Konwergencja i dywergencja instytucji państwa w krajach postsocjalistycznych w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej
Convergence and divergence of state institutions in post-socialist countries in Central-Eastern Europe

Author(s): Bartosz Totleben, Dawid Piątek
Subject(s): Economy, National Economy, Governance, Public Administration, Economic history, Economic policy, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Poznaniu
Keywords: institutional change;post-socialist transition;state institutions;economic freedom;political freedom;governance quality;institutional convergence;institutional divergence;
Summary/Abstract: The chapter addresses the issue of institutional changes in post-socialist countries. Its objective is to present the changes in the levels of political, economic freedom, and governance quality in these countries, and to examine whether there has been convergence or divergenceof state institutions in post-socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe compared to selected European Union members. A study was conducted using sigma convergence fordata from 1990 to 2022, examining indicators of economic freedom, political freedom, and governance quality. In terms of economic freedom, convergence was confirmed in all analyzed country groups. The direction of political freedom changes was varied. Convergence was confirmed in the Baltic and Southeastern European countries, with ambiguous results for Central Europe and divergence in Eastern Europe. Similarly, changes in governance quality closely mirrored those of economic freedom. Convergence was apparent across all groups within the studied time frame, except for the Central European group. Here, divergence was noted from 2004 to 2022, although statistically insignificant over the entire period.

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