Concise Field Guide to Post-Communist Regimes

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.

"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

• Foreword: A New Paradigm for Understanding Post-Communist Regimes Oleksandr Fisun User's guide to the bookI. 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 FrameworkII. 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