Good Governance in Central and Eastern Europe: The Puzzle of Capitalism by Design (Economies and Societies in Transition series)

Product Description The implementation of a democratic order embedded in a market economy environment has proved immensely difficult. Furthermore, this process is subject to tremendous variety within Central and Eastern Europe. Ten years after the collapse of communism it was apparent that only Poland and Slovenia surpassed their 1989 levels of GDP. This book scrutinises the arrangements to enforce good governance in this area both by means of external help and domestic political leadership.From the popular assumption that transformation is a collective good, it follows that the problem of free-riding has to be faced. Consequently there is a danger that transformation may never be completed. This book empirically tests the relationship between economic performance and good governance focusing upon voluntary coercion as a means to prevent free-riding behaviour. The author examines the role of international organisations and discusses elite formation as an important element of good governance - something often ignored in the economic analysis of economic performance.Scholars and researchers of political and economic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe as well as those from the fields of political economy, international relations and political science will find this book enlightening. Review 'Undeniably Good Governance in Central and Eastern Europe provides many insights in the political economy of institutional reform and constitutes an important contribution to the growing literature on "second-generation" reforms.' -- Carlos Santiso, Democratization About the Author Edited by Herman W. Hoen, Professor of International Political Economy, University of Groningen, the Netherlands and Associate fellow, School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna (SAIS Europe) of Johns Hopkins University, Italy