In Western Europe, civil society took centuries to emerge from the bottom up. But these societies need it immediately. Without a robustly independent society, it is hard to see how they can withstand political demagoguery and the shocks of economic transition. On the other hand, the experience of the East European dissidents in the 1970s and 1980s shows how quickly an embryonic civil society can emerge in the interstices of communism if there are enough courageous individuals who understand what it is they want and have the political cunning and tenacity to seek it.