Similarities and differences will be demonstrated between Chinese and Hungarian party-state systems. We define the role of reforms in the self-reproduction of both party-states. We shall demonstrate how different patterns of power distribution lead to the implementation of different reforms. We...

A complex analytical framework, the Interactive Party state model (IPS), is offered for revealing the structural and dynamic background of opposite processes: first, the development of the communist party as a political entity into a politically monopolized regime and then to a social system;...

This paper analyzes the impact of global financial and economic crisis on the process of system transformation in China. First, it details the direct impact of global growth on macroeconomic development and its indirect impact on economic transformation. Second, it analyzes the direct impact of...

In the past 20 years the average real earnings of Chinese urban male workers have increased by 350 per cent. Accompanying this unprecedented growth is a considerable increase in earnings inequality. Between 1988 and 2007 the variance of log earnings increased from 0.27 to 0.48, a 78 per cent...

The paper focuses on institutional change and institution building as integral parts of economic transition in China. China's success, particularly compared with other advanced transition economies, implies a puzzling observation: China did not apply theoretically-derived policy recommendations....

Over the last two decades, trade union membership in Central and Eastern Europe has been in continuous decline and there is a common perception that trade unions in the region are weak. However, little is known about the actual relevance of trade unions for individual workers in the...

From "Comrade" to "Monsieur": Structural Adjustment and Democratization in Benin: The process of political and economic liberalization in Benin is regarded as a model for the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa. Benin made history by becoming the first African country to overthrow a military dictator by...

This analysis deals with reform obstacles in general and with the particular challenges of institutional change under the conditions of Southern Europe in particular. It presents a survey on the possible drivers of reform resistance. This includes very different qualities of approaches ranging...

We examine the case of the Czech Republic, which has been frequently cited as one of the most successful cases of transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Despite the costs related to the break-up of Czechoslovakia in late 1992 and 1993, the immediate consequences were quickly...

This paper is challenging mainstream views about the contemporary Chinese system as a developmental state and a variety of capitalism. Based on a comparative analytical model (Csanádi, 1997, 2006) I will demonstrate that in China the general features of a communist system prevail to date, and...