Globalization and the state in Central and Eastern Europe: The
politics of foreign direct investment
by Jan Drahokoupil
Routledge, August 2008
http://www.routledge.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?curTab=REVIEWS&id=&parent_id=&sku=&isbn=9780415466035
This book examines the transformation of the state in Central and
Eastern Europe since the end of communism and adoption of market
oriented reform in the early 1990s, exploring the impact of
globalization and economic liberalization on the region’s states,
societies and political economy. It compares the different policies and
national strategies adopted by key Central and Eastern European states,
including the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, showing how
initial internally oriented strategies of market reform, privileging
domestic sources of investment, had by the late 1990s given way to
externally oriented strategies emphasising the promotion of
competitiveness by attracting foreign investment.
Advance praise
This
book develops a very coherent and rich analysis of the much-discussed
process of transition from state socialism to market economies in
Central and Eastern Europe. The author more than meets the challenge of
finding something new to say about this topic, developing a novel
approach based on a sophisticated account of structure, agency, and
discourse; providing a new periodization of the steps in the transition
in different societies; showing the interaction of economic and
political forces in changing institutional and conjunctural contexts;
identifying the key actors and forces that shape the transition and
their crucial mediating role between foreign capital and states and
domestic economic and political interests; and providing some
insightful comments on varieties of transition. I recommend this book
most warmly.
Bob Jessop, Founding Director of the
Institute for Advanced Studies, Distinguished Professor of Sociology,
Lancaster University
The
real innovation of Drahokoupil's approach lies in going beyond the
opposition of national versus transnational explanations. His focus on
the comprador sector as the site linking the two perspectives is very
effective and helps to set an agenda for future studies, including on
other world regions.
Don Kalb, Professor, Central
European University, Budapest & Utrecht University
Drahokoupil's
book constitutes an advance in the understanding of the
internationalization of states, societies and political economies. The
book is well written and it provides provocative ideas on the forces of
convergence in the international political economy and on the evolution
of the competition state based on the insightful analysis of the
Central and Eastern European countries.
Laszlo Bruszt, Professor, European
University Institute, Florence
Students
of Eastern Europe’s transformation and transnational integration will
read this book with great interest. The book offers rich empirical data
and a convincing and sophisticated argument on how the interaction
among state reformers, domestic interest groups and transnational
corporations shaped the emergence of the region’s new transnational
capitalism.
Béla Greskovits, Professor, Central
European University, Budapest
Contents
Introduction
1 Understanding convergence towards the competition state: The
transnational constitution of domestic politics
2 The rise of the competition state: Towards the Porterian workfare
postnational regime
3 Creating national capitalism against the odds: The internally
oriented project in the Czech Republic
4 The internally oriented pathways in the early nineties: By default or
by design?
5 The time of the comprador service sector: How Czechs ignited
competition for FDI
6 Political support of the competition state: The comprador service
sector and its allies
7 The investment promotion machines: Everyday politics and the
multi-scalar constitution of the competition state
Conclusion