Varieties of Post-communist Capitalism (Hardcover)

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. In conclusion, the central question is to what extent is “Putinism” a generic model for post-communist capitalism?

Professor Mihályi started his academic career after graduation from the Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences in Budapest. Between 1983-1993, he was a researcher of the UN Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva. After returning to his native country, he became an active participant of the Hungarian privatization process. He served – inter alia – as Deputy Government Commissioner for Privatization in 1994/95 and played a major role in the largest transactions in energy and banking. In 1997/98 he was promoted to Deputy State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. His portfolio included the pension reform, the preparation of the healthcare reform and municipal financing. He is affiliated with the Corvinus University of Budapest as Professor Emeritus and the Central European University as a Recurrent Visiting Professor. Professor Mihályi is an often consulted expert by UNCTAD, UN ECE, the World Bank, and the European Union. Ivan Szelenyi is Max Weber Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences, NYUAD and William Graham Sumner Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Political Science, Yale University. He is a Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Ordinary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.