ABSTRACT
The collapse of the Soviet system revealed not only the inadequacy of its socio-economic and political structures but also the lack of suitable explanatory frameworks. This applies both to the developments preceding the collapse and the post-Soviet transformations. In this chapter, the author continues the comparative analysis of transitional processes in Poland and four former Soviet republics: Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Despite the original intentions of reformers, political considerations were introduced in market reform design from the outset and often prevailed over economic rationality. The predominance of political motives manifests itself in many ways and at every stage of privatization, from the initial valuation of assets to managing privatized enterprises. All privatization programs included various forms of voucher privatization, in which a voucher guaranteed its owner the right to a specific share of the state-owned property. In some countries, vouchers were tradeable for shares of the privatized enterprises offered in public auctions.
