A Concise Field Guide to Post-Communist Regimes: Actors, Institutions, and Dynamics

While the literature of hybrid regimes has given up the presumption that post-communist countries must democratize, its language and concepts still mostly relate to Western democracies. Magyar and Madlovics strongly argue for a vocabulary and grammar tailored to the specifics of the region. In 120 theses they unfold a conceptual framework with (1) a typology of post-communist regimes and (2) a detailed presentation of ideal-type actors and the political, economic, and social phenomena in these regimes. The book is a more digestible companion to the 800-page The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2020), which was a detailed theoretical study with plenty of empirical illustrations. Each of the 120 theses contains a statement and its concise discussion supported by illustrative tables, figures, and QR-codes that connect the interested reader to the more detailed analysis in the Anatomy. In a condensed variety, this book has kept the holistic approach of the Anatomy and treats the spheres of political, market, and communal action as parts of a single, coherent whole. The endeavor to synthesize a vast range of ideas does not, however, result in a too complicated text. On the contrary, freed from the implicit presumptions of democracy theory, the new terminology yields a readily usable toolkit of unambiguous means of expression to speak about post-communism.

Table of Contents:
Foreword: A New Paradigm for Understanding Post-Communist Regimes Oleksandr Fisun User’s guide to the book I. The Conceptual Framework: 120 Propositions Trapped in the Language of Liberal Democracy Dissolving Axiom #1: Stubborn Structures and the Region’s Development Dissolving Axiom #2: Formality and Informality Dissolving Axiom #3: From Constitutional State to the Mafia State A Sui Generis Phenomenon: the Adopted Political Family The Formal Institutional Setting: Changing Patterns of Legitimacy Legislation and the Legal System: From the Rule of Law to the Law of Rule Defensive Mechanisms: Stability and Erosion of Democracies and Autocracies Relational Economics: Corruption, Predation, and the Redistribution of Markets Market-Exploiting Dictatorship: Coexistence of the Three Economic Mechanisms in China Clientage Society and the Social Stability of Patronal Autocracy Populism: an Ideological Instrument for the Political Program of Morally Unconstrained Collective Egoism Beyond Regime Specificities: Country-, Policy-, and Era-Specific Features Post-Communist Regime Trajectories: A Triangular Framework II. Trajectories of Twelve Post-Communist Regimes Estonia: Regime Change to Liberal Democracy Romania: Regime Change to Patronal Democracy Kazakhstan: Regime Change to Patronal Autocracy China: Model Change to Market-Exploiting Dictatorship Czech Republic: Backsliding Toward Patronal Democracy Poland: Backsliding Toward Conservative Autocracy Hungary: Backsliding to Patronal Autocracy from Liberal Democracy Russia: Backsliding to Patronal Autocracy from Oligarchic Anarchy Ukraine: Regime Cycles with Color Revolutions North Macedonia: Regime Cycle with Intra-Elite Conflict Moldova: Regime Cycles with Foreign Interference Georgia: An Attempt to Break the Regime Cycle Notes About the Authors

About the Author :
Bálint Magyar is Research Fellow at CEU Democracy Institute, working on the subject of patronalism in post-communist countries. He was a member of the Hungarian Parliament (1990-2010). As a Minister of Education (1996-1998; 2002-2006) he initiated and carried out reforms in public and higher education. Bálint Madlovics (*1993) is a political scientist and economist. He is a junior research fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute. He holds MA in Political Science (2018) from Central European University in Budapest, and BA in Applied Economics (2016) from Corvinus University of Budapest. 

Review :
"Węgierscy badacze: Ustrój, który wymyślili Orban z Kaczyńskim, wymyka się definicjom. To zupełnie nowa jakość." https://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,30175241,to-jakby-opisywac-slonia-przy-pomocy-jezyka-na-temat-ryb.html "In the wide-reaching academic literature on corruption and oligarchs’ influence, Magyar and Madlovics’s synthesis and typologies are exemplary, and their conceptualization rigorous." https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/hungarian-studies/article-abstract/48/2/216/287751/Why-Did-Hungarian-Politics-Become-Authoritarian-A?redirectedFrom=fulltext "Hiermit ein drittes Forschungsparadigma zur Analyse der Entwicklung Osteuropas nach der Transitologie (in den 1990er Jahren dominant) und einem Konzept, das er als 'Hybridologie' bezeichnet, entwickelt werde. Jenes Dritte bezeichnet er als Paradigma der 'Post-Communist Dynamics'. 'The basic hypothesis of the authors is that the post-communist political trajectory after the fall of communism is leading to ‚informal patronal‘ systems of rule, and by no means to the establishment of Western-style legal-rational liberal democracy.' Die zentrale Institution jenes dritten Paradigmas wird als 'Mafia-Staat' bezeichnet. Dieses Konzept stützt sich auf Erkenntnisse über die historische Mafia, in der traditionelle Familienbeziehungen bestimmend sind und ein Patron die zentrale Figur darstellt. 'In essence, the mafia state is the business venture of the adopted political family managed through the instruments of public authority: the privatized form of a parasite state.'“ https://www.zfo-online.de/portal/zfo/article/download/11463/11348 "The authors take a balanced approach to complex issues such as the varied evolution of postcommunist countries and political, economic and societal elements that could still be found in the 12 countries studied in the book. This book offers a detailed exploration of the political, economic and social dimensions of postcommunist transitions. Its accessible writing style and rich general information make the book a good resource for students and the general public seeking a primer on postcommunist regimes." https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2024.2328994