Description
Binio S. Binev's book offers an innovative interpretation of the relationship between economic liberalism and political illiberalism in contemporary Eastern Europe and Latin America. Focusing primarily on the former region, he emphasizes linkages between the legacies of early market reform and the adaptive strategies of subsequent populists. By integrating elements of path dependency and human agency, this book advances a distinctive explanation of illiberals' electoral viability and behavior in power. It uses both quantitative analysis of region-wide patterns and in-depth case studies informed by interviews from fieldwork in both regions to offer a comprehensive and nuanced perspective on the long-term effects of building capitalism, the political Left, and the persistent appeal of populist forces after the end of communism. It also identifies intriguing cross-regional parallels connecting early market reforms, societal reactions to neoliberalism, and illiberals' prospects of dominating politics and contesting democracy.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; Part I. The Big Picture: 1. Illiberal outcomes and the weight of recent history; 2. From neoliberal reform to illiberalism in Eastern Europe: historical legacies, Polanyian perspectives, and Latin American lessons; 3. The long shadow of post-communist junctures: an empirical baseline; Part II. Case Studies From Eastern Europe: 4. Antecedent conditions and post-communist junctures in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Romania; 5. From bait-and-switch junctures to illiberal reactions: Slovakia and Poland; 6. Divergent legacies of post-communist junctures: Czechia, Romania, and beyond; Part III. A Cross-Regional View: 7. Expanding the analytical framework: dominant and contestatory varieties of illiberalism in Eastern Europe and Latin America; 8. Parallel paths in the Eastern European mirror: reinterpreting developments in Ecuador and Peru; 9. Illiberalism, democracy, and the left after the neoliberal revolution: concluding reflections; Appendices; References; Index.
