Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 380
978-0-7425-5307-1 • Hardback • October 2006 • $123.00 • (£95.00)
978-0-7425-5308-8 • Paperback • October 2006 • $57.00 • (£44.00)
978-1-4616-4515-3 • eBook • October 2006 • $54.00 • (£42.00)
Andrew Harrison Schwartz (1957–2004) was research associate at the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE).
John Zysman is codirector of the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE).
Chapter 1 Prologue
Chapter 2 Foreword
Chapter 3 Introduction
Part 4 Markets, Democracy, and Privatization-The Theoretical Argument
Chapter 5 Neoliberal Privatization-The Dream That if You Create Private Owners, Democracy and the Market Economy Will Follow
Chapter 6 Institutional Policy Design, Politics, and the Creation of Capitalism
Chapter 7 Ownership Regimes-The Basic Model of How They Form
Chapter 8 The Two Trajectories of Ownership Regime Evolution
Part 9 Czech Privatization as the Illustrative Case of the Ownership Model of Political Economy
Chapter 10 Elite Approval-November 1989 to May 1990
Chapter 11 Legimating the Giveaway-June 1990 to February 1991
Chapter 12 Creating Plutocracy-February 1991 to May 1992
Chapter 13 Implementing the Ownership Regime-February 1991 to December 1995
Chapter 14 The Abuses of Plutocracy, the Failure of Czech Neoliberalism-January 1996 to December 1997
Chapter 15 Political and Economic Implications of Czech Rapid Privatization
Part 16 Conclusion-Ownership Regime Theory in Comparative Perspective
Chapter 17 Plutocracy Escaped, Plutocracy Avoided, Plutocracy Embedded
At last, a comprehensive analysis of the long-term effects privatization policies have had on the politics, society, and economics of transition economies. Focusing on the Czech Republic, The Politics of Greed convincingly argues that while initial conditions are important, how policies were chosen and implemented has had profound implications not only for enterprise restructuring and corporate governance, but for democracy and the rule of law. A must-read for all observers of the transition process and future policy makers, and a powerful rebuke of the 'the end justifies all means' attitude that has guided so many policies in the early 1990s.
— Katharina Pistor, Columbia Law School
Among the throngs of researchers in Eastern Europe in the 1990s, Andy Schwartz stood out with his unique combination of a careful understanding of regional privatization strategies and incomparable insight into the realities of high-powered financial markets. These assets become evident in this book, as the research produces an original, powerful argument about the roles of ideology and distributional politics in the construction of economic institutions. The empirics and framework are cold reminders of the foolhardy attempts to create markets without institutions and are useful analytical tools for students of privatization, corporate governance, and institutional reform.
— Gerald A. McDermott, University of Pennsylvania
Recommended.
— CHOICE
...Important contribution.... Thorough critique.... Intimate knowledge of events and debates...
— Terry Cox; Slavic Review
Schwartz's book is a landmark in the study of Central European transitions. It develops a unique political economy approach to transition studies, arguing that privatization was the central process of transition and showing that the ways that privatization was conducted in each country have left lasting legacies for postcommunist politics and economics. Schwartz lambasts the unintended consequences of neoliberal privatization strategies and paints a sharp picture of what Central European capitalisms are really like.
— Mitchell Orenstein, Maxwell School of Syracuse University