ABSTRACT
The Central and Eastern European (CEE) states claim that their post-communist transition experience is a value-add to their development cooperation programmes. They argue that the lessons learnt from their relatively successful political and economic reforms have the potential to inform policy-makers in both the post-communist East and the post-colonial South. This article closes a research gap by building on the conceptual distinction between the political and technical levels of the development process. First, it scrutinizes the inherent contradictions and limitations of the transfer of the ‘transition experience’ through development cooperation, and then it assesses the extent and impact of transition inspired development projects run by the CEE governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and companies. It is argued that the prevalent political character of the transition and the technical nature of the current EU development policy has significantly reduced the possibility of transfer, which is seen in the limited scope and impact of projects that build on specific transition experiences. As seen from the Czech case, the contrast between strong political discourse, limited institutional settings and weak implementation practices shows that the shallow transfer of the ‘transition experience’ is mere rhetoric. This is shown by their use of tied technical assistance for the promotion of their political, security and commercial interests in the middle-income countries of East and South Eastern Europe.
