Premium
Institutional change and stability in postcommunist countries, 1990–2002
Author(s) -
ARMINGEON KLAUS,
CAREJA ROMANA
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
european journal of political research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.267
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1475-6765
pISSN - 0304-4130
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6765.2008.00772.x
Subject(s) - authoritarianism , democracy , institutionalisation , institutional change , politics , regime change , political science , power (physics) , political economy , political change , economic system , distribution (mathematics) , development economics , economics , public administration , law , mathematical analysis , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics
. This article deals with the institutional change of 27 political systems in postcommunist countries, 1990–2002. The authors show that institutional change after the institutionalization of the postcommunist regime is limited and lock‐in effects are strong. This applies to the more democratic and affluent countries as well as to the more authoritarian regimes. The authors do not find evidence for theories of institutional change that see institutional development as a linear function of socio‐economic factors such as affluence or of domestic political power distribution. The European Union and NATO have an effect that is limited to the overall democratic character of the system.