Our objective in this article is to explain democratic transitions by employing some concepts from the theory of mobilization, especially the notion of "transitional Situations".From such a theoretical perspective three D) ajor questions arise:1) what constitutes a transitional situation as distinct from a non-transitional one?2) How is a transitional situation brought about?3) More importantly, what factors lead the transitional situation to a democratic outcome rather than to a non-democratic one?Thus a transitional situation may end up in the reconsolidation of the existing authoritarian regime, in the establishment of another undemocratic one or in the rise of a democracy.To answer the last question, three factors will be taken into account: 1) the social conditions of mobilization in the transitional situation; i.e. what type of social conditions- in terms of the civil society and mass society debate- will push the transitional situation towards a democratic alternative? 2) the agents of political mobilization in the transitional situation; i.e. what type of opposition forces are active and how do democratic opposition groups weigh against nondemocratic ones? 3) the political conditions of mobilization in the transitional situation in terms of the structure of the regime, the unity or internal conflicts of the ruling elites and the likelihood of its demise or persistence through time. To empirically support the argument we will examined some evidence in relation to transitions from communism in East Europe and Central Asia. The variety of regimes emerging after the transitions in the 27 countries once forming the Republics of Soviet Union and its satellite states has provoked much sociological thought as to the causes of the different outcomes. We have tried to present an explanation of the different paths and outcomes of the transitions in terms of the three major variables mentioned above.