A Concise Field Guide to Post-Communist Regimes

Actors, Institutions, and Dynamics
Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-963-386-587-3
Verlag: Central European University Press

Buch, Englisch, 264 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 390 g

While the literature of hybrid regimes has given up the presumption that post-communist countries must democratize, its language and concepts still mostly relate to Western democracies. Magyar and Madlovics strongly argue for a vocabulary and grammar tailored to the specifics of the region. In 120 theses they unfold a conceptual framework with (1) a typology of post-communist regimes and (2) a detailed presentation of ideal-type actors and the political, economic, and social phenomena in these regimes. The book is a more digestible companion to the 800-page The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2020), which was a detailed theoretical study with plenty of empirical illustrations.

Each of the 120 theses contains a statement and its concise discussion supported by illustrative tables, figures, and QR-codes that connect the interested reader to the more detailed analysis in the Anatomy. In a condensed variety, this book has kept the holistic approach of the Anatomy and treats the spheres of political, market, and communal action as parts of a single, coherent whole. The endeavor to synthesize a vast range of ideas does not, however, result in a too complicated text. On the contrary, freed from the implicit presumptions of democracy theory, the new terminology yields a readily usable toolkit of unambiguous means of expression to speak about post-communism.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Magyar, Bálint

Madlovics, Bálint

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword: A New Paradigm for Understanding Post-Communist Regimes
Oleksandr Fisun
User’s guide to the book

I. The Conceptual Framework: 120 Propositions
Trapped in the Language of Liberal Democracy
Dissolving Axiom #1: Stubborn Structures and the Region’s Development
Dissolving Axiom #2: Formality and Informality
Dissolving Axiom #3: From Constitutional State to the Mafia State
A Sui Generis Phenomenon: the Adopted Political Family
The Formal Institutional Setting: Changing Patterns of Legitimacy
Legislation and the Legal System: From the Rule of Law to the Law of Rule
Defensive Mechanisms: Stability and Erosion of Democracies and Autocracies
Relational Economics: Corruption, Predation, and the Redistribution of Markets
Market-Exploiting Dictatorship: Coexistence of the Three Economic Mechanisms in China
Clientage Society and the Social Stability of Patronal Autocracy
Populism: an Ideological Instrument for the Political Program of Morally Unconstrained Collective Egoism
Beyond Regime Specificities: Country-, Policy-, and Era-Specific Features
Post-Communist Regime Trajectories: A Triangular Framework

II. Trajectories of Twelve Post-Communist Regimes
Estonia: Regime Change to Liberal Democracy
Romania: Regime Change to Patronal Democracy
Kazakhstan: Regime Change to Patronal Autocracy
China: Model Change to Market-Exploiting Dictatorship
Czech Republic: Backsliding Toward Patronal Democracy
Poland: Backsliding Toward Conservative Autocracy
Hungary: Backsliding to Patronal Autocracy from Liberal Democracy
Russia: Backsliding to Patronal Autocracy from Oligarchic Anarchy
Ukraine: Regime Cycles with Color Revolutions
North Macedonia: Regime Cycle with Intra-Elite Conflict
Moldova: Regime Cycles with Foreign Interference
Georgia: An Attempt to Break the Regime Cycle

Notes
About the Authors

Über Autor(innen)

Magyar, Bálint
Bálint Magyar is Research Fellow at CEU Democracy Institute, working on the subject of patronalism in post-communist countries.

He was a member of the Hungarian Parliament (1990-2010). As a Minister of Education (1996-1998; 2002-2006) he initiated and carried out reforms in public and higher education.

Madlovics, Bálint
Bálint Madlovics (*1993) is a political scientist and economist. He is a junior research fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute. He holds MA in Political Science (2018) from Central European University in Budapest, and BA in Applied Economics (2016) from Corvinus University of Budapest.