EAEPE Symposium 2009

A Symposium entitled The transformation of post-soviet economies twenty years on took place in Offley Place (Hertfordshire) on 9-10 October 2009. It was organized by Jane Hardy, Geoffrey Hodgson and Maria Lissowska. Its objective was to take stock of the outcomes of the transition to the market economy that the countries of the previous soviet block have taken in 1989, after the two events that have changed the history of this region: first free post-war elections in Poland in June 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.

The participants of the Symposium came from different scientific horizons. Half of them are active EAEPE members, who were given opportunity to discuss with the specialists on transition countries representing other approaches. In particular, scholars from the European Association for Comparative Economic Studies were present. The participants came both  from transition economies themselves and from Western European countries.

The objective of discussions was to interpret the path of change and to assess its outcome, both in terms of differences the post-transition countries still reveal as compared to the models of developed and developing market economies, and in terms of particular achievements or deficiencies in economic and social progress. The robustness of post-transition economies in their of reaction to recent financial crisis was one of important themes.

The following texts were presented:

- Wladimir Andreff  ‘Central Eastern Europe and Russia 20 years after: comparative outcomes of post-Soviet transformation’.
- Geoff Hodgson ‘Institutions, democracy and nation-building in transitional economies’
- Pasquale Tridico ‘Trajectories of socio-economic models and development in transition economies after 20 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall’.
- Caroline Vincensini ‘The evolution of post-socialist ownership structures: From deliberate to spontaneous selection processes?’
- Maria Lissowska ‘Social capital in post-transition economies: how it is and why it is so?’
- Ozlem Onaran ‘From transition crisis to the global crisis: labour in the CEECs’
- Jan Drahoukoupil ‘What difference does the crisis make for welfare states in Eastern Europe?’
- Martin Myant ‘The impact of the world financial crisis in central and eastern Europe: A verdict on transition?’
- Bruno Dallago, Analysis, interpretation, and the local dimension of economic transformation: What went wrong and why?’
- Mike Haynes ‘Blood and dirt, misery and degradation. The continuing demographic crisis of the Russian transition‘
- Colin Haslam ‘Oligarchs in transition: the shifting balance of ownership and control in Russia’
- Laszlo Csaba ‘Institutions in transition: what have we learned’.
 
The Symposium was a success, in the terms of attendance, quality of papers and of discussion. If we may share our observations, one of the conditions of this (besides the contribution of the University of Hertfordshire, which was obviously a key) was the fact, that the participants were invited as the scholars actively working on the subject of Symposium and interested in sharing their ideas. The perspective of common publication was a non negligible incentive.
   
After discussion on the texts, the decision was taken to propose the set of papers as a Special Issue or a book.

Jane Hardy
Geoffrey Hodgson
Maria Lissowska