General Information

Author/Creator

Orenstein, Mitchell A. (Mitchell Alexander)

Language

English.

Published

Ann Arbor, Mich. : University of Michigan Press, c2001.

Physical Description

xiv, 166 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Series

Development and inequality in the market economy

Contents/Summary

Summary

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the countries of East-Central Europe embarked on a journey to transform themselves into democratic capitalist societies. Their governments searched for strategies that would allow them to pursue radical market reforms within the context of nascent democratic politics. Poland adopted a neoliberal strategy that attempted to push through as much reform as possible before an antireform backlash could occur. In the Czech Republic, a social liberal strategy for transformation attempted to combine neoliberal macro-economic policies with social democratic measures designed to avert such a backlash. A detailed analysis of Poland and the Czech Republic suggests that alternation between strategies has been the secret to the success of East-Central European countries. This comparative case analysis identifies the significance of reform mistakes during transition and the corrective benefits of policy alternation, its claims illustrated with an in-depth study of privatization policy in the two countries. Mitchell A. Orenstein delves into the historic struggle to build capitalism and democracy during a decade of post-communist transition in East-Central Europe and develops a model that explains why democratic policy alternation may accelerate policy learning under conditions of uncertainty and constraint--from the publisher

Subjects

Subject

Post-communism > Poland.

Post-communism > Czech Republic.

Post-communism > Czechoslovakia.

Poland > Economic policy > 1990-

Czech Republic > Economic policy.

Czechoslovakia > Economic policy > 1945-1992.

Poland > Politics and government > 1989-

Czech Republic > Politics and government > 1993-

Czechoslovakia > Politics and government > 1945-1992.

Bibliographic Information

Responsibility

Mitchell A. Orenstein.

Content

Strategies for transformation -- Poland's shock therapy and beyond -- Czech social liberalism and beyond -- Privatization -- Democratic policy alternation.

ISBN

0472097466

047206746

Holdings

Item Type	Current Location	Collection	Call Number	Volume Info	Shelving Location	Public Note
Book	OSA Archivum Library	General collection	338.947 ORE		OSA Repository	Donation of the Department of Political Science, CEU

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