Crossroads After Communism: Neoliberal Legacies in Eastern Europe and Parallel Paths in Latin America

Binio S. Binev's book offers an innovative interpretation of the relationship between economic liberalism and political illiberalism in contemporary Eastern Europe and Latin America. Focusing primarily on the former region, he emphasizes linkages between the legacies of early market reform and the adaptive strategies of subsequent populists. By integrating elements of path dependency and human agency, this book advances a distinctive explanation of illiberals' electoral viability and behavior in power. It uses both quantitative analysis of region-wide patterns and in-depth case studies informed by interviews from fieldwork in both regions to offer a comprehensive and nuanced perspective on the long-term effects of building capitalism, the political Left, and the persistent appeal of populist forces after the end of communism. It also identifies intriguing cross-regional parallels connecting early market reforms, societal reactions to neoliberalism, and illiberals' prospects of dominating politics and contesting democracy.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements; Part I. The Big Picture: 1. Illiberal outcomes and the weight of recent history; 2. From neoliberal reform to illiberalism in Eastern Europe: historical legacies, Polanyian perspectives, and Latin American lessons; 3. The long shadow of post-communist junctures: an empirical baseline; Part II. Case Studies From Eastern Europe: 4. Antecedent conditions and post-communist junctures in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Romania; 5. From bait-and-switch junctures to illiberal reactions: Slovakia and Poland; 6. Divergent legacies of post-communist junctures: Czechia, Romania, and beyond; Part III. A Cross-Regional View: 7. Expanding the analytical framework: dominant and contestatory varieties of illiberalism in Eastern Europe and Latin America; 8. Parallel paths in the Eastern European mirror: reinterpreting developments in Ecuador and Peru; 9. Illiberalism, democracy, and the left after the neoliberal revolution: concluding reflections; Appendices; References; Index.

About the Author :
Binio S. Binev is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Virginia Tech, where his work covers institutions, political economy, and cross-regional perspectives. He was educated in Bulgaria and the United States, studied languages in Germany, Mexico, and Kyrgyzstan, and has conducted research in Eastern Europe, South America, and Central Asia.

Review :
'Binev provides a detailed account of the diverse trajectories of political parties coping with market liberalization at critical junctures in postcommunist and select Latin American countries. Crossroads After Communism develops important general propositions, backed up by evidence, explaining when and where populist parties can become spearheads of degrading liberal democracy and economic market liberalism.' Herbert Kitschelt, George V. Allen Distinguished Professor of International Relations, Duke University 'A major contribution to the comparative study of postcommunist transitions and their diverging legacies in Eastern Europe. Drawing lessons from the Latin American experience, Binio S. Binev artfully explains how different partisan alignments during decisive periods of market reform in postcommunist Europe produced liberal or illiberal political, economic, and cultural effects over the long term. This masterful work of cross-regional comparative political economy is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the conditions under which the triumph of liberalism in the 1990s spawned the backlash against it in the early twenty-first century.' Kenneth M. Roberts, Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government, Cornell University 'This ambitious book explores why neoliberal junctures led to the rise of populism in some countries of Eastern Europe and Latin America but not others. Where the Left promotes neoliberalism in a bait-and-switch maneuver, it destabilizes its traditional bases of support and paves the way for populist rule. Binev's book strengthens the case for viewing populists as opportunistic forces of reaction.' Mitchell A. Orenstein, Professor of Russian and East European Studies, University of Pennsylvania