Join George Washington University's Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies and PONARS Eurasia for the launch of Hilary Appel and Mitchell Orenstein's new book, From Triumph to Crisis: Neoliberal Economic Reform in Postcommunist Countries.

The book accounts for the unexpected evolution of postcommunist economic transition. Only in retrospect has it become clear that postcommunist countries were among the most fervent and committed adopters of neoliberal economic reforms throughout the world. Not only did they manage to overcome the anticipated domestic opposition to mass privatization, shock therapy and Washington Consensus reforms, but many countries, including Russia, adopted avant-garde neoliberal reforms like the flat tax and pension privatization. Neoliberalism in the postcommunist countries went farther than expected and lasted longer. Given the failure of existing theories to predict these outcomes, this book presents a new theory based not on domestic political-economic struggles, but on the imperatives of re-insertion into the international economy. The authors argue that countries engaged in "competitive signaling," enacting many reforms in order to attract foreign investment. This signaling process explains the endurance and intensification of neoliberal reform for nearly two decades between 1989-2008 and its decline after 2008, when inflows of capital into the region suddenly dried up and when the appeal of more statist and nationalist economic models became more widely appealing.

Authors

Hilary Appel, Podlich Family professor of government and George R. Roberts Fellow, Claremont McKenna College

Mitchell Orenstein, is professor and chair of Russian and East European Studies, University of Pennsylvania