Varieties of Post-communist Capitalism: A Comparative Analysis of Russia, Eastern Europe and China

This book intends to be a contribution to the "varieties of capitalism" paradigm. The theoretical background is Weber 's theory of legitimacy. Was communism ever "legitimate"? What kind of legitimacy claims were made in the transition from communism to capitalism? Central Europe was closer to the Western "liberal" model. Russia built capitalism in a patrimonial way. China followed its own unique way; some called it "socialism with Chinese characteristics". Putin experiments with an innovation for post-communist capitalism. He confronts the "oligarchs" and reallocates property from those who challenge his political authority to old and new loyal ones. This book asks to what extent such forms can serve as generic models for post-communist capitalism?

Iván Szelényi is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Political Science at Yale University and at New York University (Abu Dhabi). He has a long standing interest in class formation under state socialism, and researched the origins of the new entrepreneurial class.
Peter Mihályi is Professor at the Department of Macroeconomics, Corvinus University of Budapest, and Visiting Professor at the Central European University, Hungary. In the 1990s, he served -- inter alia -- as Deputy Government Commissioner for Privatization and Deputy Minister of Finance.