Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

THE VOC EINLEITUNG APPROACH GOES EAST
ABSTRACT
THE VARIETIES OF CAPITALISM APPROACH
GOES EAST:
INSTITUTIONAL COMPLEMENTARITIES AND
LAW ENFORCEMENT DURING POST-COMMU-
NIST TRANSITION
Martin Mendelski
2
The Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) approach
is a popular paradigm used to
explain the institutional diversity and
economic performance in developed market
economies. Does the VoC approach also have
explanatory power for post-communist economies
from Central and Eastern Europe and the
former Soviet Union? This guiding question
will be answered by analyzing the role of institutional
complementarities and coordination
for institutional diversity and development. It
is argued that, while the VoC approach can
serve as an analytical framework of analysis
and in parts as a tool for classifying transition
economies regarding their modes of coordination,
it is less suited to explain the process of
path-dependent and volatile institutional development
in most transition countries because
of its static perspective and the negligence of
enforcement. Therefore, the VoC approach can
be applied only restrictively to post-communist
economies.
1. INTRODUCTION
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With the accession into the EU, transition
seems to be over for most post-communist
countries. Remaining work is to be done in
Central Asia and South-Eastern Europe (SEE),
where transition has not yet come to an end. A
comparison of countries from SEE, Central
Eastern Europe (CEE) and Central Asia on
the basis of selected institutional indicators (e.g.
EBRD transition indicators 1989-2007; World
Bank governance indicators, 1996-2007) reveals
dissimilar institutional trajectories during the
last two decades. According to the average