Path Dependence and Capital Theory: Sociology of the Post-communist Economic Transformation

Róna‐Tas, Ákos

doi:10.1177/0888325498012001005

Cited by 39 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, at present, in the policy sciences, "path dependence" remains a much used, and abused, model of historical sequencing. Although it has been applied to such diverse cases of policy-making and political re-structuring as European, Danish, and post-Soviet regime transitions (Holzinger and Knill, 2002;Nee and Cao, 1999;Rona-Tas, 1998;Torfing, 2001) and environmental, industrial and health policy-making (Kline, 2001;Rahnema and Howlett, 2002;Bevan and Robinson, 2005;Courchene, 1993;Wilsford, 1994), most of the works which employ it in the policy sphere have tended to apply it unsystematically, or to somewhat uncritically accept analogies from the economics literature where it developed. As has been shown above, even the work of its most prominent exponents in the policy sciences, while distinguishable from the accounts provided in the economics literature, rests on many unsubstantiated theoretical assertions and incorrect empirics.…”

Section: Conclusion: Reconciling Multiple Competing Models Of Histormentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the historical turn in the policy sciences: A critique of stochastic, narrative, path dependency and process-sequencing models of policy-making over time

2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article evaluates four general models of historical change processes which have emerged in various fields in the social sciences -namely stochastic, historical narrative, path dependency and process sequencing -and their application to the study of public policy-making. The article sets out and assesses the merits and evidence for each, both in general social research and in the policy sciences. The article suggests that more work needs to be done examining the assumptions and presuppositions of each model before it can be concluded that any represents the general case in policy processes. However, since neither the irreversible linear reality assumed by narrative models, nor the random and chaotic world assumed by stochastic models, nor the contingent turning points and irreversible trajectories required of the path dependency model are found very often in policy-making, these models are likely to remain less significant than process-sequencing models in describing the overall general pattern of policy dynamics.

show abstract

Section: Conclusion: Reconciling Multiple Competing Models Of Histormentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the historical turn in the policy sciences: A critique of stochastic, narrative, path dependency and process-sequencing models of policy-making over time

2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Hence, for example, a decision to alter an existing nuclear energy program in which billions may already have been invested, is a much more difficult decision to make than a corresponding decision about a program that has not yet been started. Evidence of the stabilizing effects of past policies, or policy legacies, is apparent in many policy areas, from the impact of past spending on hospitals for healthcare systems (Wilsford, 1994) to the nature of privatization decisions taken by postcommunist governments in eastern Europe and elsewhere (Rona-Tas, 1998).…”

Section: Policy Stability Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The policy effects of internationalization: A subsystem adjustment analysis of policy change

Howlett¹,

Ramesh²

2002

Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article contributes to a better understanding of contemporary policy analysis and management by setting out the parameters for analyzing policy change induced by internationalization. It first maps the dynamics of policy change in domestic settings and then explores how internationalization has affected the dynamics identified. The central proposition of the article is that internationalization promotes the restructuring of policy subsystems in such as way as to form hospitable circumstances for swifter and deeper policy changes than would otherwise be the case. However, the analysis suggests that this is a two-stage process in that once its initial impact is felt, internationalization serves to entrench and stabilize reconstructed policy systems, thus constraining the scope for further change.

show abstract

“…Based on data gathered through complementary research methods (ethnographic research in firms, the analysis of government agency documents, and the analysis of the ownership records of the 200 largest Hungarian enterprises and top 25 banks in 1994) Stark identified an ensemble of practices that he labeled recombinant property. Interenterprise ownership networks, Stark demonstrated, were a response to uncertainty, serving as a strategy to spread risk (see also Johnson 1997;McDermott 1997;Róna-Tas 1998;Spicer, McDermott and Kogut 2000;Böröcz 2001;Vedres 2000). Like mountain climbers assaulting a treacherous face, postsocialist firms used networks of cross-ownership as the safety ropes binding them together.…”

Section: Emergence Of Inter-enterprise Ownership Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

12. Social Sequence Analysis

2012

The Emergence of Organizations and Markets

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To model, from its inception, inter-enterprise network formation and its interaction with foreign investment across an entire epoch of rapid and profound economic transformation, we gathered data on the complete ownership histories of 1,696 of the largest Hungarian enterprises from 1987 to 2001. We develop a social sequence analysis to identify distinctive pathways whereby firms use network resources to buffer uncertainty, hide or restructure assets, or gain knowledge and legitimacy. During this period, networked property grew, stabilized, and involved a growing proportion of foreign capital. Cohesive networks of recombinant property were robust, and in fact integrated foreign investment. Although multinationals, through their subsidiaries, dissolved ties in joint venture arrangements, we find evidence that they also built durable networks. We then augment the ownership data with personnel data on the managers and directors of these firms in 2001. By merging that dataset with the list of all political officeholders in Hungary, we identify a company as having a political tie when one of its economic officeholders is a current or former political officeholder. Social sequence analysis of network topographies provides analytic leverage not only in in understanding how foreign direct investment is related to the temporal structuring of business networks but as to the ties of firms to political parties. Not as a general rule but through specific histories, firms can be cohesively tied to other firms, closely tied to political parties, and strongly linked to foreign capital. Our findings suggest that developing economies do not necessarily face a forced choice between networks of global reach and those of local embeddedness.

show abstract

Path Dependence and Capital Theory: Sociology of the Post-communist Economic Transformation

Cited by 39 publications

References 0 publications

Understanding the historical turn in the policy sciences: A critique of stochastic, narrative, path dependency and process-sequencing models of policy-making over time

Understanding the historical turn in the policy sciences: A critique of stochastic, narrative, path dependency and process-sequencing models of policy-making over time

The policy effects of internationalization: A subsystem adjustment analysis of policy change

12. Social Sequence Analysis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About