Overview

Offering a single, coherent framework of the political, economic, and social phenomena that characterize post-communist regimes, this is the most comprehensive work on the subject to date. Focusing on Central Europe, the post-Soviet countries and China, the study provides a systematic mapping of possible post-communist trajectories. At exploring the structural foundations of post-communist regime development, the work discusses the types of state, with an emphasis on informality and patronalism; the variety of actors in the political, economic, and communal spheres; the ways autocrats neutralize media, elections, etc. The analysis embraces the color revolutions of civil resistance (as in Georgia and in Ukraine) and the defensive mechanisms of democracy and autocracy; the evolution of corruption and the workings of “relational economy”; an analysis of China as “market-exploiting dictatorship”; the sociology of “clientage society”; and the instrumental use of ideology, with an emphasis on populism. Beyond a cataloguing of phenomena—actors, institutions, and dynamics of post-communist democracies, autocracies, and dictatorships—Magyar and Madlovics also conceptualize everything as building blocks to a larger, coherent structure: a new language for post-communist regimes. While being the most definitive book on the topic, the book is nevertheless written in an accessible style suitable for both beginners who wish to understand the logic of post-communism and scholars who are interested in original contributions to comparative regime theory. The book is equipped with QR codes that link to www.postcommunistregimes.com, which contains interactive, 3D supplementary material for teaching.

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Magyar's new book, co-authored with Balint Madlovics, is The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes: A Conceptual Framework. It contains, among other insights, a critique of how we usually talk about and measure corruption. Magyar and Madlovics write that the problem with measurements used by, say, Transparency International, which produces an annual index of perceived corruption, is that the index assumes that corruption represents a departure from a norm: 'They understand the state by its formal identity: as dominantly an institution of the public good, with some subordinates who deviate from that purpose and abuse their position by requesting or accepting bribes and appointing cronies without a legitimate basis.' This view of corruption fails when confronted with a government to which corruption is central, or in which corruption is not voluntary but coercive-where the corrupt relationship is forced by one partner upon the other. * New Yorker * This book, over 800 pages, is one of few serious attempts to offer a systematic and massive 'anatomy', as Magyar and Madlovics rightly call it, of all the possible variations between the oversimplistic dualist opposition of communist dictatorship and liberal democracy. A key feature of this book is that it is structured in a way that can be easily integrated into teaching. The book comes with its own dedicated website offering extensive online resources including a draft seminar that can be adopted for a course on post-communist regimes, and a 3D interactive model of post-communist regime trajectories that can be studied using desktop software and a mobile app. A large number of topologies, analytical models, quotes of important ideas clarifying tables and figures facilitate a variety of teaching methods in classroom settings. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09668136.2021.1951024 -- Chi Zhang

Magyar's new book, co-authored with Balint Madlovics, is 'The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes: A Conceptual Framework.' It contains, among other insights, a critique of how we usually talk about and measure corruption. Magyar and Madlovics write that the problem with measurements used by, say, Transparency International, which produces an annual index of perceived corruption, is that the index assumes that corruption represents a departure from a norm: 'They understand the state by its formal identity: as dominantly an institution of the public good, with some subordinates who deviate from that purpose and abuse their position by requesting or accepting bribes and appointing cronies without a legitimate basis.' This view of corruption fails when confronted with a government to which corruption is central, or in which corruption is not voluntary but coercive-where the corrupt relationship is forced by one partner upon the other. * New Yorker *

