Nationalist violence is not uniformly characteristic of other forms of confederalism and consociationalism, and it certainly has occurred in numerous states characterized by unitary as well as ethnofederal structures. Bunce argues in some senses that it was not confederalism per se that produced large-scale violence but the specific amalgam of Yugoslav confederalism. Yet it is clear, at this point, that any sense of causality has begun to grow murky. Ultimately, causation cannot be proved or disproved with Bunce's comparative method. It can only be suggested.
Parsimony here demonstrates a tendency to turn it into teleology.
Despite these issues, Subversive Institutions makes an important contribution to our understanding of the end of European communism. It also contains impor-tant lessons for those attempting to shape the postcommunist world. Bunce argues that it is misleading to draw a thick line between socialism and what emerged afterward. Not only did socialist institutions structure the very chal-lenges that emerged and were ranged against them, these same institutions also became the basis for the construction of new states. This is a message many contemporary rulers in the region have yet to absorb but undoubtedly would be wise to heed.