ABSTRACT
This chapter examines mainstream approaches to ‘transition’, and in particular, the role of international capital in the economic restructuring. It analyses the impact of foreign investment in Russia and Central and Eastern European (CEE), demonstrating the discrepancy in western capital’s engagement in the European Union accession countries and Russia. The chapter reviews conflicting theories of the role of foreign investment in development, and points out that in both sub-regions of post-communism, the exposure to capital inflows has produced contradictory results. It describes mainstream neo-liberal approaches to post-communism, by revealing the diversity and attendant problems of inequality and social polarization across the post-Communist region. The chapter focuses on the dynamics of global capitalist transformations generally, and analyses their impact on the change in CEE and Russia. It provides a comparative analysis of the nexus between the transformed logic of global capital accumulation, and national politico-economic and social transformations in the countries of CEE and Russia.
