Capitalism and Democracy in the Post-socialist Transformation. Basic Concepts
Capitalism and Democracy in the Post-socialist Transformation. Basic Concepts

Summary/Abstract: The collapse of one-party dictatorship and centrally planned economy based on state ownership opened up the pathways for the formation of different post-socialist systems. Among other variants in a certain number of post-socialist states, democratic capitalism could emerge. Recently the system of post-socialist capitalism has been going through the process of regression leading to a distorted and defective democracy and capitalism in some post-socialist countries. This essay reviews the literature on the relationship of democracy and capitalism in order to contribute to the creation of a theoretical framework for the analysis of the regression of post-socialist democratic capitalism. In the paper the argument is made that for the explanation of the regression of democratic capitalism, the structural analysis of post-socialist democratization and marketization should be supplemented with a theory that reflects on the role of political actors, the role of political parties, party competition in this process.

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