A Concise Field Guide to Post-Communist Regimes

Bálint Magyar; Bálint Madlovics

Published by Central European University Press 2022

A Concise Field Guide to Post-Communist Regimes

Actors, Institutions, and Dynamics

Bálint Magyar and Bálint Madlovics

https://doi.org/10.1515/9789633865880

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author information

MagyarBálint:

Bálint Magyar is Research Fellow at CEU's 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.

MadlovicsBálint:

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.

Reviews

Masha Gessen:

“Reading this book feels like having the curtains opened, letting the bright light come in. Everything becomes visible and clear. The experience of living in mushy political reality gives way to unsparing, exact analysis. What comes into focus may not be pretty, but having it illuminated, ordered, and explained is incomparable.”

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
FOREWORD A new paradigm for understanding post-communist regimes Oleksandr Fisun Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
User’s guide to the book Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
I. The Conceptual Framework: 120 Propositions
Trapped in the Language of Liberal Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Dissolving Axiom #1: Stubborn Structures and the Region’s Development Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
Dissolving Axiom #2: Formality and Informality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Dissolving Axiom #3: From Constitutional State to the Mafia State Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
A Sui Generis Phenomenon: the Adopted Political Family Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
The Formal Institutional Setting: Changing Patterns of Legitimacy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
Legislation and the Legal System: From the Rule of Law to the Law of Rule Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
Defensive Mechanisms: Stability and Erosion of Democracies and Autocracies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
Relational Economics: Corruption, Predation, and the Redistribution of Markets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
Market-Exploiting Dictatorship: Coexistence of the Three Economic Mechanisms in China Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Clientage Society and the Social Stability of Patronal Autocracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
Populism: an Ideological Instrument for the Political Program of Morally Unconstrained Collective Egoism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
Beyond Regime Specificities: Country-, Policy-, and Era-Specific Features Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
Post-Communist Regime Trajectories: A Triangular Framework Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
II. Trajectories of Twelve Post-Communist Regimes
Estonia: Regime Change to Liberal Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Romania: Regime Change to Patronal Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
Kazakhstan: Regime Change to Patronal Autocracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
China: Model Change to Market- Exploiting Dictatorship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Czech Republic: Backsliding Toward Patronal Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
Poland: Backsliding Toward Conservative Autocracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Hungary: Backsliding to Patronal Autocracy from Liberal Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
Russia: Backsliding to Patronal Autocracy from Oligarchic Anarchy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
Ukraine: Regime Cycles with Color Revolutions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
North Macedonia: Regime Cycle with Intra-Elite Conflict Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
Moldova: Regime Cycles with Foreign Interference Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	234
Georgia: An Attempt to Break the Regime Cycle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
About the Authors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	252

Language: English
Publisher: Central European University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 260
Illustrations
- Tables: 44
Keywords: post-communism; patronalism; informality; mafia state; digest

eBook

Published: August 9, 2022
ISBN: 9789633865880