Post-Communism
Encyclopedia
Post-communism is a name sometimes given to the period of political and economic transformation or "transition
" in former Communist state
s located in parts of Europe
and Asia
, in which new governments aimed to create free market
-oriented capitalist economies with some form of parliamentary democracy.
in both Eastern and Western Europe had been governed by the example of the Soviet Union
. In most of the countries in Eastern Europe
, following the fall of Communist-led governments in 1989, the Communist Party generally split in two factions: a reformist Social Democratic
party and a new, less reform-oriented Communist Party. The newly created Social Democratic parties were generally larger and more powerful than the remaining Communist Parties; only in Russia
, Moldova
, and the Czech Republic
did the Communist Party remain a significant force.
The ex-communist social democrats gained increasing popularity when the transition to capitalism
began to cause economic problems such as poverty
and unemployment
. Nearly all of them won national elections in their respective countries at least once in the past 15 years.
In western Europe, many of the self-styled communist political parties reacted by changing their policies to a more moderate
and less radical
course. In countries such as Italy
and Germany
, post-communism is marked by the increased influence of their existing Social Democrats. The anti-Soviet communist parties in western Europe (for example the Trotskyist
parties), who felt that the fall of the Soviet Union vindicated their views and predictions, did not particularly prosper from it - in fact, some of them became less radical as well.
towards a more market-oriented economy
in the 1980s. The post-communist economic transition was much more abrupt and aimed at creating fully capitalist economies.
All the countries concerned have abandoned the traditional tools of communist economic control, and moved more or less successfully toward free market systems. A summary of the process, containing both economic analysis and anecdotal case studies, can be found in Charles Paul Lewis's How the East Was Won (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). Although some (including Lewis) stress the beneficial effect of multinational investment, the reforms had important negative consequences that are still unfolding.
Average standards of living registered a catastrophic fall in the early 1990s in many parts of the former Comecon
- most notably, in the former Soviet Union - and began to rise again only toward the end of the decade. Some populations are still poorer today than they were in 1989 (e.g. Ukraine
, Moldova
, Serbia
). Others have bounced back considerably beyond that threshold however (e.g. Czech Republic
, Hungary
, Poland
, Romania
, Slovakia
), and some, such as Estonia
, Latvia
and Lithuania
, underwent an economic boom (see Baltic Tiger
), although all have suffered from the 2009 recession.
Today, most post-communist countries in Europe are generally seen to have mixed economies
, although it is often argued that some (such as Romania
, Slovakia
and Estonia
, with their flat tax rates) are actually more capitalist than Western Europe.
Economic trends associated with post-communism include denationalization, hyperinflation
, liberalization
, neoliberalism
, and privatization
.
Transition economy
A transition economy or transitional economy is an economy which is changing from a centrally planned economy to a free market. Transition economies undergo economic liberalization, where market forces set prices rather than a central planning organization and trade barriers are removed,...
" in former Communist state
Communist state
A communist state is a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state...
s located in parts of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, in which new governments aimed to create free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
-oriented capitalist economies with some form of parliamentary democracy.
Politics
The policies of most Communist PartiesCommunist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
in both Eastern and Western Europe had been governed by the example of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. In most of the countries in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, following the fall of Communist-led governments in 1989, the Communist Party generally split in two factions: a reformist Social Democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
party and a new, less reform-oriented Communist Party. The newly created Social Democratic parties were generally larger and more powerful than the remaining Communist Parties; only in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
, and the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
did the Communist Party remain a significant force.
The ex-communist social democrats gained increasing popularity when the transition to capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
began to cause economic problems such as poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
and unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
. Nearly all of them won national elections in their respective countries at least once in the past 15 years.
In western Europe, many of the self-styled communist political parties reacted by changing their policies to a more moderate
Moderate
In politics and religion, a moderate is an individual who is not extreme, partisan or radical. In recent years, political moderates has gained traction as a buzzword....
and less radical
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
course. In countries such as Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, post-communism is marked by the increased influence of their existing Social Democrats. The anti-Soviet communist parties in western Europe (for example the Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
parties), who felt that the fall of the Soviet Union vindicated their views and predictions, did not particularly prosper from it - in fact, some of them became less radical as well.
Economy
Several communist states had undergone economic reforms from a planned economyPlanned economy
A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
towards a more market-oriented economy
Market economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
in the 1980s. The post-communist economic transition was much more abrupt and aimed at creating fully capitalist economies.
All the countries concerned have abandoned the traditional tools of communist economic control, and moved more or less successfully toward free market systems. A summary of the process, containing both economic analysis and anecdotal case studies, can be found in Charles Paul Lewis's How the East Was Won (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). Although some (including Lewis) stress the beneficial effect of multinational investment, the reforms had important negative consequences that are still unfolding.
Average standards of living registered a catastrophic fall in the early 1990s in many parts of the former Comecon
Comecon
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance , 1949–1991, was an economic organisation under hegemony of Soviet Union comprising the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of communist states elsewhere in the world...
- most notably, in the former Soviet Union - and began to rise again only toward the end of the decade. Some populations are still poorer today than they were in 1989 (e.g. Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
). Others have bounced back considerably beyond that threshold however (e.g. Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
), and some, such as Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
and Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, underwent an economic boom (see Baltic Tiger
Baltic Tiger
Baltic Tiger is a term used to refer to any of the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania during their periods of economic boom, which started after the year 2000 and continued until 2006–2007...
), although all have suffered from the 2009 recession.
Today, most post-communist countries in Europe are generally seen to have mixed economies
Mixed economy
Mixed economy is an economic system in which both the state and private sector direct the economy, reflecting characteristics of both market economies and planned economies. Most mixed economies can be described as market economies with strong regulatory oversight, in addition to having a variety...
, although it is often argued that some (such as Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
and Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, with their flat tax rates) are actually more capitalist than Western Europe.
Economic trends associated with post-communism include denationalization, hyperinflation
Hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is very high or out of control. While the real values of the specific economic items generally stay the same in terms of relatively stable foreign currencies, in hyperinflationary conditions the general price level within a specific economy increases...
, liberalization
Liberalization
In general, liberalization refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy. In some contexts this process or concept is often, but not always, referred to as deregulation...
, neoliberalism
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...
, and privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
.
External links
- Parties and Elections in Europe
- Dangerous Assumptions in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Daniel Nelson, July/August 2000.
- Transitions Online: News coverage of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the former Soviet Union
- Communism: A Love Affair?: Russians Nostalgic for Soviet Social Services by The Global Post