Description
Book SynopsisThe analysis includes a critical revision of received dichotomies (e.g. on gradualism versus "shock therapy"), and contributes to current debates on the varieties of post-communist capitalism. This conceptual framework is applied in case studies on the Baltic States, with special consideration given to the possibility of alternatives to the Lithuanian way and the challenges of populism in this country's politics.
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1. Communism and Its Explanations 1.1 Marxist Views Totalitarianism Theory Communism as Path into Modernity Communist Neotraditionalism Communism with Adjectives: Peculiarities of Communism in LithuaniaChapter 2. Was Collapse of Communism a Failure of Social Science? 2.1 The Forecasts of the Communism's Breakdown 2.3 Why Nobody Predicted How and When Will the Soviet Communism Collapse? 2.4 Was the Collapse of Soviet Communism in 1989-1991 Unavoidable? 2.5 Chinese Way Out of Soviet Communism as the Avoided Tragedy of the Restoration of the Independent Lithuania Chapter 3.Postcommunist Transformation: Exits and Arrivals3.1 A Typology of the Ways of Postcommunist Transformation 3.2 The Political Economical Outcomes of the Exit Out of Communism 3.3 Pathways of the Capitalist Restoration: Two, Three, or Four? 3.4 Lithuanian Way of Postcommunist Transformation Chapter 4. Which Democracy with Adjectives in Lithuania? 4.1 Why Democracy Matters: Problem of Social Cost of Postcommunist Transformation 4.2 Why Liberal Democracy in Lithuania is Consolidated? 4.3 Why Liberal Democracy is of Low Quality? 4.4 Prospects of Postcommunist Democracy: Adversary, Consensual or What? Chapter 5.Postcommunist Capitalism as Theoretical Problem 5.1 Change and Diversity of Capitalism in Comparative Economical Sociology and Political Economy 5.2 From Communism into A Better" Capitalism? Disappointed Hopes of the PostcommunistMessianism 5.3 How Many Postcommunist Capitalism(s)? Current Controversies Chapter 6. On Baltic Sicily and Lombardy: Why Lithuania Performed Worse than Estonia?6.1 North-South Gap in the Political and Economical Transformation of the Baltic States as an Explanation Problem 6.2 Economical Explanation of Lithuania's Backwardness 6.3 Political-Economical Explanation: Does the Blame Lay on Lithuanian Ex-Communists? 6.4 Culturalist Explanation: "Weber's" Thesis for Baltic Countries? 6.5 Difficulties of the Culturalist Explanation of the Estonia's Success Chapter 7.Between Estonia and Slovenia: Postcommunist Capitalism in Lithuania and Its Prospects7.1 Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania: Two Antipode Champions of the Postcommunist Transformation and One Mediocrity 7.2 Why Capitalism in Lithuania is Akin to Estonian, but not to Slovenian Capitalism? 7.3 Whom to Run after: Estonia or Slovenia? 7.4 Will Eurocapitalism be Neoliberal or Social? References
