International Political Economy of Transition

<p><em><strong>Shortlisted for the 2013 BISA IPEG Book Prize</strong></em> this book explores how Eastern Europe’s post-communist transition can only be understood as part of a broader interrogation of neoliberal hegemony in the global political economy and provides a detailed historical account of the emergence of neoliberalism in Eastern Central Europe.</p><p>Adopting an innovative Gramscian approach to post-communist transition this book charts the rise to hegemony of neoliberal social forces. Using transition in Poland as a starting point the author traces how particular social forces most intimately associated with transnational capital successful in the struggle over competing reform strategies. Transition is broken down into three stages; the first wave illustrates how the rise of particular social forces shaped by global change gave rise to a neoliberal strategy of capitalism from the 1970s. It goes on to show how the political economy of Europeanization associated with EU enlargement instilled a second wave of neoliberalisation. Finally exploring recent populist and left wing alternatives in the context of the current financial crisis the book outlines how counter-hegemonic struggle might oppose a third wave neoliberalisation.</p><p><em>The International Political Economy of Transition</em> will be of interest to students and scholars of international political economy post-communist studies and European politics</p>