Constructing Capitalism

In this timely interdisciplinary volume, a renowned group of scholars provides a fresh look at transformation in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, They argue that this lengthy and largely uncontrollable process will follow a different path from that blazed by Western democracies. The contributors perceive this process as a painful one, marked by trials and reversals. The most striking and current example of this uneven process considered is the attempted August coup and the subsequent fragmentation of the Soviet Union. Attributing the collapse of state socialism to ideological erosion combined with economic deterioration, the contributors contend that all major segments in these societies-including the party itself-participated in bringing the system down.

Autorentext

Kazimierz Z. Poznanski

Inhalt

Introduction -- Regional Political Economy -- Mind and Body: Ideology and Economy in the Collapse of Communism -- Two-Tiered Stalinism: A Case of Self-Destruction -- Political Economy of the Eastern European-Soviet Trade: Rethinking the Past and Searching for the Future -- Reconstruction of Markets -- Property Rights Perspective on Evolution of Communist-Type Economies -- The Affinity Between Ownership and Coordination Mechanisms: The Common Experience of Reform in Socialist Countries -- Divestment of State Capital: Alternative Forms and Timetable -- Dilemmas of Democratization -- The Reconstruction of Citizenship: Reverse Incorporation in Eastern Europe -- From Social Idea to Real World: Clash Between New Possibilities and Old Habits -- Main Paradoxes of the Democratic Change in Eastern Europe -- Epilogue: Markets and States in the Transformation of Post-Communist Europe