Post-Communist Economic Societies

Are there any blueprints that can ensure the success
of democratic consolidation? Is their efficiency
based on world wide empirical evidence that
recognizes divergent legacies of social structures
and consciousness? In this work, Alina STRUGUT
argues for a paradox of democratic transformation:
the success of early economic societies - as an
arena of democratic consolidation - is guaranteed
through un-democratic measures. This is due to the
great magnitude of post-communist economic
transformation, where timing was crucial. For this,
Alina STRUGUT identifies and examines elements
of path-dependency in the configuration of incipient
economic societies, by looking into the first
reform packages introduced in post-communist
Poland and Romania. This book explores how increasing
returns and critical junctures have punctuated not
only the settings for the implementation of reforms,
but also the structural dimensions of incipient
economic societies: state intervention and market
mechanisms. Such structural dimensions are analyzed
for the most important reform policies: macroeconomic
stabilization and liberalization, privatization, and
social safety nets.

Autorentext

Alina Strugut holds an MA in Economy and Society from theUniversity of Lancaster. Currently, she is a PhD Researcherin Sociology at the University of Leipzig (Germany). Her mainacademic interests are post-communist democratic consolidation,human rights, as well as the impact of EU sustainability on ruralwomen from subsistence communities.

Klappentext

Are there any blueprints that can ensure the successof democratic consolidation? Is their efficiencybased on world wide empirical evidence thatrecognizes divergent legacies of social structuresand consciousness? In this work, Alina STRUGUTargues for a paradox of democratic transformation:the success of early economic societies - as anarena of democratic consolidation - is guaranteedthrough un-democratic measures. This is due to thegreat magnitude of post-communist economictransformation, where timing was crucial. For this,Alina STRUGUT identifies and examines elementsof path-dependency in the configuration of incipienteconomic societies, by looking into the first reform packages introduced in post-communistPoland and Romania. This book explores how increasingreturns and critical junctures have punctuated notonly the settings for the implementation of reforms,but also the structural dimensions of incipienteconomic societies: state intervention and marketmechanisms. Such structural dimensions are analyzedfor the most important reform policies: macroeconomicstabilization and liberalization, privatization, andsocial safety nets.