Political competition and the politicization of the state in east central Europe

The expansion and politicization of the postcommunist state, even among the reform leaders of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, has confounded early expectations that the state would shrink and grow autonomous once the communist regime collapsed. The variation in these patterns is a function of the distribution of party power in parliament, both over time (turnover) and among parties (fragmentation and effective opposition). Where several strong opposing parties competed for governance, the resulting electoral uncertainty led them to constrain each other through formal regulations and informal practices. In contrast, where one party dominated political competition, lax (or nonexistent) regulations allowed the informal extraction of resources from state firms, the procurement of favorable privatization deals, and the accumulation of positions in public administration. This explanation contrasts with existing accounts, which emphasize either broad communist regime legacies or the functional need for state growth in newly independent states.