DIVERSITY OF CAPITALISM IN THE EUROPEAN POST-SOCIALIST COUNTRIES: EVIDENCE FROM THE BALKAN AND POST-SOVIET STATES

The main aim of the paper is to classify types of capitalism in the Balkan and post soviet republics and identify the principal strength and weakness factors of institutional organization in these countries. The paper uses Amable's approach, which is supplemented by the influence of the political environment. The paper identifies four different capitalist clusters in the Balkan and post-soviet states and one within the EU-8 countries. Differences between the EU-8 and the other transition economies persist, only Croatia and Montenegro are approximating. In general, the Balkan states achieve better results than the post-soviets, however, there are two important weakness factors: quality of educational system and inefficient financial system. In the case of the post-soviet countries, one can identify mainly the weakness factors.