ABSTRACT
Most analysts of economic reform in Third World socialist societies tend to explain the reform process as a pragmatic response on the part of the postrevolutionary state to a set of critical economic and/or socio-political conditions. Problems of an economic/technocratic nature are likely to receive particular attention: stagnant or declining production levels, macroeconomic disequilibria, sectoral imbalances, reduced levels of surplus appropriation by the state, waste and microeconomic inefficiency, low labour productivity. Socio-political issues associated with regime legitimacy, social discontent and the question of ideological rifts within the party leadership may also be considered.
