ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the East European varieties of capitalism identified in the literature. It shows that the literature offers a large number of classifications, but there is also agreement that a deep dividing line exists between capitalism in the former republics of the Soviet Union, and the East Central European (ECE) countries. The literature has identified three major explanations for this capitalist diversity after the breakdown of communism: legacies and path dependency, early economic and social reforms, and international integration. The chapter argues that it is precisely the combination of all these factors that explain capitalist diversity in Eastern Europe. It assesses the merits of the research agenda on East European varieties of capitalism and points to directions for future research. The existence of diverse neoliberal capitalisms in ECE – pure neoliberal in the Baltic states and embedded neoliberal in the Visegrad countries – also shows that there is room for diversity within the neoliberal paradigm.