"""This thought-provoking and comprehensive volume comes at a propitious time. Thirty years following the Soviet Union’s collapse, it asks fundamental questions about the nature of the post-communist transition, the quality of governance in the post-Soviet world (and beyond), and the sources of regime variation. With the benefit of hindsight, Bálint Magyar and Bálint Madlovics reflect on an extensive literature in a context of some abject democratic failure and increasingly consolidated corrupt networks in select countries, alongside more positive evelopments, including, variously, sustained economic growth (including in China—a perhaps surprising case for inclusion in the study) and/or increased freedoms in particular regions. For such an extensive investigation, the authors do an admirable job of sustaining the argument. Like all great studies, this one tries to answer some key questions while also provoking pressing new ones."" -- Rachel A. Epstein * The Russian Review * ""I would advise any scholar entering this field to begin by reading this book, and diving into any of the particular areas they illuminate so powerfully—stubborn structures, the state, actors, politics, economy, society, corruption, regimes, and others. Indeed, the next time I teach about (de)democratizations, this volume’s diagrams of regime transformations for twelve postcommunist countries will supplement the diagrams Charles Tilly’s Democracy (2007) offers. If I headed a foundation I would assemble for six months those dedicated to figuring how power works in culture and society, within the postcommunist world and beyond it, to engage this volume and these scholars."" -- Michael D. Kennedy * Slavic Review * ""The book by Bálint Magyar and Bálint Madlovics is a substantial work, and not only in terms of its physical characteristics. The authors have created a detailed and coherent conceptual framework for the study of post-communist regimes, which will be indispensable for future researchers. In addition to the theoretical coherence, the numerous conceptual innovations and the deep embeddedness in relevant literature, the sheer professionalism of the execution is also worth highlighting – I personally found it particularly useful that the book’s website allows us to compare the regime trajectories of different countries. The book is a voluminous and original work that helps us see the functioning of post-communist regimes in historical perspective and on a broad comparative canvas. If not as a textbook to be read in its entirety, it will still be an indispensable part of the reading list for courses on its subject."" https://revdem.ceu.edu/2022/06/24/beyond-the-mafia-state/ -- Gábor Illés * Review of Democracy * ""Among many other fascinating sociological insights, the authors contrast the 'invisible hand' classical-liberal system with the 'grabbing hand' system of a predatory state. They divide the grabbing-hand systems into three categories: (1) Communist totalitarianism, (2) the mafia state, which takes from disloyal outsiders and gives to loyal insiders; and (3) the failed state, where unorganized bureaucrats employ predatory practices unsystematically."" https://www.independent.org/issues/article.asp -- Williamson M. Evers * Independent * ""As a reader and specialist in post-communist transformations, the author of this review has never seen such an impressive book. Bálint Madlovics and Bálint Magyar deliver an exceptional work, matured in the Hungarian intellectual milieu of the Central European University, which overlaps with the individual researches from each of them. With a remarkable capacity for synthesis, the authors pursue a dual theoretical and pedagogical ambition, exploiting a rare analytical capacity and reflexivity that will benefit both specialists and students."" Link to review: https://brill.com/view/journals/eris/eris-overview.xml -- Jérôme Heurtaux * European Review of International Studies * ""Фундаментальный труд Б. Мадьяра, Б. Мадловича представляет значительный интерес для политологов посткоммунистических стран, особенно России и Венгрии, которым авторы уделили особое внимание. «Археология» ссылок показывает источники формирования авторской парадигмы, которая, вероятно, займет достойное место в гибридологии политических режимов, прежде всего за счет четких классификаций и логики изложения. Впечатляет историографический обзор проблематики постсоветских режимов. Вместе с тем, как и любая парадигма, она должна быть не только верифицирована, но и фальсифицирована (в понимании К. Поппера)."" http://inion.ru/site/assets/files/7527/pn_2023_1.pdf -- Расторгуев Сергей Викторович * Политическая наука * ""Magyar’s new book, co-authored with Bálint Madlovics, is The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes: A Conceptual Framework. It contains, among other insights, a critique of how we usually talk about and measure corruption. Magyar and Madlovics write that the problem with measurements used by, say, Transparency International, which produces an annual index of perceived corruption, is that the index assumes that corruption represents a departure from a norm: 'They understand the state by its formal identity: as dominantly an institution of the public good, with some subordinates who deviate from that purpose and abuse their position by requesting or accepting bribes and appointing cronies without a legitimate basis.' This view of corruption fails when confronted with a government to which corruption is central, or in which corruption is not voluntary but coercive—where the corrupt relationship is forced by one partner upon the other."" * New Yorker * ""This book, over 800 pages, is one of few serious attempts to offer a systematic and massive ‘anatomy’, as Magyar and Madlovics rightly call it, of all the possible variations between the oversimplistic dualist opposition of communist dictatorship and liberal democracy. A key feature of this book is that it is structured in a way that can be easily integrated into teaching. The book comes with its own dedicated website offering extensive online resources including a draft seminar that can be adopted for a course on post-communist regimes, and a 3D interactive model of post-communist regime trajectories that can be studied using desktop software and a mobile app. A large number of topologies, analytical models, quotes of important ideas clarifying tables and figures facilitate a variety of teaching methods in classroom settings."" https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09668136.2021.1951024 -- Chi Zhang Review symposium on The Anatomy of Post-communist Regimes: ""Magyar and Madlovics’s book aims to contribute to our understanding of the role of stubborn structures and to highlight the decisive role of informal politics in post-communist political and economic developments. The book elaborates a comprehensive framework for predicting future regime change, authoritarian breakdowns and revolutionary breakthroughs in the post-communist world; and it provides very important insights into the nature of post-communist political, economic and social systems. It is a terrific achievement."" ""The publication of Magyar and Madlovics’s book means that post-communist studies have reached a qualitatively new level. A new paradigm for this research field has emerged. From now scholars working in this branch of knowledge will have to engage with the conclusions of this book, do their research based on them or refine them."" ""The book defines post-communist countries as relational economies, which are conceptualized as different ‘beasts’ from both market and planned economies. These relational economies are characterized by interdependency between economic and political power. The book’s analysis of mechanisms through which political and economic power interact in these places makes it read like an entertaining political–economic crime novel."" ""We are offered a refined interpretation of one of Magyar’s most important descriptive concepts, the ‘mafia state’. Clearly detached from day-to-day criminality, the mafia state is ruled by an adopted political family, patrimonializing political power in a democratic environment and using it in predatory ways, routinely stepping over formal laws and operating the state as a criminal organization. In other words, it is a combination of a clan state, a neopatrimonial-neosultanistic state, a predatory state, and a criminal state."" -- Oleksandr Fisun, Andrey Ryabov, Sonja Avlijas, Julia Kiraly * Socio-Economic Review *"

Author Information

Bálint Magyar is Research Fellow at CEU Democracy Institute, working on the subject of patronalism in post-communist countries. He was a member of the Hungarian Parliament (1990-2010). As a Minister of Education (1996-1998; 2002-2006) he initiated and carried out reforms in public and higher education. Bálint Madlovics (*1993) is a political scientist and economist. He is a junior research fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute. He holds MA in Political Science (2018) from Central European University in Budapest, and BA in Applied Economics (2016) from Corvinus University of Budapest. 

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