Twenty Years After: from Fall to Fall? volume 9, number 2, autumn-winter 2009 Romanian Academic Society Editor Alina Mungiu Pippidi International Advisory Board Larry Diamond (Stanford University) Tom Gallagher (University of Bradford) Alena Ledeneva (University College London) Michael McFaul (Stanford University) Philippe Schmitter (European University Institute) Vladimir Tismaneanu (Maryland University) Helen Wallace (European University Institute) Editorial Board Gabriel B`descu (UBB) Sorin Ioni]` (SAR. SNSPA) Olivia Ru[u-Toderean (UBB) Cosmina T`n`soiu (American University in Bulgaria) Adrian Cioflanca (A.D. Xenopol Institute) Managing Editors Sînziana – Elena Poian` Ionu] Vasiloiu Romanian Academic Society TABLE OF CONTENTS: FOREWORD 2 POLSCI FOCUS The Economic Effects of Political Institutions: Are Post-Communist Countries Different? 3 Iulia Cioroianu Socio-Economic Transformations in Post-Communist Countries: Central and Eastern 25 Europe and Russia Compared Alfio Cerami The Impact of the European Union on Governance Reforms in Post-Communist Europe: 42 A Comparison between First and Second-Wave Candidates Martin Mendelski The Helping Hand: The Role of the EU in the Democratization of Post-Communist 65 Europe Sergiu Gherghina POLSCI PAPERS Anti-Semitic and Holocaust-denying Topics in the Romanian Media 80 Alexandru Florian 1 Romanian Journal of Political Science FOREWORD Twenty Years After: from Fall to Fall? Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin wall, Eastern and Central Europe has traveled the full cycle: from the greatest success to the greatest liability. How sustainable is the success of Eastern European countries? What explains their uneven performance during the transition and integra- tion years? Is "catching-up" to remain only a distant dream, after the economic crisis? Are the lines dividing the region to become permanent? What was the effect of EU integration for insti- tutional building during transition in CEE countries? The papers in this issue address these topics in a historical and comparative manner. 2 Romanian Academic Society Socio-Economic Transformations in Post-Communist Countries: Central and Eastern Europe and Russia Compared By Alfio Cerami1 Abstract: This article provides a brief description of the main systemic problems (strukturprobleme) of post-communist capitalism(s), as well as exploring the main changes occurring in the socio-eco- nomic structure and the subsequent new social risks emerging. It shows that post-communist societies are characterized by more intense strukturprobleme, which are resulting in the materi- alization of broader social risks types and groups. As a consequence of a difficult and still uncompleted process of recalibration (functional, distributive, normative and institutional), the welfare states in Central and Eastern Europe and in the Russian Federation are called to face a double burden of responsibilities: they must ensure protection against old and new social risks for a larger proportion of citizens than those in the West, while, simultaneously, dealing with the most serious social, economic and political challenges stemming from the transition. Keywords: Russian Federation, socio-economic transformation, varieties of capitalism, Central and Eastern Europe, new social risks, post-communist transformation. 1Alfio Cerami is a research associate at the Centre d'études européennes of Sciences Po, Paris. He has also been a visiting lecturer at the University of Erfurt (Germany), Sciences Po Paris and the Centre for German and European Studies at the State University of St. Petersburg (Russia). 25 Romanian Journal of Political Science Introduction relationship between the state, the market and the society. In the immediate aftermath of 1989, new This article investigates the most recent socio-eco- ideas, interests and institutions had to be quickly nomic transformations occurring in post-commu- introduced4 . A new social contract, no longer nist countries taken as ex ample the cases of Central based on one-party rule and full-employment, had and Eastern Europe2 (CEE) and of the Russian to be established with the citizens, whereas, in Federation. It also provides a sufficient overview of order to put the new social contract in action, new the new social risks emerging in these transition feasible institutions and interests had to be devel- economies. The investigation is structured around oped. This implied a process of functional, distribu- three crucial questions. Section One aims to tive, normative and institutional recalibration5 in respond to the question of what kind of systemic which the functional prerogatives, distributive problems (from now onwards strukturprobleme3 ) objectives, normative foundations and