Abstract
The analysis of privatization policies in Central and Eastern Europe brings out the shift from the predatory capitalism of the earliest transitional stages to a capitalism regulated on a more legal basis. This process was indicative of the increasing rationalization of economic, political, and administrative arenas that ensued from the formation of alliances between various domestic and foreign actors. The opening of borders in 1989 and globalization played a key role in the dynamics of the transformation of public ownership, and even though the European Union had less of a part in this, the EU was nonetheless an important actor in introducing the rule of law and ensuring that investor guarantees prevailed. This transition neither indicates an internal necessity, leading irreversibly from the one form of capitalism to the other, nor does it show identical forms being adopted that would enable us to speak of an “East European” type of capitalism. This chapter analyzes the three stages of this process of East European state formation, stressing, first, the intense dynamic of initial capture by interest groups, second, the process of rule formation thanks to the consolidation of the public agencies, and, third and last, the redistributive capacity of the new states.
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© 2009 François Bafoil
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Bafoil, F. (2009). Privatization and the Formation of East European States. In: Central and Eastern Europe. The Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230623965_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230623965_3
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