Theoretical interpretations of central and east European post-communist transformations

Post-communist transformations have been approached and interpreted differently by different academic disciplines and their respective subdisciplines. This paper provides a critical review of traditional and alternative views of changes in Central and Eastern Europe since the collapse of state socialism. In particular, it focuses on neo-liberal and neoclassical economic interpretations and neo-marxist state to private capitalism thesis as examples of traditional interpretations of post-communist transformations. Alternative views critically reviewed in this paper are based on evolutionary and institutional economics, the analysis of networks of economic embeddedness, the Marxist analysis of production processes, and regulation theory. The differences between these traditional and alternative approaches in their understanding and approaching post-communist transformations are analyzed and evaluated.

Keywords: transformation, transition, theory, Central and Eastern Europe