Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe: test of early impact

2019

SSRN Journal

For several decades, the Business and Society literature has mainly focused on the retreat of the state from the economy in Western countries since the 1980s. As a result, the "return of the state" as an economic actor, especially in emerging markets, has left scholars without the necessary tools to capture this trend of the "politicization of the economic." Thus, we argue that current conceptualizations of state-dominated systems as "authoritarian capitalism" too easily lump together countries as diverse as China, Singapore, and Norway under this heading. Rather than considering any type of state intervention in the economy as authoritarian, we propose a more sophisticated conceptualization of the extension of the political into the economic, which allows us to clearly distinguish cases of "state capitalism" from "authoritarian capitalism." We apply our framework to the case of Hungary to illustrate that a more precise definition of "authoritarian capitalism" makes it a useful tool to understand contexts beyond the Chinese case in which it first emerged. Based on interviews with business leaders in Hungary under Viktor Orbán's government, we identify the mechanisms by which an authoritarian government expands the political into the economic realm, eroding the publicprivate divide; moving thus from "democratic backsliding" into "economic backsliding."

Section: Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: The Case Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Makes Authoritarian Capitalism Authoritarian? The Double Erosion of the Private-public Divide in Illiberal Hungary

2019

SSRN Journal

“…Thus, it adopted a new constitution without public consultation and amended it several times since. These steps constitute signs of 'democratic backsliding' (Sedlmair, 2014;Bandelj et al, 2015).…”

Section: Empirical Findings: From 'Developmental' To 'Clan-state'mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, since the turn of the century, most of the Visegrad countries have entered a phase that has been called 'democratic-and institutional 'backsliding,'' both in terms of democratic political institutions and in terms of open, liberal market-based economic ones (Orenstein, 2013;Sedelmeier, 2014;Bandelj, Finley and Radu, 2015;Greskovits, 2015). While the timing and extent of these trends differ across countries, in all of them have more autocratic political parties and anti-Western, anti-liberal discourses and policies gained in influence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the timing and extent of these trends differ across countries, in all of them have more autocratic political parties and anti-Western, anti-liberal discourses and policies gained in influence. These trends have resulted in the emergence of more authoritarian regimes where the government intervenes more directly and resolutely in society and the economy to extend its control (Sedelmair, 2014;Bandelj et al, 2015). This development makes a focus on the nature and role of the state in post-socialist economies crucial.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Transformation of Post-Socialist Capitalism From Developmental State to Clan State?

2018

SSRN Journal

Various characterisations exist of the model of post-social capitalism. While most typologies underscore the prominent role of the state in post-socialist capitalism compared to Western economies, the literature is less clear about what exactly this role consists of. For the case of East Central Europe, some authors underscore the weakness of the state and its 'capture' by business interests, while others attribute to the state a benign role in successful industrial restructuring. We show that both views are of limited use to understand the phase of 'backsliding' that these economies are currently experiencing. We draw on anthropological models of post-socialist states that focus on elite dynamics within the state and show that this focus allows us to interpret backsliding in Hungary as a reversal of the developmental state into a clan-state.

What Is “Authoritarian” About Authoritarian Capitalism? The Dual Erosion of the Private–Public Divide in State-Dominated Business Systems

2020

Business & Society

The “return of the state” as an economic actor has left scholars at a lack of theoretical tools to capture the characteristics of state-dominated business systems. This is reflected in the fact that any type of state intervention in the economy is too easily qualified as a sign of “authoritarian capitalism,” which has led scholars to lump together countries as diverse as China, Singapore, and Norway under that heading. Rather than considering any type of state intervention in the economy as authoritarian, we propose a more sophisticated conceptualization, which distinguishes two boundaries between the public and the private domains and conceives of the “return of the state” as the erosion of one or both of them. This conceptualization allows us to clearly distinguish a shift from an ideal-typical market-based “regulatory capitalism” to “state capitalism” or “authoritarian capitalism,” respectively. We use interview data with business leaders in an extreme case of the return of the state to identify the nature of the mechanisms by which an authoritarian government erodes these private-public divides. We argue that a focus on these constitutive mechanisms of the erosion of private-public divides allows us to define “authoritarian capitalism” in a way that makes it a useful tool to understand contexts beyond the Chinese case in which it first emerged.