Nobody talks about the "Czech miracle" anymore except with irony, and no longer can anyone refer to Slovakia as "a hole in the map of Europe." Times have changed rapidly and explanation has lagged far behind. Elected Affinities is the first book-length project to account for the startling differences in the course of democratization in Slovakia and the Czech Republic during the 1990s. The book uses the natural experiment created by Czechoslovakia's dissolution to explore why some new democracies succeed and why some (nearly) fail. The comparison offers new insights into the inner workings of political parties and governments in postcommunist countries, and into the complex relationships among nationalism, economic reform, and political accountability in democracies, both new and old.