institutional characterize post-communist capitalism(s). Section structures of these communist systems had to be Two addresses the issue of what kind of social struc- adjusted to the post-communist environment. As ture is developing, while Section Three deals with highlighted by several authors, communist ruins the question of what kind of new social risks are represented, in this context, the main institutional emerging. material in which the new societies could be built (Offe 1996; Crawford and Lijphardt 1997; Stark and The reason why finding an adequate response to Bruszt 1998; Ekiert 2003). In other words, a recom- these questions is crucial depends on three principal binant transformation of ideas, interests and institu- factors. Firstly, systemic deficiencies present in the tions took place (Cerami forthcoming). economic environment can greatly influence the social structure of a country. Secondly, these defi- This study is based on the assumption that the ciencies contribute, at the same time, to the emer- strutkturprobleme of contemporary capitalism(s), gence of specific new social risks. Thirdly, they also changes in social structure and emergence of new determine the subsequent welfare state responses. social risks are not unrelated issues, but elements As it is well known, the transition from communism strictly linked together. The main hypothesis, which to capitalism has implied huge social costs in both will then be tested in the following sections, is that CEE and in the Russian Federation. GDP dropped due to more drastic systemic structural changes severely, many state-owned enterprises collapsed, occurring in post-communist societies, more several million workers lost their jobs, the paternal- intense and more diversified strukturprobleme are istic system of social protection was, to a large taking place in transition economies than those extent, dismantled, and, as a result, poverty rates present in the West. These are resulting in faster and income inequality dramatically increased with a changes in social structure as well as the emergence large proportion of the population now living of broader new social risks types and groups. If this below the poverty threshold (Cerami 2006a, 2006b, is the case, then post-communist welfare states are 2009; Cook 2007; Manning and Tikhonova 2009). in front of a double burden of responsibilities. On the one hand, they will be called to ensure citizens An enormous transformation, however, occurred both against old and new social risks, as Western not only in the economic sphere, but also in the welfare states are also required to do, while, on the 2 The countries of Central and Eastern Europe included in this article are Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. 3 In the course of this research the German word Strukturprobleme, as introduced by Claus Offe (1973, 2006), instead of the English translation "structural problems" will be used. "Structural problems" tend, in fact, to have a different meaning from the original German translation, which more clearly makes refer- ence to "problems of the structure" (or systemic problems). 4 For the role played by ideas, interests and institutions in the process of institutional change, see Hall (1997). 5 The concepts of functional, distributive, normative and institutional recalibration have been introduced by Ferrera et al. (2000) and Ferrera and Hemerijck (2003) to describe the changes that contemporary welfare systems are facing. According to the authors, not only an institutional recalibration is taking place in western welfare states, but also a recalibration of the main welfare functions, distributive aspects and basic norms. Recalibration, as a result, is described as an on-going process of domestic lesson-drawing associated to cross-national social learning (see also Hemerijck 2006). 26 Romanian Academic Society other hand, they will also be forced to intensify their leme of post-communist capitalism(s) concern the efforts in order to deal with the more severe prob- system-stabilizing capacity of political institutions. lems stemming from the transition. This primarily involves the organization and conflict capacity of political institutions to: (i) address inter- What Kind of Strukturprobleme Characterize Post- nal challenges; (ii) stabilize unstable economies; (iii) Communist Capitalism(s)? manage societal conflicts while finding a response to the emerging new social risks; (iv) ensure mass This section aims to improve understanding of the loyalty and political legitimacy to the system; (v) main strukturprobleme of post-communist capital- permit effective interest representation (trade ism(s). On the basis of Claus Offe's reflections (Offe unions' and civic society's organization