Transformation of State Socialism

This book examines the impact of transformation on former state socialist countries, and explores successes, failures and alternative regimes.

The collection considers several aspects of the transformation of the former state socialist countries: social and economic outcomes; forces in the transformation process; problems of consolidation of the new regimes; and alternative scenarios. Comparisons are made between the successful central European countries now members of the European Union with those of the former Soviet Union. The impact of the collapse of the USSR and the course of transformation is considered on China, Cuba, and North Korean. The book also contemplates the alternative types of society that might replace state socialism, particularly state capitalism and market socialism.

DAVID LANE is a Senior Research Associate at Cambridge University, UK, and he has held posts at Birmingham University, UK, where he was Professor of Sociology. He has been a visiting Professor at Harvard and Cornell Universities, USA. He has written many books on Soviet society, state socialism and transformation.

Outcomes of Transformation–D.Lane * PART I: SOCIAL FORCES AND TRANSFORMATION * Communist Nostalgia and its Consequences in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine–S.White * The Social Bases of Reform and Anti-Reform in Russia and Ukraine–D.Lane * Why Labour Turns to the Right: Social Forces in the Post-Communist Transition–D.Ost * PART II: OUTCOMES OF TRANSFORMATION: CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE * The European Union’s Influence on the Development of Capitalism in Central Europe–P.Hanson * The Outcomes of the Czech Economic Transformation–M.Myant * The Integration of the GDR into the Federal Republic: Challenges and Constraints–R.Schmidt * The Russian Transformation: A New Form of Etacratism–O.Shkaratan * PART III: CONSOLIDATION OF NEW REGIMES: THE PROBLEM OF INEQUALITY * Effects of Transformation on Inequality in Russia–N.Manning * Inequalities in Health and Health Care in Post Communist Europe–P.Watson * Rapid Large Scale Privatization and the Post Communist Mortality Crisis–L.King & D.Stuckler * PART IV: ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS: REFORM WITHOUT SYSTEM CHANGE? * Belarus: A Market Socialism Prototype?–M.Nuti * Transnational Ties and Transformation of Cuban Socialism–S.Eckstein * Change and Continuity in North Korea–S.Kwon * The Impact of the Demise of State Socialism on China–J.Wilson * The Consequences of Transformation on the Third World–S.Mizobata