The Central and Eastern European Model of Capitalism

This paper addresses the question of how the institutions of the new EU Member States match with the institution types previously worked out for the old Member States, and whether they resemble any of the broadly accepted four models of capitalism (Anglo-Saxon, Nordic, Continental European and Mediterranean), or represent a new type of model. Amable’s work was regarded as the starting point of this study, which underpinned the existence of the four models with statistical analysis. As for the new member states, our cluster analysis indicated that a new, fifth model of Central and Eastern Europe could be determined. The characteristics of the Central and Eastern European model may be derived from three main factors: the lack of capital, weak civil society, and the impacts of the European Union and other international organisations influencing the new member states. Also owing to these factors, a special division of labour has developed between the old and the new, post-communist member states since the systemic change two decades ago, in which the present asymmetric interdependency can be long-lasting. This could also make the Lisbon-type strategies, which aims to develop the European integration into a set of innovation-driven economies, illusionary in the long run