in part in the Czech case to its earlier democratic history, but there can be little doubt that the Czech story would have been different absent its return to a competitive market structure. Many analysts have pointed out that while all democracies have competitive market structures, not all countries with market economies are democratic. It is also true that not all democracies retain their competitive political systems. President Alberto Fujimori was first elected in a democratic election, but democracy in Peru has since retrogressed. They are if competitive market capitalism is equated with Darwinian economic survival-that is, with capitalism that has no social dimensions.